One of the most damaging repercussions of this was the often-brutal suppression of the monasteries. With 1-in-50 of England’s adult male population belonging to a religious order and monasteries owning around a quarter of all cultivated land in the country, the Dissolution of the Monasteries uprooted thousands of lives and changed the political and religious landscape of England forever.

So why did it happen?

Criticism of monastic houses had been growing

Long before Henry VIII‘s break with Rome the monastic houses of England had been under scrutiny, with stories of their lax religious conduct circulating the country’s elite spheres. Although there were vast monastic complexes in almost every town, most of them were only half-full, with those living there barely abiding by strict monastic rules.

The immense wealth of the monasteries also raised eyebrows in the secular world, who believed that their money may be better spent on England’s universities and parish churches, particularly as many spent exorbitantly inside the monasteries’ walls.

High up figures such as Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, and Henry VIII himself sought to limit the powers of the monastic church, and as early as 1519 Wolsey had been investigating corruption in a number of religious houses. In Peterborough Abbey for example, Wolsey found that its abbot had been keeping a mistress and selling goods for a profit and duly had it shut down, instead using the money to found a new college at Oxford.

This idea of corruption would become key in the dissolution when in 1535 Cromwell set about collecting ‘evidence’ of untoward activity within the monasteries. Though some believe these tales to be exaggerated, they included cases of prostitution, drunken monks, and runaway nuns – hardly the behaviour expected from those dedicated to celibacy and virtue.

Henry VIII broke with Rome and declared himself Supreme Head of the Church

The push towards more drastic reform was deeply personal however. In the Spring of 1526, having grown restless with waiting for a son and heir from Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII set his sights on marrying the enamouring Anne Boleyn.

Boleyn had recently returned from the French royal court and was now a sparkling courtier, well-versed in the courtly game of love. As such, she refused to become the king’s mistress and would settle only for marriage, lest she be cast aside as her elder sister had been.

Driven by love and an intense anxiety to provide an heir, Henry set about petitioning the Pope to grant him an annulment from his marriage to Catherine in what became known as the ‘King’s Great Matter’.

A portrait of Henry VIII by Holbein thought to be from around 1536.

Image Credit: Public domain

Setting Cardinal Wolsey on the task, a number of challenging factors delayed the proceedings. In 1527, Pope Clement VII was virtually imprisoned by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V during the Sack of Rome, and following this was heavily under his influence. As Charles happened to be Catherine of Aragon’s nephew, he was unwilling to budge on the topic of divorce as not to bring shame and embarrassment to his family.

Eventually Henry realised he was fighting a losing battle and in February 1531, he declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, meaning he now had jurisdiction on what exactly happened to its religious houses. In 1553, he passed a law forbidding clerics to appeal to ‘foreign tribunals’ in Rome, severing their ties with the Catholic Church on the continent. The first step to the demise of the monasteries was set in motion.

He sought to destroy Papal influence in England

Now in charge of England’s religious landscape, Henry VIII set about ridding it of the Pope’s influence. In 1535, Thomas Cromwell was made Vicar General (Henry’s second in command) and sent letters to all the vicars in England, calling for their support of Henry as the Head of the Church.

Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein.

Image Credit: The Frick Collection / CC

Under intense threat, almost all of England’s religious houses agreed to this, with those who initially refused suffering heavy consequences. The friars from the Greenwich house were imprisoned where many died of maltreatment for example, while a number of the Carthusian monks were executed for high treason. Simple obedience was not enough for Henry VIII however, as the monasteries also had something he was desperately in need of – vast wealth.

He needed the immense wealth of the monasteries

After years of lavish spending and costly wars, Henry VIII had frittered away much of his inheritance – an inheritance painstakingly amassed by his frugal father Henry VII.

In 1534, a valuation of the Church was commissioned by Thomas Cromwell known as the Valor Ecclesiasticus, which demanded all religious establishments give authorities an accurate inventory of their lands and revenues. When this was completed, the Crown had for the first time a real image of the Church’s wealth, allowing Henry to set in motion a plan to repurpose their funds for his own use.

In 1536, all small religious houses with an annual income of less than £200 were ordered to be closed under the Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries. Their gold, silver, and valuable materials were confiscated by the Crown and their lands sold off. This initial round of dissolutions made up around 30% of England’s monasteries, yet more were soon to follow.

Catholic revolt pushed further dissolutions

Opposition to Henry’s reforms were widespread in England, particularly in the north where many staunchly Catholic communities persevered. In October 1536, a large uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace took place in Yorkshire, in which thousands marched into the city of York to demand a return to the ‘true religion’.

This was soon crushed, and though the king promised clemency for those involved, over 200 were executed for their roles in the unrest. Afterwards, Henry came to view monasticism as synonymous with treachery, as many of the religious houses he had spared in the north had participated in the uprising.

The Pilgrimage of Grace, York.

Image Credit: Public domain

The following year, inducements to the larger abbeys began, with hundreds forfeiting their deeds to the king and signing a document of surrender. In 1539, the Act for the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries was passed, forcing the remaining bodies to close – this was not without bloodshed however.

When the last abbot of Glastonbury, Richard Whiting, refused to relinquish his abbey, he was hung drawn and quartered and his head displayed over the gate of his now-deserted religious house.

In total around 800 religious institutions were closed in England, Wales, and Ireland, with many of their precious monastic libraries destroyed in the process. The final abbey, Waltham, closed its doors on 23 March 1540.

His allies were rewarded

With the monasteries suppressed, Henry now had vast amounts of wealth and masses of land. This he sold off to nobles and merchants loyal to his cause as a reward for their service, who in turn sold it off to others and became increasingly wealthy.

