King Henry VIII of England was born in Greenwich palace
on June 28, 1491. The second son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth
of York, Henry was not heir to the throne until the unexpected
death of his elder brother, Arthur, in April 1502. Seven years
later, Henry VII died, and the seventeen-year-old prince acceded
to the throne as King Henry VIII on April 21, 1509. Two months later
he married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon.
In 1511 Henry joined the alliance known as the Holy League with
Spain, Venice, and the Holy Roman Empire to curb French aggression
in Italy. Henry led an invasion of France in 1513, and his armies
captured the cities of Tournai and Therouanne. While abroad, Thomas
Howard, Duke of Norfolk, defeated the Scots at the battle of Flodden.
In 1515, Henry named Cardinal Thomas Wolsey his Lord Chancellor,
and Wolsey soon took on many important duties in the day-to-day
administration of the government and in foreign policy efforts.
He was Henry's chief minister until 1529, when he was replaced
as Chancellor by Sir Thomas More.
In 1521, Henry published a book defending Catholic teaching against
Martin Luther's positions on the seven sacraments. The Pope subsequently
named the king "Defender of the Faith." By 1527, Henry was determined
to divorce Queen Catherine, who had not borne him a living male
heir. Of their eight children, only the Princess Mary (the future
Queen Mary I) survived infancy. Henry tried to put pressure on
Pope Clement VII to give him a special dispensation to divorce
Catherine. When Wolsey failed in his negotiations with the Vatican
to get the dispensation, Henry fired Wolsey and decided to sidestep
established legal procedures of the Church. In defiance of Rome,
he humbled the English clergy in a 1532 act of Parliament called
the Supplication against the Ordinaries. Then, in 1533, he married
Anne Boleyn, who soon gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth
I in 1533. The following year, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy,
which named the king the Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of
England. Thereafter followed the suppression of Catholic monastaries
throughout England.
In May 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed on the grounds of
marital infidelity. Henry married Jane Seymour, who died in childbed after
giving birth to the king's only legitimate son, the future King Edward
VI. In 1540, Henry's Viceregent and chief minister Thomas Cromwell
arranged a political marriage between Henry and Anne of Cleves,
in the hope of attaching German Protestant interests to those of
England. Henry detested her appearance and the marriage lasted
only six months, serving as the downfall of Cromwell, who was executed
that same year for treason. Henry married twice more, first with
Katherine Howard, who was executed in 1542 for marital infidelity,
and then again in 1543 with his sixth wife Katherine Parr, who
outlived the king.
Henry's later years saw a renewal of hostilities with
both France and Scotland. War with Scotland ignited with the 1542
routing of the Scots by the English at Solway Moss, and continued
the next three years. Henry personally invaded France in 1544,
where his armies captured the strategically unimportant city of
Boulogne. The two nations ceased fighting in 1546. Henry's later
years were also characterized by rigorous persecution of both Roman
Catholics and of Protestants. Many Catholics were executed for
treason, and many Protestants–notably John Lambert and Anne Askew–were
burned at the stake for heresy.
Henry passed away at Whitehall palace on January 28, 1547,
at the age of 55. He was succeeded by his son, Edward VI.
