Henry VIII (1491-1547), King of England was a formidable man and one of the most important monarchs in the history of his country. He was responsible fort he English church’breach with Rome, the dissolution of the English monasteries, and the establishment of national Church of England. He also the husband of six wives an the father of Queen Elizabeth, who was one of the most important monarch at the Tudors time.
Henry was born in the royal palace at Greenwich, near London, on June 28, 1491. he was the second son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth, daugther of Edward IV. On the death of his elder brother, Arthur, in April 1502 he became heir to the throne. He was not only invested with his brother title of Prince of Wales but also, married his brother widow, Catherina of Aragon, thereby moving closer to the Continental politics in which Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire maneuvered for power.
Personality and and character
Henry made a favorable impression because of his vigirous physical appearance and his intellectual gifts. Physically he was above average height, enormously strong and of great courage. He had had an excellent education in classical studies, theology, music, and manly sports. He was educated by the poet laureate John Skelton and that he was enthusiastic about jousting, tilting and other sports. He drew the best long-bow of his age and he could defeat the tallest archers in his own guard. He was an accomplished player of tennis and he was strenuous rider to hounds, able to tire out eight or ten horses in the course of a day’hunting, mounting one after the other as they were exhausted. He could speak French, Italian, Latin.
The Term Paper on Henry David Thoreau 7
... they would learn through discoveries and firsthand experience” (18). Henry and his brother were very profitable in running Concord Academy (18). ... in the edition of Dial (97). In 1839, Henry and his brother went for a trip together (Olson 53). Their ... business due to various reasons (Stanley 18). In 1838 Henry’s brother John and he himself, “took over Concord Academy” (18). ...
He possessed sufficient determination, self –assurance, political shrewdness to ensure that the conduct of public life in his kingdom. He always reained control of direction of policy and was full able to assume the detailed direction of events whenever he wished. He did not only appear to be the colossus who dominated affairs in his domains, but that such was essential the reality of the situation. He had a love for finery and display, he was generous but sometimes he was mean-spirited. He was handsome, hot-tempered and the idol of the country.
Henry and His Minister
The king certainly had no great taste for day-to-day adminisrative tasks of the sort which had appealed to his father, and he found writing “both tedious and painful”. He was not exactly lazy man, but he considered the detailed business of government to be beneath his dignity, perferring to play in the main a ceremonial role.henry chose two brilliant man, in their different ways, to serve him says a good deal for his political skill. The goernment of England survived the fall of great ministers, and that for sixteen years Henry ruled without either Thomas Cromwell or Thomas Wolsey at the helm.
Thomes Wolsey, cardinal arcbishop of York and lord chancellor of England, formed a remarkable partnership with the King. Despite his appetite for international prestige, Wolsey was agood deal more prudent and pacitic than his restless master and tried hard to turn Henry’s energies to new direction. Thank to Wolsey Henry became peace maker of Europe and he presided over the signing of a treaty of universal peace in London. It was at Wolsey urging that Henry wrote his Assertio septem sacramentorum, a defense against Luther of traditional Catholic teaching on the sacrements, which won for him, from Pope Leo X, the title of Defender of the Faith, the title the English crown stil boasts. In 1529 he was dismissed from power bcause of his failure to secure the divorce.
Henry and his leading minister , Thomas Cromwell, received wide popular support for what was a profound ecclesiastical revolution. Nevertheless, they survived opposition by virtue of a combination of ruthlessness, skill and luck. Their two most dangerous opponents, Sir Thomas More, a former chancellor and a man of international prestige as a scholar, and John, the only bishop to resist Henry to the death, were beheaded in 1535. In 1530’s a revolt, the Piglrimage pf Grace, broke out in Midland and Northern countries. Those two men led the movement by denouncing the new pattern of religion, blaming Henry’policies.
The Essay on King Henry Viii England Anne Wife
... of Supremacy declared Henry himself to be Supreme Head of the Church of England, and anyone who ... promptly divorced this wife and beheaded Thomas Cromwell, the minister who had arranged the marriage. ... of his great counselor, Cardinal Wolsey (See Wolsey, Cardinal). By 1527 Henry had made up his mind ... a title the monarch of England still bears. After the separation from Rome he persecuted with equal ...