Not only did this strengthen their loyalties, but also built a wealthy circle of Protestant-leaning nobles around the Crown – something that would become vital in instilling England as a Protestant country. During the reigns of Henry VIII’s children and beyond however, these factions would grow into conflict as the successive monarch’s adapted their own faiths to that of their regime.

With the ruins of hundreds of abbeys still littering England’s landscape – Whitby, Rievaulx and Fountains to name a few – it is hard to escape the memory of the thriving communities that once occupied them. Now mostly atmospheric shells, they sit as a reminder of monastic Britain and the most blatant consequences of the Protestant Reformation.

1. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury

Margaret Pole was the niece of Richard III – who Henry VII had slain at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Until her dying day, Margaret asserted her Yorkist allegiance and become a focus for rebellion. She was considered such as threat that Henry VIII ordered her execution in 1541.

Margaret Pole; Elizabeth of York; Margaret Tudor

2. Elizabeth of York

Elizabeth was the daughter of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, who were leaders of the Yorkist cause. Her brothers were the ‘Princes in the Tower’.

The marriage between Elizabeth of York and Henry Tudor marked a union between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and the red and white Tudor rose was born. Elizabeth and Henry had eight children, who, through marriage, became monarchs of England, Scotland and France.

3. Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots

The eldest daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Margaret was the sister of Henry VIII. She was married to James IV of Scotland from 1503-1513, which united the royal houses of England and Scotland. After her husband’s death, Margaret acted as regent for her son James V, from 1513-1515.

4. Catherine of Aragon

Catherine ruled as Queen of England from June 1509 until May 1533. She was the daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

At three years old she was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, who was heir apparent to the English throne. After Arthur’s death, Catherine was married to his younger brother Henry, who grew increasingly frustrated after she failed to deliver a male heir.

Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn

Image Credit: History Hit

For six months in 1513, she served as regent of England as Henry was abroad in France. Her rousing speech about emotional courage seemed to be an important factor in the English victory at the Battle of Flodden. She was also a prominent humanist, and counted scholars such as Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More as her friends.

5. Elizabeth Blount

‘Bessie’ Blount was a mistress of Henry VIII. On 15 June 1519, Blount bore the king what he had always craved – a son. Henry Fitzroy, the only illegitimate son of Henry VIII, was later Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham.

6. Anne Boleyn

The second and perhaps most infamous wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, when she was executed.

Henry first caught eyes on her when she served Catherine of Aragon as a maid of honour. To accommodate a marriage to Anne and divorce Catherine, Henry had no choice but to leave the Catholic Church and establish the Church of England. Anne was the mother of Elizabeth I.

7. Catherine Parr

Catherine had four husbands, the third of which was Henry VIII who she outlived by a year. She enjoyed a close relationship with Henry’s three children, taking personal interest in their education and playing an important role in the Third Succession Act, which restored Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession.

Catherine Parr; Lady Jane Grey; Mary I

Image Credit: History Hit

After Henry’s death, Catherine acted as queen dowager and was allowed to keep royal jewels and dresses.

8. Lady Jane Grey

Jane was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, through their daughter Mary, who became Queen of France.

She was exceptionally well educated in humanist studies, and as a committed Protestant, Edward VI saw her as an ally. In 1553, Edward’s will placed Jane in line to inherit the throne, effectively removing his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth from the line of succession and ignoring the Third Succession Act.

Jane was proclaimed queen on 10 July 1553 but support quickly waned and the Privy Council abandoned her. Lasting just over a week, she became known as the ‘Nine Days Queen’. Although Mary initially spared her life, she became viewed as a threat to the Crown, and was executed the following year.

9. Mary I

Mary was the eldest child of Henry VIII to survive to adulthood. As the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, she was a staunch Catholic. After expelling Lady Jane Grey to regain her place on the throne, Mary attempted to reverse the English Reformation begun by her father and restore Roman Catholicism.

The executions of Protestants earned her the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’. She was married to Phillip of Spain.

10. Elizabeth I

Elizabeth was the final monarch of the Tudor dynasty, ruling from 1558-1603. She depended heavily on a group of advisers led by William Cecil. Together they established a middle way in the religious debates, as Elizabeth became the Supreme Governor of the English Protestant church, but insisted on greater tolerance of English Catholics.

Elizabeth I; Bess of Hardwick; Mary, Queen of Scots

Image Credit: History Hit

Elizabeth never married and she became referred to as the ‘Virgin Queen’. Her 44 year reign was marked by England’s defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and a flowering of English drama, led by playwrights Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare.

11. Bess of Hardwick

Born into a modest background, Bess married four times and acquired an enormous fortune to become the second most important woman in England, after the queen. She is famed for building Hardwick Hall, which gave rise to the rhyme ‘Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall’.

12. Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary reigned over Scotland from 1542 to 1567. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland, who died when Mary was six days old. She married Francis, the Dauphin of France, and later her half-cousin, Lord Darnley.

Their son, James, would become James I of England, uniting the two kingdoms. She was executed by her cousin, Elizabeth I, in 1587 at Fotheringhay Castle.

When and where was the Field?

The Field took place between 7 and 24 June 1520 in what is now northern France (but was then English territory called the Pale of Calais) between the towns of Guînes and Ardres.

Each side built temporary accommodation in and near the towns. The English constructed a temporary banqueting palace just outside the walls of Guînes.  It was 328 feet (100m) square. There were also hundreds of canvas tented pavilions covered in rich fabrics, including the cloth of gold that gives the event its name.

Why was the Field held?

In early 1520 Henry was 28 years of age and had been king since 1509. In 1513 Henry had personally invaded France in pursuit of his dynastic claim to the kingdom. Francis was 24 years old and had ruled France since 1515.  That year, Francis had conquered the duchy of Milan.

Endemic warfare in Italy and the Ottoman’s conquest of Egypt and Syria in 1517 prompted Pope Leo X to formulate plans for a five-year truce in Christendom.

