Henry was the second son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, daughter of King Edward IV. He was educated under private tutelage of poet and satirist John Skelton. Henry became heir apparent after the death of his elder brother, Arthur, who died on 2 Apr 1502, and acceded to the throne on 22 Apr 1509.
The early reign of Henry VIII was marked by the ascendancy of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who assumed the key posts of Lord Chancellor and Cardinal Legate. As Henry sought to expand England's power in Europe, the English army led a victorious campaign against the French (1513) and defeated the Scots at the Battle of Flodden Field (9 Sep 1513). Henry attempted to act as a mediator between France and Spain, but failed to achieve any diplomatic success. Henry's ambitions in religious affairs led him to writing a pamphlet against Lutheran heresy (1521), which earned him the title Defender of the Faith bestowed by the pope Leo X. The principal issue, which preoccupied the king for almost five years (1527-1533) was "the King's great matter": his divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, which caused tensions with the pope, who objected the king's intentions. When Cardinal Wolsey failed to obtain the divorce from the papal Rome, he was replaced with Sir Thomas More (1529). To exert pressure on the pope, Henry used parliamentary legislation to end the dependence of the English clergy on Rome. In a parliamentary act granting pardon to the clergy guilty of the violation of the Stature of Praemunire Henry VIII was recognized as "protector and only supreme head of the church and clergy in England" (1531). In addition, Parliament passed a law prohibiting appeals to the pope in matters of marriage and the Archbishop of Canterbury finally declared Henry's union with Catherine void (23 May 1533). Henry married Anne Boleyn and made her queen. As a result of this action, the pope Clement VII excommunicated Henry.
Following the breach with Rome, Henry VIII and his adviser Thomas Cromwell undertook a reorganization of the church and state. In November 1534 the Act of Supremacy acknowledged that the king "justly and rightly is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church in England". The papal supremacy ended when Henry formally assumed the new title in early 1535 acquiring the supreme clerical authority. In the next five years (1535-1540) the Parliament passed a series of laws aimed at dissolution of the monasteries and reformation of the Church of England in the direction of Protestantism. After the execution of Anne Boleyn on charges of adultery (19 May 1536) and the death of his third wife, Jane Seymour (24 Oct 1537), the marriages of Henry followed in rapid succession. To secure the union with German Protestant princes, Henry married Anne of Cleves, but after only six months the marriage was annulled (9 Jul 1540) and Cromwell, as the marriage chief architect, was accused of high treason and executed (28 Jul 1540). A few days later Henry was married to Catherine Howard, a niece of the Duke of Norfolk, but soon she was also found guilty of adultery and executed (13 Feb 1542). On 12 Jul 1543 Henry married Catherine Parr, who narrowly escaped punishment for her religious disputes and survived her spouse. In 1542 England joined the Holy Roman Emperor Karl V (Carlos I of Spain) in his war against France and repelled the invasion of the Scots at Solway Moss (24 Nov 1542). The acquisition of Boulogne was the only positive effect of the war with France, but the rich monastic lands were sold to the gentry to cover the war expenditures. Control of Wales was strengthened by the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542, which united England and Wales administratively and legally, and gave Wales representation in Parliament. [3; 4; 5] |
