Henry Viii

Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509 after his Brother Arthur's death. He married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, shortly after he came to the throne. A papal dispensation was necessary for Henry to marry Catherine, as she was his dead brother's wife, and this marriage was prohibited in Leviticus. At the time, and throughout her life, Catherine denied that her marriage to Arthur had even been consummated so no dispensation was needed. However, both the parties in Spain and England wanted to be sure of the legitimacy of the marriage, so permission from the pope was sought and received.

Catherine had many pregnancies and all of them ended with miscarriages, except for two. Prince Henry who died soon after it was born, and a daughter named Mary. There were probably two more pregnancies, the last recorded in 1518. Henry was a devoted husband and had only two recorded mistresses, Bessie Blount and Mary Boleyn. By 1526 though, he had begun to separate from Catherine because he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn. Henry's main goal now was to get a male heir, which his wife was not able to provide. Henry began to look at the texts of Leviticus which says that if a man takes his brother's wife, they shall be childless. This was the beginning of the Kings Great Matter. It was headed by Cardinal Wolsey, and Archbishop Warham in York Palace. Wolsey first asked the King to answer the charge, and the King graciously agreed. As Wolsey cited the charges, Henry's counsel argued the opposite of what the king wanted... that his marriage to Catherine was a valid one. The counsel was headed by Dr. Richard Wolman, who built up a case against the late Pope Julious II which he presented on May 31st of the same year. He then asked Wolsey to weigh the arguments and arrive at a judgment. However, when Wolsey was supposed to give out his judgment, he said it was too difficult and submitted it to a panel of theologians and cannon lawyers, and the court never reconvened. While Leviticus forbade marriage to a brother's widow, Deuteronomy in certain circumstances required it. "When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another; but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother." At first, Catherine was kept in the dark about Henry's plans for their annulment. When the news got to Catherine, she was very upset. She was also at a great disadvantage, since the court that would decide the case was far from impartial. Catherine then appealed directly to the Pope, whom she felt would listen to her case since her nephew was Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor who was then holding the Pope captive in Castel di Sant' Angelo, while his troops were sacking the city of Rome. During this time Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the wall and it was the start of the protestant Reformation.

The political and legal debate continued for six years. All during this time Anne and Henry were continuing their affair. But, it was not a physical affair... they did not consummate until the year right before they were married and Anne became pregnant. During the six years Anne rose upward in the court. And, many of her family and friends received titles