In 1518 Cardinal Wolsey rather hijacked these plans and turned them instead into a multi-lateral non-aggression pact. All participants swore not to attack each other and to support any one of their number who was attacked by another. Henry would arbitrate disputes between them.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, statesman and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. As a papal legate he had immense power in the name of the pope (Leo X at the time of the meeting), by unidentified painter.

Perhaps surprisingly, the major European powers including Francis and Charles of Spain signed up. At the time Charles and Francis were keen rivals and both wanted to become Holy Roman Emperor. Charles was elected in 1519 and Francis looked to Henry as a potential ally against him.

Francis was able to purchase (rather expensively) from Henry the city of Tournai lost to the English in 1513. Henry secured increased annual payments from Francis that he regarded as ‘tribute’ for ‘his’ kingdom of France. Therefore, when Henry and Francis met in 1520, they could do so as equals and each sought to reinforce his position through offering friendship to the other, but on his own terms.

Who was at the Field?

Each king brought an entourage of between 5-6,000 people. Henry was accompanied by Queen Katherine (of Aragon). King Francis brought Queen Claude, who was heavily pregnant at the time.

Their leading nobles, courtiers and advisors such as Wolsey, who had organised the whole event, also accompanied them, with many nobles and knights who participated in the tournament, together with their wives and servants.

The two young monarchs who met at the Field of the Cloth of Gold: left, Francis I of France (reigned 1515–1547) (portrait by Jean Clouet, Louvre Museum, Paris); right, Henry VIII of England (reigned 1509–1547) (portrait after Hans Holbein the Younger, Royal Collection, Windsor Castle).

What happened during the Field?

The two kings met for the first time on Thursday 7 June, about half-way between the two towns. Surrounded by their leading nobles, they embraced and swore to uphold the alliance they had agreed. Over the following fortnight, they jointly hosted a series of tournament competitions conducted in a specially built tournament ground.

The tournament field was a joint Franco-English civil engineering project and there was nothing similar until the Concorde aircraft and the making of the Channel Tunnel in the 20^th century.

There was jousting along a barrier or ‘tilt’ that separated the competitors. This was followed a few days later by a freer form of combat called a ‘tourney’ with mixed teams of English and French knights fighting. Finally, there were foot combats across barriers between pairs of knights. Both kings fought alongside, not against, each other as the brothers in arms they now claimed to be.

Wrestling at the Field of the Cloth of Gold (tapestry, c. 1520). Francis I is shown top right, above an actual cloth of gold. (Credit: By Anonymous – http://www.sothebys.com/fr/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.14.html/2014/masterworks-n09209).

On three occasions there were extravagant banquets given by one court to the other. Francis and his immediate entourage went to Guînes while Henry went to Ardres.

The banquets had multiple courses and the English kitchen accounts list some 6,475 birds including swans. Huge numbers of deer, lamb and no fewer than 98,050 eggs were accounted for in dishes made for these English banquets.

They were followed by formal masques and dancing. Henry and Francis were both skilled dancers and showed off their talents, dressed in elaborate costumes and acted out the roles of heroes in chivalric and classical romances. Afterwards both made carefully synchronised returns to their respective residences.

The event came to an end with a High Mass celebrated by Cardinal Wolsey on 23 June. An outdoor chapel was built over the tiltyard the previous night. The cardinal proclaimed a papal indulgence for the large congregation. The following day, the two kings promised to meet again and then farewelled each other, exchanging gifts of jewelled collars, horses, cups and plate and cash.

What happened after the Field?

At the Field the two kings were testing each other’s potential as a friend as well as possible enemy. For Francis though, it was not so much Henry as Charles V who was the problem. Hoping to trigger the collective security mechanism, he covertly attacked imperial territory in 1521.

The plan backfired completely and led to open war with Charles. Both sides appealed to Henry who was finally drawn into the war on Charles’s side. He attacked France in 1523.  Francis was finally defeated and captured at the Battle of Pavia in February 1525 as he tried to recover the duchy of Milan.

Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg empire of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as well as ruler of Spain, Austria, the Low Countries, and the Two Sicilies. By Joachim Patinir.

He was compelled to sign the disadvantageous Treaty of Madrid of January 1526. Francis repudiated it as soon as he returned to France. Henry was disappointed that Charles had not supported his wish to divide France between them after Francis’s defeat.

By 1527 Wolsey had persuaded him once more to ally with Francis. A difficult but productive ‘eternal peace’ was agreed and maintained for the next fifteen years.

This peace, a legacy of the 1520 meeting, gave Henry some support as he broke from Rome over his wish for an annulment to his first marriage. Henry’s support for him, or at least indifference to Charles, helped Francis to hold his own against the most powerful ruler of Western Europe, even if he never got back his much-prized duchy of Milan.

Why was the Field significant?

The Field was an ambitious event held to affirm the ideal of royal chivalry as the best means to maintain peace and Christian unity among European states.

It could not, however, prevent the incessant dynastic conflict between Francis and Charles, and their sons, that caused so much warfare in sixteenth century Europe.

At heart, the Field of Cloth of Gold was a display by the kings of England and France of the material and human resources at their command in support of their claims to princely honour and renown. Each tried to demonstrate a compelling magnificence that enhanced his international status, whether he was at war or peace.

With its jousting kings, tents and pennants, banqueting and extravagance, the meeting has often seemed a curious instance of theatrical medievalism. Yet if understood in its proper context, the Field shows us a great deal about how Renaissance monarchy worked.

Dr Glenn Richardson is Professor of Early Modern History at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. He is the author of Renaissance Monarchy: The Reigns of Henry VIII, Francis I and Charles V (London, 2002) and The Field of Cloth of Gold (Yale and London, 2014). In 2020 Routledge published his new biography of Cardinal Wolsey.

