Brianna Geiger
Professor J. Patterson
HIS 2003 N
2 May 2018
The Life of King Henry VIII and His Wives
King Henry VIII and the responsibilities of his six wives played a pivotal role in the history of England. To start, on June 28, 1491, Henry Tudor was born to Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in Greenwich, England. He was one of four children to survive through their infancy. His father Henry VII was the King of England at the time. His main focus was to restore power and trust in the monarchy. With a stronger government, came more expenses. The monarchy was running out of money but Henry figured out a strategy that helped accumulate more money. This resulted in a considerable amount of wealth which would be passed down to his son when he became king. King Henry VII, fell ill to tuberculosis and later died in 1509. At the young age of only seventeen, Henry VIII succeeded his father and became the second Tudor monarch. The results of King Henry’s thirty-seven-year reign impacted England then, in the sixteenth century, and even still today, in the twenty-first century.
Believe it or not, the famous Henry was actually not expected to become the next king after his father, Henry VII. He had an older brother, Arthur who was assumed to be next. Unaware of what the future was going to hold, Henry’s brother, who was Prince of Wales at the time, suddenly died in 1502. It was thought that an illness, possibly the “sweating sickness” or tuberculosis was to blame for the cause of his death. This occurred less than half a year after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, who was from Spain. She was left a widow until 1509 when she remarried her late husband’s brother, Henry VII. Henry was still young at the time of Arthur’s death to get married. He also wasn’t sure he wanted to have an alliance with Spain at that time. However, after his father died, one of the first things he did was get married to Catherine of Aragon. Henry’s renowned period of many wives began in 1509, starting with his marriage to the Spanish princess, Catherine.
Catherine of Aragon was born to Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella, in 1485. She was Princess of Wales for a short few months while Arthur was still alive. After his death, she became the first female ambassador in European history. A major contribution held by Catherine occurred while her husband was in France, in 1513. She played an important role in the Battle of Flodden, which was a battle between Scotland and England. England ultimately won the battle which was a huge victory for the English, as well as, Catherine, since she was Henry’s regent at the time. Soon after getting married, Catherine was pregnant. Their first child was born prematurely in a stillbirth. Pregnancy after pregnancy followed but with no success. They had two sons that died early in infancy. Catherine had a few miscarriages before finally giving birth to their first long living daughter, Mary. She will eventually become known as “Bloody Mary.”
While Henry tried to remain a devoted husband, his frustration started to get the best of him. Henry had two mistresses throughout his marriage to Catherine. They were Elizabeth Blount and Mary Boleyn. What he wanted most was a male heir but Catherine couldn’t give that to him, as she was getting older, and could no longer conceive. During this time, in 1526, he began to fall in love with Anne Boleyn. Anne was actually Mary Boleyn’s sister. She was younger than Catherine and could possibly give him the son he so deeply desired. Before that though, he had to get a divorce from Catherine. This wasn’t as easy to do as it may sound. First, Henry went to Pope Clement VII and asked for an annulment. The Pope refused to annul the marriage. Catherine was unaware that this was going on, so she was obviously upset when she was told about the news. After six years of debating about legal and political affairs, something major happened, Anne Boleyn became pregnant. This was significant because if she had the baby before they were married, and it was a son, he wouldn’t be able to succeed King Henry. Henry had to think fast in order to get the annulment from Catherine. Instead of the Pope, who initially annulled him, he went to Thomas Cranmer. Cranmer was the archbishop of Canterbury.
Henry finally got to marry Anne Boleyn in 1533. This was possible because it was found that his marriage to Catherine was considered invalid because she was married to his brother prior to their marriage.
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