Henry VIII and his wives

Henry VIII was the first English King of Ireland and the second monarch of
the Tudor dynasty, succeeding his father, Henry VII.

Besides his six marriages and many affairs, as well as his effort to obtain an
annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon which led to conflict
with the Pope, Henry is known for his subsequent role in the separation of
the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. His
disagreements with the Pope led to his separation of the Church of
England from papal authority. Henry is known for his radical changes to
the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings to
England. Besides ruling with considerable power, he was also an author and
composer. In his book ,,Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum
Lutherum (1521), he attacked Luther and had expressed a profound
devotion to the papacy and had been rewarded with the title of
Defender of the Faith. Then, he had turned against the pope. His act was
equal to encouraging the Protestant Reformation.

His six wives were, successively:

-Catherine of Aragon (the mother of the future queen Mary I),

-Anne Boleyn (the mother of the future queen Elizabeth I),

-Jane Seymour (the mother of Henrys successor, Edward VI),

-Anne of Cleves,

-Catherine Howard,

-Catherine Parr.

Thomas Wolsey was a cardinal and statesman, Henry VIII's lord chancellor
and one of the last churchmen to play a dominant role in English political life.
Henry VIII delegated more and more state business to him, including near-
complete control of England's foreign policy. Wolsey's finest hour was
arranging the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He also founded Cardinal
College at Oxford. Henry desperately wanted a son and argued that his
marriage to Catherine of Aragon, with whom he had a daughter, was not lawful.
He asked Wolsey to use his influence in Rome to get a papal annulment
of Henry's marriage so that he could remarry.Wolsey was unable to
accomplish this, partly because Catherine's nephew, the Holy Roman
Emperor Charles V, dominated the pope at the time. Wolsey's failure to
arrange an annulment for Henry was quickly followed by his downfall. Wolsey
was arrested near York and accused of treason. He died on his journey
south to face trial.

Thomas More was an English lawyer, author, statesman and Renaissance

humanist. He was also a councillor to Henry VIII, and Lord High
Chancellor of England.He opposed the Protestant Reformation. Also, he
opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge
Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his
marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy,
he was convicted of treason and beheaded. He was canonized by the Catholic
Church as a saint.He also wrote Utopia, a book about the political system of an
imaginary ideal island nation.

Thomas Cromwell was a member of the House of Commons, and was also
elected as a member of Grays Inn and entered the service of Cardinal Wolsey. He
served Wolsey as his lawyer and was heavily involved in the dissolution of nearly
thirty monasteries, which raised the funds to found The Kings School, Ipswich
and Cardinal College, Oxford. When Wolsey fell from power, he was appointed to
the Privy Council. In 1536 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cromwell of
Wimbledon, and in 1540 he became Earl of Essex. His support for the disastrous
marriage to Anne of Cleves led to his abrupt downfall in the same year, followed
by his execution and his head on a pike on London Bridge.