One of the most prominent political figures of the 16th century is undoubtedly the King of England Henry VIII (1491-1547). He ruled the country for almost 38 years. Over this long period of time, he proved himself to be a despotic and cruel ruler. It was under him that the “vagrancy law” was adopted. Ruined peasants who lost their property were simply hanged. It was much easier than helping people get back on their feet and regain material wealth.
To serve his personal interests, this king broke all relations with the Roman Catholic Church. He declared himself head of the English Church. Monasteries were closed and their lands were confiscated. Part went to the state, and the other was sold to the nobles. The Bible in the country was recognized only in English. But from the point of view of Catholics, the ruler of Foggy Albion became famous not only for these terrible sacrileges.
He was extremely loving. Only His Majesty had 6 official wives. At the same time, two of them had their heads cut off. That is, the person did not know how to restrain himself in anything. He indulged his passions and desires, which he put above the interests of the state. His actions were often inconsistent and his actions contradictory. The king did not value human life at all. Under him, people were executed for the slightest offense.
In 1577, the work of the English chronicler Raphael Holinshed was published entitled “Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland.” It said that during the reign of the extravagant king, 72 thousand people were executed in England. The torture of the Holy Inquisition and oprichnina pale in comparison to this figure. However, we will not take on faith everything that was written in the works of people who lived in the 16th century. Many of them were biased towards the cruel ruler and could biasedly reflect the true state of affairs.
Brief biography of Henry VIII
The future king of England was born on June 28, 1491. Place of birth - Greenwich. At that time it was a suburb of the British capital. It was not yet the prime meridian. This became the case in the 17th century, when the Greenwich Observatory was established in 1675.
The father of the newborn child was the English king Henry VII (1457-1509) - the founder of the Tudor dynasty. Mother was Elizabeth of York (1466-1503). In total, this woman gave birth to 7 children, but only 4 of them survived. Two daughters became queens, and a son became king. There was also the eldest son Arthur (1486-1502), who was supposed to ascend to the English throne. But he died at the age of 15 while his father was still alive.
As a result of all this, Henry VIII became king of England in 1509. At that time the young man was 17 years old. Therefore, at first, more mature courtiers helped him in conducting state affairs. In fact, from 1515 to 1529 the country was ruled by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1473-1530). The king listened to his advice, although in some matters he showed independence. In 1529, he ordered the arrest of a powerful courtier. The time has come for independent rule, and the “gray cardinal” began to interfere.
Since 1512, the young king waged war with France. The hostilities continued for many years. Only in 1525 was a peace treaty signed. But he did not bring victory to England, and the state treasury was practically empty. During these same years, the country was filled with impoverished peasants as a result of the policy fencing.
In the country, arable land belonged to the nobles, the church and the king. Peasants were not owners. They paid rent and managed land plots. The rent was purely symbolic, and people quietly worked on the land, sowing and harvesting crops. But, starting from the 15th century, there was an increase in wool prices on the world market. It became profitable to keep sheep, but they needed pastures.
As a result, landowners began to increase rents. Peasants could no longer pay for land plots, since the sums of money were very high and exceeded the profit for the harvest. As a result of this, thousands of peasant families were ruined and turned into beggars. And the feudal lords fenced off the vacated lands and turned them into pastures for sheep. This is where the term “enclosure” came from, and in 1516 Thomas More immortalized the famous phrase in his Utopia: “Sheep eat men.”
Vagrants were caught and hanged, as if they themselves were to blame for their poverty. This showed the cruel character of the King of England. And his extravagance resulted in a conflict with the Catholic Church. The reason was trivial. The king needed a divorce from his wife because she could not give birth to a male heir.
This unfortunate woman was Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). In 1510, she gave birth to a healthy boy, but he died before reaching 2 months. In 1516, the woman gave birth to a daughter, the future Queen Mary the Bloody. But England needed a boy-heir. In 1518, Catherine gave birth again. But a girl was born who lived only a few hours. After this, the woman no longer tried to give birth.
In 1527, the king wished to divorce his wife. But the Catholic Church, which did not want to grant a divorce, opposed it. Then the crown bearer declared himself head of the English church and divorced his wife. This happened in 1533 on May 23, and on May 28 the king’s new wife came out to the people. She became Anne Boleyn (1507-1536). She also gave birth to a daughter, and then she was accused of betraying her husband and beheaded in May 1536.
After this sad event, the crowned lady married 4 more times. The third wife, Jane Seymour (1508-1537), gave birth to an heir. They named him Edward. But the woman herself died of childbed fever, and the boy left this world at the age of 15.
The last 10 years of Henry VIII's reign were characterized by tyrannical forms of government. In 1542, the king's 5th wife, Catherine Howard (1521-1542), was executed. Many noble nobles who were part of the political opposition also went to the chopping block. The situation was aggravated by illness.
The crown bearer has become very fat. There is speculation that he suffered from gout. Old wounds received in previous years while hunting began to make themselves felt. All this caused irritation and depression. Every day the king felt worse and worse. At the age of 55 he died. It happened on January 28, 1547 in London at the famous Whitehall Palace. This majestic structure was considered the largest in Europe. Burnt down in 1698. After the death of the ruler, troubled times followed in the country, until the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I came to power in 1558.
In 1509, King Henry VII Tudor died, having seized the English throne by force. His son, seventeen-year-old Henry VIII, takes power into his own hands. No one then could have imagined how the reign of this angelic king would turn out. Initially, the crown was supposed to go to Henry's older brother, Arthur, but just a few months after his wedding, Arthur died. The eldest son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York was always distinguished by very poor health. It is alleged that all these few months before the death of the heir, the young husband and wife lived separately at the request of the king, since Arthur was, according to Henry VII, at a “tender age” (at the time of the wedding the boy was already 15 years old, in those days this age considered normal for the beginning of a marital relationship). For a very long time, the royal couple arranged a marriage between the heir to the English throne and Catalina (Catherine) of Aragon, daughter of the King of Aragon. Through this marriage, England, tormented by the civil war and facing an ongoing threat from France, wanted to establish diplomatic relations with Spain. Ten-year-old Heinrich was very noticeable at the wedding: the active child was constantly having fun and even danced with his brother’s sixteen-year-old wife. No one then imagined that after 7 years Catherine would marry Henry.
