Kinlight · The British Royal Line

King Henry VIII

1491 – 1547 · Generation XXII · King of England and Ireland (r. 1509–1547) · House of Tudor

Portrait of King Henry VIII

Henry VIII Tudor (1491–1547). King of England and Ireland (r. 1509–1547). Married Catherine of Aragon in 1509; the marriage was dissolved in 1533. Married Anne Boleyn in 1533. Married Jane Seymour in 1536. Married Anne of Cleves in 1540; the marriage was dissolved in 1540. Married Catherine Howard in 1540. Married Catherine Parr in 1543. Six marriages, the break with Rome, and a new English church — all in pursuit of a son. He became heir only when his elder brother Arthur died at fifteen, and took the throne at seventeen. When Rome would not annul his first marriage — the pope hemmed in by Catherine’s nephew, the Emperor Charles V — he was excommunicated, and the Act of Supremacy of 1534 made the English monarch Supreme Head of the Church of England. The dissolution that followed stripped the monasteries: wealth seized, buildings and relics destroyed, libraries dispersed. An author and composer, counted attractive and accomplished in his prime, he grew severely overweight in age and was increasingly seen as paranoid and tyrannical. Three of his children — Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I — reigned after him.

One of 10 people of House of Tudor (1485–1603) in this archive. Welsh in origin and only a handful of monarchs long — it broke with Rome and ended with Elizabeth I.

Line of descent: Owen Tudor → Edmund Tudor → King Henry VII → King Henry VIII.

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Life

  • 1491 — Born
  • 1509 — Married Catherine of Aragon
  • 1509 — Henry accedes to the throne on the death of his father, Henry VII.
  • 1509 — Henry marries Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the Spanish King and Queen, and widow of his elder brother, Arthur
  • 1511 — Henry joins the Holy League against the French. All men under the age of 40 are required to practise archery.
  • 1520 — Henry holds peace talks with Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, but fails to get support against Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.
  • 1527 — Henry seeks permission from the Pope to divorce Catherine of Aragon but is refused.
  • 1529 — Sir Thomas More becomes Chancellor. Henry starts to cut ties with the Church of Rome.
  • 1533 — Separated from Catherine of Aragon
  • 1533 — Married Anne Boleyn
  • 1533 — Thomas Cranmer is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and annuls Henry’s 24-year marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
  • 1533 — Henry marries Anne Boleyn.
  • 1533 — Pope Clement VII excommunicates Henry
  • 1534 — The Act of Supremacy is passed, establishing Henry as head of the Church of England.
  • 1535 — Sir Thomas More is executed after refusing to recognize Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England.
  • 1536 — Married Jane Seymour
  • 1536 — Anne Boleyn is executed and Henry marries Jane Seymour
  • 1540 — Married Anne of Cleves
  • 1540 — Separated from Anne of Cleves
  • 1540 — Married Catherine Howard
  • 1540 — Henry marries Anne of Cleves in January but the marriage is annulled in July
  • 1540 — Henry marries Catherine Howard.
  • 1543 — Married Catherine Parr
  • 1543 — Henry marries the twice-widowed Catherine Parr, his sixth and last wife.
  • 1543 — Treaty of Greenwich proposes marriage between Henry's son Edward and Mary Queen of Scots. However it is repudiated by the Scots 6 months later who want an alliance with France.
  • 1545 — Henry's flagship _The Mary Rose_ sinks in the Solent
  • 1546 — Henry becomes increasingly ill with what is now believed to be syphilis and cirrhosis.
  • 1547 — Died
  • 1547 — Death of Henry at the age of 55, survived by Catherine Parr

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