Henry VIII
He was a lean, athletic prince who could outjoust anyone in Europe. By the end he needed a mechanical chair to get upstairs, and had rewritten England's religion.
Published
Quick Facts
- Born
- 28 June 1491, Greenwich Palace
- Reigned
- 1509 to 1547
- Wives
- Six: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr
- Children who reigned
- Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I
- Big break
- The Act of Supremacy of 1534 made him head of the Church of England
- Dissolution
- Hundreds of monasteries closed between 1536 and 1540
- Died
- 28 January 1547, Whitehall Palace
- Buried
- St George's Chapel, Windsor, beside Jane Seymour
The golden prince who wasn't supposed to be king
Henry only became heir because his older brother Arthur died in 1502, aged 15. Suddenly the second son was first in line. When he took the throne at 17, in 1509, he was a sensation: tall, red-haired, a jouster, a tennis player, a composer and a keen linguist. He married Arthur's widow, Catherine of Aragon, within weeks of his coronation. He even wrote a book. His 1521 defence of the seven sacraments, aimed at Martin Luther, earned him the title Defender of the Faith from the Pope. British monarchs still carry a version of it on coins today (the abbreviation FD).
The marriage that broke England's link with Rome
Catherine gave Henry a daughter, Mary, but no surviving son. By the late 1520s he was infatuated with Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting, and wanted the marriage annulled. The Pope would not oblige, so Henry went round him. Thomas Cranmer, made Archbishop of Canterbury, declared the marriage void in 1533. In 1534 the Act of Supremacy made the king, not the Pope, supreme head of the Church in England. It was the biggest constitutional shake-up in centuries, and it began as a very personal problem. Those who refused to go along, among them Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher, paid with their lives.
Six wives, and what really happened to them
The old rhyme says divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. It is a handy mnemonic rather than a precise legal record, because two of those marriages were annulled rather than ended by divorce. Catherine of Aragon's marriage was declared void in 1533. Anne Boleyn gave birth to the future Elizabeth I, then was executed in 1536 on charges of adultery and treason. Jane Seymour gave Henry his longed-for son, Edward, in 1537, and died days later. Anne of Cleves, whom he had chosen from a portrait by Hans Holbein, had her marriage annulled in 1540 and became his 'sister', living comfortably for the rest of her life. Catherine Howard was beheaded in 1542. Catherine Parr, a published author, outlived him and helped bring his children together.
The great demolition of the monasteries
Between 1536 and 1540 Henry closed England's monasteries, priories and abbeys, taking their lands and wealth. The money funded wars and his building projects, and the sale of the land created a new class of gentry with a stake in the new order. The results are still visible as romantic ruins: Fountains Abbey, Rievaulx, Tintern and Whitby all stand roofless today. Some great churches survived by becoming cathedrals or parish churches. Henry also left a more bureaucratic mark: his reign saw Wales formally joined to England by the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542.
A king of gadgets, palaces and gluttony
Henry loved building. Hampton Court, which he took from Cardinal Wolsey, still has his vast kitchens and Great Hall. He also built Nonsuch and expanded Whitehall, then the largest palace in Europe. He was passionate about the navy. His flagship Mary Rose sank in the Solent in 1545 and was raised in 1982; she is now displayed in Portsmouth. He also built a chain of coastal forts, such as Deal and Walmer castles in Kent. In later life, an old jousting injury to his leg left him in pain and unable to exercise. He grew enormously heavy and had to be moved around by mechanical aids.
Where you can still meet him
Hampton Court Palace is the obvious place, with its Tudor astronomical clock and the Royal Tennis Court. The court's present form dates from its rebuilding for Charles I in 1625, but tennis courts stood at the palace in Henry's own reign. The Tower of London tells the darker stories, including the executions of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. His tomb is in St George's Chapel, Windsor. In Portsmouth you can see the Mary Rose. And the sovereign's modern title, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, descends from Henry's break with Rome. He was Supreme Head; Elizabeth I adopted the softer Supreme Governor in 1559.
Notable people
- Catherine of Aragon
- Anne Boleyn
- Jane Seymour
- Anne of Cleves
- Catherine Howard
- Catherine Parr
- Thomas Wolsey
- Thomas Cromwell
- Thomas Cranmer
- Thomas More
- Hans Holbein
- Edward VI
- Mary I
- Elizabeth I
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