In those days, a marriage could be considered official only if the bride was deflowered. After the death of the heir, it was proven that the final consolidation of the marriage between Arthur and Catherine did not take place.
For seven years, Catherine lived in England, separately from the royal court. In the end, they even stopped inviting her to festive events. But something had to be done with diplomatic relations with Spain, and besides, Ferdinand and Isabella, Catherine’s parents, persistently insisted on her marriage to Henry. Dying, Henry VII told his son: “Marry Catherine.” In the year of his accession to the throne, 17-year-old Henry VIII married 23-year-old Catherine of Aragon.
Henry's foreign policy fluctuated from one extreme to another: trying to achieve some kind of balance, he first fought with France, then made peace, then fought again. At the same time, he tried to maintain relations with the Habsburgs, enemies of France, which he also did not succeed very well.
The marriage with Catherine was unsuccessful: Henry, obsessed with finding a male heir, received only stillborn children from Catherine. For 33 years of marriage (although their intimate relationship ceased long before the dissolution of the marriage), they had only one living child - a girl, Maria, who would later go down in history under the nickname Bloody. When the king was 31 years old, the Lord Chancellor of England, Thomas Wolsey, introduced him to the queen's young lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn. In fact, with this action, Wolsey, the most powerful man in England after the king, prepared the way for his own overthrow and subsequent death. Heinrich immediately noticed the young lady-in-waiting and her flamboyant behavior. But Anne Boleyn was not about to give in to the king's arms so quickly, so she actually played a game for several years called "Marry me and I'm yours." But, setting such a condition, she could not help but understand that then the marriage with Queen Catherine would have to be dissolved. Contemporaries claimed that Henry had completely lost his head over Boleyn. Not a beauty, she exuded incredible sexual energy that tormented the king. Anna grew up at the French court, where, apparently, she learned charm that charms men, refined manners, as well as foreign languages, mastery of several musical instruments and excellent dancing skills.
As Wolsey, who knew the king well, once said: “Always be careful what idea you put into the king’s head, for you will never take it out.” Henry was determined to divorce Catherine. As a child, before the death of his elder brother, he was prepared for a church career (this was the tradition in those days: the eldest son is the heir to the throne, and one of the subsequent ones occupies the main church post in the country), that is, Henry VIII had to be well versed in matters religion, even in adulthood. In 1521, Henry (with the help of Thomas More) even wrote a treatise against Protestantism, defending the rights of the Catholic faith, called “In Defense of the Seven Sacraments.” For this treatise, the Pope awarded Henry the title of “Defender of the Faith.”
In 1525, Henry seriously intended to get rid of his marriage to his current wife. However, the Pope, Clement VII, never intended to consent to divorce due to the lack of a sufficiently justified reason. Catherine of Aragon will definitely not give the king an heir, 18 years of relationship have shown this, but for the Catholic Church this is not a reason to dissolve a marriage fixed in heaven. The determined Henry surrounded himself with talented theologians and legates (lawyers), whose goal was to find in the Holy Scriptures at least something that would justify the illegitimacy of his marriage to Catherine.
In the end, the desired line was found. The saying from the Book of Leviticus read: “If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is abominable; he has revealed his brother’s nakedness; they will be childless.” Henry immediately orders Wolsey to prepare the necessary documents for a petition to Clement VII. At this time, news comes that Emperor Charles V of Habsburg has captured Rome and the Pope is actually in his power. Unfortunately for Henry, Charles was Catherine's nephew, so Clement VII, who was effectively held hostage, did not agree to a divorce, but instead ordered a trial that ended up lasting several years. At one of the meetings, Catherine said: “Sire, I conjure you, in the name of the love that was between us... do not deprive me of justice, have pity and compassion for me... I resort to you as the head of justice in this kingdom... Gentlemen and all I call the world to witness that I was your faithful, humble and obedient wife... and I bore you many children, even though it pleased the Lord to call them to Himself from this world... When you accepted me for the first time, then - I call on the Lord as a judge - I She was an immaculate maiden who did not know a husband. Whether this is true or not, I leave to your conscience. If there is a just case according to the law that you impute against me... then I agree to leave... If there is no such case, then I humbly beg you, let me remain in my previous state.”
As a result, the chief judge from Rome, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, said: “I will not pronounce any sentence until I submit a statement to the pope ... the accusation is too dubious, and the people involved in the proceedings occupy too high a position ... What can I do?” achieve by bringing the wrath of God upon your soul, for the sake of satisfying any ruler or noble person in this world.” Henry VIII, like a small child, was accustomed to getting everything he wanted as quickly as possible. After such “nothing,” he took up arms against Wolsey, accusing him of being unable to negotiate a divorce with the Pope. The most powerful man in the kingdom was exiled to York and his place was taken by his secretary, Thomas Cromwell. He and several other close people found a “way out” of the situation: let’s abolish Catholicism in England, make the king the head of the new church, and then he will be able to issue the decrees he wants. From this moment on, truly bloody times began for England.
Anglicanism was declared in the kingdom. In 1532, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were secretly married. In January of the following year they repeated the procedure, this time more officially. From now on, Anne was considered the Queen of England. On June 11, 1533, Clement VII excommunicated the king.
Soon after the wedding, Anne Boleyn gives birth to a girl. They did not yet know that this child would become the greatest queen in the history of England, so little Elizabeth was received coldly. Since the marriage to Catherine of Aragon was considered illegitimate, Mary, Henry's eldest child, was declared illegitimate, and Elizabeth became the heir to the throne. Anne Boleyn had another chance to correct her “mistake”: in 1534 she became pregnant again, everyone hoped that it was finally a boy. But soon the queen loses the child, and this moment can be considered the beginning of the countdown to her death.
