Henry+VIII

Henry VII  The sixteenth century was a complicated and difficult time in England. There was religious warfare all over Europe due to the newly emerging protestant groups. Many people were beginning to loose faith in Catholicism because of the corruption in the church. They found other faiths that better fulfilled their needs. Groups such as the Anglicans, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anabaptists started emerging all over Europe. All of those groups were branching off of the Roman Catholic Church. They had mostly the same basic beliefs but some changes and aspects better satisfied the general public. This period in Europe was called the Reformation. King Henry VIII instigated the English Reformation because he wanted to obtain a divorce from his wife Catherine. Catherine of Aragon failed to give birth to a male child. Additionally, Henry fell in love with another woman. Her name was Anne Boleyn and she was the lady in waiting to the Queen. Charles wanted to obtain an annulment of the marriage from Pope Clement VII but due to a delay, Henry became inpatient and abolished all papal authority in England, thus creating the Church of England. Soon after, Anne became pregnant and Anne and Henry got married. A couple moths later a baby was born, her name was Elizabeth.

Henry soon got tired of Anne Boleyn and since she did not produce a male hair to his throne, he had not reason the keep her around so on May 19, 1536, she was executed. His dream came true when his third wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to the long awaited boy, Edward, who would succeed him at the fragile age of 9. Jane died twelve days after giving birth. The fourth marriage was arranged for political purposes and was to Anne of Cleves. He did not see her in person before marriage so her physical attributes were not satisfying to him and he soon divorced her. Catherine Howard was his fifth wife. She was far more attractive but was not loyal so on February 13, 1542, he had her beheaded. Henry’s sixth and last marriage was to Catherine Parr. He married her in 1543 and died 4 years later, in 1547. [|tudorhistory.org]

Western Civilization by Jackson J. Spielvogel