Biography of King Henry VIII

Essay by violentaestheteJunior High, 9th gradeA+, March 2008

download word file, 5 pages 3.0

King Henry Tudor VIII was born in Greenwich, England on June 28th, 1491. He was the second son and third child of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII (Jokinen). His childhood is not well known because, as the second son, he was not expected to become king (Eakins). He was the first English royal to be taught renaissance ideas and became an advanced scholar, musician, linguist, and athlete in his younger years (Jokinen). He also wrote books and music, and enjoyed hunting very much. One of his best selling books attacked Martin Luther and supported the Roman Catholic Church. For this he was given the title “Defender of the Faith” by the Pope (The Royal Household).

After the death of his brother Arthur in 1502 and his father in 1509, he was crowned king and married to his brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon. It was unsure if this marriage was completely valid, although Catherine’s father Ferdinand of Spain thought that if she were married to an English monarch, he could use England as a tool (Jokinen).

She gave birth to their first son in January of 1511. The child died two months later and was the first in a line of unsuccessful births for the couple (Eakins).

He at first took little interest in politics and Richard Fox managed the foreign affairs (Jokinen). Then Thomas Wolsey became Lord Chancellor in 1515 and took over. Wolsey was also appointed cardinal in 1515 and was able to rule the church in England (The Royal Household). After Ferdinand deserted the English alliance, Henry considered a divorce between him and Catherine. The divorce was postponed though, because of rising tensions between England and France (Jokinen).

Catherine had only produced one surviving child, Mary, in 1516. This was not acceptable by the king’s standards because...