Henry viii spouse

King of England from to

For other uses, see Henry VIII (disambiguation).

Henry VIII
Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, c.&#;–
Reign	22 April [a]&#;– 28 January
Coronation	24 June
Predecessor	Henry VII
Successor	Edward VI
Born	28 June Palace of Placentia, Greenwich, England
Died	28 January (aged 55) Palace of Whitehall, Westminster, England
Burial	16 February St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Berkshire
Spouses	Anne Boleyn &#; &#; (m.&#;; ann.&#;)&#; Jane Seymour &#; &#; (m.&#;; died&#;)&#; Anne of Cleves &#; &#; (m.&#;; ann.&#;)&#; Catherine Howard &#; &#; (m.&#;; died&#;)&#;
Issue more
House	Tudor
Father	Henry VII of England
Mother	Elizabeth of York
Religion
Signature

Henry VIII (28 June &#;&#; 28 January ) was King of England from 22 April until his death.

Henry is known for his six marriages and 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.

Henry viii family tree: Inside the court, however, Queen Anne suffered greatly from her failure to produce a living male heir. But, he also fancied himself as a poet and a singer. Although Elizabeth was born a princess, Henry eventually declared her illegitimate. Henry then spurned her, turning his affections to another woman of his court, Jane Seymour.

He appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated by the pope.

Henry brought radical changes to the Constitution of England, expanding royal power and ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings in opposition to papal supremacy. He frequently used charges of treason and heresy to quell dissent, and those accused were often executed without a formal trial using bills of attainder.

He achieved many of his political aims through his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour.

Henry VIII - Wives, Siblings & Children - Biography Henry VIII r. Royalty — Famous Kings and Queens throughout history. Close search. Your Profile.

Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer all figured prominently in his administration.

Henry was an extravagant spender, using proceeds from the dissolution of the monasteries and acts of the Reformation Parliament. He converted money that was formerly paid to Rome into royal revenue.

Despite the money from these sources, he was often on the verge of financial ruin due to personal extravagance and costly and largely unproductive wars, particularly with King Francis I of France, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King James V of Scotland, and the Scottish regency under the Earl of Arran and Mary of Guise.

He founded the Royal Navy, oversaw the annexation of Wales to England with the Laws in Wales Acts and , and was the first English monarch to rule as King of Ireland following the Crown of Ireland Act

Henry's contemporaries considered him 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 described as the "most important" in English history.^[4] 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. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI.

Early years

Born on 28 June 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.^[7] Of the young Henry's six (or seven) siblings, only three&#;– his brother Arthur, Prince of Wales, and sisters Margaret and Mary&#;– survived infancy.^[8] He was baptised by Richard Foxe, the Bishop of Exeter, at a church of the Observant Franciscans close to the palace.^[9] In , 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.

Henry viii siblings

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Henry viii children

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 , 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.^[9] Not much is known about Henry's early life – save for his appointments – because he was not expected to become king,^[9] 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.

In November , 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. 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 by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who made him a Knight of the Golden Fleece.^[13]

In , Arthur died at the age of 15, just 20 weeks after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.^[14] Arthur's death thrust all his duties upon his younger brother.

The year-old Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall, and the new Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in February 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".

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.^[14] Henry VII and Queen Isabella were both keen on the idea, which had arisen very shortly after Arthur's death.^[17] On 23 June , a treaty was signed for their marriage, and they were betrothed two days later.^[18] 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.^[18] Cohabitation was not possible because Henry was too young.^[17] Isabella's death in , and the ensuing problems of succession in Castile, complicated matters.

Ferdinand II preferred Catherine to stay in England, but Henry VII's relations with Ferdinand had deteriorated. 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 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.^[20]

Early reign

Henry VII died in April , and the year-old Henry succeeded him as king.^[21] 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.^[18][22] The new king maintained that it had been his father's dying wish that he marry Catherine.^[20] Whether or not this was true, it was convenient.

Emperor Maximilian I had been attempting to marry his granddaughter Eleanor, Catherine's niece, to Henry; she had now been jilted. Henry's wedding to Catherine was modest and was held at the friars' church in Greenwich on 11 June ^[22] Henry claimed descent from Constantine the Great and King Arthur and saw himself as their successor.^[24]

On 23 June , Henry led the now year-old Catherine from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey for their coronation, which took place the following day.^[25] It was a grand affair: the King's passage was lined with tapestries and laid with fine cloth.^[25] Following the ceremony, there was a grand banquet in Westminster Hall.