Anne Boleyn's fall was fleeting. Disappointed in his new wife, Heinrich begins a most absurd process. But this time he is not a divorcee: he wants to execute Anna. More than five lovers with whom the queen allegedly slept were suddenly found (her brother was recognized as one of them). All this is happening against the backdrop of endless executions of those who disagree with the new religion and with the policy of “fencing” (due to the fact that England could produce very high-quality sheep wool, the king and his advisers were pleased with the decision to build factories and drive peasants from their lands so that they would go to work 14 hours a day in these manufactories). With the warring Catholics and wandering, rounded-up peasants, there was only one question - to hang. During the reign of Henry VIII, 75,000 people were hanged. Many then blamed Anne Boleyn for this, who became the cause of the church reformation in the country and, thus, one of the culprits of most of the deaths. The king's longtime friend, Thomas More, also became a victim of terror. An ardent Catholic, he refused to accept the new faith, for which Henry ordered his head to be cut off.
The queen's trial did not last long. Before the trial, the king already had a new favorite, Jane Seymour, with whom he did not hesitate to openly appear in public and show her his sympathy. On May 2, 1536, the queen was arrested and taken to the Tower. Before this, her alleged lovers were arrested, some of them were tortured, extracting “truthful” testimony. On May 17, 1536, the queen's brother George Boleyn and other "lovers" were executed. On May 19, Queen Anne Boleyn was led to the scaffold. Her head was cut off with one blow of the sword.
Six days after the execution of his wife, Henry married Jane Seymour. Soon the new queen delighted everyone with the news of her pregnancy. Jane was a soft, non-conflicting woman who wanted to create a cozy family environment for the king. She tried to unite all of Henry's children. In October 1537, Jane went into labor, which was truly painful for the fragile queen: it lasted three days and ended with the birth of the heir to the English throne, Edward. A few days after giving birth, the queen died of puerperal fever.
Henry claimed that he never loved anyone as much as Jane. However, almost immediately after her death, he ordered Thomas Cromwell to search for a new wife. But because of the king's reputation, no one really wanted to become the new queen of England. Prominent ladies of Europe even had various jokes, for example: “My neck is too thin for the King of England” or “I would agree, but I don’t have a spare head.” Having received a refusal from all suitable applicants, through the persuasion of Thomas Cromwell, the king set out to enlist the support of some Protestant state. Henry was informed that the Duke of Cleves had two unmarried sisters. A court artist was sent to one of them, who, apparently, on Cromwell’s orders, slightly embellished the portrait. Seeing the appearance of Anna of Cleves, the king wanted to marry her. The bride's brother was initially against it, but when he heard that Anna was not required to give a dowry, he agreed. At the end of 1539, the king met his bride under the guise of a stranger. Henry's disappointment knew no bounds. After meeting with Anne, he furiously informed Cromwell that he had brought him a “hefty Flemish mare” instead of his wife. From that time on, Cromwell's downfall began, due to the fact that he chose his wife poorly.
The morning after the wedding night, Henry publicly declared: “She is not nice at all, and she smells bad. I left her the same as she was before I lay with her.” Nevertheless, Anna behaved with dignity. She quickly mastered the English language and court manners, became a good stepmother to Henry's young children, and even became friends with Mary. Everyone liked Anna except her husband. Soon Henry began divorce proceedings on the basis that once upon a time Anna was engaged to the Duke of Lorraine, and therefore the current marriage has no right to exist. The no longer desirable Thomas Cromwell was declared a traitor to the state in 1540. Cromwell was initially tortured to incriminate himself, but he pleaded not guilty. On July 28, 1540, he climbed the scaffold and was executed by beheading.
Queen Anne signed a document annulling her marriage to Henry. The king left her a decent allowance and several estates in England, and, following the already boring pattern, he soon married Anna’s maid of honor, Catherine Howard.
The new queen (fifth in a row) was a very cheerful and sweet girl. Henry doted on her and called his new wife “a rose without thorns.” However, unlike previous queens, she made an unthinkable mistake - she cheated on her wife more than once. When the king was informed that his wife was unfaithful to him, the reaction amazed everyone: instead of the usual manifestation of anger, Henry began to cry and lament, complaining that fate had not given him a happy family life, since all his wives either cheated or died , or simply disgusting. On February 13, 1542, Catherine was executed in front of a curious crowd.
Even in his old age, Henry did not want to be left without his wife. At the age of 52, the flabby, almost immobile king asked Catherine Parr for his hand in marriage. Her first reaction was fear, but in the end she was forced to accept the offer. After the wedding, the new queen tried to improve the family life of the decrepit Henry. Like Jane Seymour, she united all the legitimate children of the king; Elizabeth enjoyed her special favor. Being a very educated woman, she could well have brought into Elizabeth a piece of what would help her in the future become the greatest queen of England.
Death came to Henry when he was 55 years old. By that time, he could only move with the help of servants, as he suffered from severe obesity (his waist circumference was 137 cm) and several tumors. With the rapid deterioration of health, the king's suspiciousness and tyranny grew. Catherine literally walked on the edge of a knife: at court, like all queens, she had her own enemies, who regularly whispered to Henry about her. However, the king did not have time to do anything, even if he wanted to.
Tudor and his 6 wives have been of interest not only to historians, but also to people of art for almost 550 years. And this is not surprising, since even without any adjustments it is in no way inferior to the plots of the most popular soap operas.
Many books have been written and dozens of films have been made on the topic of the monarch’s numerous marriages. However, not all of them are true, so you will probably be interested in reading documented facts that shed light on the relationship between Henry VIII Tudor, his wives and heirs, and why the king could not find a woman who could force him to become an exemplary family man.
First marriage
Henry 8 ascended the English throne after the death of his father at the age of 17. He entered into his first marriage shortly before this. Moreover, this marriage was not only not for love, but even its expediency from the point of view of strengthening England’s position in Europe was doubted by both the father of the young king and his advisers.
