Henry VIII's "Great Matter"

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is reading the past and i'm dr kat in today's video we're exploring king henry viii's great matter and i do want to flag up that i will be making reference to infant loss in this video and i know that's something that some people would rather avoid hearing about so if that is true for you please do look after yourselves and click away i do have lots of other videos on this channel that you might want to check out instead the great matter is often used as shorthand for henry's apparent obsession with amberlynn and or his desperation for a legitimate son which in turn resulted in the rejection of catholic aragon the bastardization of mary threats of war with spain disapproval from rome and eventually the reformation today i want to lay out and explore the timeline of events though so let's discuss it [Music] [Music] in some ways i think it's understandable that discussions regarding king henry the eighth great matter frequently connect with even circle back to what it means to be a good or successful ruler was it for example expanding your nation's territorial holdings or securing the borders of your realm furthering the arts and sciences being beloved of your people being feared by them or was a key part being able to die in your bed as the monarch with an air of your body to secure the succession to the crown for your dynasty and thus ensure the continued peace of your realm even after your death i think if we got the chance to ask henry viii himself he'd probably tell us that all of these were absolutely vital attributes and that's particularly the case i think if we got to ask him at the very start of his reign but as that rain goes on the question of the succession the dynasty and the provision of an heir sorry a male heir to follow him onto his throne becomes absolutely paramount in his mind henry was his parent's second son he was the spare to his elder brother arthur who was himself the heir until his early death on the 2nd of april 1502 so henry was just 10 when the course of his life was irreversibly shifted because now he would be the king after his father died henry ascended to the throne a couple of months before his 18th birthday indeed he would turn 18 just four days after the coronation which took place on the 24th of june 1509. on his birthday however he would not just be celebrating his new status as an anointed and crowned king because he was also a brand new husband henry had married his brother's widow catherine of aragon on the 11th of june 1509 a papal dispensation had been obtained to permit this marriage all the way back in 1503 and interestingly there seems to have been two versions of this document that were produced one offer the dispensation on the basis of a possibility that arthur and catherine had consummated their marriage the other offered it on the presumed basis that it had in fact been consummated in the years that followed however indeed many decades after this wedding catherine would remain resolute that no consummation had ever occurred catherine was a little over five years henry senior and she was said to have been a petite beauty with striking red gold hair she was the youngest daughter of those international powerhouses isabella of castile and ferdinand of aragon so this beautiful woman brought with her the promise of support from the might of spain to her new teenaged husband but catherine also promised something else her personal devices queen was the pomegranate of spain as we see the skin is split and it's bursting with seeds this device is a promise of fertility and catherine's parents had managed to produce several living children and her sisters had also proved very capable in the bearing of sons surely then it would not be long before a host of little tudor roses would be springing forth from the spanish pomegranate and sure enough it seems that catherine has no trouble falling pregnant and in fact she must have been pregnant almost immediately after her wedding but unfortunately and very sadly this first pregnancy ends in miscarriage on the 31st of january 1510 which is almost seven months after her wedding but catherine was far enough along in this pregnancy that it could be determined that the baby she had been carrying was a girl prince henry was born on new year's day 1511 much to his mother and father's joy certainly his arrival was celebrated in the most extravagant style as we can see from what is displayed on the westminster tournament role showing that event we don't know the cause but the following month on the 22nd of february this much loved and longed for little prince dies he was just 52 days old there is a report of another pregnancy that may have produced a living infant in september 1513 but if it did so that child does not live for long a stillborn boy arrives in the later months of 1514 then finally on the 18th of february 1516 the princess mary was born and she was born hail hearty and healthy i can certainly see how this couple would have thought that mary's birth and survival was a sign that finally their misfortunes were at an end and certainly they were able to conceive again it was a baby girl who was still born in november 15 18. catherine would turn 33 the following month and this would have been her last pregnancy the year after her final pregnancy in 1519 catherine's husband was able to revel in the birth of another child we aren't sure exactly when elizabeth also known as bessie blount became henry's mistress but she was the mother of his son this boy was named henry for his father and given the surname fitzroy in recognition of his place as henry's natural also known as illegitimate son then in 1521 so two years after fitzroy's birth henry viii's first cousin once removed on his mother's side was arrested for treason edward stafford third duke of buckingham was the son of lady catherine woodville who was the sister of elizabeth woodville who was in turn edward the fourth consort and queen so the mother of his children including henry the eighth mother elizabeth of york and through his father edward stafford could claim descent from edward iii there were some that believed that his blood claimed the throne was far stronger than henry's own stafford was wealthy powerful and respected he also had