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in Europe, would remain in power for another four years. The relationship between England and the Catholic Church had already become strained under the rule of Henry VII, and things were about to get a lot worse. Henry VIII was what people now term a ‘control freak’. He liked to live according to his own rules and found the rulings of the Vatican more than he could bear.
    In 1502, Henry became Prince of Wales and heir to the English throne because his elder brother Arthur had died. In the same year that he became king, Henry married his brother’s widow Catherine of Aragon, who happened to be the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, who had imprisoned Cesare Borgia until his escape. Catherine was, of course, a devout Catholic and Henry married her out of a sense of duty to his family and nation. He was eighteen years of age and ruggedly handsome, while his first wife was twenty-four and no oil painting.
    For the next two decades Henry ran a successful court and excelled at his duties as head of state. He had an athletic physique and an alert mind, making him effective both in the field of battle and in matters of government. That part of his reign was dominated by political dealings abroad with the French, Spanish and Italians, who were always at war over territory. This did much to propagate his annoyance at the Catholic Church, to which the foreigners all looked for instruction and guidance.
    He was even more intolerant of the teaching of Martin Luther, who promoted a version of Christianity called Protestantism, so called because it ‘protested’ at the extravagancies of the Catholic Church. Henry played his part in attacking Luther by publishing a written assault titled the Assertio . In reaction, followers of Luther would used the term ‘catholic’ to denote an undiscerning mind, as in the phrase ‘catholic tastes’, alluding to the Catholic Church’s liking for gaudy decorations and embellishments.
    Ironically, Henry was accorded the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ by Pope Leo X as recognition of his work against the Protestants. With his newfound papal favour, Henry began to consider approaching the Vatican about the possibility of divorcing Queen Catherine. Their only surviving child was female – Mary (I) – and Henry wanted a male heir to the throne. Catherine was too old to produce more children, so Henry decided that a new wife was in order.
    Henry had his eye on a potential new queen named Anne Boleyn, so he instructed his politicians to negotiate an annulment of his marriage to Catherine. The Pope refused and tensions began to ferment between Henry and the Vatican. After eight years of political wrangling, Henry finally had enough and declared his marriage null and void in 1533. He then married Ann Boleyn in secret. When the pope discovered the truth he excommunicated Henry from the Catholic Church. Henry simply responded by declaring himself head of the Church of England. Anne Boleyn happened to be a Protestant, so the new church followed those lines, although still retaining some Catholic vestiges.
    Having married Anne Boleyn, something had changed in Henry. He had grown omnipotent in temperament and fickle with it. After three years Anne had only produced another daughter – Elizabeth (I). He chose to trade Ann in for a new model in 1536. To escape his second marriage, he trumped up charges of infidelity and had Ann beheaded before marrying Jane Seymour. She gave birth to his short-lived heir Edward VI, but died following childbirth.
    Henry married his fourth wife Anne of Cleves in 1540, but wanted out before the year was finished, so applied for his second divorce. His fifth wife Catherine Howard was married in the same year and lasted two more years before becoming the second wife to lose her head. His sixth wife Catherine Parr became the only one to avoid both divorce and beheading, but only because she outlived Henry, who died in 1547.
    When Henry turned his back on the Catholic