It was Cromwell who achieved the Breach with Rome by a series of Acts of Parliment. Cromwell wanted a Protestant alliance with Cleves, German King, so he offered Henry to marry the sister of the Duke of Cleves. Henry unwillingly accepted his offer because of diplomatic and dynastic adventages of this marriage. Then Cromwell was disregarded and executed due to his that policy.
Divorce and Breach with Rome
As Catherine of Aragon could not product a son, the marriage failed in its primary purpose and heir to secure a Tudor succession and the future political stability of the kingdom. Furthermore, Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn, who unlike his former mistress, would not yield until she was sure of permanent conquest.
Henry threw off allegiance to Rome even if there had been no divorce problem. There was a conflict between church and state, between England and Rome. Henry was beginning to claim that the English church was a national church and that he was its overlord and a spiritual father of his people.
After the breach with Rome the Catholic Church in England became the Church of England, the Royal Supremacy replaced the Papacy, Henry replaced the Pope but he never claimed full priestly or spiritual powers. He controlled legislation and administration, he defined doctorine and he regulated ritual.
The Royal Supremacy and the Reformation
The need to void his marriage to Catherine of Aragons was the match which fired the powder, beginning the Reformation in England.the word Reformation in Henry VIII’s reign covers the abolition of some abuses in the Church, the transferring of the government of the Church from the authority of Rome into the hands of King and Parliament.
The Essay on England Henry Church Jesus
Shakespeare's Religion During Shakespeare's time, the majority of the people in England were Protestants. They believed in the Church of England, which was started by King Henry VIII. In 1534, Henry broke away from the pope through the Act of Supremacy. This act declared, ' The King's majesty... to be... the only supreme head in the earth of the Church of England. Henry had a plan to gain power, ...
Henry determined to use his anti-clericalism to strengthen his own position at the expense of the Church and to secure Papal consent to the divorce. Parliament whittled away papal authority in England, passed the Act of Appeals, which cut the legal ties between the English Church and papacy. In 1534, Parliament declared Henry supreme head of the Church of England and required all Englishmen of consequence to take an oath disowning Rome.
During these years Protestanism made important gains in England. Ther were strongly Lutheran elements in the official statements of faith that Henry authorized for his church in the 1530’s: negotations between Continental and Protestants and England had been begun and the new creed had won supporters in high places.
The Navy
Henry wanted to play a leading part in foreign affairs. He inherited from his father seven ships. Henry’s achievement was considerable. He built the largest and most powerful navy in the world, he revolutioized its armament. He enlarged the existing dockyard and made two new ones at Woolwich and Deptford, and he also built forts fort he defence of the coast. Henry may well be called the founder of the Royal Navy.
The Coinage
Henry and Wolsey devalued the coinage. They increased the amount of money in circulation by reducing the weight of the silver coins. This was a sensible and reputable operation, because all it did was to bring the English coinage into a proper relationship with the continental coins.
When Henry was virtually his own minister in every shephere, in order to meet his financial difficulties, which arose from his wars and other extravagances, he embarked on a policy which he kept up until his death in 1547, of debasing the coinage.he put more alloy into each silver coin, thereby altering the weight and adultering the fineness of the silver coinage to such a degree that he reduced the value of the silver coin to one sixth of what it had been in the time of Henry VII. This only increased inflation and drove up prices. Henry thus left severe economic problems to his successors. Parliament would not vote enough money to cover the needs of modern government when the value of money was falling.
The Essay on Henry VIII : The King who made History
King Henry VIII was a man who knew what he wanted in life. Henry wanted a world that revolved around him, no matter what the consequences were. Henry didn't wait for life to pass him by. He went out to get done what he wanted. And he did. At just eighteen years of age, Henry became King of England after his brother Arthur had died in 1502. Henry was known for his marriages to six different women; ...
Henry and the Wales
Under Henry VIII, Whales was most reorganized , thanks to the efforts of Thomas Cronwell. After the execution of Rhys ap Gruffydd, dominant figure in Wales affairs,new policy was necessary for Wales, where law and order had ceased to exist. It was also a necassery to secure Welsh support fort the revolution in church and state which had beeen carried out in Reformation Parliament. There was done an Act and the Act brought the administration of the Wales shires line with that of the English shires. Wales became citizens of the new kingdom of England and English methods of law and administration were extended to Wales and English system of shires and hundreds became the basis of local government.
