Henry VIII

BORN: June 28, 1491 • Greenwich, England

DIED: January 28, 1547 • London, England

English king

By breaking away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, Henry VIII initiated a revolution that resulted, after his death, in a golden age for England. But his reign was marked by controversies and problems. Intent on ensuring that his family line would inherit the throne, he persecuted his political rivals and created religious conflicts that threatened to tear the country apart. His ill-advised military actions, intended to enhance his own glory, almost bankrupted the country and led to further discontent among his subjects. By emphasizing his supreme power as king, Henry strengthened the position of the monarchy in England, but he also caused resentment among the nobles who wanted a larger share of power. He left his successors to rule a country that was divided by religious strife and remained vulnerable to rival European powers.

"I do not choose anyone to have in his power to command me, nor will I ever suffer it."

A royal upbringing

The second son of Henry VII (1457–1509) and Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV (1442–1483), Henry VIII grew up without much training in the art of ruling a country because his older brother, Arthur, was expected to assume the throne when their father died. Highly intelligent, Henry was interested in scholarly subjects and received a relatively good education. He became fluent in six languages and was interested in mathematics, astronomy (the study of the stars, planets, and other celestial bodies), geometry, and theology (the study of religion). He was also a talented musician. He could play several instruments, and he composed music as well.

Tall, strong, and strikingly handsome, Henry was a superb athlete. He loved to ride horses, hunt, and play sports, including tennis. He could dance all night without getting tired. He enjoyed tournaments and jousting—a type of athletic contest in which participants on horses tried to unseat their opponents by riding toward them and striking them with lances. Henry also admired the arts, and he gave them generous financial support.

Arthur died in 1502, making Henry heir to the throne. When Henry became king after his father's death in 1509, it was England's first peaceful succession (the sequence in which persons legally become king or queen) since 1422. Henry's father, who came from a family of mostly Welsh ancestry, had taken the throne after defeating his rival, Richard III (1452–1485) in battle in 1485. This ended the long and bitter War of the Roses (1455–1485), in which the Lancaster family and the York family fought for their right to rule England. Henry VII became the first English king in the Tudor family.

Early rule

Lacking a clear sense of what he wished to accomplish as king, Henry VIII often focused more on his image than on policy. Wanting his subjects to hold him in awe, he cared very much about ceremonies and luxuries that emphasized his majesty and authority. He relied heavily on the advice of his councilors when he had to make decisions about governing. Even so, Henry never let it look as if he were not in total control of his realm.

Just a few weeks after becoming king, Henry married Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536), daughter of the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand (1452–1516) and Isabella (1451–1504). Catherine was the widow of Henry's brother, Arthur, and Henry received special permission from the pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church, to marry her. In 1511 Catherine gave birth to a son, but the baby lived only a few weeks. Several later pregnancies resulted in miscarriages.

Frustrated that he had not yet fathered an heir, the young king decided to join Spain in a war against France. He hoped that military success would bring him glory. But this decision prompted James IV of Scotland (1473–1513), an ally of France, to invade England. Under the military leadership of Thomas Howard (Earl of Surrey; 1443–1524), the English defeated the Scots at Flodden Field in 1513. James died in battle. Though England could claim military victory, the war was expensive and contributed to England's worsening financial problems.

Did Henry VIII Suffer from Syphilis?

Some of the symptoms that made King Henry VIII's later life so miserable suggest that he could have been suffering from syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that had no cure in his day. Left untreated, the syphilis bacterium stays in the body and damages internal organs, including the brain, nerves, heart, blood vessels, liver, joints, bones, and eyes. Henry's leg sores, for example, have sometimes been explained as the result of a serious jousting accident he suffered as a young man, but could also have been the result of syphilis. His increasingly irrational behavior as he aged has also been attributed to syphilis. In addition, his difficulty in fathering a child could have been related to this disease. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, suffered several miscarriages—a pattern that can be typical when one parent has syphilis. Or Catherine herself may have been infected by her husband; some 40 percent of pregnancies among women who have syphilis result in a miscarriage. Henry's daughter, Mary, had various health problems that may have been caused by a congenital (from birth) syphilitic condition.

Many doctors in Henry's own time believed the king had syphilis, which was commonly known as "the pox." But the question has never been satisfactorily answered. Some modern doctors believe the evidence strongly supports a diagnosis of syphilis, but others say that there is not enough information to confirm or reject this disease as a cause of Henry's medical problems.

In 1515 Henry made Thomas Wolsey (1474–1530), who was Archbishop of York and a cardinal of the Catholic Church, his primary advisor. Wolsey, an ambitious and greedy man, was known for his corruption and hypocrisy. Hoping to become pope one day, Wolsey advised Henry to meddle in affairs between Spain and France in the 1520s. The cardinal wanted to make a political alliance that would strengthen support for his own position of power in the church. But Spain resented England's interference, and the Spanish government retaliated by blocking English access to the cloth trade with the Netherlands. Because this trade was an important part of the English economy, its loss caused great anger in England.

