Henry VIII

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Henry VIII, by Hans Holbein the Younger

Henry VIII, Henry Tudor (June 28, 1491 - January 28, 1547) was King of England from April 22 (crowned on June 24), 1509 until his death on January 28, 1547. He was accorded the title King of Ireland by the Irish Parliament in 1541, having previously been styled Lord of Ireland.

Born at the royal Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London, he was the second son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He was made Prince of Wales after the death of his older brother Arthur, Prince of Wales. A dispensation from Pope Julius II was necessary in order to allow him to marry his brother's widow Catherine of Aragon, and this was obtained on the basis of non-consummation. They contracted a marriage on June 11 1509. Following excommunication by Rome July 11 1533 over his divorce from Catherine (which was not sanctioned by the Pope, who was under pressure from Catherine's nephew, Charles V at the time), Henry split from the Roman Catholic Church, seized many of the Church's assets, and formed the Church of England. This became final with the passing of the Act of Supremacy 1534. Henry is credited with bringing the Reformation to England.

During 1513 Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, defeated the invasion attempt of James IV of Scotland at Flodden during Henry's absence at war against France. Henry's long rivalry with King Francis I of France was made more serious by the cooperation between France and Scotland, both Catholic countries. Henry and Francis had met at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. Peace with France was finally concluded in 1546.

Henry VIII greatly improved English seapower, establishing dockyards at Woolwich and Deptford on the River Thames in south-east London, and instituting an efficient navy. His flagship, Mary Rose, sank in the Solent during a battle, and her retrieval during the 1980s provided valuable archaeological evidence about the period. She is now on display at Portsmouth.

Throughout his life he was an avid gambler playing at dice, tables and cards. It is claimed by some that he was playing Primero at the time of Elizabeth's birth. Other card games played by Henry include cent, Imperial and Pope Julius.

The other major achievement of Henry's reign was the Act of Union of 1536, which effectively brought Wales under English government, with the result that the first Welsh members of parliament were elected in 1542. Henry was proud of his own Welsh blood. In 1533 Henry introduced the first legislation against homosexuals with the Buggery Act, making buggery punishable by hanging, a penalty not finally lifted until 1861. Henry is also responsible for the 6 Articles of 1539 which reaffirmed the Catholic nature of the Church of England.

Marriages

Biographers agree that Henry truly loved Catherine of Aragon. Unfortunately, 24 years of marriage had brought one child surviving infancy, Mary. As Catherine entered menopause, it became evident that Henry, despite his numerous bastard sons, would not have the legitimate male heir he desperately needed.

Exactly when Anne Boleyn caught his eye is not known, yet he fell for her hard. Her sister had been a mistress (and probable mother to a bastard son). Not wanting to suffer her fate, Anne demanded that Henry marry her -- all the while refusing him (at least, at first). This went on for 7 years, resulting in the eventual break from the Church. Toying with Henry's ardour was as ambitious as it was dangerous, but Anne worked it to perfection. While he was still legally married, they secretly wed on January 25, 1533. His marriage to Catherine was annulled by a special act of Parliament that May 23. Catherine called her rival "the scandal of Christendom."

Anne was 4 months pregnant when she was crowned on June 1. That September, she gave birth to Elizabeth; a second child, a boy, was stillborn. For this reason (it was believed that a child's sex was the mother's "fault"), Henry had his right-hand man, Thomas Cromwell, trump up charges of witchcraft (it was said she had six fingers on one hand and three breasts; historians dismiss this as an urban legend), and adulterous affairs, including with her own brother. She was prosecuted by her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk. On May 17, 1536, the men were executed; on May 19, Anne was beheaded. All denied their guilt.

By this time, Henry's ever-roving eye had settled on Catherine's and Anne's lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour; they married 11 days after Anne's execution on May 30. She was as docile and subserviant as Anne had been manipulative and sharp-tongued. On October 12, 1537, Jane gave Henry his heir, Edward; 12 days later, she died.

Henry actually mourned for a few years (and would instruct that he be buried next to her). He may have remained a widower had it not been for the fact that Edward was never a healthy lad. On the advice of Cromwell, he reluctantly chose the German Anne of Cleves in the hopes of producing another male heir. Anne's brother, Wilhelm, Duke of Jülich-Cleves, was seen by Cromwell as a key ally should France and the Holy Roman Empire decide to move against the countries which had overthrown Papal Authority. But, by the time the wedding took place on January 6, 1540, tensions between Wilhelm and the Empire were escalting toward war, and Henry had no desire to get sucked in. Worse, the portrait of Anne that had smittened him was more than flattering. Indeed, Henry found her so unattractive, he could not bring himself to consummate the marriage. Fortunately, (for her) Anne did not fight his quest for an annulment, and graciously accepted the "title" of "the King's Sister." She spent the rest of her life in England (receiving a generous pension), and would outlive him.

