Henry Viii Biography

Henry VIII of England[1509-1547] By Kent McMahon

King Henry VIII of England is the most infamous and notorious of all the Monarchs of England. He was a vile and heartless man who beheaded over 72,000 people in his 38 year reign and called for public celebration when his first wife, Catherine of Aragorn died o the 7th if January,1536.
King Henry VIII was born on the 28th of June,1491 in Greenwich Palace. He was the 3rd of seven children of King Henry VII, the first Tudor king, and Elizabeth of York. Out of the seven children, only 4 survived infancy - Prince Arthur, Princess Margaret, Prince Henry and Princess Mary.
Henry's father, King Henry VII, unified the divided country when he killed

Henry became the heir to the throne when his elder brother, Arthur died on the 2nd of April,1502 from a mysterious illness after 20 weeks of marriage to Catherine of Aragorn. Henry became king of England when Henry VII died on the 21st of April, 1509. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on the 24th of June, 1509. Henry honoured his father's wish by marrying his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragorn on the 11th of June, 1509. He and his wife had a female child who was stillborn on the 31st of January,1510. Catherine also gave birth to Henry on the 1st of January,1511 who died seven weeks later. Catherine had another stillbirth in 1514. On the 18th of February,1516 Catherine gave birth a healthy child, Mary[Later Mary I].
Henry decided to invade France in 1513 and defeated the French army on the 16th of August 1513 at the Battle of the Spurs. Meanwhile, there had been an invasion of England by the Scottish forces under James IV, which was crashed by the English forces. King James IV was killed in this invasion. Cardinal Wolsey, the chief of Henry's government 1515-1529, arranged for a peace treaty with France in

Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting of Catherine.He justified that God had cursed their marriage by using a scripture reference from Leviticus 20:21 which said "If a man marries his brother's widow, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonoured his wife.They will be childless". Henry used this scripture reference to justify his conviction that God had made him and Catherine of Aragorn childless. With this justification, Henry decided to ask the current pope, Pope Clement VII for an annulment. Pope Clement VII denied to allow Henry to have an annulment because he feared that an annulment will result in bad relations between him and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles I who was the nephew of Catherine of Aragorn. Nevertheless, Henry secretly married Anne Boleyn on the 25th of January, 1533. His marriage to Catherine of Aragorn was declared annulled on the 23rd of May, 1533. In November 1534,the Act of Supremacy was passed in parliament which separated the Church in England from the Roman Catholic Church with Henry as the superior of this newly established 'Church of England'. Many government officials were executed for not recognising Henry as the superior of the Church in England including John Fisher and Sir Thomas