Birth: 28 June 1491Henry VIII was born on June 28th, 1491 as the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He had one older brother, Arthur, and two younger sisters, Margaret and Mary. Since he was the younger son, Henry was not in line for the throne until Arthur died unexpectedly in 1502. However, he was still given a proper education with the finest tutors – he was fluent in Latin, French and Spanish.
He was also a great athlete and musician; by the age of 10, he could play many instruments including the drums, viola and harp.
In 1501, the young Henry attended Arthur’s wedding to Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Isabella and Fernadind of Spain. Arthur died less than a year later, and Henry VII, unwilling to lose an alliance with Spain, arranged for his younger son to marry Catherine.
Since Catherine was Henry’s dead brother’s widow, a dispensation from the Pope was required to make this new match valid. Catherine said the marriage between her and Arthur was never consummated and therefore, a papal dispensation was not necessary. But with the insistence of Spain and England, a dispensation was granted so there would be no future doubts.
In 1509, Henry VII died, leaving the young 18 year-old Henry as the King of England. Henry married Catherine on June 11th , 1509.
Henry and Catherine were married for 20 years and were very happy for most of that time. She gave birth to Mary, their only surviving child. Henry was not too concerned at first about Mary’s ability to bear him an heir; it was only when Catherine grew out of her childbearing age that Henry became anxious. He was only the second Tudor monarch – no females had previously ruled – and he was not about to see his country fall to chaos of another civil war.
Not only that, Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine’s ladies in waiting. Anne refused to be Henry’s mistress, which only fueled the King’s desire to annul his marriage with Catherine.
Henry sent his Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, to get an annulment from the Pope. Unfortunately, the Pope was under the control of Emperor Charles V, who was Catherine’s nephew.
The struggle over the “King’s Secret Matter” continued for years, and finally, in May 1529, Wolesy’s failed attempts frustrated the King and led to his arrest, but before Wolsey could be brought to trial, he died.
A cleric by the name of Thomas Cranmer suggested that the King’s matter was more of a theological one and that he needed to be advised by the universities rather than the church, and Henry presented these arguments to his parliament. Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s current chief adviser, suggested that the King should make himself the Head of the Church of England and move away from papal power.
In 1532, Cranmer was made Archbishop of Canterbury, and in 1533, Henry secretly married Anne after Cranmer declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine invalid. Anne was crowned Queen on June 1, 1533.
Henry was excommunicated by Rome and as a result, passed a series of Acts that moved the country away from papal supremacy. The Statute of Restraint in Appeals put all church authority into the hands of the King; it also denied English courts’ appeals to the Pope. The Act of Supremacy made the King “the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England” and the Treason Act made it treason not to acknowledge the King as such. Sir Thomas More was one example of somebody who did not, and was executed in 1535.
Henry unknowingly started the English Protestant Reformation with these acts and continued propelling it with the Dissolution of the Monasteries, under which monastic properties became the King’s and were sold off.
Anne gave birth to one daughter, Elizabeth, but produced no other surviving heirs. After two other miscarriages, Henry grew impatient and Anne’s enemies began to plot her downfall. Anne eventually was found guilty of adultery, incest and witchcraft and was beheaded in 1536.
Ten days after Anne’s execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, one of Anne’s ladies in waiting. She finally bore him a long-awaited son, Edward VI, in October 1537. The Act of Succession declared Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate. Queen Jane died October 24, 1537, only 12 days after the birth of her son.
Henry found himself without a wife again and looked this time abroad for his next bride. Thomas Cromwell suggested Anne of Cleves since her country would serve as a good Protestant ally against the church. Upon seeing a portrait painted of her, Henry approved, and signed a marriage treaty in 1539.
When he met Anne, however, Henry found her ugly and grotesque. He married her on January 6, 1540. It wasn’t long after that Henry began to look for reasons to get rid of her – Anne was smart enough to cooperate with his desire to annul their marriage. Henry annulled the marriage on the grounds that Anne had had a pre-contract to marry another man. He gave her the title “The King’s Sister” and the property of Hever Castle, the former residence of the Boleyn family.
Thomas Cromwell, despite being recently made the Earl of Essex, fell out of favor for arranging the marriage and was executed in 1540.
Henry’s eager eyes had wandered over to little young Kathryn Howard, Anne Boleyn’s cousin, during his brief marriage to Anne of Cleves. Less than 20 days after he annulled his marriage to Anne, Henry married Kathryn on July 28, 1540.
Kathryn Howard was about 30 years younger than Henry when he married her. He was completely in love with her and called her his “rose without a thorn.” However, within 2 years of their marriage, Kathryn was investigated under charges of adultery. It was discovered that when she was younger, she was unofficially engaged to Francis Dereham, whom Kathryn, as the Queen, appointed as secretary of her household.
On top of that, rumors of a current love affair between her and Thomas Culpepper, one her courtiers, surfaced during the investigations. A love letter from Kathryn to Thomas was found and that was enough to find her guilty of adultery. She was executed on February 13, 1542. While there is evidence of Francis and Kathryn’s sexual relationship, historians still debate over whether she and Thomas consummated their relationship.
Henry married his sixth and last wife, Katherine Parr, on July 12, 1543. It is said that with Henry’s aging years and his bad leg, Katherine was more of a nurse than a wife. She was a fervent Protestant and started discussions about religion that nearly cost her her life; fortunately Katherine knew how to reconcile with the King before it got too far.
Katherine became a motherly figure for the King’s children and reconciled Mary and Elizabeth with their father. The Act of Succession in 1544 put the two daughters back in line for the throne after Edward.
Katherine outlived Henry and eventually went on to marry Thomas Seymour, one of the uncles to Prince Edward.
Henry became overweight as he grew older and his ulcerated leg, due to a jousting accident in 1536, had gotten worse and made it hard for him to walk. He died on January 28, 1547 at Whitehall Palace and was buried with Jane Seymour at Windsor Castle.
Henry’s legacy changed the course of English history. Although he was a Catholic at heart, his break from Rome transformed England into a Protestant country. Through the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry shifted the political and economical power of the country away from the church and into the hands of the gentry.
Henry was also responsible for uniting Wales and England into one nation, and made Ireland a Kingdom. He was also called one of the founders of the Royal Navy.
Obsessed with succession, Henry was ironically succeeded only by one son who died young and then two daughters, who both eventually succeeded the throne but left no heirs.