Cromwell, like his predecessors, More and Wolsey, soon fell from favour and was charged with treason. Henry would take advantage of the situation to move his main London residence to the Palace of Whitehall (formerly Wolsey's and known as York Place) from the Palace of Westminster. Cromwell was executed on the day Henry remarried; the King would later openly lament the loss of his "most faithful servant".

On July 28, 1540, he made Catherine Howard, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn and Anne of Cleves's lady-in-waiting his fifth wife. By all accounts, she renewed the aging monarch's zest for life. He showered his "rose without a thorn" with lavish gifts, even lands he had given to Jane. Unfortunately, Catherine was emotionally immature and promiscuous. Henry first refused to believe she was unfaithful. There was a question as to if she was precontracted (slated to be engaged) to Francis Dereham, a pensioner in her grandmother's house. Were this the case, then Catherine was never legally married, and, hence, did not commit treason. Her true love was Thomas Culpepper, a first cousin and a gentleman with the King's Privy Chamber. She could have saved herself had she said she was precontracted, but Henry's shock and heartbreak had turned to rath; his young queen was doomed. On December 1, 1541, Culpepper and Dereham were exectued. On February 13, 1542, Catherine was beheaded. Her last words were: "I die a Queen, but I would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpepper." She was only 19 or 20 years old.

His last wife was Catherine Parr. Her father, Thomas Parr of Kendal, had distinguished himself in the service of both Henry and his father. Twice-widowed, Catherine was very wealthy due to her marriages. She was also in love with Thomas Seymour, the brother of Jane, but knew better than to spurn the King's interest; they married on July 12, 1543. Despite her love for Seymour, the marriage was a great success. She reconciled him to his children, and give each the maternal affection so long denied them. When Henry left for France on a military campaign in July 1544, Catherine was made Regent of England; the only other wife who had been accorded that honour was Catherine of Aragon. The only bump in their happiness was religion.

Although Henry was forced to repudiate the papacy in order to marry Anne Boleyn, his true beliefs are uncertain. However, he became persuaded, by the man who married them, no less, that Catherine was a heretic, as she was a follower of evangelical Protestantism. Its core belief that one needed to study the Bible for himself was not only revolutionary, it threatened Henry's power as Supreme Head of the Church since this encouraged his subjects to think for themselves. One night, when the King was unwell, Catherine began to lecture him on religion. When an arrest warrant was left outside her rooms a few days later, she immediately went to Henry, and pursuaded him that her lecture was merely an attempt to learn from him and to distract him from his woes. Her appeal to his vanity saved her life.

Less than four months after Henry's death, Catherine married Seymour (his brother, Edward, was Protector of the Kingdom, ruling in the name of 9 year old Edward VI). The happiness she no doubt expected was short-lived, even when she learned that she was pregnant. She was forced to send Elizabeth away after Seymour acted improperly toward her, a breach which hurt both women deeply. On August 30, 1548, Catherine gave birth to a girl, Mary. She died on September 5 of puerperal sepsis, which had claimed Jane Seymour.

A mnemonic to remember the fates of his six queens is "Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived."

Health

It is well known that later in life Henry was grossly overweight, and possibly suffered from both gout and syphilis. In his younger days, however, he had been a very active man. His increased size dates from a jousting accident in 1536. He suffered a thigh wound which not only prevented him from taking exercise but which gradually became ulcerated and may have indirectly led to his death. Henry died in 1547 (on the exact 90th anniversary of his father's birth) at Whitehall in London and was buried at Windsor. At his death he left three children (by three different mothers), each of whom had a turn on the English throne: Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.

Portrayals

There have been many films about Henry and his court. Two that bear mention are 1933's The Private Life of Henry VIII starring Charles Laughton, whose performance earned him an Academy Award, and 1972's The Six Wives of Henry VIII starring Keith Michell. Richard Burton was Oscar-nominated for his Henry opposite Genevieve Bujold's Anne Boleyn in 1969's Anne of the Thousand Days. An episode of the 1960's American sitcom Betwiched had Samantha Stevens staving off a lustful Henry's intentions to make her his next wife. The life of Henry VIII was the subject of a famous Simpsons TV episode, in which Homer Simpson played Henry (the story is rather inaccurate). The Hallmark Channel also aired a movie on Henry VIII. PBS recently ran a mini-series on Henry and his wives.

References

• Herman's Hermits had a hit with their repetitive song "Henry the Eighth".

External links

• Henry VIII Revealed through study of portraiture
• The Six Wives of Henry VIII in-depth profiles of the women married to the King

See also

• Dissolution of the Monasteries
• Thomas Abel
• Thomas Cardinal Wolsey
• Sir Thomas More
• John Fisher
• Bishop of Rochester
• Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk
• Palace of Beaulieu

Preceded by: Henry VII	King of England	Succeeded by: Edward VI
	King of Ireland