The wife of the future king was Catherine of Aragon, a Spanish infanta who, moreover, was the widow of Henry’s older brother, Arthur. She was older than her husband and their marriage was opposed by the Catholic Church, which considered them close relatives. In order to obtain the pope's permission, Catherine even had to swear an oath that, despite the fact that she was married to the Prince of Wales, she remained a virgin. Based on these testimony, the first marital union of the Spanish Infanta was declared invalid.
Lack of an heir
Having become king, young Henry completely obeyed his wife in matters of foreign policy. At the same time, the queen was most concerned about the interests of her native Spain. At the same time, everyone expected Catherine to give birth to an heir, but she only gave birth to dead children or they died immediately after birth.
Finally, in 1516, 7 years after the wedding, the queen became the mother of a healthy girl, who was named Mary. According to the marriage contract of Catherine and Henry, in the absence of a couple of sons, the throne was supposed to pass to the daughter. However, the king feared even the thought of a woman on the throne of England. He continued to hope that Catherine would give him a son, but the queen’s next and final pregnancy ended with the birth of another dead boy, which made the threat of a dynastic crisis real.
Extramarital affairs
While the queen unsuccessfully tried to become the mother of the heir to the throne and was constantly pregnant or recovering from difficult childbirth, Henry sought consolation on the side. His most famous mistresses at that time were Bessie Blount, who gave birth to the king's son Fitzroy, and
It is interesting that in 1925, the first boy was given the title of Duke of Richmond and His Majesty did not even hide the fact that he was the father of this child, while he did not recognize the children from his second mistress, although everyone was sure that they were not born without his participation.
Ann Bolein
According to historians, all the wives of Henry 8 Tudor, to one degree or another, loved this extraordinary man. However, he did not idolize any of them, and subsequently hated him as much as Anne Boleyn.
The girl was the younger sister of his mistress Maria, but she was exceptionally ambitious. She received an excellent education in Brussels and Paris and shone at court. Noticing signs of attention from the king, she gladly met with him for intellectual conversations, but was in no hurry to accept his advances.
Perhaps the reason for her inaccessibility was the fate of her sister, who became Henry’s concubine, and then was rejected and forgotten by him. The refusal only fueled the king's love fervor. To gain her favor, he offered Anna the role of the wife of Henry 8 Tudor, although he already had a legal wife.
Divorce
Anna Klevskaya
Although England already had an heir to the throne, after the death of Joan Seymour, ambassadors were sent to many European capitals. They were ordered to find candidates for the role of the wife of Henry 8 Tudor. Portraits of girls from royal families had to be brought to London so that the king could choose a bride for himself. As it turned out, no one was eager to give their daughter as a wife to a man who had two annulled marriages behind him and who executed the mother of his child.
With great difficulty, the ambassadors managed to persuade Duke William of Cleves to marry his sister Anna to Henry. At the end of 1539, the princess arrived in Calais, where she met her groom. The king was disappointed, since the bride did not look at all like the girl from the portrait that was sent to him. He returned to London in a rage and unleashed his wrath on the courtiers who had betrothed him to a “Flemish mare.”
However, he had to get married, but he publicly stated that he did not touch his wife. Despite this, Anna of Cleves gained universal love at court and became a good stepmother to the king's three children. Soon Henry decided to cancel the barque. The Queen did not resist, especially since her husband invited her to live in the palace as his “beloved sister.”
Catherine Howard
By 1540, King Henry VIII Tudor of England and his wives were everywhere in Europe. He could no longer hope to find a wife among the girls from august families, so he turned his attention to the ladies-in-waiting of his fourth wife. Among them, he especially liked the one he married.
At first the marriage seemed happy, and Henry seemed to look 20 years younger. But the young wife was a flighty person, and soon young people with whom she had been friends before she became queen appeared in her retinue. Having learned about his wife’s infidelity, Henry ordered her execution in front of the crowd.
Catherine Parr
This woman happened to write the last chapter of the novel “Henry VIII and His Six Wives.” At the time the king proposed to her, she had already become a widow twice, and she was 31 years old. The king was over 50, and he told Lady Catherine that he hoped that she would be his consolation in his old age. Henry's new wife became friends with her husband's daughter Elizabeth and took up the education of his son Edward. The marriage lasted 4 years and ended with the death of the monarch.
Now you know some interesting facts about the events in which the main characters were the English king Henry VIII and his six wives. Fortunately, today everyone is free to marry as many times as they wish, and this does not require cutting off heads or plunging an entire country into the abyss of religious and civil wars.
Peterborough Cathedral (Cambridgeshire). The majestic building evokes memories of Notre Dame Cathedral...
The abbey and cathedral of Saints Peter, Paul and Andrew were founded in 655. The current building is the third, standing on the site of two that burned down. Its construction began in 1118 and lasted 120 years. In addition to the magnificent west pediment and ancient interior decoration, the tomb of Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon (left side of the Cathedral, on the grave - flowers and a Christmas card, remember) is of historical interest. Nearby is an exhibition stand from the history of England and the Cathedral (apparently permanent: two years ago it was in the same place), a portrait of Henry VIII - a strong figure in a royal suit with regalia, a face widening downwards, a portrait of his first wife Catherine of Aragon - a sweet feminine a rather strong-willed face, straight parting of hair hidden under a light brown cap; eyes downcast.
Brown dress, matching decoration - beads on the neck.
She was the youngest daughter of the founders of the Spanish state, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the first wife of King Henry VIII of England. Catherine of Aragon arrived in England in 1501. She was 16 years old and was to become the wife of Crown Prince Arthur - the son of King Henry VII. Thus, the king wanted to protect himself from France and raise the authority of England among European states.
Arthur was only 14 years old at the time of his marriage. He was a sickly young man consumed by consumption. And a year after the wedding, he died without leaving an heir, since he never entered into an intimate relationship with his young wife. Catherine remained in England as a young widow, and in fact as a hostage, because by that time her father had not yet managed to pay her dowry in full, and besides, it seemed that he had no intention of paying. She lived in such uncertainty for the next eight years.
