Henry VIII
Henry VIII (1491–1547) King of England (1509–47). Second son of Henry VII, he became heir on the death of his elder brother, Arthur, in 1502. His aggressive foreign policy, administered by Cardinal Wolsey, depleted the royal treasury. Henry, supported by Thomas Cromwell, presided over the first stages of the English Reformation. He managed to obtain a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and married Anne Boleyn (1533), mother of the future Elizabeth I. In 1535, he executed Anne for adultery. Thomas More, Henry's former chancellor, was also executed for refusing to accept Henry as head of the Church. Henry then married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of the future Edward VI. His next marriage, to Anne of Cleves, ended in divorce in 1540, and with the execution of Cromwell. Shortly after, he married Catherine Howard (executed 1542) and finally Catherine Parr in 1543 who survived him. Henry's reign will also be remembered for the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536–40), which brought temporary relief from financial problems, but at the cost of great social unrest.
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Henry VIII