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- subject = History
- title = Henry VIII
- papers =
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- On June 28, 1941 Henry the VIII of England was born. This young
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- man will form his own church. He will succeed to the throne in 1509. He
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- will also marry six women! Something good will happen when he is king,
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- he will unite England and Wales and will also do some bad things like
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- executing people who would not follow his rules. In 1539, the Act of
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- Supremacy declared Henry to be the head of the Church of England.
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- King Henry the VIII of England had a good side and a bad side.
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- Though popular with the people of England and also very talented he had
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- many bad times and many good times for himself. Henry was not only
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- selfish but, also handsome and had a hearty personality, he was also a gifted
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- scholar, linguist, composer, and a musician. He was talented at many sports
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- and was also good with the ladies. Henry was the second son and the third
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- child of his father. Henry the VIII died in 1509, the only reason Henry would
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- become king is because of his brothers, Arthur, death in April of 1502.
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- Soon after that, Henry would marry his first wife, his brother (Arthur's)
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- widow, Catherine of Aragon. Many wifes would follow after her.
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- During most of his early reign, Henry relied on Thomas Cardinal
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- Wosley to do much of the political and religious activities. Henry soon got
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- tired of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, so he decides that he doesn't
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- want to be married to her anymore, so he tells Thomas Wosley to talk to the
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- pope so he can divorce Catherine. But, Cardinal Wosley wasn't able to
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- convince the pope, so in 1529 Henry took Wosley's authority away from him.
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- Henry then appointed Sir Thomas More. Henry then got that divorce through
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- Thomas Cramner, that he wanted with Catherine of Aragon and then married
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- Anne Boleyn. Cramner now the Arch Bishop of Canterbury, made Henry's
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- marriage with Catherine void and his marriage with Anne valid. This made
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- the Pope furious. So in 1534, King Henry had the parliament pass a law
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- saying that the king, not the pope, would from now on be the supreme head
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- of the Church of England. Since Henry was now in charge of the Church , he
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- was going to make some changes. He had all the bibles translated into
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- English. He then had all the people take an oath for this law. But Sir
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- Thomas More and, then Cardinal, John Fisher wouldn't accept the religious
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- supremacy of the English monarch, so they were then executed. These
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- changes gradually led to the formation of the Church of England.
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- In 1536, Henry accused his second wife, Anne Boleyn of adultery, so
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- Henry then executed her. A few days after that, he married a young woman
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- by the name of Jane Seymour. Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, was the
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- mother of Henry's only legitimate son, Jane Seymour died after bearing this
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- certain child. Edward the VI was Henry's only legitimate son. A couple of
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- years after Jane Seymour had died, Henry decided to marry once again. He
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- married a german princess by the name of Anne of Cleaves. In 1540, Henry
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- was told that Anne of Cleaves was a beautiful and pretty young woman. So
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- then, when Henry finally saw her he thought she was really ugly. So he then
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- divorced Anne of Cleaves and then beheaded Thomas Cromwell for having
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- tricked him. Being unloyal to God as much as Henry possibly could, he
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- made the decision to marry his fifth wife by the name of Catherine Howard.
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- Catherine Howard was then summarily executed in 1542 for being unchaste
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- prior to marriage with Henry the VIII and for committing adultery. Henry
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- had only one more wife to go, in 1543 Henry married his sixth and final wife,
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- Catherine Parr. Catherine then survived Henry and then lived on to marry
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- fourth husband.
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- In 1536, during Henry the VIII's reign, England and Wales were finally
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- united as one country. During the 1280's, after Edward the I had conquered
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- Wales, the Welsh people had revolted several times against the English
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- people, due to Edward's conquer. But, the Welsh people finally accepted the
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- idea of unity with the English people. In the acts of 1536 and 1543, Henry
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- joined both Wales and England under one system of government. When
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- Ireland was made a nation or kingdom in 1541, King Henry then became the
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- king of Ireland. Henry now the king, had many wars with Scotland and
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- France, during 1542 King Henry's troops defeated the Scots at Solway Moss.
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- In 1544, Henry's troops also captured Boulogne-sun-Mer from the French,
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- and then a peace treaty was made when Henry received an indemnity from
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- France in 1546. Henry's wars with Scotland remained indecisive inspite of
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- some small victories. Though he opposed the Reformation, his very own
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- creation of a national church started the real beginning of the English
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- Reformation. On January 28 1547, Henry the VIII of England died in the city
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- of London. Henry was buried in Saint Georges Chapel in the famous
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- Windsor Castle. During the reign of Edward the VI, Henry the VIII's only
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- legitimate son, the parliament passed many more church reforms. But, then
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- in 1553, Edward's half sister, Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon was
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- a Roman Catholic, she reestablished Catholicism as the state religion.
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- Even though Henry altered the Church, he did not even wish to
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- introduce Protestant doctrine. Those people who refused to accept the
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- Church of England and its teachings were executed. The only important
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- religious changes made during his reign were the licensing of an English
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- translation of the Bible, the issuance of Cramner's litany and the translation
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- of English of certain parts of the traditional service.
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- In conclusion, Henry the VIII of England was not only a talented
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- fellow and a rich one at that. But, he was also disloyal to God and made
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- many mistakes at that. Making the Church of England was probably his
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- greatest achievement as the King of England. Forcing people to follow a
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- certain religion and do what he told them to do was one of his lowest
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- achievements. Henry the VIII was not only selfish, wealthy man but a
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- horrible ruler and a big sinner.
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