Do you remember we talked about Henry VIII and his six wives in class? Well, here you have a bit of history for you! I hope you enjoy reading it. In case you want to read it at your own peace, go to
READING to
get a PDF document.
Here we go!
Everybody recognises his portrait: a fat man
wearing clothes set with jewels and with a neat red beard. This is
Henry in later life: in his youth he was handsome and athletic, the most
eligible prince in Europe.
Henry
was also a complex man: intelligent, boisterous, flamboyant,
extravagant. Athletic, musical, a poet. Ruthless, arrogant, passionate.
Henry’s desire for a male heir led him to divorce two
wives and have two wives beheaded: it led to religious revolution and
the creation of the Church of England, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Reformation. The decisions that Henry made during his reign shaped modern Britain.
Let's go now through his six wives and how this affected the history of England, in particular his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
He first married
Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow. She
was born in Aragon, Spain and her parents were King Ferdinand of Aragon
and Queen Isabella of Castille. She had married Arthur, the Prince of Wales and Henry's older brother, but then Arthur died and six weeks after Henry was crowned king, at the age of 17, they married.
They had three sons and three daughters of whom only Mary (later Mary I) lived. This greatly angered Henry VIII. He thought
that the marriage was cursed as he had married his brother’s widow. He
had also met Anne Boleyn.
Henry wanted to end his
marriage to Catherine. However, there was a problem for him. The Roman
Catholic Church did not recognise or accept divorce. Henry, as with
everybody else in England, was a Roman Catholic. He expected the Roman
Catholic Church to make an exception for him as he was king of England.
However, the Roman Catholic Church refused to do so. He did all that he could to end his marriage to
Catherine. All his attempts failed.Then he decided that
he was absolute ruler in all areas in his kingdom – and that included
religion and answering religious questions. This was the start of the
process that lead to the break from Rome and the Roman Catholic Church
and ultimately led to the creation of the Church of England.
Four months before his divorce was announced he married
Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine's
assistants. She gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth and also to a
stillborn boy. Henry believed that she had
been cursed and his ‘proof’ was the second thumb Anne had growing out
of her main one. There were even rumours that she had a third breast.
Anne, had a sharp tongue on her and had made
enemies at court. She was finally accussed of having 5 men affairs. She was sentenced to dead.
However, Henry VIII had already one of Anne's maids in honour,
Jane Seymor, who he married about ten days after Anne was executed. Jane was a submissive wife and gave birth to the son Henry desperately wanted. He was called Edward and
would be the future Edward VI. However, just 12 days after the birth of
Edward, Jane died. Henry was very sad.. Such was his love for Jane, that Henry
ordered that he should be buried next to her when he died.
Three years later he married
Anne of Cleves, a German. They had never met before their marriage. Henry had sent men to western Europe to look for a wife for him and bring him portraits. She was chosen from a portrait. When they met he found her ugly, also she didn't have good manners and their communication was very difficult, Anne didn't speak English snd Henry's german was very poor. They married because Henry couldn't break the alliance he had made but finally they got divorced.
His next wife was
Catherine Howard, Anne's Boleyn cousin's. They married 20 days after Anne's divorce. He was 49 by the time and she was 15 or 16. She had married because of an alliance with her family but she committed adultery and was discovered. Finally she was executed.
At the age of 52 he married
Catherine Parr, who was 31 at the moment. She had already been married twice and was in love with Thomas Seymor, Jane's Seymor's bother, but she was not in a position to refuse the attentions of the king. She took care of the king and was a very good step-mother to all three of his children. She also played an important part in reconciling the relationship between Henry
and Mary, his first child. When Henry VIII died she married Thomas but she died one year later from complications as a result of childbirth.
So there were three Catherines, two Annes and one Jane, and most of school children
learn the following rhyme to help them remember the fate of each wife:
“Divorced, Beheaded, Died: Divorced, Beheaded, Survived”.
In case you want to know more about Henry VIII you can visit these sites:
-
History Learning
-
History.com
And remember you can get the PDF document going to
READING