Increasing financial problems also created discontent. In 1523 Wolsey agreed to call Parliament, England's legislative body, into session to consider raising taxes. But Parliament approved amounts that were far too low, and the next year Wolsey attempted to impose an additional tax. This move proved so unpopular that Henry cancelled it. By 1527 England had almost no money left in its treasury.

"The King's great matter"

Unpopular as a result of his bad financial policies, Henry also faced more personal frustrations. After several years of marriage he still had no male heir. Only one of his children by Catherine, Mary I (1516–1558; see entry) had survived; since then, the queen had not become pregnant again. Fearing that a female succession would be challenged, Henry wanted to dissolve his marriage, which would leave him free to marry again and father a legitimate son.

With Wolsey as his spokesperson, the king petitioned the pope to dissolve his marriage to Catherine. But the pope feared angering Catherine's nephew, Charles V (1500–1558), Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain. For six years he refused to give an answer. Meanwhile, Henry convinced himself that he had committed a sin by marrying Catherine. He became obsessed with obtaining the divorce, which he began calling "the King's great matter."

In 1529 Henry removed Wolsey as his advisor and had him arrested. He was angry that the cardinal had failed to persuade the pope to grant the divorce. If Wolsey had not died of natural causes on his way to prison, Henry would likely have ordered him executed for treason. In 1531 Thomas Cromwell (1485–1540) became Henry's chief advisor. Cromwell devised a plan: pass a law stating that the English church would make its own decisions without appealing to the pope. This law enabled Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) to declare Henry's marriage to Catherine void in 1533. By this time Henry had made his mistress, Anne Boleyn (1507–1536) pregnant and had secretly married her. At the same time that he announced Henry's divorce, Cranmer legitimated this new marriage. After the princess Elizabeth I (1533–1603; see entry) was born, the pope excommunicated Henry, depriving him of the right to worship as a Catholic.

The Reformation in England

In 1534 Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which declared the king the supreme head of the church in England. This step, the result of Henry's concern about the succession, created a complete break with the Catholic Church in Rome and led to revolution. Concerned about maintaining the loyalty of his subjects, Henry prosecuted prominent leaders who refused to accept his new religious authority. Among these was the king's former friend and counselor, Thomas More (1478–1535), who was beheaded for treason in 1535.

Henry then took over England's monasteries, which owned huge treasures, including gold and silver religious objects as well as valuable land. The English people had been required to pay income to these monasteries, and this substantial income now went to the government. The sale of monastic lands and objects also provided the royal treasury with huge profits, and shifted new wealth to the nobles. This allowed the nobles, in time, to assume more influential roles in England's affairs.

Henry's goal had never been to create religious dissent. He disapproved of Martin Luther (1483–1546), for example, a German monk who in 1517 had protested Catholic policies that he and other reformers considered corrupt. These reformers wanted to restore the church to the purity and simplicity that they believed had been its original state. They objected to the influence of the pope and the clergy, who were often wealthy and did not live by the principles they preached to others. But Henry did not disapprove of Catholicism. In fact, he had written a best-selling book in 1521 attacking Luther, which had inspired the pope to give Henry the title of Defender of the Faith. But the Act of Succession, in effect, supported the same cause that Luther championed in Europe—the Protestant Reformation, a sixteenth-century religious movement that aimed to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the establishment of Protestant churches. Henry's break with the pope created deep conflicts in England between those who wished to remain loyal to the Catholic Church and those who wanted to embrace a reformed, Protestant religion. Religious conflict continued throughout Henry's reign and the reigns of his heirs, resulting in years of controversy and bloodshed. In the end England became an officially Protestant country, but enduring anti-Catholic feeling shaped attitudes in England for centuries.

A sequence of marriages

Soon after Elizabeth was born, Henry grew tired of Anne Boleyn, who had failed to give birth to a son. In 1536 he ordered Anne executed for adultery—a charge that many considered false. Henry then married Jane Seymour (1509–1537), who in 1537 gave the king what he had long wanted: a son, Edward (1537–1553). But Jane died in childbirth, leaving Henry free to marry again. This time, on Cromwell's advice, he took Anne of Cleves (1515–1557) as his wife. But the king disliked her so much that he divorced her six months later. He also ordered Cromwell's execution.

In 1540 the aging king married Catherine Howard (1520–1542), a twenty-year-old beauty. Though this marriage brought Henry some brief happiness, Catherine's flirtations with other men caused the king to order her execution in 1542. His final marriage, to Katherine Parr (1512–1548), took place in 1543. Henry got along well with Katherine, who helped him renew his relationship with his daughters.