She saw salvation in renunciation of worldly vanity and turning to God (she had nothing but the title of dowager princess, a small allowance and a retinue consisting exclusively of Spanish nobles who came with her. She was a burden both for the King of England Henry VII and for her father, King Ferdinand. Her mother, the brave Queen Isabella, died.
By the age of twenty, she indulged in severe asceticism - constant fasting and masses. One of the courtiers, fearing for her life, wrote to the Pope. And an order immediately came from him: stop self-torture, since it could be life-threatening.
In fact, the same state considerations as during the marriage of Catherine and Arthur contributed to the marriage of Henry, the youngest son of the King of England, and now the heir, to Catherine, who was six years older than the groom. Negotiations regarding their marriage began during the life of Henry VII and continued after his death. Catherine became Queen of England two months after Henry VIII's accession to the throne. However, before the wedding, Henry had to obtain permission from the Pope - Julius. Church law prohibited such marriages, but the Pope gave the English king special permission, largely because Catherine and Arthur never actually became husband and wife.
Due to Catherine's lack of surviving sons, Henry insisted, after 24 years of marriage, on a divorce (more precisely, annulment) in 1533. This step became one of the reasons for Henry's conflict with the Pope, the break with the Roman Catholic Church and the reformation in England.
In May 1533, Henry married Anne. He never received the consent of either the Pope or Catherine. It was decided that from this moment on, the Pope's authority would not extend to England. Henry declared himself head of the Church (since 1534), and his marriage with Catherine was invalid.
The people loved Queen Catherine: when Henry decided to fight the French, he longed for the glory of an outstanding military leader; he left Catherine as regent. At this time, taking advantage of the king's absence, the Scottish lords under the leadership of James IV invaded England. The Queen personally developed much of the defense plan. On September 9, 1513, the Scots were defeated on the hills near Flodden, and King James himself was killed. Catherine was proud of this victory.
Catherine did not recognize this marriage. She continued to call herself queen and responded to all threats that she was the legal wife of the king of England.
Catherine spent another two years in obscurity, spiteful critics continued to pester her, and she was not allowed to see her daughter. However, despite all the troubles, there was still a place in her heart for love for her husband. She wrote to the Pope, begging him not to forget about Henry and Mary.
She lived in a small room, the windows of which overlooked the fortress moat filled with rancid water and the neglected Kimbolton hunting park. Her retinue consisted of three ladies-in-waiting, half a dozen maids and several devoted Spaniards who looked after the household. In 1535, she fell ill, as it later became known, incurably.
On January 7, 1536, Catherine felt that she was dying. She managed to dictate a will, according to which she left all the money she had to her close associates. Daughters (Henry VIII’s eldest daughter from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon - Mary I Tudor (1516 - 1558) - Queen of England from 1553, Also known as Bloody Mary (or Bloody Mary), Mary the Catholic. Not a single monument was erected to this queen in her homeland) she bequeathed her furs and a gold necklace, which was part of her dowry, brought from Spain. She also wrote a farewell letter to Henry. In it, she asked him not to forget his daughter, reminded him of her rightful title and said that she still loved him.
Henry VIII was married six times.
His wives, each of whom stood behind a certain political or religious group, sometimes forced him to make changes in their political or religious views.
In 1524, in the retinue of Catherine of Aragon, who was already quite tired of the king, the monarch noticed a new pretty face.
Daughter of one of the king's dignitaries, Earl Thomas Boleyn. The engagement to her former fiancé, Lord Percy, has been broken off, and preparations have begun for a new wedding. In 1533, Henry married Anne Boleyn, and in September their daughter Elizabeth was born. So, this passion of the king was worth the break with Rome, the liquidation of Catholicism and its institutions in the country and the cooling of relations with Spain.
The love for Anne Boleyn lasted only two years. In his wife's retinue, Henry meets a new object of adoration - Jane Seymour. Possessing her becomes his goal for the near future. As luck would have it, my wife won’t give me a divorce; it’s worse for her. You must understand that you cannot order your heart. The king finds a way to gain freedom. If you don’t disperse, then “remove” (in the modern language of criminal elements). The most convenient excuse is adultery. And “well-wishers”, always ready to help their beloved king, begin to look for “evidence”. At one of the balls, the queen drops her glove. She is picked up and returned to her owner by Henry Noris, who is in love with her. The "Watching Eye" took note of this. Ease of communication with his brother, Lord Rochefort, provides a pretext for charges of incest. Several other nobles have been spotted in love with the queen. One of them, Smithox, promised to testify about adultery for a “moderate fee.”
Apparently Henry guessed that the church would not forgive him for his second divorce. Apart from divorce, only her death could free him from his former wife.
Henry called an executioner from France to execute his wife (the French succeeded in cutting off heads, because it was they who invented the guillotine - a device for quickly and painlessly cutting off heads). On May 15, 1536, the executioner cut off Anna's head not with an ax, but with a sharp and long sword, the first time. Anna did not suffer for long. Her daughter Elizabeth was deprived of the right to inherit the throne. Subsequently, the king recalled Anne Boleyn, not without regret.
A love letter from Henry VIII to his future second wife Anne Boleyn, in French, probably dated January 1528, has recently been published. The letter has been kept in the Vatican for five centuries and will be exhibited for the first time at the British Library in London.
“From now on, my heart will belong only to you.”
“Your expression of affection for me is so strong, and the beautiful words of your message are so heartfelt that I am simply obliged to respect, love and serve you forever,” the king writes. “For my part, I am ready, if possible, to surpass you in loyalty and desire to please you.”
The letter ends with the signature: “G. loves A.B.” and the initials of the beloved enclosed in a heart.
After Pope Clement VII refused to invalidate Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon (in order to marry Anne Boleyn), the English monarch broke with the Vatican and eventually created the Anglican Church, independent of Rome.
The British monarch holds the title
Supreme Ruler of the Church of England.
...The ghost of Anne Boleyn is known (let us remember that she was accused of adultery and incest, although, apparently, her only guilt was that she was tired of her husband) ... Anne Boleyn was executed in May 1536 directly in the Tower (the towers of the fortress were a state prison), where she was kept. After the execution, her body was hastily buried in St. Peter's Chapel in the Tower. But the soul of the unfortunate queen did not calm down. Since then, her ghost has been regularly seen for several centuries at regular intervals, sometimes at the head of a procession heading to St. Peter's Chapel, sometimes alone in different places in the old fortress: at the place where the execution took place...
One of the most impressive ghost sightings occurred in the winter of 1864. One night they found a sentry lying unconscious. He was court-martialed on charges of falling asleep on duty. Then he said that before dawn he saw a white silhouette emerge from the fog. He was wearing a cap, under which his head was missing; the silhouette headed towards the sentry.
After three usual warning calls, the soldier approached the ghost, but when the bayonet of the gun pierced him through, lightning ran down the barrel, and the sentry himself fainted from shock.
All this would have seemed like just a clever excuse if two other soldiers and an officer who testified after the accused had not said that they, too, had noticed the ghost through the window. When it turned out that the ghost in all four cases appeared under the door of the room in which Anne Boleyn spent her last night on the eve of her execution, the tribunal decided to release the sentry.
The nightmare recurred from time to time until the beginning of the 19th century. One day, a completely atheistically inclined officer, late at night, noticed a bright glow pouring from the windows of the chapel, which he had personally locked at sunset. Having obtained a ladder, the officer climbed up it, looked out the window - and almost fell down from fear.
Inside he saw a whole retinue of the Tudor court, led by Anne. The eerie procession moved towards the altar and, reaching it, gradually seemed to go under the floor... After some time, the officer managed to open the floor of the chapel, and under the slabs they found the remains of the queen along with her murdered retinue... After the remains were reburied with appropriate royal honors , the ghost of the innocently injured queen disappeared from the Tower forever.
The king marries Jane Seymour. She could not boast of an excellent education and “gallant” manners, since in the 16th century the education of an English girl was limited to religion, needlework and the basics of housekeeping. The ability to read and write was considered sufficient for a young aristocrat wishing to make a career at court.
Lady Jane's brothers, Thomas and Edward, on the contrary, were raised at the king's court from childhood (they were pages), and subsequently occupied various lucrative positions. Therefore, it was not surprising that from the mid-1520s their sister Jane was accepted into the staff of ladies-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon. After Anne Boleyn became queen, Lady Jane came “at the disposal” of the new mistress.
At Christmas 1533, the king presented gifts to several ladies-in-waiting, including Lady Seymour.
After Anne Boleyn “upset” the king - instead of the desired son, she gave birth to only a girl (the future Elizabeth I), relations between Henry and the queen began to deteriorate noticeably. Moreover, Anna was intolerant, hot-tempered and ambitious. Having made many enemies at court, the queen gradually alienated Henry and herself. The years 1534 and 1535 were spent in family scandals, stormy showdowns and vain anticipation of the queen's next pregnancy.
It was at this time, in 1535, that the king became interested in the modest maid of honor Seymour. She was the complete opposite of Anna: blond, pale, very quiet and agreed with everyone on everything. If Anna was compared to a witch, and even a witch - she was thin, dark-haired and dark-eyed, then Jane was much more like a bright angel.
The royal wedding of 1536 was extremely modest. in the spring of 1537, Jane informed Henry of her pregnancy. The king surrounded his wife with unprecedented care and fulfilled all her demands and whims.
The heir was born healthy, handsome and similar to both spouses. But Jane was not destined to rejoice...
The young queen suffered in labor for two days. It was necessary to choose - mother or child. The doctors, knowing the explosive nature of the sovereign, were even afraid to mention it. “Save the child. I can get as many women as I want,” was the decisive and calm answer.
Jane died of childbed fever.
The famous ballad of the English group The Rolling Stones “Lady Jane” is dedicated to Jane Seymour and is based on the letters of King Henry VIII. The song also mentions Anne Boleyn (Lady Ann) and Mary Boleyn (Mary). Each of the three women is dedicated to their own verse.
In Europe, people began to fear the monarch, who so coldly got rid of his wives. In 1539, Henry VIII met his “beloved”, Princess Anne of Cleves, through a portrait. The daughter of the Duke of Cleves - Johann III and Maria von Geldern - was born on September 22, 1515, in Düsseldorf.
The portrait of Anna, painted by the great artist Holbein, made an excellent impression on 48-year-old Henry. He was not embarrassed by the fact that his chosen one was engaged for a short time to the Duke of Lorraine - according to English laws, the new marriage could not be considered legitimate.
On September 4, 1539, a marriage contract was signed. At the very beginning of 1540, Anna arrived in England. The first meeting of the bride and groom took place in Rochester, where Henry arrived as a private citizen.
One glance at Anna was enough - the king was disappointed. Instead of the pale and graceful beauty that Holbein portrayed, before Henry stood a large, massive woman with rather rough features. The straightforward Henry took out all his anger on Cromwell, who allegedly “slipped him a hefty Flemish mare.”
The original was a complete disappointment. It was probably not Anna’s appearance that was repulsive at all, but her stiffness, inability to behave in society, the unusual cut of her clothes for the king’s eyes, and lack of proper grace.
“Where did you find this stuffed animal? Send her back immediately!” he became angry with Cromwell (the Protestant party, led by the king’s favorite and first minister, Thomas Cromwell, found the bride for the king). “This is impossible, Your Majesty! If you break the marriage contract, Europe may declare war on England.”
Anna didn’t like Henry either, and besides, she had heard rumors about the death of Anne Boleyn while still in Kleve.
Henry resigned himself, but he could not fulfill his marital duty. For six months, the Princess of Cleves lived in England - her husband did not deign her with his attention. Anne was a kind stepmother to both Prince Edward and Princesses Betsy and Mary. She settled into the English court: she fell in love with music and dancing, and got herself dogs and parrots.
The divorce of the spouses was surprisingly calm. Anna, having considered everything sensibly and sorted out all the pros and cons, gathered the Privy Council to give a response to the divorce proposal.
