henry vii of england

7/29/2019 Henry VII of England

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Born: 28 June 1491Greenwich Palace

Accession: 21 April 1509

Coronation: 24 June 1509Westminster Abbey

Died: 28 January 1547

Whitehall Palace Buried: 16 February 1547

St. George's Chapel,Windsor Castle


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He was the second son and thirdchild of his father, Henry VII. Hiselder brother Arthur died in April,1502, and consequently Henry

became heir to the throne when hewas not yet quite eleven years old.It has been asserted thatHenry's interest in theological questions was due to the bias of hisearly education, since he had at

first been destined by his father forthe Church. But a child of elevencan hardly have formed lifelongintellectual tastes, and itis certain that secular titles, such asthose of Earl Marshal and Viceroy

of Ireland, were heaped upon himwhen he was five. On the otherhand there can be no question as tothe boy's great precocity and as tothe liberal scope of the studieswhich he was made to pursue

from his earliest years.


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CATHERINE OF ARAGON (1509-1533 - annulled) ANNE BOLEYN (1533-1536 - annulled) JANE SEYMOUR (1536-1537 - her death) ANNE OF CLEVES (1540 - annulled) KATHRYN HOWARD (1540-1541 - annulled) KATHERINE PARR (1543-1547 - his death)


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The significance of Henry's reign is, at times,overshadowed by his six marriages : dispensingwith these forthwith enables a deeper search intothe major themes of the reign. He marriedCatherine of Aragon (widow of his brother,Arthur) in 1509, divorcing her in 1533 ; the unionproduced one daughter, Mary. Henry married thepregnant Anne Boleyn in 1533 ; she gave himanother daughter, Elizabeth, but was executed for

infidelity (a treasonous charge in the king'sconsort) in May 1536. He married Jane Seymourby the end of the same month, who died givingbirth to Henry's lone male heir, Edward, inOctober 1536. Early in 1540, Henry arranged amarriage with Anne of Cleves, after viewingHans Holbein's beautiful portrait of the Germanprincess. In person, alas, Henry found her homelyand the marriage was never consummated. InJuly 1540, he married the adulterous CatherineHoward - she was executed for infidelity inMarch 1542. Catherine Parr became his wife in1543, providing for the needs of both Henry andhis children until his death in 1547.


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He had six siblings, but only three survived: Arthur, Margaret and Mary.Arthur, being older than Henry, was expected to take the throne. In 1502,Prince Arthur married Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of the Spanishking and queen, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile.After less than four months of marriage, Arthur died at the age of 15,leaving his 10-year-old brother, Henry, to assume the throne. The patriarch,Henry VII, wanted to affirm his family's alliance with Spain, so he offeredhis young son Henry to Arthur's widow. The two families requested thatPope Julius II officially grant dispensation to Arthur and Catherine's

marriage. The pope conceded, but the official marriage of Henry andCatherine was postponed until the death of Henry VII in 1509, when at theage of 17, Henry married Catherine and the two were crowned atWestminster Abbey. They remained married until he divorced her in 1533.


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As a young man and monarch, second in the Tudor Dynasty,Henry VIII exuded a charismatic athleticism and diverseappetite for art, music and culture. He was witty and highlyeducated, taught by private tutors for his entire upbringing.He loved music and wrote some as well. A lover of gambling

and jousting, he hosted countless tournaments and banquets.His father always envisioned Arthur as king and Henry as ahigh-ranking church official, the appropriate role at that timefor his secondary birth order. As fate would have it, Henryinstead inherited an entire peaceful nation after his fatherended the Wars of the Roses. He was good-natured, but his

court soon learned to bow to his every wish. Two days afterhis coronation, he arrested two of his father's ministers andprompted executed them. He began his rule seeking adviserson most matters and ended it with absolute control.


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In 1534, Henry declared himselfsupreme head of the Church ofEngland. From 1514 to 1529, he hadrelied on Thomas Wolsey, a Catholiccardinal, to guide his domestic andforeign policies. Wolsey enjoyed alavish existence under Henry, butwhen Wolsey failed to deliver

Henry's quick annulment fromCatherine, the cardinal quickly fellout of favor. After 16 years of power,Wolsey was arrested and falselycharged with treason. Hesubsequently died in custody.Henry's actions upon Wolsey gave astrong signal to the pope that hewould not honor the wishes of eventhe highest clergy and wouldinstead exercise full power in everyrealm of his court.


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After Henry declared his supremacy, the Christian church separated,forming the Church of England. Henry instituted several statutes that

outlined the relationship between the king and the pope and the structureof the Church of England: the Act of Appeals, the Acts of Succession andthe first Act of Supremacy, declaring the king was "the only SupremeHead in Earth of the Church of England." These macro reforms trickleddown to minute details of worship. Henry ordered clergy to preachagainst superstitious images, relics, miracles and pilgrimages, and toremove almost all candles from religious settings. His 1545 catechism,

called the King's Primer, left out the saints.


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Fully separated now from thepope, the Church of Englandwas under England's rule, notRome's. From 1536 to 1537, agreat northern uprising knownas the Pilgrimage of Grace took

hold, during which 30,000people rebelled against theking's changes. It was the onlymajor threat to Henry's securityas monarch. The leader, RobertAske, and 200 others wereexecuted. When John Fisher,Bishop of Rochester, andSir Thomas More, Henry'sformer Lord Chancellor,refused to take the oath to theking, they were beheaded atTower Hill.


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Late in life, Henry became obese (with a waist measurement of54 inches/137 cm) and had to be moved about with the help of mechanicalinventions. He was covered with painful, pus-filled boils and possibly

suffered from gout. His obesity and other medical problems can be tracedfrom the jousting accident in 1536, in which he suffered a leg wound. Theaccident actually re-opened and aggravated a previous leg wound he hadsustained years earlier, to the extent that his doctors found it difficult totreat it. The wound festered for the remainder of his life and becameulcerated, thus preventing him from maintaining the same level ofphysical activity he had previously enjoyed. The jousting accident is

believed to have caused Henry's mood swings, which may have had adramatic effect on his personality and temperament.


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Henry's obesity hastened his death at theage of 55, which occurred on 28 January1547 in the Palace of Whitehall , on whatwould have been his father's 90th birthday.He died soon after allegedly uttering his lastwords: "Monks! Monks! Monks!", perhaps inreference to the monks he caused to beevicted during the dissolution of themonasteries.Henry VIII was interred in StGeorge's Chapel in Windsor Castle, next tohis wife Jane Seymour. Over a hundredyears later, Charles I was buried in the samevault.

After his death, his only legitimate son,Edward, inherited the Crown,becoming Edward VI. Since Edward wasonly nine years old at the time, he could notexercise actual power. Henry's willdesignated 16 executors to serve on acouncil of regency until Edward reached theage of 18.

henry vii of england

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