忠君或虔信？－－知識菁英與亨利八世的對抗及妥協

Loyalty or Piety: Intellectual Elites' Resistance and Compromise under King Henry Ⅷ

一五三四年，亨利八世透過國會通過「繼承法」(Act of Succession)，宣告安•葆琳所新生的伊莉莎白公主為王位的正統繼承人。「繼承法」有個附帶決議：所有英格蘭臣民都需公開宣誓，接受法案的內容與其引以為據的「國王至高權」(Royal Supremacy)理論。隨後，國會又通過「叛國法」(Treasons Act)。依據此法，拒絕承認「繼承法」者視同「叛國」，得處以「叛國罪」。一五三四年的法案讓英格蘭臣民面臨新一波的挑戰：他們必須決定是否捨棄羅馬教廷，改奉國王為英格蘭教會的最高領袖(Supreme Head)。亨利八世為確保全國人民的支持，全面且系統地要求臣民就「繼承法」的內容宣誓。他透過勸說、施壓、逮捕、以及處決的手段，獲取朝中菁英的承認。亨利入世的作法激起極大的波瀾：被要求表態的菁英們不再享有緘默的空間，所有意見領袖都被要求表態。亨利八世大規模地「翻攪」英格蘭的菁英階層，卻不見菁英們有效的抵制與反抗。文藝復興時代的英格蘭養成了許多受過良好人文主義訓練的知識菁英，他們無論在學識或教養上，都有足夠的能力評斷國王的言行。他們為何未能阻止國王進行激進作為？當亨利八世大力翻攪英格蘭王國之時，他們有何考量？如何判斷？做何選擇？本文將依反應模式，將亨利朝的知識菁英分成三類來討論：他們分別是「殉道的菁英」、「流亡的菁英」，以及「屈服的菁英」。透過這三類菁英個別處境的探討，重建菁英階層的思維與心態，藉此理解他們的反應與作為。

In 1534, Henry Ⅷ, with the aid of the Parliament, passed the Act of Succession, which declared the new-born princess Elizabeth by Anne Boleyn the only legitimate heir to the throne. According to the statute, all English subjects were obliged to swear to the Act, which means to accept not only the content of it, but the theological prerequisite-”Royal Supremacy”-as well. Soon after, Treasons Act was promulgated; according to it, anyone rejecting to swear to the Act of Succession was considered traitor, at a cost of his life. English subjects therefore faced a new challenge in 1534: they were to decide whether to give up the Pope and to take King Henry as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. To secure the support of his subjects, Henry Ⅷ systematically asked the English to swear: his elites were forced to declare their stands, as the King try to persuade, threaten, imprison, or even execute them. Henry's radical action was unprecedented; the entire elite class was perturbed. We thus come across the following questions: why did the Tudor elites, many of them noted humanists, fail to resist or to avert the ”fanatic” move of the King? What were their mentality, considerations, judgment, and choice? To answer these questions, this paper is to divide the Henrician elites into three groups for investigation: they are ”the elites martyred”, ”the elites exile”, and ”the elites surrendered”.