Henry VIII and His 6 Wives: Brilliant Tactician, Intelligent

HENRY VIII AND HIS 6 WIVES
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History has always provided a platform or a mirror through which the present generation can learn and reflect on the events and deeds committed in the past, by the people who lived then. It makes us appreciate as well as wonder what might have been. England has been blessed with a rich history hinged on monarchies that have ruled the land since antiquity. Among the most crucial, was the reign of King Henry VIII. He came from the Tudor family of the sixteenth century England. Being the second son to King Henry VII, he became king at the tender age of ten, due to a cruel blow of fate, when his elder brother, Arthur, died. His legacy was marked by cruelty, selfishness and absolute tyranny.
Henry VIII was a blend of both good and bad. He was a brilliant tactician, intelligent and always wanted to learn more. Additionally, he had a charming personality. He was one of the classical types. He loved everything classical, from the music to the art. He also loved dancing and poems in equal measure. When it comes to administration, he loved armor. To some extent though, King Henry VIII seemed to be more into women than he was into the leadership he succeeded. When it came to exercising cruelty, the king beheaded two of his own wives. For three others, he divorced them, and for the final one, he turned her down in a very embarrassing and humiliating manner (Norton, 2015).
Having learnt from the experiences of his childhood about succession from the manner in which he took over the kingdom after the untimely death of his elder brother, King Henry VIII was extremely obsessed with having a son. This was mainly because he wanted his own heir to the throne. He remained one of the most powerful, not only in England, but also in the known world by then. Additionally, he is also one of the most controversial kings to run the English monarchy. Perhaps the most famous of everything surrounding king Henry VIII was the six wives he had married(Ford,2005).These wives were the embodiment of the king’s cruel and tyrannical nature, as they were either beheaded, divorced, died, survived, beheaded or divorced, respectively. The king had two needs from a woman, which mainly drove him in his search for a wife. The first was for companionship, and the second, was to get a son. It seems like the impact of his brother’s death very early in life, left a permanent scar in his mind, since even after getting a son, he still feared that the son wouldn’t live to see his adulthood. This kept him looking for more wives (Norton, 2015).
Coming from Spain, daughter to Ferdinand and Isabella was Henry’s first wife. She was called Catherine of Aragon. She was a proud princess. At the time, there was a growing political tensions in Spain ,and her parents saw it fit to look for a royal husband, so as to safeguard the country’s peaceful environment back home(Weir,n.d.).She was betrothed to Arthur, Henry VIII’s elder brother, while she was still the age of three. She however, waited till she was sixteen years old, to set off for England, where she met and wedded Arthur in London. The marriage however, was shortlived, lasting for only six months, as Arthur mysteriously succumbed to sweating sickness (Starkey, 2003).
The marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Arthur was never supposed to be consummated. For the sake of ensuring the continued good relations with Spain and in order to safeguard the dowry paid for her, it was decided that Catherine be betrothed to Arthur’s younger brother, Henry. They therefore wedded and enjoyed their matrimonial life, with Catherine proving especially instrumental in numerous decision making and successes if her husband in war (Fraser, 2011).This was especially so, during his conquest of the French. Catherine was getting regular advice from her mother Isabella, who was herself a queen in Spain. She therefore applied much of the advice she received, to ensure she and her husband ruled well.
Despite all the bliss and happiness however, Catherine still didn’t manage to provide her husband, King Henry VIII, with the son that he madly wanted. Actually, Catherine gave had two sons, but both of them either died in infancy, or were stillborn. The remaining four children were all girls. The king increasingly grew desperate for a male heir (Weir, n.d.).The problems that Catherine endured made him believe that maybe, it was due to his decision to marry his brother’s wife, which had resulted in a curse that manifested through these deaths. The kind even went as far as quoting the bible, which stated that it was a bad omen to marry a brother’s wife. A combination of all these reasons and Catherine’s deteriorating health was enough to convince Henry to go look for another wife (Starkey, 2003).
During this time in England, divorce was illegal, and the only way one could wind up a marriage, was through the intervention of the Pope. The Pope offered a religious perspective, where a divorce would only be allowed if a woman wasn’t a virgin by the time she was getting married to her husband. Henry therefore had his work cut out; he had to simply prove to the church, that Catherine had slept with his brother before getting married to him(Loades,2014).Catherine however, used the fact that her initial marriage to Arthur had not been consummated and Henry was therefore not supposed to annul. Since he knew that the Catholic Church wouldn’t go along with his plea for divorce, Henry made an interesting move. He formed a new church called the English church and made himself the head. This rendered Catherine’s protection under the Catholic Church, meaningless, and she was banished by Henry (Starkey, 2003).
By the time of her death in 1536, Catherine still considered herself the queen, the wife to King Henry VIII. She died but hoped that the king would take good care of her child, Mary after her death. Her firm stance on the divorce issue and her sound manner of leadership all through depicted Catherine as a very assertive and brave woman. She was spiritual, and observed all the laws of the English land, considering that this was foreign territory and hence foreign culture to her. She experienced a sad ending but all in all, her stea...