Henry enacted radical changes to the English constitution, expanded royal power and broke with the Catholic Church in the English Reformation.

But he is perhaps most famous for having six wives. Though married to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for nearly 25 years, Henry’s next five marriages lasted less than that combined.

Best remembered in rhyme form; ‘divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived’; two of Henry VIII’s marriages were declared annulled, two of his wives were beheaded and another of them died after giving birth to his only son. But his final wife, Catherine Parr, outlived him and their marriage.

Here are Henry VIII’s six wives in order.

1. Catherine of Aragon

Catherine is best known today for her role in sparking the King’s excommunication from the Catholic Church and the Reformation. Married to Henry for a quarter of a century, however, there is much more to her.

The daughter of Spanish monarchs Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, Catherine was a political catch.

Betrothed at the age of three to Arthur, Henry’s older brother and the heir apparent to the English throne, her position became uncertain when, in 1502, her husband died just five months into their marriage.

Half of Catherine’s dowry had already been paid to Arthur’s father, Henry VII, so the English king faced the dilemma of how to pay it back.

Catherine was effectively held a prisoner with little money to her name while the issue was debated. But in 1507, six years after Arthur’s death, she became the ambassador of the Aragonese Crown to England.

In doing so, she also became the first female European ambassador in history.

Catherine of Aragon

Image Credit: Attributed to Joannes Corvus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Two years later, Catherine married Henry VIII – who was five years her junior – shortly after he had ascended the throne. This marriage between a man and his brother’s widow required, and was granted, dispensation by the Catholic Church.

The couple’s marriage was eventful for Catherine. In 1513, she served as regent for six months while Henry was away in France. During this time she oversaw an English victory against Scotland at the Battle of Flodden, but she also gave birth to a stillborn child.

Catherine suffered multiple miscarriages and stillbirths. She bore the king’s first child, a boy, only to see him die 52 days later. Her only child to survive to adulthood was a daughter born in 1516, Mary; who went on to become queen.

Catherine suffered another miscarriage in 1518, but one year later Henry had a son by a mistress named Elizabeth Blount. The boy was named Henry Fitzroy, and is Henry’s only confirmed illegitimate child. Blount was not, however, Henry’s only mistress during his marriage to Catherine.

It was his infatuation with Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting, from 1526, which set into motion a chain of events that would not only see the end of Catherine and Henry’s marriage, but also lead to England’s Protestantisation.

Henry tried to have his marriage to Catherine annulled to marry Anne. He argued that their marriage had been invalid because of Catherine’s marriage to his brother. Devout Catherine rejected this, saying that she and Arthur’s relationship had never been consummated.

Possibly pressured somewhat by Catherine’s nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the Pope refused. In response the king assumed supremacy over religious matters and turned his back on the Catholic Church.

Henry’s marriage to Catherine was eventually annulled on 1533 and Catherine was banished from court as Dowager Princess of Wales. She lived out the rest of her days at Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire where she died in 1536. Her daughter Mary was forbidden for visiting her or to attending her funeral at Peterborough Cathedral.

Catherine never accepted the end of her marriage to Henry as legitimate, always seeing herself as England’s rightful Queen and Henry’s wife.

2. Anne Boleyn

With the extraordinary events of her life unparalleled in British history, Anne Boleyn is undoubtedly the most famous of Henry’s wives.

Henry may have endured a seven-year courtship and far-reaching political and religious upheavals in order to marry his second wife, but that didn’t stop him having her executed less than three years later.

Anne was born c.1501 to Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Howard, and spent much of her youth in France, returning in 1522. She was reported to be fluent in french, a talented musician and to dress in line with French fashions.

Anne was previously betrothed to Henry Percy, but this engagement had been broken off when it did not gain the support of his father, the fifth Earl of Northumberland. Henry VIII, himself, had formerly taken Anne’s sister, Mary, as a mistress.

Anne refused to become the King’s mistress, forcing him to wait through the seven years of courtship until they could marry. In 1532, Henry made Anne the Marquessate of Pembroke, and the pair married formally in January 1533, after a secret ceremony two months earlier.

After going through so much to secure the marriage, the King’s change of heart was likely due to the fact that, like Catherine, Anne seemed unable to bear him a son. After giving birth to Elizabeth I in September 1533, she suffered several miscarriages.

Henry began to look elsewhere for a woman to bear him a son – and he found this woman in Jane Seymour. Anne was less able to accept Henry’s infidelities than her predecessor, and reportedly became enraged and jealous when confronted with evidence of her husband’s affairs.

A month after Henry began courting Jane, he ordered Anne to be investigated for high treason and she was sent to the Tower of London.

After being tried on charges of adultery, incest and treason, Anne was found guilty (most likely wrongly) by a jury which included her once fiancee, Henry Percy. The treason charge alludes to alleged plots to kill the King, but also likely the risk to succession that would be created by a Queen having an affair.

Five men were found guilty of adultery. Among them was Anne’s brother, George, hence the charge of incest. All were executed on Tower Hill.

She was beheaded four days later, on 19 May, on Tower Green. In her final speech she did not admit guilt but instead alluded to her innocence and, perhaps to keep her daughter in Henry’s favour, prayed ‘God save the King, and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never.’

3. Jane Seymour

Henry’s love for – or at least infatuation with – Anne may have sparked the Reformation, but Jane is commonly thought to have been his favourite wife. This is most likely because Jane gave him what none of of his other wives could: a son who lived.

Like Anne, Jane had served as a lady-in-waiting to the queen she would replace. They also shared a great-grandmother. As did Henry’s future wife Catherine Howard.

Portrait by Hans Holbein, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Image Credit: Hans Holbein the Younger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Jane was not as highly educated as either of her predecessors. Her peaceful and gentle personality, starkly contrasting with that of her predecessors, reportedly lent itself to peacemaking efforts at court – ironic given the circumstances that surrounded her marriage to Henry.

