Week 24 Essay

          This week I learned about a few rulers of England. They were King Henry VIII, King Edward IV, Lady Jane Grey, Queen Mary or Bloody Mary, John Knox, and Mary, Queen of Scots. However, the one I am going to write about in this essay is King Henry VIII of England.

          Henry was the son of Henry VII of Lancaster and Elizabeth of York. This means he was the Second ruler in the Tudor dynasty. Unfortunately, we do not know much about his early life because his older brother was supposed to be the next king. Therefore, everything was focused around his older brother, but that all changed when the heir died.

          Henry then became king, and he married his brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon. She was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Henry, however, was not satisfied with Cathrine because she would not bear him a son. Their only living child was a girl named Mary, hence Queen Mary of England or Bloody Mary. Because of this, Henry wanted to divorce Catherine. When he went to ask the pope, however, the pope denied.

          Henry did not care what the pope said and took matters into his own hands. He divorced Catherine anyway and married Anne Boleyn. Anne was one of the maid’s relatives whom Henry liked. Unfortunately, Anne did not have a son, but she had a daughter named Elizabeth who later became Queen Elizabeth. However, she was beheaded in 1536 for adultery and treason.

          Because of the pope’s denial, Henry was angry and used the Act of Supremacy. This made him the head of the church, over the pope, and allowed him to change the church entirely. Since he was Protestant, he removed Catholicism from the church.

          After Anne Boleyn, Henry married Jane Seymour. She did have a son, and his name was Edward. He later became King Edward IV of England. Unfortunately, Jane died shortly after Edward’s birth.

          Henry then married Anne of Cleves. This was a political marriage and it only lasted for six months. Anne of Cleves did not have any children with Henry.

          The fifth wife of Henry was Catherine Howard. She also did not have any children with Henry. In 1542, she was beheaded with the charges of adultery and treason.

          Finally, Henry married Catherine Parr. She did not have any children either and, but was there for Henry’s death. She outlived Henry and was the only one of his six wives that died a natural death.

          Despite having six wives, Henry only had three children, Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward. Each one of these three children would get their chance to reign and to make a difference as a ruler. Edward, as the son, became Henry’s successor, at nine years old. He never ruled by himself, though, for he reigned under the council Henry set up for him. However, he did get to have control of the church, which he continued to reform in his father’s footsteps. After his death, his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, had a nine-day-reign, before being thrown out and executed by Mary, who became queen and ruled for some time. Once she died, Elizabeth became queen, and her lesson will be next week.

          Henry is best known for his six wives, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine of Howard, and Catherine Parr. However, it is important to note that he used the Act of Supremacy, which changed the English church. He also had three children whose reigns shaped history forever.