Henry VIII
King Henry VIII of England is one of the more fascinating characters in British history. As the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII was a much different type of ruler than his father. Though he did some good things while in control of England and later Ireland, King Henry VIII's reign will always be remember as one of marital dissatisfaction.
Henry VIII practically wrote the book on divorce, breaking all of the Catholic rules at the time in order to divorce his first wife and four more after her. His first wife was Catherine of Aragon, who was the widow of his brother. They were wed in 1509. He stayed married to Catherine for a solid 24 years and the couple produced one child, a girl named Mary. Because Catherine of Aragon failed to produce a male heir, Henry VIII went through great pains to divorce her in 1533. Though the divorce was never officially recognized by the pope and the Catholic Church, Henry VIII went through with it in order to marry Anne Boleyn in 1533.
Anne Boleyn was pregnant at the time of her marriage to Henry VIII and eventually birthed another daughter for the king. Her name was Elizabeth. Anne Boleyn did not last long in this marriage, as her infidelity led to her eventually execution. In May 1536, only three years after he had married her, Henry VIII had Anne Boleyn executed because of that crime, which was considered treason.
Never one to waste any time, Henry VIII was remarried by the end of the month. This time, his bride was named Jane Seymour. Her major contribution to history was the birthing of Henry's only male heir, a son named Edward. Seymour died during childbirth, making her the third woman to be left in the wake of the great king.
It seemed that Henry VIII never could quite find the right woman. Following the death of his third wife, the king impulsively arranged a marriage with German princess Anne of Cleves. He did this without meeting the woman, relying only on a painted portrait to guide his thoughts. The princess was disappointing as compared to her beautiful portrait, though, and Henry found her to be too ugly for marriage.
He opted, instead, to marry Catherine Howard in July of 1540. Though Howard might have passed the eye test, she did not stay faithful to the king. Similar to Boleyn, Howard met execution when it was found that she was cheating on the king. One year after her 1542 execution, Henry VIII finally found a woman to settle down with. She was Catherine Parr and she attended to Henry's wants until his death in 1547.
Though King Henry VIII's love life overshadows the rest of his reign as king, there were many things that happened during that time. Most of the time, Henry opted for a deference, leaving others to care for his kingdom as he hung out in the countryside. One of the folks who ran the country for quite a while was Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the Archbishop of York. Wolsey had quite a run in his command over England, making all decisions until his refusal to approve Henry's divorce caused a great split of England from the Catholic Church.
Though Henry was quite indifferent in political matters during the early part of his reign, he was quite active in the military arena. Henry led an English invasion of France, as well as a defeat of the Scottish forces at Foldden Field. He also took a stand against religious reformer Martin Luther, writing literature denouncing the theologian's creed.
Later in his reign King Henry VIII finally began to take an interest in politics. Mostly, these moves coincided with his desire for marital freedom. Since the Catholic Church had major problems with divorce, even the royally controlled papacy would not grant Henry VIII a clean break from his first wife. This caused a very important break in the Catholic Church. Henry VIII established the Church of England, a carbon copy of the Catholic Church, except for the fact that he had control over it instead of the pope having control over it. This gave him the religious and moral right to go forward with the divorce from Catherine of Aragon. It can be said that the beginning of the Church of England, which is now known as the Anglican Church, was caused by King Henry VIII's obsession with getting a male heir to his throne. Since Catherine of Aragon couldn't provide this "service" to Henry, he used political power to take power from the pope and shift it to the royal seat.
Overall, King Henry VIII's reign was one of peace and indifference. He was a very popular ruler among his subjects, as they only rose up once against him. He did much in his reign to strengthen the royal power held by his family. It wasn't until almost 100 years after Henry's death that the commonwealth was established and England instituted a form of democracy.
Henry's death in 1547 came because of what many thought to be natural causes. He was largely overweight and many thought that this could have caused his death. Some historians believe that he died of syphilis that was contracted from his first wife. The exact cause of the King's death is a mystery that will likely never be uncovered.
Original Authors: Coby DuBose
Edit Update Authors: RPN
Updated On: 22/05/2007