She married the Tudor King in May 1533, just days after Anne had been beheaded.

Her marriage to Henry was overshadowed by the need to give birth to an heir, with some suggesting that this was a factor in the delay of her coronation.

Jane gave birth to a son in October 1534. He would grow up to be King Edward VI, but she would not live to see this. After developing post-natal complications, she died less than two weeks after his birth, aged 29.

Jane is attributed with reconciling her husband to his first daughter, Mary, during their short marriage. Her connection to her step daughter was such that Mary acted as chief mourner at her funeral.

Jane was the only one of Henry’s wives to be given a queen’s funeral, despite never having had a coronation, and was the wife who Henry chose to be buried with upon his own death in January 1547.

4. Anne of Cleves

Henry’s last three wives are less famous than his first three, a matter not helped by the fact that each shares their name with a predecessor.

Not only this but Henry’s last three marriages were far less dramatic than his first three (though this is certainly relative given that his fifth wife was beheaded). None of these final three marriages resulted in any children.

In the case of Anne of Cleves this last point is hardly surprising given that her marriage with Henry went unconsummated. The King proved far less enamoured with his fourth wife than he had with her predecessors.

Henry married Anne in January 1540, though negotiations for the marriage are believed to have begun shortly after Jane’s death in 1534.

The daughter of the Duke of Cleves and Count of Mark, Anne was considered a politically expedient match by Henry’s advisers. She was only just older than Henry’s oldest child, Mary, and had no formal education.

After marrying Anne in January 1540, Henry had their marriage annulled just six months later, citing its lack of consummation as well as his wife’s previous engagement to another man, Francis, Duke of Barr and later Lorraine. Henry blamed the marriage going unconsummated on Anne’s appearance but this slight didn’t stop the pair later becoming close friends.

Anne’s acceptance of the annulment seemed to win her favour with Henry and she subsequently became an honorary member of his family, known as “the King’s Beloved Sister”. Her generous settlement included Richmond Palace and also the home of Henry’s former in-laws, the Boleyns, Hever Castle.

Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1539. Oil and tempera on parchment mounted on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Like Jane, Anne had a good relationship with Henry’s eldest daughter. In 1553 she accompanied her former step daughter to Whitehall, Mary’s new residence as Queen. Anne also reverted back to her former religion, Roman Catholicism, in line with the new Queen.

Anne died in 1557, outliving all of the other five wives and Henry himself. She is the only one of Henry’s queens to be buried in Westminster Abbey.

The political adviser who arranged the marriage did not fare so well, however; Thomas Cromwell was executed on 28 July 1540, the same day that Henry married his next wife.

5. Catherine Howard

Henry’s marriage to Catherine Howard came close to matching the drama of his earlier partnerships – perhaps unsurprising given that his teenage bride was a first cousin of Anne Boleyn.

Catherine’s life had been turbulent even before Henry came on the scene. As one of the many wards of her father’s stepmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, she began at the age of 13 to be involved in repeated sexual contact with her music teacher, Henry Mannox.

Later, Catherine had become embroiled in an extramarital affair with the Dowager’s secretary Francis Dereham.

After the Dowager Duchess found out, Catherine was sent to court to serve as a lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves. This position had been secured for her by her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, who saw an opportunity in Henry’s lack of interest in Anne. The King was certainly attracted to Catherine’s youth, looks and vivacity.

The pair were married in 1540. In the spring of the following year, however, Catherine is alleged to have begun an affair with a favoured courtier of Henry’s named Thomas Culpeper. Their meetings were reportedly organised by Jane Boleyn, the widow of Anne Boleyn’s executed brother George.

By autumn, rumours about Catherine’s conduct were abundant and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, learned of her alleged affair with Culpeper, as well as her previous relationship with the Dowager Duchess’s secretary, Dereham.

Cranmer saw this as his chance to reduce the influence of his political rival, the Roman Catholic house of Norfolk. He launched an investigation into Catherine’s alleged affairs and she was detained and questioned in November 1541.

Rather than admitting to the earlier affair and possible precontract with Dereham, which would have allowed for her annulment and banishment, Catherine maintained that the relationship was not consensual.

Charged with high treason, both Culpeper and Dereham were executed in December 1541.

In order to find Catherine guilty of a crime, the Royal Assent by Commission Act 1541 was passed. It became treasonous to fail to disclose premarital sexual relations to the monarch within twenty days of marriage, or to incite a person to engage in adultery as the Queen consort.

Within months, Catherine had gone the same way as her cousin Anne, executed for high treason. On her route by barge to the Tower of London she likely have passed under the impaled heads of her reported lovers, Culpeper and Dereham, on London Bridge.

Catherine was probably about nineteen years old.

Jane Boleyn was also executed and both were buried in unmarked graves at the Tower’s parish chapel alongside Catherine’s cousins, and Jane’s sister-in-law and husband: Anne and George Boleyn.

6. Catherine Parr

Henry’s sixth and final wife – and his third named Catherine – was perhaps his luckiest. She married Henry in July 1543, just four months after Catherine Howard was beheaded, and went on to outlive him – though only by a year.

Catherine Parr had been married twice before, being titled Lady Burgh and then Lady Latimer, and married again around six months after Henry died, making her the most married English queen.

This is not Catherine’s only claim to fame: she was also the first queen of both England and Ireland.

A portrait of Catherine Parr (1512–1548)

Image Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The third Catherine had begun a romantic relationship with Jane Seymour’s brother, Thomas, when she caught the eye of Henry. But she considered it her duty to marry the King instead.

In 1546, Catherine, who held strong Protestant sympathies, faced a plot to get rid of her by anti-Protestant officials.

These officials tried to turn Henry against Catherine and even drew up a warrant for her arrest. But Catherine outwitted them and successfully reconciled with her husband, avoiding the same fate as her unlucky predecessors.

She also differed from her predecessors being 30 years old, and a scholar. She became the first English queen to write and publish a book under her own name in 1545, with Prayers and Meditations.

When Henry died in 1547, he left provisions of £7,000 a year for Catherine to support herself, and for Catherine to be treated as Queen Dowager, still in possession of her courtly clothes, jewels and such.

Catherine’s final husband was her previous interest and the uncle of the new king, Thomas Seymour. Seymour is reported to have also had interests in the future queen, Lady Elizabeth, who lived with the married couple.

This rumour was included in evidence which resulted in Seymour’s execution in 1549 for treason This came after his wife’s death, for in August 1548, Catherine had given birth to her only child and died several days later from suspected childbed fever.

1. She learned about sex in a promiscuous French court

Anne went to the French court in 1514 as maid of honour to Henry VIII’s sister, Mary, who married Louis XII of France. When Louis died, Anne moved to the court of Queen Claude, wife of the newly-crowned King Francis I. The idea that the French court was sexually charged most likely stems from Francis, who kept an official mistress. Stories of Francis’ amorous exploits have proved tantalising with novels and films sensationalising stories of the French court.

But Anne was in service to Queen Claude, a pious woman who spent much of her time in the Loire Valley away from Francis’ court. Pregnant seven times in eight years, Claude preferred to be in the beautiful Chateau of Blois and Amboise whilst with child.

At court, women were supposed to be modest and chaste to conform to feminine ideals so Anne’s days would have been spent doing well-regarded activities like sewing, embroidery, worship, reading devotional texts, singing, walking, and playing music and games.

The few instances we do know of Anne attending Francis’ court, she attended pageants and banquets which would have been no more immodest than those in the English court.

Mary Tudor and Louis XII of France, from a contemporary manuscript

Image Credit: Pierre Gringoire, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

2. She pursued Henry VIII to steal him from Catherine of Aragon

Evidence from Anne’s own letters when she was 12 tells us she dreamed of being a lady in waiting for Catherine of Aragon. From 1522 Anne realised her childhood dream as records show she sometimes served Catherine. Rather than a young woman bent on pursuing a king, it is more likely that Anne and Catherine were friends.

Stories of Anne acting in a flirtatious manner to catch Henry’s eye at a masque in 1522 (her first appearance at the English court after her return from France) are also exaggerated. It is true that Anne played the character of Perseverance, but ideas of Anne bewitching Henry are unlikely as Anne was set to marry James Butler, 9^th Earl of Ormond – a marriage suggested by Henry.

The first time we have evidence of Anne’s involvement with Henry is in a letter from Henry to Anne in 1526. This letter (one of 17 that survive from Henry to Anne) talks of being struck by the dart of love ‘above a whole year’ but Henry is worried as he is ‘not yet sure whether I shall fail of finding a place in your heart’. Throughout the letter, Henry is ‘beseeching’ Anne ‘to let me know expressly your whole mind as to the love between us two.’ The letter makes it quite clear that it is Henry who is pursuing Anne.

40 years old Catherine of Aragon

Image Credit: Attributed to Joannes Corvus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

3. She had an incestuous relationship with her brother

The one and only source of evidence about Anne having an inappropriate sexual relationship with her brother, George, comes from Eustace Chapuys, Imperial Ambassador to Charles V. Charles was Catharine of Aragon’s nephew so Chapuys was not an impartial observer, and he remarked on how much time George spent with Anne, but that was it. It is this observation that is the only one we have about the siblings’ alleged incest.

We also know that when Anne’s brother returned from diplomatic missions, he visited her first before seeing the king and maybe this raised a few eyebrows. But it is far more reasonable to suggest that Anne and George were simply close.

4. She was a witch

Anne’s association with witchcraft comes from a report by Eustace Chapuys. In January 1536, Chapuys reported to Charles V that Henry was stressed, and had been heard saying he had been seduced into marriage with Anne by “sortilege”. The word sortilege meant divine power, but it could also be used to imply witchcraft and sorcery.

Chapuys interpreted what he heard as Anne bewitching Henry, but Chapuys did not speak English and only heard that Henry was stressed. Reporting a third- or fourth-hand account, plus issues of translation, undoubtedly muddied the story – it was a serious case of Chinese Whispers.

Historians tend to believe that Henry meant sortilege in terms of divination – the idea that Anne had promised him they would have sons because god wanted the marriage so it was divinely blessed. The day Henry had been stressed and allegedly uttered these words Anne had miscarried a baby.

Anne’s association with witchcraft also comes from a contemporary historian Nicholas Sanders born in 1530. Sanders, a devoted Catholic, published a book in 1585 about Tudor England’s split from the Roman Catholic Church, which painted a very hostile portrait of Anne. Sanders said of Anne: “She had a projecting tooth under her upper lip, and on her right hand, six fingers. There was a large wen (wart) under her chin…”. Sanders also picked up on Chapuys’ account of sortilege, painting a picture of witchcraft.

‘The Witches’ by Hans Baldung (cropped)

Image Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

However, given that Henry had chosen Anne to give him a son and heir and was deeply religious, would he really have chosen someone who looked like a witch or who had six fingers when such things were associated with the devil?

There is also the matter of Sanders’ motive. Anne had been a powerful advocate for reform whilst Sanders was a devoted Catholic writing a book about the ‘schism’ of the church – a word implying he saw the Reformation as a negative split.

Finally, if Anne had been accused of witchcraft, we would expect to see it being used by her enemies during her trial as a piece of powerful propaganda – yet it appears nowhere.

