|




Politics and Dynastic

Concerns
!|
 •
June 1491 ±
January
1547) was King of England from 1 April
1509 until his death.
!Henry was the second monarch of the
House of Tudor,
Tudor, succeeding his father,
Henry VII
!Besides his six marriages, Henry VIII is

known for his role in the separation of the

Church of England from the Catholic
Church..
Church
!Henry was an attractive and charismatic
man, educated and accomplished. He was
an author and a composer. He ruled with
absolute power.
 
 



! In 1509, Henry VIII had married
Catherine of Aragon, daughter of
Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain,.
By 15 7, the union had produced
no male heir to the throne and only
one surviving child, a daughter,
Mary. Henry was justifiably
concerned about the political
consequences of leaving only a
female heir. In this period, people
believed it unnatural for women to
rule over men. At best a woman
ruler meant a contested reign, at
worst turmoil and revolution.
i

 
! Henry even came to believe that his union
with Catherine, who had many
miscarriages and stillbirths, had been
cursed by god, because Catherine had
first been the wife of his brother, Arthur.
Henry¶s father, Henry VII, had betrothed
Catherine to Henry after Arthur¶s
untimely death in order to keep the
English alliance with Spain intact. They
were officially married in 1509. a few
days before Henry VIII received his
crown. Because marriage to the wife of
one¶s brother was prohibited by both
canon and biblical law, the marriage had
required a special dispensation from Pope
Julius II.
 a 


! By 15 7, Henry was
thoroughly enamored of
Anne Boleyn, one of
Catherine¶s ladies. He
determined to put
Catherine aside and take
Anne as his wife. This he
could not do in Catholic
England, however, without
papal annulment of the
marriage to Catherine.
 a  


! £hen the king¶s advisors
could not obtain a papal
annulment, they conceived
of a plan to declare the king
supreme in English
spiritual affairs. In 15 9,
Parliament convened for
what would be a seven-
seven-year
session that earned it the
title the ³Reformation
Parliament.´
  

  

! During this period, it passed
a flood of legislation that
harassed, and finally placed
royal reins on, the clergy. In
so doing, it established a
precedent that would
remain a feature of English
government: whenever
fundamental changes are
made in religion, the
monarch must consult with
and work through
parliament.
|   



! In January 1531, the
Convocation •a
legislative assembly
representing the English
clergy) publicly
recognized Henry as
Head of the Church in
England ³as far as the
law of Christ allows.´
 G
  

! In 153 , Parliament
passed the Submission
of the Clergy, which
effectively placed
canon law under royal
control and thereby the
clergy under royal
jurisdiction.
 


 

! In January 1533, Henry
wed the pregnant Anne
Boleyn, with Thomas
Cranmer officiating.

! The Pope responded by

Y

 Henry
from the Catholic
Church.
 

 |
  
! In February 1533.
Parliament made the
King the Highest
Court of Appeal for
all English subjects.
 
 
 

! In March 1533.
Cranmer became
archbishop of
Canterbury and led the
Convocation in
invalidating the
King¶s marriage to
Catherine.
G 
!G 
! The Act of Succession in the same
year made Anne Boleyn¶s children
legitimate heirs to the throne and the
Act of Supremacy declared Henry ³the
only supreme head on earth of the
Church of England. The Pope
excommunicated Henry.
! £hen Thomas More and John fisher,
Bishop of Rochester, refused to
recognize the Act of Succession and
the Act of Supremacy, Henry had them
executed, making clear his
determination to have his way
regardless of the cost.
 i
 
  
! In 153
. Parliament
dissolved England¶s
monasteries and
convents.
 a G"# |


! To satisfy his desires and

to secure a male heir,
Henry married six times.
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! Despite the break with Rome,
Henry remained decidedly
conservative in his religious
beliefs. £ith the TEN ARTICLES
of 1536, he made only mild
concessions to Protestant tenets,
otherwise maintaining Catholic
doctrine in a country filled with
Protestant sentiments. Despite his
many wives and amorous
adventures, Henry absolutely
FORBADE THE ENGLISH
CLERGY TO MARRY and
threatened any clergy who were
caught twice in concubinage with
execution.
 i 
 

! Late in life, Henry became obese
•with a waist measurement of
54 inches/137 cm) and had to be
moved about with the help of
mechanical inventions.
! His obesity and other medical
problems can be traced from an
accident in 1536 in which he
suffered a leg wound
! Concurrently, Henry developed a
binge--eating habit, consisting of a
binge
diet of mainly fatty red meats and
few vegetables.
! Henry's obesity undoubtedly
hastened his death at the age of 55,
which occurred on
January
1547. He expired soon after
allegedly uttering these last words:
"Monks! Monks! Monks!"
 $ %&'()**&''+,
$ %&'()
! £hen Henry died, his son and
successor, Edward VI, was only
ten years old.old. Under the
regencies of the duke of
Somerset and the duke of
Northumberland, England fully
enacted the Protestant
Reformation..
Reformation
 %&''+**&''-,
%&''+

! In 1533, Catherine of
Aragon¶s daughter
succeeded Edward
•who had died in his
teens) to the English
throne as Mary I and
proceeded to restore
Catholic doctrine and
practice.
 . %&''-*
%&''-*&/0+,
! It was not until the reign of
Anne Boleyn¶s daughter,
Elizabeth I, that a lasting
religious settlement was
worked out in England.
England.
Elizabeth merged a
centralized Episcopal
system, which she firmly
controlled, with broadly
defined Protestant doctrine
and traditional Catholic
ritual..
ritual
 


! The break with Rome in 1533±
1533±34 was an act with enormous consequences
for the subsequent course of English history beyond the Tudor dynasty,
dynasty,
making possible the transformation of England into a powerful nation,
seizing of economic and political power from the Church by the aristocracy
! Henry's decision to entrust the regency of his son Edward's minor years to a
decidedly reform-
reform-oriented regency council, dominated by Edward Seymour,
ensured that the English Reformation would be consolidated and even
furthered during his son's reign.
! Obsessed with securing the succession to the throne, he left as his only heirs
a young son •who died before his 16th birthday) and two daughters adhering
to different religions.
! Henry is traditionally cited as one of the founders of the Royal Navy.
Navy. His
reign featured some naval warfare and, more significantly, large royal
investment in shipbuilding, dockyards and naval innovations •such as the use
of cannon on board ship).
! Henry was a formidable, captivating man who "wore regality with a
splendid conviction." But unpredictably his overpowering charm could turn
into anger and shouting, for he was high-
high-strung and unstable; hypochondriac
and possessed of a strong streak of cruelty.