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Danielle Ryan
Ms. Wynveen
Language Arts
March 23, 2011
King Henry VIII
Smash. A slight cough can be heard. A clump of blood splatters on the floor, while the rest of it drips off the block. A lifeless body lies there, still as water. There is a sonorous crowd cheering as Anne Boleyn’s head is being carried away. Anne was the second wife of King
Henry VIII. Let me start at the beginning. Henry was born on June 28, 1491, in Greenwich. He wasn’t supposed to be king. In fact, his brother Arthur was! Arthur married Catherine of
Aragón, but died four months later. Realizing that Catherine was not pregnant, Henry married her right before his 18 th birthday. Shortly after that, he succeeded his father, Henry VII (Henry
VIII, ebscohost.com). There was only one thing that vexed Henry and only one thing he truly desired; it wasn’t money, power, or love, though at one time, he had all of these things. It was a male heir.
There was a problem in his marriage. Catherine was pregnant seven times, but her only child who survived was Mary, a future queen. Henry needed a son, since only men were supposed to rule at that time (Sir Geoffrey R. Elton). Henry desired a divorce, but surprisingly, the church would not grant him one. When his chief advisor, Thomas Wolsey, couldn’t successfully separate the two, the king dismissed him and replaced him with Thomas More
(“William T. Walker, Great lives from history”). He told Moore to grant a divorce without the pope’s permission. He then declared himself, “the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church in England (Henry VIII, ebscohost.com”).

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“Henry continued his attack on the church with the Dissolution of the Monasteries
(1536–39); their lands were confiscated and granted to his supporters. However, although he laid the ground for the English Reformation by the separation from Rome, he had little sympathy with Protestant dogmas. As early as 1521, a pamphlet that he had written against Lutheranism had won him the title of Fidei Defensor from the pope.
Henry's own religious views are quite clearly expressed in the Statute of Six Articles in
1539, which instituted the orthodox Catholic tenets as necessary conditions for Christian belief. As a result, Protestants were being burned for heresy even while Catholics were being executed for refusing to take the oath of supremacy (Hutchinson’s Biography database”).
He was able to marry Anne Boleyn in January 1533. She conceived future queen Elizabeth
Tudor. Henry soon tired of Anne, and when she refused a divorce, he sent her to the block for committing adultery. This was not a difficult task for Henry because his wife was not very popular among the people. She was executed in 1536. Catherine of Aragón had died just before
Anne was executed, and he was very upset.
The next wife to walk down the aisle was Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn.
She was Henry’s wife within 24 hours of Anne’s execution. She bore him a son, Edward Tudor, who would eventually succeed Henry. Unfortunately for this new father, Jane died in childbirth. He spent the next three years trying to replace her. He wanted another male heir since Edward was not a very healthy child. Henry didn’t let him near a lot of people, so when he was exposed to sickness, it was very serious. Thomas Cromwell suggested Anne of Cleves, sister to the duke of Cleves. Henry hired a painter to paint Anne, but he did not portray her pock-marked face truthfully. Based on what he thought she looked like, they were married in

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January 1540. The king was disgusted with her, so the marriage was annulled in July, 1540.
This mistake finished Cromwell. Henry was furious and bitter. In 1540, he had Cromwell beheaded for treason (William T. Walker, Great lives from history).
Henry married yet again. It was just two weeks after his annulment to Anne of Cleves when he married 17 year old Catherine Howard, a cousin of Anne Boleyn. This was a truly ridiculous marriage because Henry’s daughter Mary was older than Catherine. He was 49 by this time and gaining a lot of weight (Henry VIII). Even though this was a silly marriage, Henry was not understanding when he learned that she was not in face innocent and that she had been committing adultery. He was again furious at who he thought had loved him. Her silly actions and his rage cost her her head. She was executed in February, 1542. BY this time, the king was an old, bitter man. But that did not stop him. He had one marriage left in him. Henry and twice-widowed Catherine Parr were married in July, 1543. She had no children.
Henry remained married to Catherine until the day he died. That day came on January 28,
1547. From 1509 to 1547, this king ruled his kingdom in England. All of his children succeeded him. First Edward, and then when he died, Mary was crowned. She was known as bloody
Mary for killing people in the process of trying to restore the Catholic church. Elizabeth became queen after Mary died. Henry made an enormous impact on England. He changed the religion that the people shared. When Henry wanted something, he got it. If someone refused to give it to him, they would pay a price. The church suffered because they didn’t believe in divorce. But the king still got what he wanted. He always did. He even got what he set out for; a male heir, but he still wanted another son, and his desires would never end. HE ended his reign with the reputation of a tyrant.

Work Cited
Sir Geoffrey R. Elton, Britannica Biographies (Biography Reference center, http://web.ebscohost.com).
Henry VIII 2009 (Biography Reference center, http://web.ebscohost.com).
Hutchinson’s Biography database; 2003 (Biography reference center, http://web.ebscohost.com).
William T. Walker, Great lives from History: Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600,
September, 2008 (Biography Reference center, http://web.ebscohost.com).
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