Henry VIII — A summary of his sordid life

King Henry VIII
King Henry VIII of England, by Workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger 1497/8Ss

Here are the quick facts on King Henry VIII 1

  • Born: 28 June 1491
  • Died:  28 January 1547
  • Married 6 times (see list below)
  • Children:
    • Elizabeth I
    • Mary I
    • Edward IV
  • Broke with the Roman Catholic Church
  • His first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, had failed
    to produce a son and male heir to the throne.
  • Henry asked Pope Clement VII to grant him a divorce from Catherine. He argued that the marriage was against God’s will, due to the fact that she had briefly been married to Henry’s late brother, Arthur.
  • Divorce wasn’t really a Catholic option, so the real relief sought was annulment — as if the marriage had never taken place.
    • Henry claimed the marriage was never valid because of Catherine’s marriage to his brother.  See Leviticus 20:21:

      And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

    • However most people know this verse applies to living brothers, not a deceased brother.
    • Catherine’s nephew, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor,  had sieged Rome and had virtually surrounded the pope.
    • Henry asked and received the Pope’s blessing to go ahead with the marriage in 1509.

WIVES OF HENRY VIII

  1. Catherine of Aragon, Married 11 June 1509 – 23 May 1533 (23 years, 11 months and 12 days) . Annulled Died 7 January 1536. Mother of Queen Mary I.
  2. Anne Boleyn, m. 28 May 1533 – 17 May 1536 (2 years, 11 months and 19 days). Annulled, then beheaded. Died 19 May 1536. Beheaded at the Tower of London. Mother of Queen Elizabeth I.
  3. Jane Seymour, m. 30 May 1536 – 24 October 1537 (1 year, 4 months and 24 days). Died 24 October 1537, twelve days after giving birth due to complications. Mother of King Edward VI.
  4. Anne of Cleves, m. 6 January 1540 – 9 July 1540 (6 months and 3 days). Annulled. Died 16 July 1557.
  5. Catherine Howard, m. 28 July 1540 – 23 November 1541 (1 year, 3 months and 26 days). Beheaded. Died 13 February 1542. Beheaded at the Tower of London.
  6. Catherine Parr, 12 July 1543 – 28 January 1547 (3 years, 6 months and 16 days) . Survived Henry VIII. Later remarried to Thomas Seymour. Died 5 September 1548.
FOOTNOTES

  1. SOURCES:  C N Trueman “Henry’s Divorce from Catherine,” historylearningsite.co.uk; “How Henry VIII’s Divorce Led to Reformation,” History.com; Modern World History, Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, (2018) []