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Quick Facts
- NAME: Henry VIII
- OCCUPATION: Political Leader, King
- BIRTH DATE: June 28, 1491
- DEATH DATE: January 28, 1547
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Greenwich, United Kingdom
- PLACE OF DEATH: London, United Kingdom
Best Known For
Henry VIII, King of England, famously married six times, and played a critical role in the English Reformation, turning his country into a Protestant nation.
Henry Tudor VII. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 04:49, May 22, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/henry-viii-9335322
Henry Tudor VII [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/henry-viii-9335322, May 22
" Henry Tudor VII." 2012. Biography.com 22 May 2012, 04:49 http://www.biography.com/people/henry-viii-9335322
' Henry Tudor VII', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/henry-viii-9335322 [accessed May 22, 2012]
" Henry Tudor VII," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/henry-viii-9335322 (accessed May 22, 2012).
Henry Tudor VII [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 May 22]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/henry-viii-9335322.
Henry Tudor VII, http://www.biography.com/people/henry-viii-9335322 (last visited May 22, 2012).
Henry Tudor VII, http://www.biography.com/people/henry-viii-9335322 (last visited May 22, 2012).
Synopsis
Henry Tudor, the son of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth York, was born on June 28, 1491, in the royal residence, Greenwich Palace. After his brother Arthur died, he became Henry VIII. He married six times, beheaded two of his wives, and was the main instigator of the English Reformation. His only surviving son, Edward VI, succeeded him after his death on January 28, 1547.
Childhood and Early Adulthood
Henry Tudor, the son of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth York, was born on June 28, 1491, in the royal residence, Greenwich Palace. He had six siblings, but only three survived: Arthur, Margaret and Mary. Arthur, being older than Henry, was expected to take the throne. In 1502, Prince Arthur married Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of the Spanish king and queen, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. After less than four months of marriage, Arthur died at the age of 15, leaving his 10-year-old brother, Henry, to assume the throne. The patriarch, Henry VII, wanted to affirm his family's alliance with Spain, so he offered his young son Henry to Arthur's widow. The two families requested that Pope Julius II officially grant dispensation to Arthur and Catherine's marriage. The pope conceded, but the official marriage of Henry and Catherine was postponed until the death of Henry VII in 1509, when at the age of 17, Henry married Catherine and the two were crowned at Westminster Abbey. They remained married until he divorced her in 1533.
As a young man and monarch, second in the Tudor Dynasty, Henry VIII exuded a charismatic athleticism and diverse appetite for art, music and culture. He was witty and highly educated, taught by private tutors for his entire upbringing. He loved music and wrote some as well. A lover of gambling and jousting, he hosted countless tournaments and banquets. His father always envisioned Arthur as king and Henry as a high-ranking church official, the appropriate role at that time for his secondary birth order. As fate would have it, Henry instead inherited an entire peaceful nation after his father ended the Wars of the Roses. He was good-natured, but his court soon learned to bow to his every wish. Two days after his coronation, he arrested two of his father's ministers and prompted executed them. He began his rule seeking advisers on most matters and ended it with absolute control.
Catherine of Aragon and Princess Mary
On February 18, 1516, Queen Catherine bore Henry his first child to survive infancy, Princess Mary. Henry grew frustrated by the lack of a male child and began keeping two mistresses at his beckon. His philandering ways were tame by the standards of his contemporaries, but they nonetheless resulted in his first divorce. One of his mistresses, Mary Boleyn, introduced him to her sister, Anne Boleyn. Anne and Henry began secretly seeing one another. Catherine, by now 42 and unable to conceive, set Henry in a tizzy. Henry configured a way to officially abandon his marriage with Catherine. The Book of Leviticus stated that a man who takes his brother's wife shall remain childless. Although Catherine had borne him a child, that child was a girl, which in Henry's logic did not count. He petitioned the pope for an annulment. The debate, during which Catherine fought mightily to maintain both her own
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