Henry VIII: History in an Hour. Simon Court

Henry the legitimate son he needed) that she could resist becoming merely Henry’s mistress, and hold out to become the future queen.

      In 1529, Henry’s Lord Chancellor and chief adviser, Cardinal Wolsey, made further efforts to secure the divorce from Catherine, and was successful in obtaining the Pope’s consent to convene an ecclesiastical court in England, to decide the ‘Great Matter’ once and for all.

      But despite protracted proceedings the case was adjourned. It is likely that Pope Clement VII never intended to allow a decision to be reached because he was at the time a hostage of Charles V, who was a loyal nephew to Catherine. Wolsey, who had staked everything on achieving an annulment for his king, was politically ruined, and unceremoniously removed from both his office and his magnificent residence at Hampton Court, which Henry appropriated. Wolsey died in 1530, a broken man.

      So Catherine was still queen, and appearing as such for formal events, but Anne Boleyn was Henry’s constant companion and her family was gaining increasing political influence at court. This stalemate continued until July 1531, when Catherine refused yet again to accept the annulment, and Henry dismissed her from court. With Cardinal Wolsey dead, Henry became increasingly convinced by the arguments of Protestant advisers like Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer, and began to believe that the Pope had no right to interfere in England’s affairs at all. He took Anne with him to Calais in 1532 to try to obtain the support of King Francis (who managed to avoid meeting her), and it appears that it was on the trip home that Henry and Anne first slept together.

       The Break with Rome

      By February 1533 Anne was pregnant and secretly married to Henry, and in May the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, convened a special court at Dunstable Priory, which Catherine refused to attend, either in person or by proxy. On 23 May Cranmer found against Catherine, and pronounced Henry’s marriage to her null and void. Five days later he ruled that Henry and Anne’s marriage was valid and any future children legitimate.

      Unsurprisingly the political fallout was enormous. Thomas More, a devout Catholic and supporter of Catherine’s cause, who had replaced Wolsey as Lord Chancellor, had already resigned. Catherine’s daughter, Princess Mary, refused to accept the diminished status of her mother as ‘Dowager Princess of Wales’ (in recognition of her position as the widow of Henry’s brother) or to acknowledge Anne Boleyn as the new queen. Pope Clement VII initiated the excommunication of Henry and Cranmer.

      Anne gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, on 7 September 1533. Henry now had two daughters from different marriages but still no legitimate son, and it became necessary to establish what would happen to the succession upon his death. This was achieved by means of a new statute, under the skilful management of the new Lord Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell. The Acts of Succession of 1534 and 1536 established that the Crown would pass first to any male heir of Anne, or failing that, to her daughter, Elizabeth. Mary had no claim as she was declared illegitimate. Also the break with Rome was formally confirmed with Parliament declaring Henry ‘the only Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England’, thereby detaching the Church of England from any papal authority.