Henry VIII

Henry VIII, (born June 28, 1491, Greenwich, near London, England—died
January 28, 1547, London), king of England (1509–47) who presided over the
beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. His six wives
were, successively, Catherine of Aragon (the mother of the future queen Mary
I), Anne Boleyn (the mother of the future queen Elizabeth I), Jane Seymour (the
mother of Henry’s successor, Edward VI), Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard,
and Catherine Parr.

Henry was the second son of Henry VII, first of the Tudor line, and Elizabeth,
daughter of Edward IV, first king of the short-lived line of York. When his elder
brother, Arthur, died in 1502, Henry became the heir to the throne. The immediate
cause of the Reformation in England under Henry VIII in the 1530s was political
and personal. If Henry VIII had not wanted to divorce his ageing wife Catherine
of Aragon in order to marry his new love Anne Boleyn, the Church in England
would have stayed obedient to the papacy, at least in the short term.

When Henry VIII came across Anne Boleyn, he was already in his fourteenth year
of marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Divorce was the only option. Unfortunately
the pope refused to grant him one. Because of political circumstances Henry was
forced to reject papal supremacy After nearly seven years of fighting the Vatican,
Henry got his Tudor breeches in a twist and decided to break away from the
Roman Catholic Church. He established the Church of England, making himself
the leader and instated the newly formed denomination, Protestantism

In 1536 Henry used his new power to begin to close down the monasteries and take
their land and money. These changes transformed every English parish, but the
most dramatic impact was the dissolution of the monasteries. The Crown needed
money; confiscation of these religious institutions allowed the king access to the
great wealth of the church in England. Between 1536 and 1541, 900 communities
of religious sisters and brothers were dissolved. Many former monks and nuns
returned to the villages of their birth and married, became laborers and domestic
servants, or learned a trade. Some men became clergy in the new church or clerks
or scribes for the wealthy. Some fled to Catholic countries. And some joined the
ranks of restless drifters.