| The Lovers | |
|---|---|
| Catherine of Aragon
(1485-1536) was the youngest daughter of the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. From an early age she was destined to strengthen Spain's alliance with England by marrying the heir to the throne. Widowed by Prince Arthur after only six months, she later married his younger brother, Henry, in what was both a political and a love match. Though she was a firm favorite with the English people, her reign as queen was blighted by Henry VIII's anxiety over the succession to the throne. Although the couple had one surviving female child, all their male offspring died in infancy. Catherine was a devout Catholic and relied on the pope to protect her position, but in his anxiety to produce a son Henry renounced the Catholic Church by divorcing her in a dramatic battle of Church and State that ushered in the English Reformation. |
Henry VIII of England
(1491-1547) was one of the most powerful of England's kings. He ascended the throne in 1509 and consolidated power in both Church and State in his own person, renouncing papal supremacy, proclaiming himself head of the church, and dissolving the monasteries. He is at least as well remembered for his succession of wives, six in all. The first, Catherine of Aragon, he divorced. The second, Anne Boleyn, he had beheaded for adultery. Jane Seymour, his third wife, died in childbirth in 1537. Anne of Cleves he divorced, and the fifth wife, Catherine Howard, he had beheaded in 1542. The following year he married Catherine Parr, who outlived him. Henry father three English sovereigns, the boy-king Edward VI, Mary I (known as "Bloody Mary"), and Elizabeth I. His reign radically reshaped English society and established Protestantism as the state religion. |
