Henry VIII

What happened during his reign?

Financially, the reign of Henry was a near-disaster. After inheriting a prosperous economy (augmented by seizures of church lands) heavy spending and high taxes damaged the economy.^[9][10]

For example, Henry expanded the Royal Navy from 5 to 53 ships. He loved palaces; he began with a dozen and died with fifty-five, in which he hung 2,000 tapestries.^[11] He took pride in showing off his collection of weapons, which included exotic archery equipment, 2,250 pieces of land ordnance and 6,500 handguns.^[12]

From 1514 to 1529, Thomas Wolsey (1473–1530), a Catholic cardinal, served as lord chancellor and practically controlled domestic and foreign policy for the young king. He negotiated the truce with France that was signaled by the dramatic display of amity on the Field of the Cloth of Gold (1520). He switched England back and forth as an ally of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Wolsey centralised the national government and extended the jurisdiction of the conciliar courts, particularly the Star Chamber. His use of forced loans to pay for foreign wars angered the rich, who were annoyed as well by his enormous wealth and ostentatious living. Wolsey disappointed the king when he failed to secure a quick divorce from Queen Katherine. The treasury was empty after years of extravagance; the peers and people were dissatisfied and Henry needed an entirely new approach; Wolsey had to be replaced. After 16 years at the top he lost power in 1529 and in 1530 was arrested on false charges of treason and died in custody. Wolsey's fall was a warning to the Pope and to the clergy of England of what might be expected for failure to comply with the king's wishes. Henry then took full control of his government, although at court numerous complex factions continued to try to ruin and destroy each other.

Elton (1962) argues there was a major Tudor revolution in government. While crediting Henry with intelligence and shrewdness, Elton finds that much of the positive action, especially the break with Rome, was the work of Thomas Cromwell and not the king. Elton sees Henry as competent, but too lazy to take direct control of affairs for any extended period; that is, the king was an opportunist who relied on others for most of his ideas and to do most of the work. Henry's marital adventures are part of Elton's chain of evidence; a man who marries six wives, Elton notes, is not someone who fully controls his own fate. Elton shows that Thomas Cromwell had conceived of a commonwealth of England that included popular participation through Parliament and that this was generally expressed in the preambles to legislation. Parliamentary consent did not mean that the king had yielded any of his authority; Henry VIII was a paternalistic ruler who did not hesitate to use his power. Popular "consent" was a means to augment rather than limit royal power.

How many wives did he have?Who were they and what happened to them?

They were six:

1.Catherine of Aragon (divorced)

Catherine of Aragon was a Spanish princess who had previously been married to Henry's brother Prince Arthur. Henry was betrothed to Katherine by his father in 1509 and they had a daughter Mary who later become Queen Mary 1. Catherine had six children but only Mary survived. In 1527 Henry announced his desire to divorce Catherine because she had failed to produce a male heir.

2.Anne Boleyn (executed)

Anne grew up in the family home of Hever Castle in Kent and was a young and beautiful lady-in-waiting to the former queen, Catherine of Aragon. She gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth. When Anne miscarried a second child Henry accused her of witchcraft and had her beheaded on May 19th 1536 at the Tower of London for adultery and incest.

3.Jane Seymour (died)

Jane was born between 1507 and 1509. Henry married his third wife on May 30th, 1536, just eleven days after the execution of Anne. Jane gave birth to a baby boy on 12th October 1537. Henry was said to be devastated when she died 12 days later of blood poisoning. Jane was buried at Windsor Castle, later to be joined by Henry. Her son succeed Henry to become Edward VI.

4.Anne of Cleves (divorced)

Anne was born in 1515 in the small north German state of Cleves (close to the border of Holland). Her parents were John III of Cleves and Marie of Julich. Anne married Henry in 1540 to form a tie between England and the Protestant princes of Germany. After only six months Henry found the political alliance no longer to be to his advantage and so divorced her the same year. She died in 1557.

5.Catherine Howard (executed)

Catherine was born between 1520 and 1525. Henry married Catherine Howard, Anne Boleyn's cousin and maid of honour to Anne of Cleaves. In 1542 Henry once again accused his wife of adultery and had Catherine beheaded at the Tower of London on 13 February 1542.

6.Katherine Parr (outlived Henry)

Katherine Parr, also known as Catherin Parr, was born around 1512. She was Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife. She married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543 at Hampton Court Palace. Katherine outlived Henry - so she is said to have survived.

What happened to his relations with the Pope?

In order for the new Prince of Wales to marry his brother's widow, a dispensation from the Pope was normally required to overrule the impediment of affinity because, as told in the book of Leviticus, "If a brother is to marry the wife of a brother they will remain childless". Catherine swore that her marriage to Prince Arthur had not been consummated. Still, both the English and Spanish parties agreed that an additional papal dispensation of affinity would be prudent to remove all doubt regarding the legitimacy of the marriage.

The impatience of Catherine's mother, Queen Isabella I, induced Pope Julius II to grant dispensation in the form of a Papal bull. So, 14 months after her young husband's death, Catherine found herself betrothed to his even younger brother, Henry. Yet by 1505, Henry VII lost interest in a Spanish alliance and the younger Henry declared that his betrothal had been arranged without his consent.

What was the name of the church he established in England?

Henry Vlll brought religious upheaval to England. When he became king, most people belonged to the Catholic Church, which was headed by the Pope, in Rome. In 1534, Henry broke away from the Catholic Church and proclaimed himself head of the Church of England. The land and riches of the church became Henry's property and he sold off most of this land to dukes, barons and other noblemen.