Historical
and Commemorative Medals
Collection of Benjamin Weiss
HENRY VIII DASSIER, Jean: England, 1731, Bronze, 41 mm Henry VIII (1491-1547), King of England (1509-1547), was
the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. He became
heir on the death of his elder brother, Arthur, and married Arthur’s widow,
Catherine of Aragon, soon after his accession. His aggressive foreign
policy, administered by his lord chancellor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, depleted
the royal treasury. Wolsey’s ill-timed decision to abandon an alliance with
Charles V, just prior to the latter’s defeat of Francis I at the Battle of
Pavia , led to his downfall. He was replaced by Thomas More. Henry now
urgently sought a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, with whom he had so far
failed to produce a male heir. Pope Clement VII’s refusal to grant the
divorce resulted in Henry presiding over the first stages of the English
Reformation with the support of Thomas Cromwell. The English church
separated from Rome and in 1533 Henry divorced Catherine and married Anne
Boleyn, mother of the future Elizabeth I. In 1535 Anne was executed for
adultery. Thomas More was also executed for refusing to accept Henry as
supreme head of the Church of England. Henry, who had been rewarded with the
title of Defender of the Faith by the pope for his criticism of Martin
Luther, was however resistant to the introduction of Protestantism. Henry
then married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of the future
Edward VI. His next marriage, to Anne of Cleves, ended in divorce. Shortly
after, he married Catherine Howard, who was executed in 1542, and finally
Catherine Parr, who survived him. (From O’Brien) Henry VIII is a major figure in English history, not so
much for his having had six wives, but rather for the fact that during his
reign Henry presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the
English Reformation. He is particularly remembered for his break with Rome
and the dissolution of the monasteries. LINK to article on
Medallic History of Religious and Racial Intolerance
(by Benjamin Weiss)
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