Henry VIII and His Wives
The first wife of Henry was Catherina Aragon, the wife of his death brother. From 1509 to about 1525 Henry and Catherina led a happily maaried life. The King was not always faitful, but she was a devoted and wise wife, who could shut her eyes to momentary lapses, while Henry treated her with affection and courtesy. She bore six children, of whom only one survived, a girl, the Princess Mary, so Henry left her without saying goodbye. Then she commanded to abandon the use of queen; she refused. She was said her marriage with Henry had been illegal from the start; she refused. She was moved from house to house, her daughter was forbidden to visit her. She died in1536.
The second wife of Henry was Anne Boleyn. She had many admirers, although she seems not to have been very beatiful. She was witty, vivacious and adept at the courtly accomplishment. She had already been with the King before the divorce of Henry and Catherina. She got the fury and detestation of the English people. She gave birth to a daughter, the future Elizabeth I. Henry’disappointment was tremendous and at that time he fell in love with Jane Seymour. Then Anne was captured and executed on charges of adultery with four men, including her own brother. She occupies an important place in English history since in some senses she was responsible fort he Break with Rome and hence fort he English Reformation.
The third wife of Henry was Jane Seymour. Henry fell in love with her, and from that moment he paid much attention to her, to the fury of Anne Boleyn. Jane behaved with the greatest discreation and propriety, refusing all the King’advances until he was able to marry her. She gave birt to Prince Edward in 1537, but she died in childbirth.
The Essay on Henry VIII the King of England and Ireland
... dissolved marriage of Henry and Anne of Cleves, Anne accepted a title as the “King’s Sister” and she ... his father, Henry VII. He was an important figure in the history of English monarchy. But ... The Six Wives of Henry VIII. (1991) ISBN 0802136834 Wier, Allison. Henry VIII: The King and His Court. ... to his younger brother Henry VIII, who eventually became Prince of Wales. His father renewed marital ...
The fourth wife of Henry was Anne of Cleves. He married her because of the situation of the state. Nobody was less suitable to wed the English King than Anne, who could speak no language but her own, had no manners and could neither sing nor play any instrument. But soon Henry took a dislike to her and had the marriage nullified.
The fifth wife of Henry was Catherina Howard,member of a leading aristocratic family. As Henry hated the marriage with Anne of Cleves, he suddenly fell in love with Catherina. Hovewer, this marriage did not survive long. When Granmer revealed her immortality the King was unhappy and she was captured and executed like Anne Boleyn.
The sixth wife of Henry was Catherina Parr. She was spirit and much shrewdness, besides great kindness of heart. She managed Henry more successfully than any other of his wives. These good fatures of her could not save her from being arrested. Then Sir Thomas declared to marry her and they married.
Henry’s Death
Late in life, Henry became grossly overweight and had to be moved about with the help of mechanical inventions. He was covered with painful, suppurating boils and possibly suffered from gout. His obesity dates from a jousting accident in 1536 in which he suffered a leg wound. This prevented him from exercising and gradually became ulcerated. It undoubtedly hastened his death at the age of 55, which occurred on 28 January 1547 in the Place of Whitehall on what would have been his father’s 90th birthday.
The theory that Henry suffered from syphilis was first promoted approximately 100 years after his death but has been disregarded by most serious historians. Syphilis was a well-known disease in Henry’s time, and although his contemporary, Francis I of France was treated for it, the notes left from Henry’s physicians do not indicate that the English king was. A more recent and credible theory suggests that Henry’s medical symptoms, and those of his older sister Margaret Tudor, are also characteristic of diabetes.
The Essay on Martin Luther King Jr’s “A Time to Break Silence”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs essay A Time to Break Silence was a small but significant piece of his life and career as a minister, Nobel Peace Prize winner, husband, father, civil rights activist, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and an important historical figure for future generations. In this essay, Dr. King discusses why the Vietnam War is important to him. He starts ...
No other King is better known or more quickly recognized in his portraits than Henry VIII. When you see his portrait ,you can easly make comment about his character because he gives an immediate key to his character. He was a much Renaissance prince. He could be affable, affectionate, as he was at one time to Sir Thomas More; generous as he was to reginald Pole before their quarrel or to Walsey after his fall and always to Granmer. If he is to be judged by the standarts of his own times, he must be recognized as a great and to a large extent a successful king. Dispite all things he had done he was popular with his people.