As Catherine wrote to her father, "our time is spent in continuous festival".^[22]

Two days after his coronation, Henry arrested his father's two most unpopular ministers, Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley. They were charged with high treason and were executed in Politically motivated executions would remain one of Henry's primary tactics for dealing with those who stood in his way.^[7] Henry returned some of the money supposedly extorted by the two ministers.

Biography henery viii However after the couple married, in January , Henry disapproved of Anne in the flesh and divorced her after six months. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. He loved music and wrote some as well. His fourth wife Anne of Cleaves was a disaster.

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. Others went unreconciled; Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk was eventually beheaded in , an execution prompted by his brother Richard siding against the King.

Soon after marrying Henry, Catherine conceived.

She gave birth to a stillborn girl on 31 January About four months later, Catherine again became pregnant.^[30] On 1 January , 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, including a two-day joust known as the Westminster Tournament.

However, the child died seven weeks later.^[30] Catherine had two stillborn sons in and , but gave birth in February to a girl, Mary. Relations between Henry and Catherine had been strained, but they eased slightly after Mary's birth.^[32]

Although Henry's marriage to Catherine has since been described as "unusually good", it is known that Henry took mistresses.

It was revealed in 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. The most significant mistress for about three years, starting in , was Elizabeth Blount.^[32] Blount is one of only two completely undisputed mistresses, considered by some to be few for a virile young king.^[35][36] Exactly how many Henry had is disputed: David Loades believes Henry had mistresses "only to a very limited extent",^[36] whilst Alison Weir believes there were numerous other affairs.^[37] Catherine is not known to have protested.

In , she fell pregnant again with another girl, who was also stillborn.^[32]

Blount gave birth in June to Henry's illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy.^[32] The young boy was made Duke of Richmond in June in what some thought was one step on the path to his eventual legitimisation.

FitzRoy married Mary Howard in , but died childless three years later. At the time of his death in July , Parliament was considering the Second Succession Act, which could have allowed him to become king.

France and the Habsburgs

In , France, with a fragile alliance with the Holy Roman Empire in the League of Cambrai, was winning a war against Venice.

Henry renewed his father's friendship with Louis XII of France, an issue that divided his council.

Jane seymour biography henry viii This event caused a shift in the religious and political dynamics in England, as he established the Church of England and saw that the monarchy had superiority over the church. His fourth wife Anne of Cleaves was a disaster. Tudor Monarchy: The Tudor monarchy is an infamous period in English history. His philandering ways were tame by the standards of his contemporaries, but they nonetheless resulted in his first divorce in

Certainly, war with the combined might of the two powers would have been exceedingly difficult.^[41] Shortly thereafter, however, Henry also signed a pact with Ferdinand II of Aragon. After Pope Julius II created the anti-French Holy League in October ,^[41] Henry followed Ferdinand's lead and brought England into the new League.

An initial joint Anglo-Spanish attack was planned for the spring to recover Aquitaine for England, the start of making Henry's dreams of ruling France a reality. The attack, however, following a formal declaration of war in April , was not led by Henry personally^[43] and was a considerable failure; Ferdinand used it simply to further his own ends, and it strained the Anglo-Spanish alliance.

Nevertheless, the French were pushed out of Italy soon after, and the alliance survived, with both parties keen to win further victories over the French.^[43] Henry then pulled off a diplomatic coup by convincing Emperor Maximilian to join the Holy League. Remarkably, Henry had secured the promised title of "Most Christian King of France" from Julius and possibly coronation by the Pope himself in Paris, if only Louis could be defeated.

On 30 June , Henry invaded France, and his troops defeated a French army at the Battle of the Spurs – a relatively minor result, but one which was seized on by the English for propaganda purposes.

Soon after, the English took Thérouanne and handed it over to Maximilian; Tournai, a more significant settlement, followed. Henry had led the army personally, complete with a large entourage. His absence from the country, however, had prompted his brother-in-law James IV of Scotland to invade England at the behest of Louis. Nevertheless, the English army, overseen by Queen Catherine, decisively defeated the Scots at the Battle of Flodden on 9 September ^[50] Among the dead was the Scottish king, thus ending Scotland's brief involvement in the war.^[50] These campaigns had given Henry a taste of the military success he so desired.

However, despite initial indications, he decided not to pursue a campaign. He had been supporting Ferdinand and Maximilian financially during the campaign but had received little in return; England's coffers were now empty. With the replacement of Julius by Pope Leo X, who was inclined to negotiate for peace with France, Henry signed his own treaty with Louis: his sister Mary would become Louis's wife, having previously been pledged to the younger Charles, and peace was secured for eight years, a remarkably long time.

