Why Did King Henry Viii Fail?

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Henry VIII was born on June 28, 1491, in Greenwich, England. He is famous for having six wives. He was the second son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. His older brother, Arthur, died in 1502, leaving him as heir to the throne. From a young age, he was well rounded, and many sources called him athletic, intelligent, and a skilled poet and musician. His father died when he was only eighteen; however, Henry was not very interested in the administration and government of the state. For this reason, his advisor Thomas Wolsey rose in power until the king placed complete trust in him and never questioned his decisions. Wolsey was renowned for his arrogance and lavish lifestyle, and had palaces even fancier than those of Henry. In 1515, he …show more content…

However, their marriage had many difficulties, the largest one being that the couple had been unable to produce a male heir. They had one daughter, Mary, and Catherine had given birth to other five children: four stillborn and one living only two months. By the 1520s, Catherine was in her 40s and Henry was desperate for a son. He was only the second ruler in the Tudor dynasty, which had been established by conquest by his father. Henry was worried that a female heir's right to rule may have been disputed. Another reason his marriage was failing was because he was in love with Anne Boleyn. Anne refused to become his mistress, and Henry was determined to make her his wife. He felt he was being punished by God and requested an annulment of his first marriage on the grounds that it was incestuous, but was denied papal approval. Henry blamed this on Wolsey, who was dismissed, arrested, and died shortly …show more content…

The Act of Supremacy, passed in 1534, took away the Pope's jurisdiction over the Church of England and made Henry its supreme head. It also proved financially beneficial for England, as the monastic lands and possessions were sold off. At this point, though there was still widespread support for the Catholic Church, many influential writers aimed to construct a doctrine of absolute non-resistance to the king. Henry was excommunicated by the Pope, but they understood that the need for a strong monarchy was more important than support for the papacy. Henry had secretly married Anne in 1533, and their daughter Elizabeth was born later that year. However, Henry and Anne did not have any other children, and Henry had Anne executed on fake charges of adultery in 1536. Less than two weeks later, he married Jane Seymour, who gave him his first legitimate son. Jane died twelve days later from complications from childbirth. Henry had three more wives: Anne of Cleves, who was divorced shortly after their marriage; Catherine Howard, who was executed on grounds of adultery in 1542; and Catherine Parr, who survived

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