a brood of children both from his marriage and outside of it and this included from the marriage a son and heir henry stafford who had been born in 1501 it was testified that from at least 1512 buckingham have been listening to dangerous prophecies that told him he was destined to end up as the king apparently he had referred to the whole true dynasty as being cursed in the aftermath of the execution of the earl of warwick in 1499. apparently buckingham said that this was the reason why henry viii could not produce a son with catholic aragon buckingham also allegedly sought to bribe the king's guard and collect supporters around him on the 13th of may 1521 edward stafford chuca buckingham was put on trial for treason he was found guilty on the 16th of may and he was executed on the 17th is it possible do you think that these allegations leveled against buckingham are what got henry thinking wondering what had actually happened to cause god to deny him a legitimate son thinking about whether he could perhaps find a workaround certainly in subsequent years the king is not shy about highlighting his own capacity to make sons because henry viii decides that it is high time that little henry fitzroy who is at this point aged around six be given some titles to go along with his place as the king's acknowledged son on the 18th of june 1525 henry fitzroy receives a trio of titles he becomes earl of nottingham duke of richmond and duke of somerset henry's grandmother's family the beauforts had been the first dukes of somerset while henry viii's own father had laid claim to his father's title of earl of richmond thus fitzroy is being bound up in peerages that are intimately connected with the ruling house of tudor additionally these titles come with lands beverly murphy asserts that fitzroy's new land earned him 4 845 pounds in their first year and if we just take a look at that converter tool from the national archives we can see that fitzroy is now a very wealthy little boy because 4 845 pounds in 1520 is we are told equivalent to 2 million 519 519 pounds and 19 pence in 2017 money later in that month on the 25th of june fitzroy was installed as a knight of the garter and more titles and roles would follow some speculated that this was a sign that henry had plans to legitimize this natural son of his and name him as his heir after all it had been at least seven years since catherine of aragon had last fallen pregnant and as she would be turning 40 at the end of 1525 it appears that it was thought unlikely that she would be able to fall pregnant again indeed there is some suggestion that she may have already been menopausal by this point but it's also stated that henry had stopped visiting her bed in 1524 meaning that pregnancy is in fact impossible it's also worth pointing out that by 1525 henry himself wasn't getting any younger either because now he was 34. the move to enoble fitzroy is said to have enraged catherine of aragon but mary was not to be overlooked by her father in the dynastic game of chess that he seems to have been playing because also in 1525 the nine-year-old princess was sent to ludlow which from the reign of edward the first had been the traditional seat of the heir to the english throne now that heir would normally be formally invested as prince of wales and although mary was referred to as princess of wales her state was not formalized in this way mary was in ludlow for 19 months before being recalled to court in 1527. we aren't sure exactly when it first began but by the time mary is coming back to court in 1527 it is believed that henry viii's romantic pursuit of amberlynn would have been firmly underway some say it has started as early as december 1524 but it may have begun as late as 1526. it's also unclear just when henry resolved to stop pursuing anne as a successor to her sister at his mistress and instead thought of making her his wife and queen in the first half of 1527 henry begins to voice his apparently far longer held qualms regarding the validity of his marriage to catherine of aragon at first he is circumspect about not raising these concerns with the woman who had considered herself to be his wife for the better part of 18 years cardinal thomas woolsey's sympathetic biographer george cavendish reported that when the cardinal heard of his monarch's misgivings for the first time he fell to his knees before henry and remained there for more than an hour begging him to reconsider henry was apparently fixed and so according to cavendish then and only then did woolsey begin to think of a potential european match for him once he had got him out of that first marriage it seems then that amberlynn was apparently not even the remotest consideration for the cardinal at this point on the 17th of may 1527 a strange pantomime played out when cardinal woolsey summoned king henry viii to appear before him to answer for the charge of cohabiting with his dead brother's wife after all does leviticus 2021 not state that quote if a man marries and some translations will read takes if a man marries his brother's wife it is an unclean thing he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness or shame they shall be childless deuteronomy 25 5 however specifically instructs a man to marry his dead brother's widow especially if that first couple have had no sons henry seemingly prefers leviticus he also prefers to define that punishment of being childless that the passage warns of as meaning of course without sons at the end of may woolsey determined that the validity of the royal marriage was a question that would need a pope's input after all it was a previous pope julius ii who had provided the dispensation for henry and catherine to be able to marry in the first place to now deem that marriage a mistake void illegitimate the new pope pope clement vii would have to conclude that one of his predecessors had either issued a dispensation in error or had overstepped his capacity to speak and act for god to complicate matters further from the 6th of may 1527 so that's 11 days before woolsey had summoned henry to answer to those charges regarding his marriage the pope that they were about to begin appealing to was being perceived and then imprisoned by charles v the nephew of catherine of aragon and when woolsey learnt about clement's predicament