(This article is a continuation of an article that was posted a couple week ago)
The very day after Anne Boleyn’s execution, Henry got engaged to yet another wife; Jane Seymour. Jane was one of Anne’s ladies-in-waiting, so Henry didn’t have to look very far for his new bride. I guess he really had a thing for marrying the ladies-in-waiting of his previous wives? Henry and Jane got married 10 days later at the Palace of Whitehall, and it was said that the two were actually in love. That’s what makes Jane so different from the other wives – she’s the only one that Henry never fell out of love with. But considering Jane died on October 24, 1537, from giving birth to Henry’s only son, Edward, on October 12, I suppose he didn’t really have much time to do so. The couple only had around a year together before Jane died from an infection due to the childbirth, and Jane’s death was a huge blow to Henry.
Henry’s happiness from the birth of his son quickly turned to immense sadness from his wife’s death, but he recovered quickly and was on the hunt for a new wife. Henry’s relations with France were good, so Henry was able to focus on his domestic policies instead of foreign ones. Henry annexed Wales, making it a part of England, and then passed the Second Succession Act. This act declared Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate, meaning they had no claim for the throne, and made his son Edward next in line. However, when King Francis and King Charles, King of Spain, made peace, it made Henry increasingly paranoid. This led him to set up a series of coastal defenses and put some money away in case of an invasion.
Henry soon found another possible wife and sent Hans Holbein to paint a portrait of her. Anne of Cleves was suggested to Henry as a possible wife because her brother, the Duke of Cleves, would make a good ally if there was a roman-catholic invasion, seeing as his beliefs fell somewhere between Lutheranism and Catholicism. When Henry saw Holbein’s portrait of Anne, he agreed to marry her because she was so beautiful. But only six months later, Henry and Anne’s marriage was annulled because Henry didn’t think she was as pretty as her portrait. Out of all his wives, Anne had the best life. Henry told people that Anne was his sister, making her a respected figure, and she was given two houses and a substantial allowance from her so-called “brother.”
By the time of his annulment from Anne, Henry had already fallen for Catherine Howard, the 17-year-old niece of the Duke of Norfolk, first cousin of Anne Boleyn, and lady-in-waiting of both Boleyn and Anne of Cleves. Henry charged his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, with treason, selling export licenses, granting passports, and drawing up commissions without permission, therefore sentencing Cromwell to death. It’s believed that Cromwell did something to upset the King and he fell out of favor, leading Henry to find a reason to kill him, but there’s no evidence of what Cromwell may have done.
On July 28, 1540, Thomas Cromwell was beheaded and Henry and Catherine Howard were wedded. Yes, on the same day. Henry was so happy with Catherine that he gave her Cromwell’s lands and a bunch of jewelry. It’s important to note that Catherine was raised with some older girls who were a bit promiscuous, leading Catherine to follow in their footsteps. That being said, Catherine had already had relations with other men before the king, and even a man while she was married to the king.
Thanks to the loose lips of a few of the women that were close to Catherine, it was found out that she had not been a virgin when she married the king and that she and her distant cousin, Thomas Culpeper, had been having an affair.
When this was brought to Henry’s attention, he refused to believe it. That is until Francis Dereham admitted to the king that he and Catherine had both an affair and an informal engagement before her marriage to Henry. When Henry finally believed his council, he was outraged and decided to go hunting. When they questioned Catherine about Dereham, she told them that he had raped her and she didn’t want to have intercourse with him, but they didn’t believe her. Crammer, who had been sent to question her, said that Catherine was shaking and crying so hard that anyone would have pitied her. Dereham then made it known to Henry that Catherine had been having an affair with Culpepper, which was the nail in the coffin for all three of them.
Culpepper and Dereham were both executed on December 10, 1541. Catherine was imprisoned for a while, stripped of her lands and titles, and was to be executed on February 13, 1542. The night before her execution, Catherine requested that the chopping block be brought to her so she could practice how to place her head on it. The next morning, Catherine was shaking so badly that she needed assistance to get up to the chopping block. It’s said that her executioner actually missed her neck and instead hit her back, had to pull it back out, and then decapitated her.
In 1540, had all shrines dedicated to saints destroyed, and then in 1542, absolved all of England’s remaining monasteries and transferred their lands to the crown.
A little over a year later, Henry married a wealthy widow by the name of Catherine Parr in July 1543. Catherine and Henry had a lot of fights about religion, but Catherine was able to help Henry reconcile with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. Thanks to that, Henry made the Third Succession Act, putting his daughters next in line after Edward. Henry had hoped to marry Edward off to the Crown Princess Mary of Scotland, but the Scottish parliament declined, throwing England and Scotland into an 8-year war, which was later titled, “The Rough Wooing.”
Henry became so obese that he required the help of machines to move around, and was covered with pus-filled boils. Henry’s medical problems could be traced back to the jousting accident he had while he was married to Anne Boleyn, where he suffered a leg wound. The leg wound then opened up another injury that he had gotten in the years before, and doctors couldn’t treat it. The wound then festered and became infected and ulcerated. Historians believe that his inability to do the physical activities he used to enjoy most likely contributed to his poor temperament and mood swings.
Some historians believe Henry may have had scurvy, a disease caused by lack of vitamin C, while others believe he may have been Kell positive and may have had McLeod Syndrome. According to another study, Henry may have also suffered a brain injury from the jousting accident, causing his personality shift and mood swings. Either way, Henry died from natural causes on January 28, 1547, at the age of 55. He was buried in a crypt with his lost love, Jane Seymour, finally reunited with the one wife he never stopped loving.