The 14th and 15th
centuries had been hard on England, though they also brought much glory,
especially in the reign of King Henry V (1413-1422). The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) with
France had taken it’s toll on the treasury and the manpower of England. Worse, this had been followed by the Wars of
the Roses (1455-1485), a long civil war between two noble families, York and
Lancaster, each trying to take control of the throne.
Henry VII (1485-1509) emerged out of this turmoil as the
first king of England from the Tudor family.
He helped England recover and become, once again, an important European
country. His son, Henry VIII
(1509-1547), married Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Fernando and Isabel, King
and Queen of Spain. This marriage allied England with Spain, which was reaching
the pinnacle of it’s power at this time.
Henry VIII was a Renaissance man. He composed poetry and songs, could play
several musical instruments, and in 1521 he even wrote a religious treatise
attacking Luther and the reformers. Pope
Leo X was so pleased with this work that he gave Henry the title Fidei
Defensor - Defender of the Faith.
Like most kings, Henry VIII wanted to have a son - a male
child to inherit his throne. But his
wife, Catherine, had only given birth to a single daughter, Mary. Furthermore, he no longer cared for her.
The Church, following the command of Christ in the
Gospel, does not permit divorce. But it
does permit annulments.
Unfortunately, then and now, this power of annulment has been abused and
some Church leaders have given annulments to people who should not receive
them. In Henry’s time, many nobles had
gotten easy annulments from the Church.
Henry expected to get his annulment, but political problems in Europe
with the Holy Roman Empire kept this from happening.
Henry became angry.
He was desperate for a son and was ready to marry another woman, Anne
Boleyn. In 1533, tired of waiting for the annulment to be approved, he
secretly married Anne. Later that year,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, claimed that Henry’s first
marriage was officially annulled. Then
King Henry declared that he himself, and not the Pope in Rome, was the head of
the Church in England. Henry and Cranmer
created a new church, the Church of England.
They forced all the bishops to accept the king as their spiritual
superior. When bishops Thomas Moore and
John Fisher refused, Henry had them executed.
Fisher was beheaded in May of 1535 and Moore in July of the same year.
At first, the only difference between Henry’s church and
the Catholic Church was in leadership.
But over the next few years more and more changes were effected in this
new church. Over 800 monasteries and
convents were closed down and sold. More
than 10,000 monks and nuns were turned out on their own. The mass and the prayers were changed and
priests were permitted to marry.
Anne Boleyn gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth. In 1536 Henry convicted Anne of adultery and
had her beheaded. In 1537 his third
wife, Jane Seymour, gave birth to a son, Edward. But Jane died twelve days after giving
birth. Henry next married Anne of
Cleves, but before long he annulled that marriage, too. His marriage to wife number five, Catherine
Howard, lasted only a year and a half before he had her executed for
adultery. She did not have any
children. His sixth wife, Catherine, did
not have any children either, but Henry VIII died in 1547 and she outlived him.
He was succeeded by his only son, Edward VI
(1547-1553), who died of tuberculosis at age sixteen. During his short reign, he made more changes
to the mass, and made English compulsory in the liturgy. Edward did not leave any children behind, so
the throne now passed to Mary, Henry’s daughter from his first marriage to Catherine
of Aragon
This was standard procedure for royal inheritance. When a king left no sons, or his sons died,
often (but not always) the crown passed to the king’s eldest daughter.
But Mary I, also known as Mary Tudor (1553-1558), Henry
VIII’s eldest daughter, was still a Catholic.
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