he did warn his king that this would surely slow down the process of annulling his marriage henry for some reason best known to himself maybe it's from a sense of honor maybe it's a belief in the justification of his cause or perhaps simply it's based upon a faith in his own powers of persuasion he decides to go to catherine on the 22nd of june 1527 to inform her of his concerns about their marriage and to tell her of his plans to have that marriage annulled catherine leaves him with absolutely no misunderstanding she utterly refutes his view and refuses to even consider an annulment now catherine would certainly have learned what her husband had in mind eventually but by doing this henry has tipped her off and he's done so early so he's given her more time to try to mobilize international support for her cause nevertheless henry's plans to marry anne continue to be set in motion in august 1527 another application is sent to the pope this one is asking him to provide a dispensation for henry to marry anne and this is due to the relationship that henry had had with anne's sister mary which occurred for an unknown span at some point in the early 1520s then in december 1527 a delegation was sent to rome to request a legal time commission that would allow cardinal woolsey and cardinal lorenzo campagio to hear and decide on the case of the king's marriage in england there would be a long wait for cardinal campegio to arrive in england because the pope first of all procrastinated in providing the necessary commission also campagio was not a young man nor was he in good health and this slowed down his journey then in june 1528 the sweating sickness broke out in london and this caused understandable panic which then stalled everything among the many that fell dangerously ill were cardinal woolsey and and berlin and they were both incredibly lucky to survive competito finally arrives in october 1528 but the legend court didn't open until the 18th of june 1529. three days later henry and catherine were summoned to appear at blackfriars for the trial of their marriage on the 21st of june 1529. on this date catherine delivered arguably one of the most famous speeches in history a speech that would later inspire william shakespeare himself catherine ends this speech by denying the authority of the black friars court to hear her case and demanding it be heard in rome instead and she then leaves despite being called back again and again catherine refuses to return to court the hearing stripped of one of its chief protagonists chuntered on fairly aimlessly until the 31st july at which point campegio asserted the absolute need to follow the law terms of rome and thus he adjourned the hearing until october probably won't come as any surprise that campegio had been secretly ordered to do whatever he could to stall proceedings pope clements had come to terms with charles v on the 29th of june and on the 19th of july he recalled henry and catherine's case to rome henry's confidence and trust in cardinal woolsey was shaken arguably irreversibly damaged by this latest failure henry woolsey would see each other for the last time on the 19th of september 1529. in the vacuum left by woolsey other advisors could step forward and share their new ideas thomas cranmer for example wondered aloud whether it might be just as suitable to seek the advice of the universities of europe as it was to wait for the ruling of the pope in april 1530 following some hefty bribes enough of the universities were willing to rule in henry's favor to return a verdict that agreed with what he thought and thus a text was prepared this text would be printed in november 1531 and would carry the title the determinations of the most famous and most excellent universities of italy and france that it is unlawful for a man to marry his brother's wife that the pope has no power to dispense their with in june 1530 a number of important individuals from both church and state in england supported a national plea for rome to recognize henry's marriage to catherine as null and void lest terrible things should befall the nation and the faith it's worth mentioning that in this same month if june 1530 it's being reported that catherine was still sewing henry's shirts a fact that apparently enraged ann berlin woolsey died on the 29th of november 1530 and thus he escaped having to answer to the charge of treason for which he was being summoned back to london around the point of woolsey's death the king sent a message to his agents in rome which included the following assertion quote in our kingdom we are supreme and so rule that we recognize no superior and he who acknowledges no superior has the power to prohibit all appeals by his subjects through this henry is rejecting or perhaps threatening that he might consider rejecting the pope's rights to hear catherine's appeal to him in rome we have been edging towards this point in increments but this moment i think is a tipping point in january 1531 henry accused his clergy of breaking the law by attempting to exercise the jurisdiction of their ecclesiastical courts in the way that they were always used to doing he offered them a pardon for the modest fee of 100 000 pounds and the recognition that the king was also the only protector and supreme head of the english church and clergy convocation paid the money but demanded the addition of as far as the law of christ allows to this new designation the pope still would not come to a conclusion but he did forbid henry to remarry before the case was decided in rome he also forbade both the secular and the ecclesiastical authorities of england from interfering any further in the case however the start of 1531 also saw thomas cromwell be made a sworn member of the royal council cromwell is often viewed as offering vital impetus to the dismantling of the roman catholic church in england cromwell gets the credit for inspiring the commons to deliver their supplication against the ordinaries on the 18th of march 1532. this supplication complained of the overweening power of the church court and the problem of clerical abuses the petition named henry as head of the church the clergy were thus backed into a corner and they were forced to submit to henry as their spiritual head and this was regardless of what they or indeed christ might have had to say about it so thomas moore resigned from henry's council on the 16th of may 1532 thus a key opponent of cromwell's plans had helpfully moved himself out of the way henry and catherine saw each other for the last time on the 11th of july 1531. catherine was ordered to remove herself to the moor in hertfordshire catherine was also removed from mary at this point too and mother and daughter would never see one another again another removal occurred when the conservative archbishop of canterbury william warren died on the 22nd of august 1532 his replacement in this senior bishopric would be thomas cranmer ten days later on the first of september 1532 henry invested amberlynn as marquis of pembroke the following month the pair traveled with an english delegation to calais to try to secure king francis the first backing for their union much merriment was made and bad weather would end up keeping the english in calais for an extra fortnight a delay that someone alleged made all the difference because it is thought likely that during these days of waiting anne would sleep with henry for the very first time it has also been suggested that this new arrangement may have been precipitated by the couple exchanging vows before witnesses now i think that's very likely because i think anne would have needed something like this before she would have taken this most final step and i will link my video on the history of marriage because these witness vows would have held far more weight for the couple than they do today henry ann and their delegation made it back to dover in the early hours of the 14th of november 1532 within weeks anne would presumably have had reason to believe she was pregnant on the 25th of january 1533 henry and anne married in a private ceremony before select witnesses at whitehall palace for now these nuptials would remain a secret but essentially from this point two conflicting truths would have to do battle in the public consciousness one was that henry was truly married to catherine so therefore his marriage to anne was vigorously invalid the other truth was that catherine had always been the dowager princess of wales and never henry's true wife that he had actually been a bachelor all these years and never known it and that he was now for the first time embarking on a true marriage to anne following the arrival of the necessary papal bulls on the 30th of march 1533 thomas cranmer was formally invested as archbishop of canterbury eight days later on the 7th of april 1533 parliament passed the act in restraint of appeals no longer would there even be the option of having an ecclesiastical suit heard anywhere but england so an aggrieved party could not rely on there being a respected and obeyed oversight from rome which may in some cases have provided impartiality for their cause and catherine of course had asked that her case regarding the marriage be heard in rome this new law would pull that particular rug out from under her on the 12th of april 1533 anne makes her first appearance as queen when she attends the holy saturday mass in the queen's closet at greenwich palace the imperial ambassador eustis shapwee wrote to his master catherine's nephew charles v and told him how quote and went to mass in royal state just over a month later the new archbishop of canterbury thomas cranmer who has been empowered by the act in restraint of appeals was finally ready to rule on henry's great matter on the 23rd of may 1533 cranmer ruled that the king had never been truly married to catherine that their daughter mary was thus illegitimate and that the king's marriage to anne was lawful and valid that the child growing in anne's womb would therefore be the true heir to henry's throne the papal response was now decisive henry was ordered to set an aside and take catherine back but this decisiveness came too late and henry denied papal claims to have any jurisdiction over english affairs henry was after all supreme head of the church in england and his archbishop of canterbury had made his ruling it was certainly lucky that kramer came to the conclusion that he did when he did because considerable funds had already been put towards and planned investiture as henry's queen just six days after crammer's ruling anne made her ceremonial entry into london henry met her at the tower of london which he had refitted for the occasion from the cupolas that still adorn the white tower to the complete refit that took place in the tudor royal apartments the tower of london just like the nation and its church had been reworked to respond to henry's marriage to anne the next days were full of processions ceremonies and celebrations all of which culminated on the 1st of june 1533 with anne's coronation in westminster abbey and was six months pregnant on the 7th of september 1533 the long-awaited heir was finally born the princess elizabeth but what do you think about henry's great matter about its true causes and even its repercussions as always i'm looking forward to reading your conversations in the comments section underneath this video or you can find me on social media i'll leave links to the other places you can find me on the internet in my description box so follow me over on some or all of them and we can continue this conversation and start some others i do hope you enjoyed this video and found it useful if you did why not share it with some friends please also let me know you liked it by hitting the thumbs up please subscribe to the channel and if you think you're subscribed have a little check because youtube does have a habit of unsubscribing people against their will while you're there checking subscribing maybe re-subscribing why not hit the bell icon beside the subscribe button so that youtube will tell you when i've next uploaded and when you hit that bell icon a little menu will pop up make sure you hit all as well i hope you can have a great day whatever you're doing and i look forward to speaking to you all in my next video take care of yourselves bye bye for now [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Reading the Past

Views: 81,773

Keywords: Tudor, Jacobean, Elizabethan, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: ubG49jDL5q8

Length: 32min 25sec (1945 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 11 2022