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Online History Class #2: King Henry and His Six Wives
ONLINE HISTORY CLASS #2
KING HENRY AND HIS SIX WIVES
King Henry was born Prince Henry Tudor June 28th, 1491. He became one of the most famous monarchs in English-and worldwide-history. Why?
His six wives.
Prince Henry Tudor was the second son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He was athletic, handsome, and talented, being accomplished in poetry and music among other things, and was said to have written "Greensleeves", although modern historians are now not so sure.
Prince Henry's older brother, Prince Arthur, was destined to be the king after King Henry VII. He was, in other words, the "heir" to the throne, and was really the one trained to be king. However, Prince Arthur was sickly, often catching colds, and not as handsome as his younger brother.
At the time it was quite common for European monarchs or other influential or powerful people to marry off their sons and daughters to other wealthy or powerful people. Matches were usually made for money or power, hardly ever love, although some royal couples did get along. Matches were also made to strengthen relationships with the leaders of neighboring kingdoms or duchies or ally rulers against a common enemy. One of these such matches was made between the son and heir of King Henry VII, sickly Prince Arthur, and the daughter of Isabella of Castile--Catherine of Aragon.
Catherine of Aragon was the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon (a large part of Spain) and Isabella of Castile (its neighboring part). Isabella and Ferdinand made peace between the warring parts through their marriage and wanted to make a good political move through the marriage of their daughters and sons.
Catherine of Aragon was finally shipped off to England, knowing none or little English with a few servants and a friend of Queen Isabella's to chaperone her. They landed in Plymouth, in England, on October 2, 1501. She was married to Prince Arthur around a month later on November 14, 1501 at Old St. Paul's Cathedral, London.
After much of the wedding fuss had been gotten over, feasts had been finished and wedding dances had been danced, Ludlow Castle, on the Welsh border (the heir to the throne, or Prince Arthur, was traditionally Prince of Wales), became Catherine and Arthur's new home.
Catherine and Arthur spent some time in Ludlow before Arthur, always a sickly boy, suddenly passed away, perhaps of the "sweating sickness". Catherine was childless, husbandless, and would soon become almost penniless.
Catherine was almost or completely at King Henry VII's mercy. She had hardly any money left of her own (if she had any) and she was unable to use her marriage dowry, which consisted of several items of worth, to buy food and other essentials, because it officially belonged to Henry VII.
At first King Henry VII was for marrying Catherine to Prince Henry, the new heir of England. It was still a good political move. He agreed to do so and it seemed final.
But King Henry VII changed his mind and forced his son to write an article stating that he had been forced into the marriage. Young Prince Henry was really quite taken with Catherine and unwillingly did so. Catherine was a prisoner of the king.
After Henry VII died, Henry VIII took control. He made Catherine of Aragon his wife and they were formally crowned, raising Catherine from the lowly posistion she had been in to one of the highest in the land: Queen of England.
The first thing Henry wanted was a male heir. Catherine had a few miscarriages until she gave birth to a baby boy, whom she named Henry after her husband. Obviously there was a lack of name creativity in the Tudor family. Henry, Henry, Henry. But in any case, the baby boy should have led the way for a happy ending.
Only too wrong.
Full of smiles, wit and charm, Catherine of Aragon was enchantingly beautiful to King Henry VIII. Her face was a little plump, but it only gave her a healthy appearance. Now, after numerous miscarriages and royal life weighing down on her, she was short and fat, with little of her earlier beauty left in her pudgy body. She did give birth successfully, but only to a baby girl, whose name was Princess Mary.
At the time Catherine was strictly Catholic, like the majority of people of her native Spain. The Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, had before said that Catherine's marriage to Henry had been valid despite the fact the Bible said it was un-Christian to marry your dead brother's wife. So Henry and Catherine could easily marry without fearing the fires of hell. But now Henry was tired of Catherine, who had only managed to give him a girl and a prince who had only lived for 52 days. Henry wanted an heir who would become king after him and keep England in Tudor hands.
At the time Henry had various mistresses, but there are only two we know of: Bessie Blount and Mary Boleyn, who was the sister of the infamous woman who would become his second wife.
King Henry wanted his marriage to Catherine annulled, or made unlawful and invalid by the Catholic Church. The Pope would not agree, and this was followed by arguments, pleas, court cases, meetings, and etc. Henry finally broke off from the Catholic Church, declaring himself the head of the Protestant church of England. He divorced Catherine, making Princess Mary an illegitimate child, and brought his new queen into the spotlight. Her name was Anne Boleyn.
Much of England was shocked by their king's actions. Most were of the Catholic faith and disliked Anne Boleyn, calling her names and declaring their loyalty to Catherine in the streets as the king's procession went by. King Henry was enchanted by her and refused to listen to growing rumors she was a witch.
The King, as well as the rest of the court, excitedly waited for the birth of Anne Boleyn's child. King Henry VIII was sure it was to be a boy; "Prince" had already been written in the proclomation of its birth. The baby's gender would determine the fate of England--and, as it later came to be, the fate of Anne Boleyn herself.
The baby was a girl.
Princess Elizabeth's title was quickly raised over "Lady Mary's". While Mary still had a fairly respectable title, she was made to live under the care of Anne Boleyn's relations, who were directed to slap her if she referred to Catherine of Aragon as the queen. She was forced to watch as Princess Elizabeth, dressed in gowns of most expensive material, was carried past in luxurious litters; she was forced to walk in the mud behind Elizabeth like a common servant; and indeed, she was hardly more than that in the castle she lived in.
King Henry VIII's need for an heir increased as he became older, and finally he executed Anne Boleyn on charges of meeting other men and Wife Number Three, Jane Seymour, was brought into the spotlight.
Jane Seymour died after giving birth to Edward, King Henry's first boy. It was possible King Henry actually loved Jane Seymour, as he mourned for a deccent time after her death. None of his other wives--Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Kathryn Parr--gave him baby boys, so he had to be content with Edward as he grew old and fat.
A RHYME TO REMEMBER KING HENRY'S WIVES:
Divorced, beheaded, died
Divorced, beheaded, survived .
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