The Divorce

The Divorce
I now pronounce you…

Last we learned about the marriage between Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. The reasons for Henry’s desire to get a divorce are as simple as pie. Catherine gave him an heir, yes, but she gave him a female heir and in this time, female heirs weren’t desirable as they weren’t believed to be able to carry on the power and legacy of such a reign as put forth by male rulers. We all know now that Henry’s desire for a male heir was very strong and because Catherine arrived in an age where she could no longer carry a child—and it also didn’t help that Henry would no longer visit her at night—and since Henry was still young at this point, he thought it was time for them to separate legally.

Canterbury Cathedral Church of England 1890-1900

At this time, the Church of England is still tied with the Catholic Church. So when it became clear that the Pope would not grant the divorce that Henry desperately wanted, Henry took matters into his own hands and decided that there was no need for the Church of England to be tied to the Catholic Church and have these decisions lie with the Pope. It started what is known to be the English Reformation in which the Church of England broke away from the Catholic Church and Henry made his own church. He appointed himself as the head of the church and demanded that the entire country not only continue to see him as King but also recognize him as head of the church which would then change the entire nature of religion in England. The penalty for refusing to do so was death as it was seen treasonous for one to not align themselves solely to the King of England and what he wanted to represent.

And the results are…?

In doing this, Henry was able to get his divorce. His reasons for the divorce were because he married his brother’s widow, he was committing sin, especially because he believed that Catherine and Arthur did consummate their marriage and for a man to marry his brother’s wife was considered both unlawful and sinful. An actual trial was held where Queen Catherine testified that she and Arthur did not consummate their marriage but there is also no evidence to prove this. In this time, it was all about hearsay and the King wanted his divorce so his most trusted people would do everything in their power to get him what he wanted. After all, he is King.

Catherine pleading her case against divorce from Henry. Painting by Henry Nelson O’Neil

In the end, the marriage was found to be lawful and sinful and thus considered null and void. What happened because of that was obviously that Henry and Catherine were no longer considered married, his daughter, Mary, would no longer be included in the line of succession and even considered to be a ‘bastard’ child and it all paved the way for him to go along and marry his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

What to expect?

Next time we’ll learn about Anne Boleyn. I won’t say any more about her as I don’t wish to give it away. It’s like a great story, the story of each of his wives and I will not spoil the ending no matter how badly I would like to! Scout’s honor. (And I can say that as I was a Girl Scout when I was eight years old; albeit, briefly.) Stick with me on this, we’re getting to one of my favorite stories about one of my favorites of Henry VIII. I will stay as unbiased as possible. It’s just about to get good.