Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509 at the age of eighteen. He married his late brother's wife, Katherine of Aragon, and began his reign with a full treasury and the goodwill of his people. However, like most of his predecessors, he longed for triumph on the continent. "He looked upon France as a prize to be taken. War was not only for pleasure; it was dynastic duty." His advisor Cardinal Wolsey, both the King's Chancellor and the Papal Legate, helped garner for Henry the title Defender of the Faith by coordinating a response to Luther's Ninety-Five Thesis. However, it was not religion or conquest that obsessed Henry. His overwhelming need was for a male heir, as Katherine's only child to survive was the Princess Mary. No woman had ever held the throne and Henry did not wish to risk his dynasty on the chance the country would accept one. Katherine was aging and he needed an alternative. He found that alternative in Anne Boleyn and turned the world upside down in order to put her on the throne. The Pope would not annul his marriage, ejecting Henry's argument that the Book of Leviticus proscribed a man marrying his brother's widow. Wolsey's failure on this front led his arrest and dismissal. Henry simply replaced the Pope with himself as leader of the Church of England. The die was cast for the Protestant Reformation in England. A later historian called Henry's action the foundation of the independent nation-state. "The Act in Restraint of Appeals declared that all ecclesiastical cases should be determined within England itself with no reference to any supposed higher authority: this meant that the matter of the king's separation would be adjudicated in London and Canterbury rather than in Rome. The Act has been described as the most important statute of the sixteenth century, for it was the one that effectively destroyed the polity of the Middle Ages." The Church would prove to be a tremendous source of wealth for the crown as Henry confiscated the monasteries and scattered their personnel. It is estimated that the transfer of land to the crown from the control of the church, the monasteries, the friaries and nunneries, was the largest since the Norman invasion. "Within three years the life of ten centuries was utterly destroyed."
Anne became queen in 1533 and gave birth later that year to Elizabeth. Within three years, she was accused (with some likelihood of truth per the author) of adultery and treason and she was off to the Tower on her way to a beheading. Jane Seymour replaced her and in 1537 gave birth to Edward. She died twelve days afterwards. Anne of Cleves was married to Henry for six months. She was followed by Katherine Howard, a woman half the king's age, whose confirmed adultery led her to the chopping block. In his 55th year, in January 1547, Henry departed this world leaving his sixth wife, Katherine Parr and Edward, Mary and Elizabeth to succeed him. Although the succession was established, Henry's religious inheritance was somewhat ambiguous. His interest in reform ended when he usurped the Pope's power and took the Church's money. He personally preferred Catholicism, but he had undermined it and had opened the way toward Protestantism. Edward's Regents pushed very hard to lay the ground rules for a Protestant nation and fully succeeded. "It can in fact be argued that most of the defining elements of the Protestant creed and practice were formulated during the reign of Edward VI; Elizabeth I merely tinkered with them." Edward died at 15 and, unfortunately for the peace of the realm, was succeed by Mary, the staunchest advocate of the old faith in England. Many of the nobility and the populace welcomed a return to the tried and true faith. Although Mary was no tougher on the opposition than her father or sister, she became known as 'Bloody Mary'. She even had Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and architect of English Protestantism, burned at the stake. Her marriage to a Spanish prince was extremely unsettling amongst her people. Her death in late 1558 lead to Elizabeth's assumption of royal power and the beginning of a successful 44 year reign.
Elizabeth restored the Protestant liturgy. "The nation had changed its faith four times in twenty years, and the time had come for an end to innovation. She never allowed anyone to meddle with the order she had established and, with a brief period of interregnum in the 17th century, it has remained largely unchanged ever since." Implementing the final end of Roman Catholicism was a never-ending effort and one of the issues that dominated her reign. The succession was also in the forefront of everyone's mind for decades. She was a wary, cautious person, determined to not have to share her throne with a husband, suffer the risks of child birth or being supplanted by a male heir. She proclaimed she was married to her country and and so she remained for her entire reign. To her credit, she eschewed foreign wars and overseas entanglements. England was a generally peaceful and prosperous kingdom during her reign. The over half-a-century of contretemps between England and the Catholic powers of Europe, France, Spain and the Papacy came to a boil when Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded in 1587. The following year, the greatest Armada ever seen sailed from Spain, intent on returning the true faith to England. The royal standard had as its motto 'Rise up, oh Lord, and avenge Thy cause'. The English thumped their enemies, thus raising Elizabeth to the heights of acclaim and success. England became a dominant sea power. "The papal curse had been lifted in the most striking possible manner." In 1603, Good Queen Bess passed away. She had, on her death bed, approved of the crown passing to James VI of Scotland
A book about the Tudors is a bit of a challenge because of their amazing familiarity and pervasive presence in modern Anglo-American culture. Between Alison Weir's 8 history books, Hilary Mantel's two recent novels, 'A Man For All Seasons', many Masterpiece Theatre mini-series, the 'Tudors' on Showtime, innumerable movies featuring Henry or Elizabeth, and the ubiquitous painting of Henry by Holbein - they are alive, well and with us. The other problem in this book, at least for me, is the endless theological disputes. I understand that a book about major religious upheaval must deal with religious issues. Whether it is about transubstantiation, vestments, the Book of Common Prayer, excommunication, the rise of Puritanism or the latest doctrinal disputes, I find it all trifling. That said, I'm ready for the next volume.
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