Henry VIII

Henry VIII was born at Greenwich on 28 June 1491, the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He became heir to the throne on the death of his elder brother, Prince Arthur. In 1502 and succeeded in 1509.

In his youth he was athletic and highly intelligent. A contemporary observer described him thus: he speaks good French, Latin, and Spanish; he is very religious.

Henry VIII also interested in the navy increased its size from 5 ships to 53.

The Tudors, August 22 1485 - Henry Tudor wins battle of Bosworth becoming Henry VII.

1485 Henry VII cemented his succession and settled the friction between the Yorkists and Lancastrians by marrying the Yorkist heir, Elizabeth of york.

December 16, 1485 - Birth of Katherine of Aragon.

January 16, 1486 - marriage pf Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV.

September 20, 1486 - Birth of Arthur, Prince of Wales.

June 28, 1491 - Birth of Arthur, Prince of Wales.

August 10, 1497 - Arthur, Prince of Wales is betrothed to Katherine of Aragon.

May 19, 1499 Katherine and Arthur Married by proxy.

November 14, 1501 Katherine of Aragon and Arthur, Prince of Wales marry.

April 2, 1502 Death of Prince Arthur.

A papal dispensation was obtained to enable his second son Henry to marry the wife Katherine of Aragon of his first son Arthur who died.

1502 - Margaret daughter of Henry VII, marries James IV of Scotland.

June 25, 1503 - Katherine betrothed to Prince Henry.

1509 June 11 King Henry VIII marries Katherine of Aragon.

1513 Katherine of Aragon ruled as regent while Henry was camping in France.

1516 Queen Mary 1 "Bloody Mary" 1516 - 1558 born in Greenwich.

1517 The protesta t reformation begins when Martin Luther nails his " 95 Theses" Against the Catholic practice of selling indulgences, on the church door at Wittenberg.

Catherine Parr

She was born on (1512-11-11) November 11 1512 in Kendal Castle
Died 5 September 1548 (aged 35) at Sudeley Castle, Gloucester shire

Catherine married Henry VIII on 12 July 1543 at Hampton Court Palace. She had been married twice before her marriage to the King and once following his death which was to Thomas Seymour, brother to former Queen Jane Seymour.

She had now the distinction of being the first Queen of England and Ireland.

She out lived the King there for being the only wife to survive.

Catherine met Henry while she was attending Lady Mary (Henry's first child).


Not a lot happened in her reign but she did take over from Henry as the regent and did very well. She was religious. She was a catholic in her early years of life but later converted to protestant.

Catherine Howard

 Born c. 1524 
Died 13 February 1542  in The Tower of London (beheaded)
Religion Catholic 

She was Anne Boleyn's cousin. It is not known when she was born but it is believed she was born between 1524 and 1526.

She was the niece of the Duke of Norfolk and had a aristocrat pedigree. She was the lady in waiting for Anne of Cleves which brought her to the King's attention. 

Catherine married Henry VIII on 28 July 1540, at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, almost immediately after the annulment of his marriage to Anne of Cleves was arranged. However she was beheaded after less than two years of marriage to Henry on the grounds of treason, meaning adultery committed while married to the King.

She was tried for treason with Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpepper. They found hand written love letters from Catherine to Thomas and this was enough evidence to have them both executed.

Francis Dereham was, in the eyes of the church, already married to Catherine Howard. When she was queen she admitted him to court and that produced rumors about Francis about an affair between the two might work which later lead to the discovery of their marriage.

She was beheaded on 13 February 1542 in the Tower of London.

Anne of Cleves

Born 22 September 1515
Died 16 July 1557 (aged 41)

She was protestant, which means that when she came to England she was viewed with suspicion. This would underlie all her dealings with Henry VIII.

She was the daughter of the late Duke of Cleves and the union was advantageous to foreign policy particularly due to the tensions between England and the Roman Catholic countries of France and Spain.

Henry, three years after Jane Seymour's death, commissioned the portrait painter Hahs Holbein to paint eligible young ladies of Europe.

Anne was married to Henry in January 1540 in the Palace de Placentia in Greenwich. However Henry had never been taken with Anne and viewed her portrait not to be representative of her actual appearance. In June of the same year she was banished from court and in July Henry made it known that he did not wish to remain married to her.

