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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 103, Henry VIII Part 1:
March 7, 2005:
We took a brief look at Henry VIII when we covered the Renaissance man Sir Thomas More in essay number 60. Henry was the second king of the Tudor line and held the throne from 1509 to 1547. He was know as the king of many wives. In fact, he had six, two of whom were executed for alleged treason. His first wife was Catherine of Aragon who gave him one daughter. Later, this daughter became queen Mary I. Catherine actually bore six kids but all except Mary died aborning. The divorce of Catherine lead to a few executions and the big rift between the English throne and the Church of Rome. In that rift, the Church of Rome lost its power in England.
Henry's second wife was Anne Boleyn who also gave him a daughter. This daughter was later to become queen Elizabeth I. Anne did not do well at all. She was convicted of treason, adultery, and stuff like that. Then she lost her head. More likely, the real story is that she got offed because she did not give Henry a male heir. Onward with the wives. Henry then married Jane Seymour who did give him a male heir. This was to be Henry's successor, Edward VI. There was no need to execute Jane. She died giving birth to Edward.
Not to be deterred, Henry then married Anne of Cleves. He decided he did not like he very much and quickly divorced her. The story is, he married her as a political move to secure the support of her father, a powerful German prince. The next bride was Catherine Howard. She was another who was accused of adultery and executed. It turns out she really had messed around, but that was before she married Henry. No matter, the Parliament passed a law making that a treasonable offense. Rules are rules. She lost her head in the Tower of London. The final queen of Henry was Catherine Parr. Hank was getting on in years by this time and Catherine was lucky enough to outlive him.
Now, messing around with wives was not all that Henry VIII did. I believe his most notable achievement was the wresting of control of the Church of England away from the pope. This was just the culmination of a long struggle. In fact, many of the English monarchs had engaged in snorting contests with the church of Rome. Henry managed the final break because he was a very powerful monarch and knew how to use his power to have his way.
Henry is one of the few kings who acquired power without incident. His older brother had died and he became the heir to the throne. When his father Henry VII died no one opposed him and this very smart and well educated 18 year old kid was in. He married Catherine of Aragon in the year he took the throne. Henry was king and ready to celebrate. Hence, most of the earlier heavy lifting of ruling the kingdom was done by Thomas Wolsey who was first appointed royal almoner when Henry took the throne. Wolsey was a persuasive man who took more and more responsibility for the kingdom while Henry enjoyed life.
Wolsey moved right on up, in the Kingdom as well as in the church. He eventually became a cardinal in 1515 in the same year he took over as lord chancellor of England. In the meantime, there was a war, of course! As always, the old enmity between France and England came out. In 1512 There was a struggle going on between France and Spain over control of Italy. Henry decided to join in on the side of Spain. While he was away in France with most of his army the Scots invaded England, but they were defeated by the Earl of Surrey with is own army. Again thousands of people died for nothing.
In the meantime Wolsey distinguished himself in the campaign against France. Wolsey was a real asset to Henry. He knew his place was to serve the king rather than undercut him. In fact, Wolsey would probably have liked to ascent to the papal throne, but, even with Henry's support, that was not about to happen. In the meantime, power shifts were taking place in Europe. Charles V had become the Holy Roman Emperor. His alliances were extensive and with these all of Europe was pitted against France. Henry was on the right side until Wolsey screwed up. He tried to switch England's support to France, but the Emperor and France made peace. Thereafter, England was on the outside looking in. Meanwhile, the tax to support the foreign adventures had become a serious burden on the English folk.
Finally, in 1523 Wolsey, acting for the king, was forced to agree to a meeting of the Parliament. England, from the wealth accumulated by Henry VII was now faced with bankruptcy. The treasure had been squandered in celebrations and foreign adventures. All the parliament could do was vote for a new tax, which angered everyone. Of course, Henry blamed Wolsey. Wouldn't you? From that time on Wolsey was a marked man.
About this time, Henry had grown tired of Catherine and was messing around with Anne Boleyn. She was a younger (20) more active woman than Catherine and Henry enjoyed her. He also thought he needed her to provide his male heir. So, he set about on what has been called the "King's great matter." This was, of course the needed divorce from Catherine. It took six years and a revolution against the church, but he got his way.
He tried for an annulment with Clement VII, but this particular pope was afraid of the Holy Roman Emperor. With all the inbreeding and stuff, it turns out that Catherine was the Emperor's aunt. Then Wolsey tried to bring off a divorce by trying the case in England. That came to naught because he was opposed by another Cardinal, Campeggio who was remaining loyal to Clement. Henry booted Wolsey out. Wolsey was later arrested and charged with treason and he died in custody.
Meanwhile, Henry finally brought in our old friend Thomas More
as chancellor. More was more interested in fighting Lutheran heresy
than the divorce. In fact, he told Henry he did not approve of
the divorce. Henry was in a quandary. He wanted a legal solution,
but he was a bit tired of Rome's control of English affairs. He
was thinking about ousting Rome altogether. That, of course is,
what eventually happened. Henry VIII ousted the church from England
and the Church of England was established. There will be more
on this in the next essay.
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