Speaking of Henry VIII, the most famous thing is his gossip. He has not had a good reputation in British history. During his 38 years in power, there were 6 queens, including divorced, beheaded, dead and alive. I'm here to talk about his first queen today.
01 Henry VIII married his widowed sister-in-law Catherine
501 In Aragon, Princess Catherine, who was only 15 years old, married from England to England and married Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII. Arthur was the heir to the throne, and Katherine was his future queen.
Catherine
Henry VII was the first king of the Duyi Dynasty. He asked his eldest son to marry Catherine in order to form an alliance with the powerful Spanish royal family and consolidate his rule. At the same time, he hoped that they would have a son to inherit the throne. Europe would also be more prosperous at that time. Those who prefer boys over girls.
After marriage, Arthur and Catherine moved to another remote castle far away from the capital, because Arthur was going to learn how to be a king there. But it was cold and wet, they were not used to the bad climate there, they soon became ill, and they became very ill.
Their marriage lasted only 5 months, and Prince Arthur passed away and Catherine survived the dangerous period. From the future queen, Catherine suddenly became a 16-year-old widow, and was still alone in a foreign land.
After Arthur's death, the 10-year-old Prince Henry instantly became the heir to the throne of England. He was not valued since childhood and had never received training from the king, but was cheerful and smart. Soon, Henry's mother also passed away, which meant there would be no other sons, which made Henry realize the importance of having an heir.
At that time, Henry was still young and had no right to decide who to marry, but his father Henry VII chose Arthur's widow, Catherine of 17, of Aragon. Why? Because Catherine's mother was the famous Spanish queen Isabella, and England had to look up to Spain at that time.
Good fortune makes people feel like it, this is Catherine's second chance to become the queen of England.
503 In June, 11-year-old Prince Henry and 17-year-old Catherine made a marriage contract, and the two will get married within two years. But Henry VII was conditional, requiring Catherine's father to give him a generous dowry in advance.
However, Catherine's mother's family ignored it, which was embarrassing, and the wedding day passed in a blink of an eye. How to break the deadlock between
? Henry VII was definitely not very comfortable, so he gave Catherine a small shoe, not giving her a penny, and made no promises to her, forcing Catherine to ask for help from her parents' home, thus breaking the deadlock.
Catherine was poor and she wrote to her father for help, telling her father that she had to sell jewelry to buy food and clothes. These letters are now preserved in museums in the UK.
The confrontation between the two sides lasted for another three years, and the turning point finally came. In April 1509, Henry VII died, and the cause of death was tuberculosis.
So, 17-year-old Henry succeeded to the throne and became King Henry VIII of England. He is tall, handsome, versatile, and in line with the image of the Chinese king in the eyes of the people.
After ascending the throne, it was time to choose a queen. Henry chose his brother's widow, Catherine, who was 23 years old at the time.
According to the Catholic decree at that time, the younger brother cannot marry a widowed sister-in-law unless the sister-in-law has not fulfilled her family. The marriage between Catherine and Arthur lasted less than half a year, and Catherine vowed to the Pope that she did not complete the family. With the insistence of Xiangli, the two got married.
Why did he choose Catherine, a widowed sister-in-law who is six years older than him? Although Catherine was young and beautiful, what is more important is probably because Catherine's strong background may contribute to his rule. Henry was too young and had no experience in ruling and needed a suitable queen to support him.
Catherine likes Henry VIII very much. She wrote a letter to thank her father for letting her marry so well. She loved Henry, and Henry seemed to love him too.
02 Catherine went to the battlefield and suffered the curse of betraying her son
Soon, Catherine became pregnant, but the fetus had a miscarriage at nearly 8 months.Catherine was sad, and she wrote to her father that it was an ominous sign and begged him not to be angry with her, because it was God's will.
Henry was also upset, but did not blame his wife, and kept the matter strictly confidential, leaving Catherine in seclusion and away from the rest of the palace until she became pregnant again.
