Elizabethan England
1- Historical Background
The Six Wives of King Henry VIII
To King Henry VII of England, a second son, Prince Henry, was born at the Greenwich Palace, London, on June 28, 1491. After Arthur, his older brother, died, Henry was left heir to the throne. He went on to become the most formidable and famous king who ever reigned in England. His handsome physical appearance, very tall with broad shoulders, strong athletic limbs, and fair skin, added to his popularity. Throughout his reign King Henry VIII was married six different times. He married for both political and formal reasons.
Henry married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in June, 1509. Anne Boleyn became his second wife in secret in January, 1533. Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, provided him the much desired heir to the throne in October, 1537. Henry married Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife, under political terms with Western Germany in 1540. Henry's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was Anne of Cleves's maid of honor. She married Henry in 1540 also. Finally, Catherine Parr helped to bring his family together when they married in July, 1543. Catherine Parr outlived King Henry VIII when
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They were privately married in January 1533, but the marriage did not become known until Easter of that year. Anne Boleyn was the mother of the future Queen Elizabeth I, born in September of 1533. During their marriage Henry quickly lost interest in Anne and began to have affairs with other women. All Anne had to do to save their marriage was provide a male heir for the King. After two attempts she failed. Committed to the Tower of London, Anne was charged with adultery and alleged to have been involved in several affairs. On May 19, 1536, she was convicted by a unanimous vote and beheaded. According to many historians, it is very likely that Anne was innocent, but she was declared guilty because of a temporary court faction supported by Thomas
According to Abigail Archer, who wrote Elizabeth I, during Edward’s reign, Elizabeth was treated affectionately by Edward, and he welcomed her on occasional visits to court. However, during Mary’s reign Elizabeth suffered. Abigail Archer suggest that “Mary’s attitude toward Elizabeth veered from friendship to suspicion and back.” (Archer n.p.) This could be for the reasons mentioned before, she did not trust her due to her faith after Elizabeth’s birth and that they believe in different religions.
Catherine De Medici, the queen of France, actively positioned her 3 sons as potential mates for Elizabeth. While Elizabeth showed now interest in the first two were quickly dismissed, she showed some interest in the third, Francis, Duke of Alencon. This would prove to be a beneficial alliance for both England and France. Elizabeth was very well aware and she strongly considered the benefits, although, she never actually went through with it. This points out how she was able to see the advantages and disadvantages of marriage.
Eleanor began her achievements at a very young age. When she was only fifteen, she was married to the king of France’s son, Louis, and later they were both crowned king and queen of France. Many years later, when a crusade didn’t go to plan, Eleanor left Louis and soon after married Henry, Duke of Normandy. When Henry’s father died, Henry and Eleanor were crowned king and queen of England. Years passed, and Eleanor left Henry to start a new life on her own.
Mary Queen of Scots was born into the throne and pronounced queen of Scotland at six days old when her father died. In her lifetime, she was the queen of two countries: Scotland and France. Mary spent most of her adult life imprisoned in Lochleven Castle and later escaped and fled to England to seek help from her cousin Elizabeth. When Mary went to receive help from her cousin it did not work in her favor. She had several husbands and secret lovers that caused problems with her ruling.
Thomas Penn’s, Winter King, tells of the first king from the House of Tudor to rule England. Henry Tudor ruled England from 1485 until his death in 1509 . The house of Tudor ruled the English monarchy for the next century until 1603. During his reign England experienced peace, economic growth and political stability. Despite his tenuous claim to the throne, Henry managed to seize the throne and guide the monarchy through a period of transition.
Shortly after, he married Catherina of Aragon. He was married to her for fifteen years, over that course they has one child who was female. Henry VIII claimed he had grounds for divorce on the “lack of a legitimate male heir to inherit the crown” (Rex). At first King Henry VIII wanted to get an annulment, which meant he needed that Pope to approve. The Pope denied his request and Henry VIII did not take it well.
His only son Edward took the throne at the age of nine and followed in his father’s footsteps. Aiding the Protestant Reform he allowed priests to marry and introduced the Book of Common Prayer. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 15 and Mary took the throne. She reversed the Protestant reform progress and threw out all previous reforms, executed or exiled many Protestants for heresy, and gave the pope his authority back. Once Mary died though, Elizbeth took the throne and, to maintain the Protestants support, reinstated the Act of supremacy and reintroduced the Book of Common Prayer.
Due to the fact that Henry forced the archbishop of England at that time a divorce, without the pope knowing, it caused England to break away from the Roman Catholic Church and having Henry place himself as the head of the church. Henry's second wife was Anne Boleyn and had died in a pretty gruesome way. After nearly seven years Henry went after the only goal he had which was a male heir. Unfortunately for Queen Anne Boleyn she was not able to produce this male. Later on during their marriage Henry heard that she was having an affair with one of Henry’s confidants.
King Henry was a very significant individual in Medieval Europe. King Henry the second son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York was born 28 June 1491 in Palace of Placentia, Greenwich. After the death of Henry's older brother in 1502 Henry inherited the throne. King Henry had many big impacts on Medieval Europe but the biggest impact being a religious reformation. King Henry was married to his brother's widow to reassure the alliance his father had with Spain.
The Tudor monarchy began in 1485 with Henry VII on the throne. He had two sons, Arthur and Henry VIII. Arthur married princess Catherine of Aragon, which is in north east Spain, when he was about fifteen November 14, 1501. Arthur died of a mysterious sickness April 2, 1502 about five months later, leaving princess Catherine a widow. His father, Henry VII had been on the throne for thirteen months.24 Henry VII died on April 21, 1509 leaving the throne to his second son Henry VIII.
Catherine de Medici called for the wedding to commence sooner. Charles was taught by his mother that the end
During their affair, Anne constantly denied Henry's sexual favors but then he gave her the option of queen or nothing. Henry was so in love with and that he wrote her several love letters when she was away from court 17 of these love letters to and are preserved in the Vatican Library. Anne became frustrated because I want to time it took for Henry and Catherine's marriage to be annulled. She feared that Henry might go back to Catherine at the marriage cannot be annulled. And the people in England already hated
Henry Tudor famously known as Henry VIII was born January 28, 1547, at the Greenwich Palace, in Greenwich London, England. He was the second son of Henry VII. His eldest brother Arthur, Prince of Wales was born September 20, 1486. Henry VII was never supposed to be king. His older had been prepared for the throne meanwhile Henry was steered towards having learning different languages, music, sports, poetry, theologies and even having a church career.
Medieval Times were covered in deceit and secrecy and one of the main duties of a Queen in the Middle Ages was to help the King and other nobility find ways to spy on rivals, start conflicts or wars or simply spread important gossip through the country. One of the most famous medieval queens was Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was most likely born in the year 1122 as historians do not have the direct date of which she was born. Eleanor was a powerful and wealthy woman in Western Europe during the middle ages she married twice and had a total of 10 kids. To become a queen in the middle ages she had to acquire it through marriage or less commonly inheritance.
Eleanor of Aquitaine was the daughter of Duke William X of Aquitaine. Due to such a high position, Eleanor was born with more rights than a lot of women during that time period. Compared to today’s standards, however, she had virtually no rights. Through her powerful position, Eleanor was able to slightly change the view of women during her time period. Eleanor was born in 1122 in Aquitaine, a part of southern France that was larger than the land the King of France ruled over.