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How Did King Henry Viii Have Absolute Power

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King Henry VIII became the king of England in 1509, but there was always, in a sense, a higher power foreshadowing him. This power came from the English Church, as the Roman Catholic religion was dominant in everyday life in England. Even though he himself did not have absolute power, he acted in a sense that was so- it is estimated that he executed “57,000 to 72,000 people”, although there is no exact number (Mason 1). However, just like every king, he acquired an obsession to obtain a son to become his heir, and accumulated a total of six wives during his reign. It was this personal obsession and the desire for absolute power that caused his reign to be focused more on himself, and not on his country. Hence, King Henry VIII was not seen …show more content…

She was a …”Spanish princess who was married to [King Henry VIII] for 18 years before he began divorce proceedings in his desperation to re-marry and produce a male heir” (Historic Royal Palaces, 1). After six pregnancies, five failed and only one daughter by the name of Princess Mary, survived. King Henry VIII then became desperate to divorce her from his impulse to have a male heir. He asked the English clergy to nullify the marriage to remove its existence completely, using the excuse that his brother married Catherine of Aragon. Consequently, he used the relationship of monogamy and religion as his plea, which is the “...practice...that a man can marry only one wife at any one time in his life” (History of Monogamy, 2). Monogamy was predominant in the Roman Catholic Church, as it was “imposed as the only right form of marriage acceptable to God and man” (History of Monogamy, …show more content…

King Henry VIII responded to the resistance by closing the monasteries in England and seizing the property and treasures for the Crown, and executing a numerous amount of monks and friars. Moreover, citizens that spoke out, such as Thomas Bilney (who protested against religious images) and James Bainham (who still followed Roman Catholic beliefs) were arrested and burned at the stake. Religious persecution was enforced as every English citizen was bound by law to belong to the Church of England, regardless of their beliefs. Hence, any sort of religious freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press was removed during King Henry VIII’s

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Additionally, this demonstrates that Henry believes that he is higher than anyone, and no one can tell him otherwise. This kind of unchecked power given to a man who cannot take no for an answer and acts of his own accord acutely expresses how Henry is not a good leader. As said by Bishop (this guy), a leader is supposed to use his unlimited power to benefit, not suppress his people. Additionally, by splitting from the church for his own benefit, he is not showing care to his people and his actions were unprincipled because of his single minded decision.[7] Following the split from the RCC, Henry began to dismantle traces of (the religion) by initiating a program (called this) that shut down all of the monasteries and to take their money and land.

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