Henry VIII
Soon afterwards, Catherine gave birth to a child and was a boy. The eighth generation of Xiangli was filled with joy and celebrated the whole country. Unfortunately, the child died less than 8 weeks after he was born.
Catherine was extremely sad. Henry VIII was also severely damaged. He did not want his prestige as a king to ruin his image. He wanted to enhance his image through other methods, that is, to go to war with France.
Before going to war, Henry appointed Catherine to regent, handing over England to her rule, and instructing her subjects to absolutely obey her orders. It can be seen that Henry and Catherine have a good relationship. Even after experiencing miscarriage and a premature death of his son, Henry trusts his wife very much.
Regency is a great challenge for Catherine, but she was educated by her mother Isabella since she was a child, who is the most powerful woman in Europe. Isabella tells Catherine that women can be as powerful as men, and that if women are fighting for themselves, they can even surpass men.
King James IV of Scotland learned that Henry had gone to the battlefield and invaded England. He personally led 30,000 Scottish soldiers to march southward and occupied three English castles.
Catherine summoned the British army and ordered two armies to fight against the Scots, and then she led the third army northward.
1513, an army led by King James IV in Scotland met Catherine's English army.
The two sides fought, and at first the Scottish army had the upper hand, but then they fell into a swamp. English archers stepped up their attacks on the injured soldiers. King James of Scotland was hit, and his army was defeated after his death, and Catherine won a complete victory.
Catherine sent James' cloak to Henry and attached a letter, meaning that although you were not present, the ministers won more than they defeated France.
Henry VIII was happy and a little jealous. His wife won far more than he could do in France. Because he won only a few small battles and obtained two small French towns, and Catherine completely destroyed one of the enemies who had been entangled with England for a long time.
But Henry never wants the queen to fight for him anymore, what he needs is a wife who has a son for him.
Within 4 years after marriage, they have lost two children. In the late 1513 and the fall of the following year, Catherine gave birth to two more sons, both of whom died prematurely. She was in pain. She could have children, but why couldn't the child survive? It seemed that she was cursed.
In February 1516, Catherine gave birth to a girl named Mary, but Henry wanted a boy. There were three queens in history who tried to rule England, but they all ended in a civil war. The dynasty lasted only two generations, and without a son, it could not be passed on to the third generation.
Catherine is getting older and having children is becoming more and more difficult, and Henry's love for her has also begun to fade.
03 Leaving the Roman Catholic
Henry had a hobby, which was to pursue the queen's maid, one of which gave birth to a son for him, but according to the law at that time, this was an illegitimate son and had no right to inherit the throne. But this also confirms that there is no male heir not Henry.
526 A dangerous woman appeared in Henry's life, named Anne Bolin, who was another maid of Catherine.
Henry first met Anne Bolin
Katherine knew he was fascinated by Anne. At first he thought he was just a show and would get out after he was finished, but this time it was different.
Anne's appearance was not accidental, but a long-planned political arrangement. Padre Wolsey monopolizes the power, Henry trusts him very much, and some people want to fight Wolsey, and Anne is the pawn of this play.
Anne is smart, charming and knowledgeable. She learned elegance and the latest fashion in the gorgeous court of the Austrian grand duke and the French queen. Henry was deeply fascinated when he saw her and began to send Anne a secret love letter.
Anne was eager to welcome him but refused to deal with Henry, which made Henry, who had never been rejected by a woman, angry and unwilling to accept it. Anne expressed her unwillingness to be a mistress and could only dedicate her chastity and heart to her husband. Because Anne knows Henry's mistress very well, the last one is her sister, and the mistress's identity will not bring any status or protection.
Henry did not give up and still sent Anne love letters and gifts. Anne repeatedly told Henry that she would love him, but to meet her conditions, she could not become the mistress who gave birth to an illegitimate child.
What should Henry, who was blinded by love, do? He was determined to possess Anne and divorce Catherine, but how could Catherine agree?
