King Henry VIII
Henry VIII was one of the most influential monarchs of England. From his scandalous marital life and his ruthlessness to the break of the English’s church from Rome, Henry secured his place firmly in history. Following is a biographical outline of the life of King Hernry VIII.
Early Life:
Henry was born in the royal palace at Greenwich, on June 28, 1491. His early education was directed by the poet laureat John Skelton. Henry was not only very athletic, enjoying jousting, tilting and other sports, but he also had a keen mind. He spoke at least three languages and some of his music compositions are still performed today. Although Henry was the second son of King Henry VII, with the death of his older brother, Arthur, in April 1502 Henry became heir to the throne of England and Prince of Wales. Fourteen months later, in June 1503, at the age of 12, Henry was also betrothed to Catherine of Aragon — his brother’s widow and the daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain1. When Henry VII died in April 1509, Henry VIII became King of England2, setting England on a new course of history, albeit a tumultuous course.
War and Wolsey:
The first two decades of King Henry VIII’s reign was dominated by war and rumors of war. From the beginning, Henry instigated what could be considered a renewal of the Hundred Years’ War. Eager to prove his military prowess, Henry led a large English army, in 1513, into northern France, capturing the towns of Therouanne and Tournai, in the famous Battle of the Spurs.3 It was also during this time that Thomas Wolsey began to rise in power as the cardinal archbishop of York and lord chancellor of England.4 Wolsey would prove to have a significant influence on the king.
Despite Wolsey’s desire for international prestige, he worked to dissuade Henry from his military maneuvers. It was Wolsey’s efforts that had King Henry VIII returning to France in 1520, but not as a force of invasion, instead to embrace the King of France, in the last ritual display of medieval chivalry — the Field of Cloth of Gold. Of course Henry’s love for war could not rest long, and he joined forces with Emperor Charles V against France, from 1522 to 1527, despite Wolsey’s efforts.5 It was also Wolsey who served as the catalyst for Henry’s writing of his “Assertio septem sacramentorym (in 1521) a defense against Luther of traditional Catholic teaching on the sacraments, which won for him, from Pope Leo X, the title of Defender of the Faith — a title the English crown still boasts.” 6 Six years later, however, Henry’s familial life would be the thread that would unravel the strongly knit bond between the Defender of the Faith and the Roman Church.
King Henry VIII, The English Church and its Break with Rome:
King Henry VIII’s early reign showed Henry to be a loyal member of the Roman Church. However, his familial life would lead to the eventual severance of The Church of England from the papacy. Henry’s wife, Catherine of Aragon, had been pregnant numerous time, by the mid-1520s. However, only one daughter, Mary, survived. With Catherine past her childbearing years and a failure for her to produce a male heir to the throne, Henry was rightly concerned about the political stability of his kingdom. By 1526, Henry’s fancy had turned to Anne Bolelyn; however, Bolelyn refused to simply be Henry’s mistress. She wanted a permanent relationship with the king.7
One year later, Henry was determined to divorce Catherine, basing his claim on the fact that a marriage to his brother’s widow was contrary to the law of God, as outlined in Leviticus 20:XX 21. He insisted that the papacy should have never given him dispensation to marry Catherine. Henry turned to Wolsey for assistance in securing a divorce.8 Three years of negotiations and a papal tribunal ensued, but the English court set up to hear the case could not come to a decision. The case was moved to Rome, against Henry’s wishes. The negotiations and case continued until 1533, with Henry turning his personal battle into a full-scale public war, making the issue about the sovereignty of a secular state vs. The authority of the church.9 Despite the national issue, Henry had to move cautiously for his reform of the Church of England.
Several factors forced King Henry VIII to move carefully forward in his split from the Catholic Church. First, there was still loyalty to Rome within the English church. Rebellion was also a common threat, in general, for Tudor England, and Henry did not wish to give any rebels lurk in the wings ammunition such as a rebellion in the name of the holy church. Lastly, there was a threat that Scotland, the king of France, the Catholic emperor, and other Tudor opponents could band together, to overthrow Henry.10 However, Henry could not wait on the church forever.
In defiance of the Roman Church, King Henry VIII married Anne Bolelyn in 1533. That year, she gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, who was declared to be heir to the throne, with Catherine’s daughter, Mary, now being considered illegitimate.11 Parliament had already begun to chip away at the papal power structure in England, and passed the Act of Appeals, formerly severing the legal ties between the Catholic Church and English church. Henry was declared supreme head of the Church of England in 1534 “and require all Englishman of consequence to take an oath disowning Rome.” 12 This would allow Henry to marry his other wives, including: Jane Seymour — who would give birth to Edward VI, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr.13
As Henry dismantled the monasteries in his country much religious treasures were destroyed and lost forever. In addition, the wealth he seized in the process wasn’t used for education or the betterment of his people, but instead to fund further war.14 There were other accomplishments, however, that Henry achieved during his reign.
Other Achievements:
King Henry VIII, although infamous for his marital escapades and bloodthirsty nature, brought to England an ‘imperial’ monarchy. He commissioned grand building projects, including the palaces of Whitehall and Nonsuch in Surrey. He brought political unity to the country, with Wales finally incorporated into the political life of England and a renovated rule of Italy. Henry was also the ‘father of the English Navy’.15
Conclusion:
With the death of King Henry VIII in 154716, England saw the death of a great and sometimes frightening ruler. His warring nature was slightly curtailed by Thomas Wolsey, but even Wolsey could not stop the private battle regarding Henry’s desire to divorce and the papacy’s refusal to allow it, which would eventually lead to the severance of ties with the Catholic Church and the formation of the national Church of England. Henry brought more to England than simply an ecumenical revolution, he also built on a grand scale and brought unity to a previously fractious society. Although not as sensational, these achievements were also significant to the history of England.
Endnotes
1 Lemberg, S. “Henry VIII, King of England,” Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, (2009) (database online); available from Grolier Online.
2″Henry VIII (England),” Encyclopedia Americana, (2009) (database online); available from Grolier Online.
3 Lemberg.
4 “Henry VIII (England).”
5 Lemberg.
6 “Henry VIII (England).”
7 Ibid.
8 Lemberg.
9 “Henry VIII (England).”
10 Ibid.
11 Lemberg.
12 “Henry VIII (England).”
13 “Henry VIII,” Encyclopedia Britannica, (2009) (database online); Encyclopedia Britannica.
14 “Henry VIII (England).”
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?
Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.
Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.
Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.
Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!
While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.
Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.
In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.
Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.
We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!
We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.
Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.
We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.
Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.
There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.
Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.
We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.
You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.
We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.
You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.
Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.
You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.
The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.
GET A PERFECT SCORE!!! 
Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.
Read moreEach paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.
Read moreThanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.
Read moreYour email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.
Read moreBy sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.
Read more