Henry VIII
King of England (1491–1547) who broke with the papacy, made himself head of the Church of England and dissolved the monasteries.
Category: Figures
- June 28, 1491Birth of Henry VIII at Greenwich
Henry VIII is born at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He becomes king in 1509 and breaks with the papacy in the 1530s.
- October 1521Pope Leo X names Henry VIII Defender of the Faith
Leo X grants Henry VIII the title for his Assertio septem sacramentorum, which defends the sacraments and papal authority against early Protestant ideas. The pope later revokes it, and Parliament restores it by statute in 1543.
- May 23, 1533Cranmer declares Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon void
On 23 May 1533 Thomas Cranmer, consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury that March, rules Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon invalid. He crowns Anne Boleyn queen on 1 June.
- November 3, 1534The Act of Supremacy makes Henry VIII head of the Church of England
Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy on 3 November 1534, declaring Henry VIII 'the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England' and ending papal authority; royal assent follows on 18 December. A Treason Act punishes denial.
- July 6, 1535Thomas More is beheaded for refusing the Oath of Supremacy
Thomas More, the humanist author of Utopia, is beheaded on Tower Hill on 6 July 1535. He had refused the Oath of Supremacy, which recognised Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church of England.
- 1536 – 1541Henry VIII dissolves England's monasteries
Between 1536 and 1541 Henry VIII closes England's monasteries, starting with houses worth under £200 a year. About 625 communities are dissolved, and much of their land passes to the Crown and is sold to fund his wars.
- October 1536 – February 1537The Pilgrimage of Grace rises in northern England
From the Lincolnshire Rising of 1 October 1536, northern rebels led by Robert Aske protest the break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries. Henry VIII breaks his promises, and about 216 people are executed, including Aske.
- April 1539The Great Bible is published and ordered into every English church
The first edition of the Great Bible, edited by Myles Coverdale for Thomas Cromwell and largely based on Tyndale, appears in April 1539. Cromwell's 1538 order puts a copy of the Bible in English in every church.
- January 28, 1547Death of Henry VIII at Whitehall
Henry VIII dies at the Palace of Whitehall on 28 January 1547, aged 55, and is succeeded by his son Edward VI, under whom Cranmer pushes Protestant reform further.