Henry VIII (1491-1547) was King of the Kingdom of England, Scotland and Ireland. The latter is known in history for having led a reign of great violence, marked by religious reforms and numerous political conflicts between France and Spain. He is also infamous for having contracted 6 successive marriages, most of whose wives met a sad end.
Henri was born on June 28, 1491. He was the third child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, and second in line to the throne after his brother Arthur. For alliance reasons with Spain, Henry VII married his son Arthur (15) to Catherine of Aragon (16) in 1501. But Arthur immediately fell ill and died of suet on April 2, 1502.
Henri is now the sole successor to the throne. Spain and England decided to marry Henry to Catherine of Aragon, after proving that Catherine’s first marriage to Arthur had never been consummated. After papal approval, Henri became officially engaged to Catherine in 1503, then married on June 11, 1509, nine weeks after Henri VIII’s coronation on April 22, 1509.
There was soon talk of creating offspring for the royal couple. But Queen Catherine suffered her first miscarriage in 1510, and the following year gave birth to a baby boy who didn’t survive more than a month, then a stillborn.
As soon as he was crowned, the king locked up ministers Edmund Dudley and Richard Empson in the Tower of London for high treason, and had them beheaded in 1510. This first sentence enabled Henri to establish his authority and intimidate anyone wishing to overthrow him.
After difficult conflicts with the King of France, Henri made peace with François I in 1514, and entered into conflict with Spain. At the time, this conflict was making relations between the royal couple rather difficult: Catherine was unable to give birth, and Henri was seriously considering divorce.
After two years of trying, Queen Catherine became pregnant in 1516 and gave birth to Marie Tudor. Henry VIII was overjoyed, and regained confidence in his chances of conceiving a male heir with Catherine.
In 1521, Henry VIII went to war against Martin Luther‘s Protestant reforms, which he described as heresy. But Henry also feared the growing influence of the Pope in Rome over his kingdom, and had ambitions to break with the Vatican to become head of the Church of England himself.
In the meantime, relations between Catherine of Aragon and Henri were deteriorating: the queen was unable to give the king a new child, and her age seemed to indicate that she would not be able to do so in the future. Bored, Henri multiplied his mistresses, and finally met Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting of the Queen.
Henri immediately fell in love with her, and wanted to divorce Catherine and marry her, in order to conceive an heir. It would take Henry more than two years to make his case for divorce to the Vatican: Thomas Cromwell, the king’s secretary, believed that Henry VIII could dispense with papal approval, provided that the king himself became Head of the Church of England. Thus, on February 11, 1531, Henry VIII was proclaimed head of the church:“We acknowledge that His Majesty is the particular Protector, the sole and supreme Lord and, as far as the law of Christ allows, the Supreme Head of the Church and clergy of England“. This was the beginning of Anglicanism.
On January 25, 1533, Anne Boleyn announced that she was expecting a child from the King. Henri rushed to organize the wedding, and married the young woman on May 23, 1533. Unfortunately for Queen Anne, her pregnancy resulted in the birth of a daughter: Elisabeth (later Elisabeth I). Tensions are running high between the king and Anne. After a miscarriage and a stillborn child, she seems unable to give him an heir. Already very unpopular with the English people, Anne was suspected of plotting and adultery: the king had her beheaded with an axe.
Furious and fed up, Henri married Jeanne Seymour, who eventually gave him a son, Edward VI. Sadly, Jeanne died in childbirth, plunging Henri into deep grief.
However, the Kingdom of England’s break with Rome created tensions among the English and Irish people. Two troubled episodes are worth noting:
Since Anne Boleyn’s execution, Henry VIII has become more irascible. An injury to his leg a few years earlier, which he was unable to heal, plunged him into a state of irritability that was difficult for those around him to manage. Deprived of physical exercise, Henri could no longer ride or exercise, and gained considerable weight, exposing him to morbid obesity. (It will reach up to 136kgs).
From 1538 onwards, Henry descended into paranoia and executed all pretenders to his throne, whom he considered guilty of conspiracy and high treason:
Keen to leave his mark on history, Henri commissioned the construction of an exceptional palace the same year: Sans-Pareil Palace, in Surrey.
Five years later, Henri had several unsuccessful marriages:
Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547, as a result of his latent obesity (fat diabetes was suspected). His reign was one of the most tumultuous in English history.
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