This work was completed by Farshea Saail. The task was to analyse how powerful King Henry VIII was using the Internet as a research tool. For this assignment Farshea received no guidance about where to find the information.

was henry viii a powerful king?

Introduction

Henry VIII was born in Greenwich Palace on January 28th 1491. He was the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Although they were very loving parents, they did not see their children very much. Since Henry VIII was not expected to become king, we only know little about his childhood, until the death of his older brother Arthur.

Childhood

Henry VIII was made to be the Duke of York by his parents. He had his own servant and poet, he even had his own whipping boy who was punished when Henry did something wrong. Henry enjoyed music very much. At the age of ten he learnt to play the fife, harp, viola and drums. In his youth he was very athletic and highly intelligent. An observer described him ‘he speaks good French, Latin and Spanish and is very religious. He is very fond of hunting and fond of tennis.’ Henry was very intelligent at school.

Prince Arthur

Henry’s older brother Prince Arthur married a Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon at the age of fifteen. In the wedding Arthur seemed very healthy but a few months later he died with tuberculosis. A contract was signed between the governments that Catherine of Aragon would marry heir to the next throne, Prince Henry.

Mary Rose

King Henry had a strong navy. One of his warships was called Mary Rose.

In 1545, Henry sent Mary Rose into battle with the French ships. After the ship had left Portsmouth, water began to come into the ship. The Mary Rose sank and 500 men were drowned. At that time Henry was about thirty-six years old.

Did Henry look powerful?

Henry was tall with broad shoulders. He had an handsome face and long red hair. He wore beautiful clothes to show people how rich and powerful he was.

Catherine of Aragon

Henry and Catherine were married for a happy twenty years. Catherine was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. She had long golden-brown hair and grey eyes, she was said to be pretty. Catherine was interested in politics and when Henry was in trouble he would ask for her advice. She was pregnant many times but only one of her children survived, Mary. Henry did not mind that Catherine had a daughter and not a son, he was having an affair. She knew about this but just kept silent.

Henry becomes king

Henry’s father, Henry VII died in 1509. Henry became king, he was seventeen. After Henry was crowned there was great celebration. The new king had some of his fathers ministers arrested because two of them had made the people pay high taxes. This made him popular with the English people.

How Henry Ruled

The new king was very rich. He spent a lot of money with feasts and gambling. He was sometimes too busy to think about being king. He did not like writing letters or even reading them. His ministers had to do most of his work. Henry had many servants to serve his meals.

Henry goes to war

Henry ruled England, Wales, part of Ireland and part of France but he wanted to rule all of France so he got ready for war. Henry spent alot of money on his army and navy. Many warships were built too. This included Great Harry, which was the greatest ship in the world.

Henry lead an army to France in 1513. Three weeks later he sent an army to Scotland and James VI of Scotland was killed in the fighting but Henry never managed to take over the two counties.

Thomas Wolsey

Henry had many ministers to help him run the country. The most important minister was Thomas Wolsey. He was made to be the Lord Chancellor in 1515. Although he was the only son of a butcher he still became very rich and powerful.

Henry and the church

Most English people belonged to the Catholic Church. The head of the church was the pope.  In 1520, a man form Germany, Martin Luther wrote a book complaining about the Catholic Church and then Henry wrote a book defending the Catholic Church.

Henry decided to divorce Catherine because she was too old to have any children and Henry wanted a son so he met a young woman called Anne Boleyn. He told Wolsey to tell the Pope but the pope disagreed. Henry went angry and blamed it on Thomas Wolsey. Wolsey was arrested and Thomas More was made his new Chancellor. As the Pope would not allow Henry to divorce Catherine, Henry ruled the church of England. He made Thomas Cranmer his new Archbishop of Canterbury. He knew that Cranmer would let him divorce Catherine. Henry was now the head of the English church. This shows that Henry was very powerful over the church, if somebody disobeyed him in the church they would be arrested or even beheaded. Henry had forced the government to go with the Church of England and not with the Pope. After Henry disobeyed the Catholic Church, the pope went really angry and told Henry to completely separate from the Catholic church. He moved Cathlotism from the English country. The pope told Henry that his marriage to Anne Boleyn was false but Henry took no interest and Anne was crowned a week later.

A new Law

Henry made a new law. It said that all English People were to read out an oath. This oath said that Henry, not the Pope was the head of the church of England. People who would not read out this oath were executed. One of these people was Thomas More, although he was Lord Chancellor he still did not read out the oath.

By Farshea Saail (8BH)