Henry VIII's 6 Wives

Today in History:

Today [May 2nd] was the day that in 1536, Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, was imprisoned on the charges of adultery, incest, treason, and witchcraft. Anne Boleyn was one of the 6 wives that Henry VIII (1491-1547) of England had during his lifetime.After his accession to the throne, Henry married Catherine of Aragon on June 11, 1509. Henry was desperate for a male heir for the throne, so he had many children through Catherine, but all the boys she gave birth to died soon after they were born. Cathrine of Aragon did, however, produce Mary, who would later become the Queen of England. After having many attempts to have a male heir through Catherine, Henry VIII decided he needed a wife who would have a son, but when he tried to declare his marriage to Catherine invalid, Pope Clement refused to grant the annulment. Henry, after six years, finally pulled England away from the Catholic Church and formed the Church of England, and married Anne Boleyn on January 24, 1533. His previous marriage to Cathrine of Aragon was declared invalid by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Anne Boleyn was crowned queen on the first of June of that year. Anne went on to give birth to Elizabeth, who, like Mary, would become the queen of England. Three years later, on May 2, 1536, after Anne Boleyn is unable to have a son, Henry accused her of adultery, incest, treason, and witchcraft, and had her thrown into the Tower of London, where she was beheaded on May 19, 1536. The day right after Anne was beheaded, Henry VII proposed to Jane Seymour, Anee Boleyn's lady-in-waiting, and they were married ten days later. To Jane Seymour, Henry had his only legitimate, male heir, Prince Edward, who would become king after Henry, on October 12, 1537. Twelve days after Edward was born, Seymour died of post-natal fever. Three years after Jane Seymour died, Henry got a new wife, named Anne of Cleves, who was the sister of William, the Duke of Cleves in Germany. The wedding, held on January 6, 1540, cemented the alliance between the Protestant German princes and England against Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. Henry called Anne of Cleves the 'Flanders Mare' because he said that in person, she looked like a mare. In the summer of 1540, the marriage was ended with another divorce, and Henry married Cathrine Howard on July 28, 1540, less than three weeks after his divorce. After discovering of Cathrine's premarital affairs, he had her beheaded at London Tower on February 13, 1542. Henry's last wife, Cathrine Parr, came on July 12, 1543, who helped Henry in his last years. She took good care of Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward and oversaw their education. Before Henry died, he asked to be buried beside Jane Seymour. Cathrine Parr outlived the king, and married a fourth husband, Lord Thomas Seymour.

Information From...
Kings & Queens of Britain
Charles Phillips