Charles V, the nephew of Henry's wife Catherine, inherited a large empire in Europe, becoming king of Spain in and Holy Roman Emperor in When Louis XII of France died in , he was succeeded by his cousin Francis I.

These accessions left three relatively young rulers and an opportunity for a clean slate. The careful diplomacy of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey had resulted in the Treaty of London (), aimed at uniting the kingdoms of western Europe in the wake of a new Ottoman threat, and it seemed that peace might be secured.^[54] Henry met King Francis on 7 June at the Field of the Cloth of Gold near Calais for a fortnight of lavish entertainment.

Both hoped for friendly relations in place of the wars of the previous decade.

Henry VIII - King of England, Age, Married, Wife, Children ...

The strong air of competition laid to rest any hopes of a renewal of the Treaty of London, however, and conflict was inevitable.^[54] Henry had more in common with Charles, whom he met once before and once after Francis. Charles brought his realms into war with France in ; Henry offered to mediate, but little was achieved and by the end of the year Henry had aligned England with Charles.

He still clung to his previous aim of restoring English lands in France but sought to secure an alliance with the Netherlands, then a territorial possession of Charles, and the continued support of the Emperor. A small English attack in the north of France made up little ground. Charles defeated and captured Francis at Pavia and could dictate peace, but he believed he owed Henry nothing.

Sensing this, Henry decided to take England out of the war before his ally, signing the Treaty of the More on 30 August

Marriages

Main article: Wives of Henry VIII

Annulment from Catherine

During his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry conducted an affair with Mary Boleyn, Catherine's lady-in-waiting.

There has been speculation that Mary's two children, Henry Carey and Catherine Carey, were fathered by Henry but this has never been proven.

Mary boleyn biography henry viii Anne, regal and calm, denied all charges against her. But, Henry did not mind and just announced himself head of the Church of England. He then married Catherine Howard, but two years later she too was beheaded for treason and adultery. He loved hunting and outdoor pursuits.

King Henry never acknowledged them as he did in the case of Henry FitzRoy. In , as Henry grew more impatient with Catherine's inability to produce the male heir he desired,^[62] he became enamoured of Mary Boleyn's sister, Anne Boleyn, then a charismatic young woman of 25 in the Queen's entourage.

Anne, however, resisted his attempts to seduce her, and refused to become his mistress as her sister had.^[b] It was in this context that Henry considered his three options for finding a dynastic successor and hence resolving what came to be described at court as the King's "great matter". These options were legitimising Henry FitzRoy, which would need the involvement of the Pope and would be open to challenge; marrying off Mary, his daughter with Catherine, as soon as possible and hoping for a grandson to inherit directly, but Mary was considered unlikely to conceive before Henry's death, or somehow rejecting Catherine and marrying someone else of child-bearing age.

Probably seeing the possibility of marrying Anne, the third was ultimately the most attractive possibility to the year-old Henry, and it soon became the King's absorbing desire to annul his marriage to the now year-old Catherine.

Henry's precise motivations and intentions over the coming years are not widely agreed on.^[68] Henry himself, at least in the early part of his reign, was a devout and well-informed Catholic to the extent that his publication Assertio Septem Sacramentorum ("Defence of the Seven Sacraments") earned him the title of Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) from Pope Leo X.^[69] The work represented a staunch defence of papal supremacy, albeit one couched in somewhat contingent terms.^[69] It is not clear exactly when Henry changed his mind on the issue as he grew more intent on a second marriage.

Certainly, by , he had convinced himself that Catherine had produced no male heir because their union was "blighted in the eyes of God".^[70] Indeed, in marrying Catherine, his brother's wife, he had acted contrary to Leviticus , a justification Thomas Cranmer used to declare the marriage null.^[71][c]Martin Luther, on the other hand, had initially argued against the annulment, stating that Henry VIII could take a second wife in accordance with his teaching that the Bible allowed for polygamy but not divorce.^[71] Henry now believed the Pope had lacked the authority to grant a dispensation from this impediment.

It was this argument Henry took to Pope Clement VII in in the hope of having his marriage to Catherine annulled, forgoing at least one less openly defiant line of attack.^[68] In going public, all hope of tempting Catherine to retire to a nunnery or otherwise stay quiet was lost. Henry sent his secretary, William Knight, to appeal directly to the Holy See by way of a deceptively worded draft papal bull.

Knight was unsuccessful; the Pope could not be misled so easily,^[73] and he did not want to antagonise Catherine's nephew, Charles V, whose troops had recently sacked Rome.^[