Anne was forced to admit that she had a standing prior engagement which invalidated her marriage to Henry to spare her life.
In return for this the King kept her as a pseudo - sister, letting her live in lands taken from the Boleyn's. Although she incurred the King's increasing distrust, she remained safe in England for the rest of her life.           

Jane Seymour

Born 1508/1509
Died 24 October 1537 (age 28-29) Hampton court Palace
Religion catholic

Appearance
Jane Seymour was noted to be pale and blond and she had a turkey neck.

Father John Seymour
Mother Margery Wentworth

Served Katherine of Aragon, she was always discreetly supportive of the Queen. Also supportive of Princess Mary and Lady Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I). Jane Seymour was Henry's mistress in the later years of Anne Boleyn's life. Henry (in part) dissolved his marriage to Anne Boleyn to bring Jane to the throne as Queen. 

In July 1537 she gave birth to the first of Henry's legitimate sons to survive infancy - Edward. She had given Henry VIII the son he required and thus cemented her status as Queen.

However, after Edward  was born Jane contracted what is believed to be an infection which set due to her very long labor, she died three months later.

Anne Boleyn

BORN: c.1500

MARRIED: JANUARY 1533
EXECUTED: 19 MAY 1536


For a woman who played such an important part in English history, we know remarkably little about her earliest years. Antonia Fraser puts Anne's birth at 1500 or 1501, probably at Blickling (Norfolk) and the date of birth seems to be at the end of May or early June. Other historians put Anne's birth as late as 1507 or 1509.

 Anne spent part of her childhood at the court of the Archduchess Margaret. Fraser puts her age at twelve to thirteen, as that was the minimum age for a 'fille d'honneur'. It was from there that she was transferred to the household of Mary, Henry VIII sister, who was married to Louis XII of France. Anne's sister Mary was already one of the French Queen's Lady's in waiting However, when Louis died, Mary Boleyn returned to England with Mary Tudor, while Anne remained in France to attend Claude, the new French queen. Anne remained in France for the next six or seven years. Because of her position, it is possible that she was at the Field of Cloth of Gold, the famous meeting between Henry VIII and the French king, Francis First.

Her personality was that of an ambitious, intelligent, skilled woman. She was also rather cruel to Catherine of Aragon and her daughter Princess Mary, now viewed in law to be a bastard. She objected to Henry's new relationship with Jane Seymour and argued with him openly.

She gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth 1 but miscarried what is commonly believed to be around 3 children including a couple of sons.  This is maybe why she was so angry in her later and final years. 
 
She was accused of adultery and treason as well as witchcraft and incest and found guilty, striped of her title as Queen and her possessions and sent to the tower of London.  

She was executed by the kings order, with a french sword off came Anne's head after having to witness the beheading of her brother and all the people accused of adultery with her.

Catherine Of Aragon

Born 1485
Married 1509
Divorced 1509
Died 1536  

She was Spanish, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella King and Queen of Spain. Came to England in 1301 to marry Arthur Tudor Prince of Wales, less than six months later Arthur died of what was assumed to be sweating sickness. Fourteen months later Catherine and Henry get betrothed. Henry VII was keen to get this wedding on it's way because he wanted the dowry.

In 1505 when Henry was old enough to wed, Henry VII was not as keen on a Spanish alliance and young Henry was forced to repudiate the betrothal. Catherine's future was uncertain for the next four years. When Henry VII died in 1509 one of the new young Kings first actions was to marry Catherine.
They are belived to have five children of which only one survived, Mary.

By the time Catherine was forty two years old and could not conceive any more children, Henry became involved with Anne Boleyn. Henry was frustrated he did not have a male heir to the throne and started reading texts from Heriticus which says that if a man takes his brothers wife that they shall be childless even though they have had many children and one still alive, a daughter Henry did not see them or her to count and started to petition to the Pope for an annulment.

Catherine still believed she was Queen of England even after the annulment and that the new Queen was just an impostor and she carried on believing this until she passed away.

They got divorced in 1533 when Anne Boleyn became pregnant. Henry had to act, and his solution was to reject the power of the Pope in England and to have Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury grant the annulment. Catherine was to renounce the title of Queen and would be known as the Princess Dowager of Wales, something she refused to acknowledge through to the end of her life.
She died at Kimbolton Castle and was burried at Peterborough Abbey.