Henry kept Anna in his family - as a "sister". This was dictated by a number of circumstances: Anna of Cleves fell in love with the king’s children, a number of courtiers found her an extremely kind and pleasant woman. Henry did not want to come into conflict with Anna's brother, Duke of Berg-Julig-Cleves, who was one of the most influential rulers of Germany. And Anna herself sincerely fell in love with her new homeland.
Henry proclaimed Anne his "sister" and thus she remained the highest-born lady after the new queen and princesses Mary and Betsy. Anna received generous gifts from the king: the castles of Richmond and Hever, as well as a substantial annual income.
The correspondence between Heinrich and Anna suggests that the former spouses lived very amicably. The King always signed his messages "Loving Brother Henry".
The instigator of this marriage, Thomas Cromwell, was arrested and placed in the Tower. He lived only to testify in the divorce case - on June 28, 1540, he was executed on charges of treason and heresy.
Anna did not remarry. She outlived both Henry VIII and his son Edward VI. Anna von Kleve died on July 16, 1557 in London. Anne of Cleves was buried in Westminster Abbey.
In July 1540, Henry married 19-year-old Kate Howard. The wedding was modest. After the wedding, Henry seemed to look 20 years younger - tournaments, balls and other entertainment, to which Henry remained indifferent after the execution of Anne Boleyn, resumed at court. He adored his young wife - she was incredibly kind, simple-minded, sincerely loved gifts and rejoiced at them like a child. Henry called Kate "a rose without thorns."
However, young Howard was extremely careless in her actions - Kate accepted all her “friends of her youth” to the court, and they knew too much about the queen’s life before her marriage. In addition, Kate resumed her relationship with Francis Dirham, whom she made her personal secretary.
Then another gentleman from a “past life” appeared at court - Thomas Kelpeper (Kate’s distant relative on her mother’s side, whom she once wanted to marry).
However, the young woman had enemies at court (or rather, they were the enemies of her influential uncle Norfolk...
The innocence of the young “rose” began to irritate the middle-aged king.
When Henry was informed that his naive Kate was not such a “rose” at all, he was simply confused. The king's reaction was quite unexpected - instead of the usual anger, there were tears and complaints. The meaning of the complaints boiled down to the fact that fate did not grant him a happy family life, and all his women either cheated, or died, or were simply disgusting.
In early February 1542, Lady Howard was transferred to the Tower, and two days later she was beheaded in front of a curious crowd. The young woman met her death in a state of deep shock - she had to be carried to the place of execution.
After the execution, Lady Kate's body was buried next to the remains of Anne Boleyn, another executed queen, who, by the way, was also a relative of the Howards.
Feeling in my heart that I am unloved,
Henry the Eighth executed his wives.
Henry's sixth wife is Katherine Parr, daughter of a baronet, widow of the elderly Lord Edward Borough. Young Kate Parr was only 14 or 15 years old when she was married in 1526 to an elderly, sixty-three-year-old lord. The couple's family life was quite happy. Moreover, Catherine managed to become a true friend for the children of Lord Boro, who were almost twice the age of their stepmother. However, in 1529 Lady Borough became a widow.
In 1530, the young widow received a new proposal for marriage. It came from John Neville, Lord Latimer, a widower. Having accepted this offer, Lady Catherine moved to her husband in Snape Castle. Here she again found herself in the role of a stepmother - Latimer had a daughter, Margaret, from his first marriage.
In the second half of the 1530s, the Latimers often visited the king's court, and Henry VIII was very friendly towards the couple.
In the second half of the 1530s, the Latimers often visited the king's court, and Henry VIII treated this couple very friendly. After the execution of his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, Henry increasingly paid attention to the intelligent and friendly Lady Latimer. She was already thirty-one years old, which by the standards of the 16th century was not considered the age of youth, however, the king himself was far from young.
Lord Latimer was already seriously ill at that time and, alas, there was no hope for recovery. When he died in 1543, the king began to persistently court Lady Latimer.
Lady Latimer's first reaction to the king's offer to become his “comfort in old age” was fear. However, Henry did not abandon his intention to marry Catherine and, ultimately, she gave her consent.
On July 12, 1543, the wedding took place at the royal chapel at Hampton Court. The wedding took place in Windsor.
From the very first days of her life together with Henry, Catherine tried to create for him the conditions for a normal family life. Princess Elizabeth, daughter of the executed Anne Boleyn, enjoyed her special favor.
A strong friendship began between the stepmother and stepdaughter - they conducted active correspondence and often had philosophical conversations.
Smart and energetic, Catherine skillfully neutralizes the court intrigues weaving against her. Despite her husband’s increased suspicion, Katerina, throughout the four years of their marriage, gives him no reason to be dissatisfied.
In 1545–1546, the king’s health deteriorated so much that he could no longer fully deal with state problems. However, the king’s suspiciousness and suspiciousness, on the contrary, began to acquire a threatening character. Catherine was, as they say, on the verge of death several times: the queen had influential enemies, and, ultimately, the king could believe them rather than his wife. The king decided to arrest Catherine several times, and each time he refused this step. The reason for the royal disfavor was mainly the radical Protestantism of Catherine, who was carried away by the ideas of Luther. On January 28, 1547, at two o'clock in the morning, Henry VIII died. And already in May of the same year, the dowager queen married Thomas Seymour, Jane Seymour's brother.
Who knows, perhaps Henry VIII served as the prototype for the character in Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Bluebeard" (Perrault wrote it down in the 17th century in France, the hero's name is Gilles de Rés. Bluebeard's last wife has no name in the fairy tale, but her older sister is called Anna )?..
“Once upon a time there was a man who had beautiful houses both in the city and in the countryside, dishes made of gold and silver, furniture covered in embroidery and carriages gilded from top to bottom. But, unfortunately, this man had a blue beard..."