5. She gave birth to a deformed fetus

There is no evidence to support this myth. The allegation came from Nicholas Sanders who wrote that Anne gave birth to a ‘shapeless mass of flesh’. Given that Sanders chose to describe what was a tragic miscarriage in 1536 gives us a sense of his brutality towards Anne for writing such a thing. The biological fact is that as the fetus was only 15 weeks old it would not look like a fully-formed baby. No witness or account from the time made a single observation about the child.

1. Catherine’s parents were two of the most powerful figures in Europe

Born in 1485 to Kind Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, Catherine known as the Infanta of Spain as their youngest surviving child. Descended from English royalty through John of Gaunt’s line, Catherine was highly educated and accomplished in more domestic skills too.

Her proud lineage meant she was an attractive marriage prospect across Europe, and eventually she was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales: a strategic match which would validate the rule of the Tudors in England and provide strong links between Spain and England.

2. Henry wasn’t Catherine’s first husband

In May 1499, Catherine married Arthur, Prince of Wales, by proxy. Catherine arrived in England in 1501, and the two were formally married at St Paul’s Cathedral. Catherine had a dowry of 200,000 ducats: half was paid on the event of the marriage.

The young couple were dispatched to Ludlow Castle (appropriate given Arthur’s role as Prince of Wales), but just a few months later, in April 1502, Arthur died of the ‘sweating sickness’, leaving Catherine a widow.

To keep the alliance and avoid having to return Catherine’s large dowry, Henry VII, Arthur’s father, desperately looked for ways to keep Catherine in England – he is even rumoured to have considered marrying the teenager himself.

3. Her marriage to Henry was as close to a love match as a diplomatic marriage could be

Catherine was 6 years older than Henry, her former brother-in-law, when he became king in 1509. Henry made an active decision to marry Catherine: whilst there were strategic and political advantages, he was at liberty to marry any one of Europe’s princesses.

The two were well-matched. Both were attractive, well-educated, cultured and accomplished sportspeople, and they were devoted to each other for the first years of their marriage. The two were married in early June 1509 outside Greenwich Palace, and crowned at Westminster Abbey about 10 days later.

4. She served as England’s regent for 6 months

In 1513, Henry went to France, leaving Catherine as his regent in England during his absence: the actual phrasing went

“regent and governess of England, Wales and Ireland, during our absence… to issue warrants under her sign manual… for payment of such sums as she may require from our treasury”.

This was a sign of immense trust from a husband to wife, or king to queen by contemporary standards. Shortly after Henry departed, James IV of Scotland decided to take this opportune moment to invade, capturing several border castles in quick succession.

Catherine immediately sent an army north to stop the Scots, and addressed the troops herself in full armour despite being heavily pregnant. They met at the Battle of Flodden Field, which proved to be a decisive English victory: James IV was killed, as were a large number of Scottish nobles.

Catherine sent James’ bloody shirt to Henry in France with news of her victory: Henry later used this as as a banner at the siege of Tournai.

A Victorian illustration depicting the Battle of Flodden Field, 1513. Image credit: British Library / CC.

5. She suffered a series of tragic miscarriages and stillbirths

Catherine was pregnant 6 times during her marriage to Henry: only one of these children – a daughter, Mary – survived into adulthood. Of the remaining pregnancies, at least 3 resulted in male children who died shortly after birth.

In 1510, Catherine gave Henry a short-lived heir: Henry, Duke of Cornwall. Christened at Richmond Palace, the baby died at only a few months old. The inability to give Henry a living male heir proved to be Catherine’s undoing. Henry’s desperation for a son knew almost no bounds.

6. She was an early advocate for a woman’s right to education

Catherine was given a comprehensive education, speaking Spanish, English, Latin, French and Greek by the time she married Prince Arthur. She was determined to afford the same privilege to her own daughter, Mary, and took responsibility for much of her education, as well as taking instruction from the Renaissance humanist Juan Luis Vives.

In 1523, Catherine commissioned Vives to produce a book entitled ‘The Education of a Christian Woman’, in which he advocated for education for all women, irrespective of social class or ability and offered practical advice.

A portrait of Catherine of Aragon as Mary Magdalene, probably done whilst she was in her early 20s. Image credit: Detroit Institute of Art / CC.

7. Catherine was a devout Catholic

Catholicism played a central role in Catherine’s life: she was pious and devout, and during her time as queen she created extensive programmes of poor relief.

Her strict adherence to Catholicism played into her refusal to accept Henry’s desire for divorce: she dismissed any claims that their marriage was unlawful. Henry suggested she retire gracefully to a nunnery: Catherine responded “God never called me to a nunnery. I am the King’s true and legitimate wife.”

Henry’s decision to break with Rome was something Catherine could never accept: she remained a devout Catholic until the end, loyal to the Pope and Rome despite it costing her marriage.

8. The validity of Henry and Catherine’s marriage was called into question very publicly

In 1525, Henry became infatuated with one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn: one of Anne’s attractions was her youth. Henry badly wanted a son, and it was clear Catherine would have no more children. Henry asked Rome for an annulment, claiming it was against Biblical law to marry his brother’s widow.

Catherine was forced to testify very publicly about the consummation (or not) of her marriage to Henry’s brother Arthur – she maintained they never slept together, meaning she was a virgin when she married Henry.

Eventually, Thomas Wolsey convened an ecclesiastical court in England in 1529 to determine the matter once and for all: however, the pope withdrew his legate (representative) in order to stall the decision-making process, and forbade Henry to remarry in the meantime.

9. Catherine’s marriage was dissolved and she was exiled

Following years of backwards and forwards between England and Rome, Henry reached the end of his tether. The break with Rome meant Henry was head of his own church in England, so in 1533, a special court convened to declare Henry and Catherine’s marriage illegal.

Catherine refused to accept this ruling, and declared she would be continued to be addressed as Henry’s wife and England’s rightful queen (although her official title became the Dowager Princess of Wales). To punish Catherine, Henry refused to allow her access to their daughter, Mary unless both mother and daughter acknowledge Anne Boleyn as Queen of England.

