Henry The Eighth.

Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement with Pope Clement VII about such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated by the pope. Henry is also known as “the father of the Royal Navy” as he invested heavily in the navy and increased its size from a few to more than 50 ships, and established the Navy Board.^[1]

Domestically, Henry is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings in opposition to papal supremacy. He also greatly expanded royal power during his reign. He frequently used charges of treason and heresy to quell dissent, and those accused were often executed without a formal trial by means of bills of attainder. He achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour. Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich and Thomas Cranmer all figured prominently in his administration.

Henry was an extravagant spender, using the proceeds from the dissolution of the monasteries and acts of the Reformation Parliament. He also converted the money that was formerly paid to Rome into royal revenue. Despite the money from these sources, he was continually on the verge of financial ruin due to his personal extravagance, as well as his numerous costly and largely unsuccessful wars, particularly with King Francis I of France, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King James V of Scotland and the Scottish regency under the Earl of Arran and Mary of Guise. At home, he oversaw the annexure of Wales to England with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 and was the first English monarch to rule as King of Ireland following the Crown of Ireland Act 1542.

Henry’s contemporaries considered him to be an attractive, educated and accomplished king. He has been described as “one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne” and his reign has been described as the “most important” in English history.^[2][3] He was an author and composer. As he aged, he became severely overweight and his health suffered. He is frequently characterised in his later life as a lustful, egotistical, paranoid and tyrannical monarch.^[4] He was succeeded by his son Edward VI.

Born on 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, Kent, Henry Tudor was the third child and second son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.^[5] Of the young Henry’s six (or seven) siblings, only three – his brother Arthur, Prince of Wales, and sisters Margaret and Mary – survived infancy.^[6] He was baptised by Richard Foxe, the Bishop of Exeter, at a church of the Observant Franciscans close to the palace.^[7] In 1493, at the age of two, Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at age three and was made a Knight of the Bath soon after. The day after the ceremony, he was created Duke of York and a month or so later made Warden of the Scottish Marches. In May 1495, he was appointed to the Order of the Garter. The reason for giving such appointments to a small child was to enable his father to retain personal control of lucrative positions and not share them with established families.^[7] Not much is known about Henry’s early life – save for his appointments – because he was not expected to become king,^[7] but it is known that he received a first-rate education from leading tutors. He became fluent in Latin and French and learned at least some Italian.^[8][9]

In November 1501, Henry played a considerable part in the ceremonies surrounding his brother Arthur’s marriage to Catherine, the youngest child of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile.^[10] As Duke of York, Henry used the arms of his father as king, differenced by a label of three points ermine. He was further honoured on 9 February 1506 by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who made him a Knight of the Golden Fleece.^[11]

In 1502, Arthur died at the age of 15, possibly of sweating sickness,^[12] just 20 weeks after his marriage to Catherine.^[13] Arthur’s death thrust all his duties upon his younger brother. The 10-year-old Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall, and the new Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in February 1504.^[14] Henry VII gave his second son few responsibilities even after the death of Arthur. Young Henry was strictly supervised and did not appear in public. As a result, he ascended the throne “untrained in the exacting art of kingship”.^[15]

Henry VII renewed his efforts to seal a marital alliance between England and Spain, by offering his son Henry in marriage to the widowed Catherine.^[13] Both Henry VII and Catherine’s mother Queen Isabella were keen on the idea, which had arisen very shortly after Arthur’s death.^[16] On 23 June 1503, a treaty was signed for their marriage, and they were betrothed two days later.^[17] A papal dispensation was only needed for the “impediment of public honesty” if the marriage had not been consummated as Catherine and her duenna claimed, but Henry VII and the Spanish ambassador set out instead to obtain a dispensation for “affinity“, which took account of the possibility of consummation.^[17] Cohabitation was not possible because Henry was too young.^[16] Isabella’s death in 1504, and the ensuing problems of succession in Castile, complicated matters. Catherine’s father Ferdinand preferred her to stay in England, but Henry VII’s relations with Ferdinand had deteriorated.^[18] Catherine was therefore left in limbo for some time, culminating in Prince Henry’s rejection of the marriage as soon he was able, at the age of 14. Ferdinand’s solution was to make his daughter ambassador, allowing her to stay in England indefinitely. Devout, she began to believe that it was God’s will that she marry the prince despite his opposition.

Henry VII died on 21 April 1509, and the 17-year-old Henry succeeded him as king. Soon after his father’s burial on 10 May, Henry suddenly declared that he would indeed marry Catherine, leaving unresolved several issues concerning the papal dispensation and a missing part of the marriage portion.^[17][20] The new king maintained that it had been his father’s dying wish that he marry Catherine.^[19] Whether or not this was true, it was certainly convenient. Emperor Maximilian I had been attempting to marry his granddaughter Eleanor, Catherine’s niece, to Henry; she had now been jilted.^[21] Henry’s wedding to Catherine was kept low-key and was held at the friar’s church in Greenwich on 11 June 1509.^[20]

On 23 June 1509, Henry led the now 23-year-old Catherine from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey for their coronation, which took place the following day.^[22] It was a grand affair: the king’s passage was lined with tapestries and laid with fine cloth.^[22] Following the ceremony, there was a grand banquet in Westminster Hall.^[23] As Catherine wrote to her father, “our time is spent in continuous festival”.^[20]

Two days after his coronation, Henry arrested his father’s two most unpopular ministers, Sir Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley. They were charged with high treason and were executed in 1510. Politically motivated executions would remain one of Henry’s primary tactics for dealing with those who stood in his way.^[5] Henry also returned some of the money supposedly extorted by the two ministers.^[24] By contrast, Henry’s view of the House of York – potential rival claimants for the throne – was more moderate than his father’s had been. Several who had been imprisoned by his father, including Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, were pardoned.^[25] Others went unreconciled; Edmund de la Pole was eventually beheaded in 1513, an execution prompted by his brother Richard siding against the king.^[26]

Soon after marrying Henry, Catherine conceived. She gave birth to a stillborn girl on 31 January 1510. About four months later, Catherine again became pregnant.^[27] On 1 January 1511, New Year’s Day, a son Henry was born. After the grief of losing their first child, the couple were pleased to have a boy and festivities were held,^[28] including a two-day joust known as the Westminster Tournament. However, the child died seven weeks later.^[27] Catherine had two stillborn sons in 1513 and 1515, but gave birth in February 1516 to a girl, Mary. Relations between Henry and Catherine had been strained, but they eased slightly after Mary’s birth.^[29]

Although Henry’s marriage to Catherine has since been described as “unusually good”,^[30] it is known that Henry took mistresses. It was revealed in 1510 that Henry had been conducting an affair with one of the sisters of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, either Elizabeth or Anne Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon.^[31] The most significant mistress for about three years, starting in 1516, was Elizabeth Blount.^[29] Blount is one of only two completely undisputed mistresses, considered by some to be few for a virile young king.^[32][33] Exactly how many Henry had is disputed: David Loades believes Henry had mistresses “only to a very limited extent”,^[33] whilst Alison Weir believes there were numerous other affairs.^[34] Catherine is not known to have protested. In 1518 she fell pregnant again with another girl, who was also stillborn.^[29]

Blount gave birth in June 1519 to Henry’s illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy.^[29] The young boy was made Duke of Richmond in June 1525 in what some thought was one step on the path to his eventual legitimisation.^[35] In 1533, FitzRoy married Mary Howard, but died childless three years later.^[36] At the time of his death in June 1536, Parliament was considering the Second Succession Act, which could have allowed him to become king.