Greenwich
London
2. Anne Boleyn
3. Jane Seymour
4. Anna of Klevskaya
5. Catherine Howard
6. Catherine Parr
daughters: Mary I and Elizabeth I
early years
Having led the religious reformation in the country, in 1534 being proclaimed head of the Anglican Church, in 1536 and 1539 he carried out large-scale secularization of the monastic lands. Since the monasteries were the main suppliers of industrial crops - in particular, hemp, which was extremely important for sailing - it could be expected that the transfer of their lands into private hands would have a negative impact on the condition of the English fleet. To prevent this from happening, Henry issued a decree ahead of time (in 1533) ordering each farmer to sow a quarter acre of hemp for every 6 acres of sown area. Thus, the monasteries lost their main economic advantage, and the alienation of their possessions did not harm the economy.
The first victims of church reform were those who refused to accept the Act of Supremacy, who were equated with state traitors. The most famous of those executed during this period were John Fisher (1469-1535; Bishop of Rochester, formerly the confessor of Henry's grandmother Margaret Beaufort) and Thomas More (1478-1535; famous humanist writer, in 1529-1532 - Lord Chancellor of England ).
Later years
In the second half of his reign, King Henry switched to the most cruel and tyrannical forms of government. The number of executed political opponents of the king increased. One of his first victims was Edmund de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, who was executed back in 1513. The last of the significant figures executed by King Henry was the son of the Duke of Norfolk, the outstanding English poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who died in January 1547, a few days before the king's death. According to Holinshed, the number of those executed during the reign of King Henry reached 72,000 people.
Death
The Palace of Whitehall where King Henry VIII died.
In the last years of his life, Henry began to suffer from obesity (his waist size grew to 54 inches / 137 cm), so the king could only move with the help of special mechanisms. By the end of his life, Henry's body was covered with painful tumors. It is possible that he suffered from gout. Obesity and other health problems may have been a consequence of an accident in 1536 in which he injured his leg. Perhaps the wound got infected, and in addition, due to the accident, the leg wound he received earlier reopened and worsened. The wound was problematic to such an extent that Henry's doctors considered it intractable, some even inclined to believe that the king could not be cured at all. Henry's wound tormented him for the rest of his life. Some time after the injury, the wound began to fester, thus preventing Heinrich from maintaining his usual level of physical activity, preventing him from performing the daily exercise he had previously done. It is believed that the injury he received in an accident caused a change in his shaky character. The king began to show tyrannical traits, and he increasingly began to suffer from depression. At the same time, Henry VIII changed his eating style and began to mainly consume huge amounts of fatty red meat, reducing the amount of vegetables in his diet. It is believed that these factors provoked the quick death of the king. Death overtook the king at the age of 55, on January 28, 1547 at the Palace of Whitehall (it was supposed that his father's 90th birthday would be held there, which the king was going to attend). The king's last words were: “Monks! Monks! Monks! .
Wives of Henry VIII
Henry VIII was married six times. The fate of his spouse is memorized by English schoolchildren using the mnemonic phrase “divorced - executed - died - divorced - executed - survived.” From his first three marriages he had 10 children, of whom only three survived - the eldest daughter Maria from his first marriage, the youngest daughter Elizabeth from the second, and son Edward from the third. They all subsequently ruled. Henry's last three marriages were childless.
- Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). Daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. She was married to Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII. Having become a widow (), she remained in England, waiting for her marriage with Henry, which was either planned or frustrated. Henry VIII married Catherine immediately after his accession to the throne in 1509. The first years of the marriage were happy, but all the children of the young couple were either stillborn or died in infancy. The only surviving child was Mary (1516-1558).
- Anne Boleyn (c. 1507 - 1536). For a long time she was Henry's unapproachable lover, refusing to become his mistress. After Cardinal Wolsey was unable to resolve the issue of Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Anne hired theologians who proved that the king was the ruler of both the state and the church, and responsible only to God, and not to the Pope in Rome (this was the beginning of the separation of the English churches from Rome and the creation of the Anglican Church). She became Henry's wife in January 1533, was crowned on June 1, 1533, and in September of the same year gave birth to his daughter Elizabeth, instead of the son expected by the king. Subsequent pregnancies ended unsuccessfully. Anna soon lost the love of her husband, was accused of adultery and beheaded in the Tower in May 1536.
- Jane Seymour (c. 1508 - 1537). She was Anne Boleyn's maid of honor. Henry married her a week after the execution of his previous wife. She soon died of childbed fever. Mother of Henry's only son, Edward VI. In honor of the birth of the prince, the cannons in the Tower fired two thousand volleys.
- Anna of Cleves (1515-1557). Daughter of Johann III of Cleves, sister of the reigning Duke of Cleves. Marriage to her was one of the ways to cement the alliance of Henry, Francis I and the German Protestant princes. As a prerequisite for marriage, Henry wanted to see a portrait of the bride, for which Hans Holbein the Younger was sent to Kleve. Heinrich liked the portrait and the engagement took place in absentia. But Henry categorically did not like the bride who arrived in England (unlike her portrait). Although the marriage was concluded in January 1540, Henry immediately began to look for a way to get rid of his unloved wife. As a result, already in June 1540 the marriage was annulled; The reason was Anne's pre-existing engagement to the Duke of Lorraine. In addition, Henry stated that there was no actual marital relationship between him and Anna. Anne remained in England as the King's "sister" and outlived both Henry and all his other wives. This marriage was arranged by Thomas Cromwell, for which he lost his head.
- Catherine Howard (1521-1542). Niece of the powerful Duke of Norfolk, cousin of Anne Boleyn. Henry married her in July 1540 out of passionate love. It soon became clear that Catherine had a lover before marriage (Francis Durham) and cheated on Henry with Thomas Culpeper. The perpetrators were executed, after which the queen herself ascended the scaffold on February 13, 1542.
- Catherine Parr (c. 1512 - 1548). By the time of her marriage to Heinrich (), she had already been widowed twice. She was a convinced Protestant and did a lot for Henry’s new turn to Protestantism. After Henry's death she married Thomas Seymour, brother of Jane Seymour.
On coins
In 2009, the Royal Mint issued a £5 coin to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne.