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"The handsomest potentate I have ever set eyes upon; above the usual height, with an extremely fine calf to his leg; his complexion fair auburn hair face so very beautiful that it would become a pretty woman."

This description of Henry VIII by a contemporary creates a pleasing picture of the young king, so full of vigor and promise at the time of his succession to the throne of England.

This second son of Henry VII impressed all who met him in his youth. He seemed blessed with every advantage: intelligent, strikingly handsome, and musically gifted. He excelled in the popular sports of the day, especially hunting and jousting. He acceded to the throne in 1509, at the age of 18 and by the time of his death, in 1547, had irrevocably changed the course of history in his country by rejecting the Roman Catholic Church. Religious controversy was to rage for many years after his death, with his daughter, Mary's [Bloody Mary] attempting to re-establish Catholicism in England, where Henry had instigated the English Reformation, and Protestantism.

Why did Henry effect such a major severance from the Catholic Church?

It was simply because Henry Tudor, King of England, had no son and heir. He had a daughter, Mary, by his first wife, who had been his brother's widow; but Henry felt the need for a son, a prince to succeed him. Catherine, no longer young, and after 20 years of marriage, was unlikely to provide one. Henry's need grew into an obsession.

Anne Boleyn did not wish to remain as the
king's mistress she had her sights firmly set on being the Queen of England and her pregnancy, in 1533, precipitated Henry into action; a marriage was performed, in January that year. His new Archbishop, Thomas Cranmer, did the king's bidding and when he was consecrated in April, 1533, he declared Henry's marriage to Catherine to be invalid and the marriage to Anne to be legal. Anne was then crowned as Henry's
Queen on June 1 and Henry confidently awaited the birth of his son. Alas for Henry, the baby born to Anne on September 7, 1533, was a girl, Elizabeth; the king's disappointment was keenly felt.

On July 11 Henry had been excommunicated by the Pope and the breach was made final, Henry declaring himself "Supreme Head of the Church of England." His affection for Anne waned and, in May 1536, she was found guilty of infidelity and beheaded in the Tower. The King already had her replacement arranged and he married Jane Seymour almost immediately. This third wife obligingly produced the longed-for

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