HENRY THE 8th

Henry the 8th was the King of England from 1509–1547. A man with a flamboyant character he revolutionized the England's health care, developed great parklands, invaded France, made changes in the system of the Church by starting the Protestant ideology and reinvigorated the English Navy(the reason why England came to be called the Queen of the seas). Despite all these glories, he has been criticized and has been infamous because of the wife killings that he did.

In the late 15th century, the House of Lancaster and House of York were in a Civil War to decide who would take over the throne of England. At last, Henry the 7th won from the House of Lancaster. He had two sons — Arthur(to be heir and in line to marry the princess of Spain[Catherine of Argon]) and Henry the 8th and also had two daughters. In the early childhood of Henry the 8th, he had huge respect for theology and was pro Catholic supporter, in contrast to what he finally ended up later. His brother Arthur died at an early age only, and here is where things started to change. Henry the 8th was in route to be the heir and to marry Catherine of Aragon, his brother’s widow. Now, Henry the 8th was against this affair because the Bible prohibits marrying a brother’s widow however his father, who wanted to retain his alliance with Spain, made the Pope convince his son that it was not any sin in such a matrimonial alliance.

Henry’s father was a bit of a tyrant in his later stages so when the young Henry the 8th came to the throne it was celebrated all over England especially his decision to go to war with France, a dream that every England ruler always has. Henry was a man who liked to throw grand banquets and organize sporting events all though these were bleeding the coffins from his treasury, he still had his way because of Cardinal Wolsey, the advisor of King, he went around the treasury controllers by writing bills that didn’t require any seals; thus Henry could do whatever he wanted.

In 1513, the Pope invited Henry the 8th to enter the war against France, Henry led England to victory at the Battle of Spurs but had to return back because of a lack of funds. Henry the 8th was popular and winning on all fronts, only one issue was his wife hadn't been able to give him a male heir yet. Henry the 8th, to further his name started the Field of the Cloth of the Gold to bring about peace between England and France. It was his initiative to bring peace to the European continent. The King of France was Frances the 1st at that time. Because of the egoistic ambitions of both Henry and Frances, the peace didn’t last long.

At this time, the third major power in European politics was Charles the 5th, the Holy Roman Emperor and nephew of Henry’s wife. An alliance was reached between the Romans and England to beat France however, Charles didn’t show up with his army for the first two years of the war, with England fighting alone. Henry returned after 2 years of fighting alone, but the following year the Romans, alongside the army of the Pope, battled the French, and Charles the 5th took over France’s throne without giving any portion to Henry. This further deteriorated Catherine's standing as she could neither give the King a male heir nor keep the alliance between her husband and nephew intact.

At a similar time, Henry the 8th was having an affair with his mistress Anne Boleyn who was getting power hungry and wanted to become the queen of England. Henry the 8th, in anger with his wife Catherine, wanted a divorce and sent in Wolsey for the job. The Pope had been in support of the Romans because of France War, and when the divorce trial started, it became worldwide news. Henry the 8th, in his defence, said that bible does not allow him to marry a deceased brother’s wife and hence this is the reason why he hasn’t been able to get a male heir yet. The Pope being in alliance with the Romans didn’t support the case. Henry the 8th removed Wosley from his post, thinking he was the one who couldn’t carry out things in secrecy leading to the whole world being cognizant of the fiasco hence hurting the reputation of the king. Further, he started to remove the influence of the Pope in England by revitalizing the Protestant beliefs initiated by the German priest Martin Luther. He finally married Anne Boleyn and divorced Catherine of Aragon.

His next step was reviving the treasury of England for this, he started selling all the church property and confiscating all the riches in Church. But then comes the phase, the phase of wife killings. It’s believed a concussion during a house riding led Henry the 8th to the phase of tyranny, excessive use of the executions for all those who opposed him. His advisor this time around was Thomas Cromwell. Anne Boleyn, not Catherine, was the first in line to the wife killings. Anne had been in an extramarital affair with one of the courtesans of Henry the 8th. Cromwell brought up a case against Anne that she was planning to kill the King, so Anne Boleyn was executed.

He married another mistress of his, now the third wife of Henry 8th Jane Seymour. She was the one who finally gave him an heir in 1537 however died very soon after. His fourth wife now was Anne of Cleves, who he divorced very soon after marriage and executed Cromwell for bringing her an ugly wife. His 5th wife was Catherine Howard, executed very soon after marriage, again charged with plotting conspiracy against the King. Finally came Catherine Parr, his 6th wife and the only one to survive his tyranny. Moving over the ideas of theology he brought about, he brought several reformist ideas, changed the circle of power provided by the Pope to the King, wrote a new bible in English so that the common masses could also read the Bible and also retained a few of the catholic ideas like the need for confession.

Finally, when he was near his death as true England king, he marched against the French in 1544, and England won the battle even though they ultimately went bankrupt and had to give back territories a couple of years later. Henry the 8th finally died in 1547 because of his ever-decreasing health. Elizabeth 1 took over the throne after his death. She died soon, and with that ended Henry’s lineage also. So all that flamboyance, wife killings, and the war was nothing in the end? Despite all the wrongs he did in his later phase, Henry the 8th held a vital position in the history of England because of the reforms he brought about in the military and religious spheres.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

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