10. She remained loyal and faithful to her husband until the end

Catherine spent her last years as a virtual prisoner at Kimbolton Castle. Her health worsened, and the damp castle did little to help matters. In her last letter to Henry, she wrote “Mine eyes desire you above all things” and she continued to maintain the legitimacy of her marriage.

Her death was probably caused by a form of cancer: an autopsy showed a black growth on her heart. At the time, it was hypothesised that this was a form of poisoning. On hearing the news of her death, Henry and Anne were said to have dressed in yellow (the Spanish colour of mourning), and made the news known throughout the court.

But by the time he died in 1547, the athletic boy whose cloth and hair was spun with gold had become an obese, temperamental monster. His reputation was that of a brute whose hands were soaked with the blood of the executions he ordered.

Below are some key moments in Henry’s reign that mark the king’s descent into a paranoid, megalomaniac.

The road to Rome

Henry will be forever remembered for his marriages. Six, by far the most of any English king. He sought glory and immortality. His awareness of his dynasty and legacy grew more and more pronounced as he grew older.

In 1509, Henry married his first wife Catherine of Aragon, who was the widow of his older brother Arthur. While they had a lengthy marriage by Henry’s later standards, Catherine had tremendous difficulty bearing children. She went through the trauma of having six pregnancies, but only one child – Mary – survived into adulthood.

Catherine had not borne the male heir that Henry believed would secure his dynasty. The Tudors had only won the crown in 1485 after 30 years of political instability during the Wars of the Roses. Henry became plagued with doubts that marrying his elder brother’s wife had damned him before God.

Convinced that his marriage was unlawful and driven by lust towards one of Catherine’s ladies in waiting, the stylish courtier Anne Boleyn – Henry sought an annulment. He asked Pope Clement VII for this in 1527, and he fully expected the Pope to agree. Henry’s sister, Margaret, had just had her marriage annulled by the Pope in March of that same year.

But, in May, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had captured Rome and held the Pope as a prisoner. Charles was Catherine’s nephew. At exactly the moment Henry asked for an annulment, Catherine’s relative held the Pope as a prisoner.

Henry came to realise that if the papacy wouldn’t bend to his wishes, he would have to break with Rome itself and establish his own church. What happened next would alter the course of British history forever.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, possibly by Titian. Image credit: Royal Collection / CC.

The English Reformation

Beginning in 1529, Henry upended England’s religion through the English Reformation. No longer would he bow his head to the Pope in Rome. He embraced a faith in which there was no international church and the divinely appointed sovereign was a kingdom’s link between man and God.

Henry ordered the dissolution of the monasteries: religious establishments that were powerhouses of prayer for the dead, and controlled huge wealth and tracts of land. Between 1536 and 1540 over 800 abbeys, nunneries and monasteries were ruthlessly dissolved. Cromwell’s inspectors produced evidence of ‘manifest sin, vicious carnal and abominable sin’. Their riches and lands were seized, roofs stripped of lead, monks and nuns turned out and pensioned off.

It was around this time, in the late 1530s, that the handsome, musical, intelligent, man who succeeded the throne grew vicious, capricious, and unpredictable.

Some have blamed this on a serious jousting accident in January 1536. He was thrown from his horse and was crushed by it. Studies have also concluded that it caused a brain injury that may have led to his erratic behaviour. 

Henry’s blood-soaked hands

Henry wrought a revolution, but was vision for the future faced resistance. Rebellions, plots, foreign invasions came to dominate the king’s thinking. Ever more convinced that he was the sole true interpreter of divine will, Henry’s megalomania – and paranoia – grew. He became a tyrant.

While he had got his way and married Anne Boleyn in 1533, her failure to give birth to a male heir and increasing strife with the King led to her downfall. In 1536, with Henry seeking a way out of the unhappy marriage, she was tried for treason and adultery and beheaded.

By August 1540, Henry had married for the fifth time to Catherine Howard. His third wife, Jane Seymour, had died from complications in childbirth, while his marriage to Anne of Cleves was unconsummated and annulled after just six months. But Henry’s fifth marriage lasted just two years before Catherine Howard met the same fate as Anne Boleyn and was executed for treason.

Henry was just as unsparing with his enemies. Chancellors and Chief Minsters found themselves at the executioners’ block when they fell out of favour.

Thomas More, who had served as Lord High Chancellor, opposed the Reformation, and refused to acknowledge the annulment of Catherine’s of Aragon’s marriage. In July 1535 he was beheaded.

In 1537, Henry had mercilessly executed the leaders of the ‘Pilgrimage of Grace’, an uprising about the King’s religious reformation. The removal of the monasteries had suddenly altered the religious life of many communities and stripped them of a source of employment and welfare.

In 1539, the Act of Proclamations attempted to bolster his royal power. From now on he could rule by decree, his personal edicts having equal force to acts of Parliament.

Thomas Cromwell, one of More’s opponents and an architect of the Reformation also fell out of favour and was decapitated five years later. While Henry later regretted Cromwell’s execution, he still sanctioned it, without trial, on 28 July 1540 – the same day he married Catherine Howard.

Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein. Image credit: The Frick Collection / CC.

Terror and poverty

Treason had already been extended to punish those uttering disloyal words. Many would die horribly as a result. Laws were also passed against witchcraft and sodomy, which led to hundreds of innocent people being persecuted over the next two hundred years.

Late in his reign, his lavish lifestyle, the epic corruption of the selling off of church lands, and his aggressive foreign policy had brought his kingdom to the point of bankruptcy. He fraudulently replaced gold coins with copper ones in The Great Debasement in his final years.

By the day of Henry’s death in January 1547, some of those watching his mute, terrified grab at Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s hand must have been relieved their corpulent king was breathing his last.