Henry used the Bible to help him explain the reasons for the failure of his marriage and find a reason to get rid of her. There is a text in "Lemore": If a person marrys a brother's wife, it is a filthy thing. If she humiliates his brothers, he will have no children.
This confirms that his marriage with Catherine not only had to end, but had violated the rules from the beginning. Henry blamed the childlessness on the reason for marrying his widowed sister-in-law. So he asked the Pope to declare his marriage invalid.
Xienli does this, not just because she is fascinated by Anne, but really questioning the effectiveness of his marriage. But more importantly, he has become mature and has been in power for 17 years, has the right and experience, and no longer needs Katherine. This teacher is here.
Henry and Anne Bolin
Henry told Catherine that their marriage violated God's law, but Catherine was very strong and refused to accept divorce. She insisted that she had not fulfilled her relationship with his brother. Judging from the laws at that time, she and Arthur had never married, so she did not exist as his brother's widow.
is about to talk about, who can explain it clearly?
The Pope refused to abolish the marriage immediately considering the strong Spain behind her. Henry was very annoyed and often wrote to the Pope, slandering Catherine by any means.
Finally one day, they confronted each other in court. At that time, the people were crowded with people and they all came to witness this sensational judgment, so some details of the time were passed down.
Henry demanded the abolition of marriage because Catherine had married his brother, and at least two of the Bible mentions prohibiting marriage to his brother's widow.
When it was Katherine's turn to speak, she stepped forward and knelt in front of Henry, seemingly an innocent victim, which made Henry feel very embarrassed. Catherine still denied getting married with his brother. Then, Catherine rushed out.
This made the divorce case stagnate, she and Henry are still husband and wife, and the pope sympathizes with Catherine.
After Anne found out, her resentment towards Catherine began to become vicious. She forbids Catherine's Southern Courtiers from visiting her, and installed her own spies beside Catherine, and began to control the affairs of the court before she became queen.
Anne Boling
Henry, in order to leave Catherine, he made one of the most important decisions in English history, which was to ask the Church of England to leave the Holy See.
He believed that if he broke free from the Pope and became the head of the Church of England, he could ask his bishop to abolish his marriage.
533, Henry and Anne got married. From a European Catholic perspective, his marriage to Catherine of Aragon remains valid. But Henry didn't care about other people's thoughts, he only cared about Anne, and she promised to give birth to a son and heir.
Soon after, Anne gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth I, the famous British history, and Henry was a little disappointed.
What is the ending of Katherine? She lost money and supporters, her residence was replaced by Henry at will, and she was unwilling to admit the king's new marriage until her death. She was abandoned in the last years and lived like a prisoner again.
In her last letter to Henry, she wrote: My eyes, longing to see you better than everything.
Despite so much pain, Catherine never gave up on her husband. In 1539, Catherine was born and it is reported that she died of a heart tumor.
Henry was very happy when he learned about it. Catherine has always been a thorn in his marriage, and now she has finally passed away.
Perhaps it was retribution, Anne became pregnant again but had a miscarriage. During the horse gun competition two weeks after Catherine's death, Henry had an accident. He fell heavily to the ground while falling off his horse and almost died. He woke up two hours later.
Summary:
Today mainly tells the story of Catherine, the first queen of Henry VIII. After Henry married his widowed sister-in-law, he seemed to be cursed, lost four children, and never gave birth to a healthy son.
Later he met Anne and was deeply fascinated. In order to marry her, he tried his best to make a divorce. After being rejected by the Pope repeatedly, he let England leave the Holy See.
The vigorous religious reform in Europe began in England, and what led to the religious reform was not the heroes and great deeds, but the divorce case of Henry VIII. Sometimes history is so absurd.
Reformation also ended the dark medieval that bound the shackles of thought.
If it weren't for the Reformation, the Puritans would not have been persecuted and would not have gone to North America to pioneer, so the history of the United States might have been rewritten.
So what kind of story does Henry VIII have? Let’s talk about it later.
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