By this time Henry was no longer a handsome and athletic man. He had grown extremely fat. His waistline was at least 57 inches around, and he was said to weigh almost 400 pounds. He suffered from many illnesses, including headaches and sores on his legs that often became infected and gave off a bad odor. Unable to walk, he had to be carried around in a chair and hauled up stairs by ropes and pulleys. His moods grew unpredictable, and he could often act in cruel ways. When Catherine of Aragon died in 1536, for example, he held a ball to celebrate the occasion. Fearful of anyone with royal blood who might become a rival to the Tudor dynasty, he found ways to charge them with treason and ordered their executions. He even supervised the passage of the "Acte for Poysoning" in 1531, which declared that willful murder by poison was high treason and punishable by a new form of execution: boiling to death. Once admired by his subjects as a magnificent king, Henry became an object of fear and ridicule.

Final years

Henry's last years were marked by increasing ill health and bad temper. As tensions worsened between Catholics and Protestants, Henry struggled to keep his kingdom united. He often lost his temper with his councilors, and he complained that his subjects did not appreciate what a splendid ruler he was.

Though his health was poor, Henry remained active in government. But he did not have a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve for his country; many of his decisions, historians believe, resulted from his wish for personal glory. His actions toward Scotland, for example, proved disastrous. When hostilities between Spain and France resumed in 1542, Henry decided to join Spain, prompting Scotland to ally itself with France. England then invaded Scotland. In response the Scots marched into northern England but were defeated at Solway Moss in November. Shortly after this battle, the Scottish king died, leaving his infant daughter, Mary Stuart (1542–1587; see entry), queen of Scotland. Scotland and England negotiated peace terms in the Treaties of Greenwich in 1543, which stated that Mary would marry Henry's son, Edward. But when the English Parliament refused to ratify the treaties, the Scottish Parliament changed its decision and rejected them.

Furious, and determined to bend Scotland to his will, Henry ordered a series of further attacks. Known as the "Rough Wooing," these raids only hardened the Scots' resolve to resist English control. Scotland strengthened its alliance with France, and arranged for Mary Stuart to marry the heir to the French throne. War with Scotland continued until 1546 and drained England's economy. To pay for the war Henry was forced to sell off monastic property, which deprived the country of a source of future income. He also devalued the currency, which allowed him to pay some debts but soon led to extreme inflation.

By the end of 1546 Henry was near death. Catherine Parr helped to persuade him to change his will, naming his daughters Mary and Elizabeth as next in line to the succession after their brother, Edward. Henry died at Whitehall Palace in Westminster, London, on January 28, 1547.

Legacy

Henry VIII achieved some notable successes, but his foremost act, the split with the Roman Catholic Church, had significant historical consequences. This act propelled England into a revolution that led, during Elizabeth's reign, to a golden age of exploration, expansion, and learning. Yet Henry's own reign was marked by curious shortcomings. He became so obsessed with the idea of keeping the Tudor dynasty in power that he ignored one of the most important developments of the time: the exploration of the Western Hemisphere, in which Spain and Portugal were already busily engaged. Exploitation of the Americas was making Spain and Portugal extremely rich, but because Henry did not support voyages of exploration, England did not become a major participant in this trade until Elizabeth's reign.

Henry VIII strengthened the position of the monarchy and improved government administration. He supported the creation of a navy, incorporated Wales into the kingdom and granted equal rights to the Welsh, declared himself king of Ireland, and strengthened the role of Parliament. He was able to impose some order in a country that was divided by religious conflict as well as rivalries for the throne, but he did so through fear and the brutal suppression of dissent. He persecuted his enemies, Protestant and Catholic alike, and he destroyed whole families that he feared might oppose him. Henry succeeded most of all in making himself into the image of a magnificent and all-powerful king who was more feared than admired.

For More Information

BOOKS

Bernard, G. W. The King's Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2005.

Oliver, Marilyn Tower. The Importance of Henry VIII. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 2004.

Weir, Alison. Henry VIII: The King and His Court. New York: Ballantine Books, 2001.

Wilson, Derek. In the Lion's Court: Power, Ambition, and Sudden Death in the Reign of Henry VIII. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001.

PERIODICALS

Kesserling, K. J. "A Draft of the 1531 'Acte for Poysoning.'" English Historical Review, September 1, 2001.

Walker, Greg. "Henry VIII and the Invention of the Royal Court." History Today, February 1, 1997.

WEB SITES

"Henry VIII." BBC: Historic Figures. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/henry_viii_king.shtml (accessed on July 11, 2006).

"Henry VIII." Kings and Queens of England. http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page19.asp (accessed on July 11, 2006).

Hutton, Ronald. "Henry VIII: Majesty with Menace." Church and State: Monarchs and Leaders. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/monarchs_leaders/majesty_menace_01.shtml (accessed on July 11, 2006).

"Letter of Thomas Cranmer on Henry VIII's Divorce, 1533." Medieval Sourcebook. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/cramner-hen8.html (accessed on July 11, 2006).