Page 106 - Yellow Feather Book 2

Extension to History
Henry viii and his Wives From “Young Folks’ History of England” by Charlotte M. Yonge
Henry VIII (1491-1574) is considered one of England’s greatest kings, even though he is remembered for the good he did to his country he is also known for his many wives.
When his father King Henry VII had arranged for his eldest son, Arthur, to marry Catharine, the daughter of the King of Aragon and Queen of Castille; she was brought to England while both were mere children. Prince Arthur died when only eighteen years old; and King Henry then said that they had been both such children that they could not be considered really married, and so that Catherine had better marry his next son.
The new king was very fond of the Princess Catherine, and he married her soon after his father’s death, without asking any more questions about the right or wrong of it.
The king and queen had been married a good many years, and they had only one child alive, and that was a girl, the Lady Mary—all the others had died as soon as they were born—and statesmen began to think that if there never was a son at all, there might be fresh wars when Henry died; while others said that the loss of the children was to punish them for marrying unlawfully.
The king soon cast his eyes on Anne Boleyn, one of the queen’s maids of honor. He was bent on marrying her, and insisted on the Pope giving sentence against Catharine. But the pope would not allow it. Time went on, and the king grew more impatient. He knew that the pope had been the only person to decide such questions all over the Western Church for many centuries
He then decided he would have no more to do with the Pope, but said he was head of the Church of England himself, and could settle matters his own way. He declared that his marriage with Catharine was good for nothing, and sent her away to a house in Huntingdonshire, where, in three years’ time, she pined away and died. In the meantime, he married Anne Boleyn.
Then, calling himself the head of the Church, he insisted that all his people should own him as such, if they refused, they would cut off their heads. Sadly he even did this to some of his closest friends.
There were many people, however, who were glad to break with the Pope, because so much had gone amiss in the Church, and they wanted to set it to rights. There was so much more reading, now that printing had been invented, that many could read who had
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The Yellow Feather Literature Third Course