Wednesday, May 23, 2007
This Day in History
On this day in 1533, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry VIII's marriage to Katherine of Aragon void and his marriage to Anne Boleyn legal. (Major spoiler for The Tudors). Katherine had been married to Henry VIII's brother Arthur and Henry, after one daughter and several stillbirths wanted a new wife who would produce a viable male heir, so he argued that the Leviticus prohibition of marrying your brother's wife should make his first marriage void. He was foiled by the fact Katherine had not consummated her marriage with Arthur. Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church when it refused to grant him an annulment.
Labels: Tudor History
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:56 AM 
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It was Thomas Cromwell, however, that wrote the act declaring England an "empire" thereby obviating the necessity to appeal to Rome for an annulment. Meanwhile, Sir Thomas Moore lost his head over this one while Cromwell's downfall was his engineering of Henry's disasterous marriage to Anne of Cleves soon after the premature death of Jane Seymour.
If you are ever in NYC, go to the Frick Musem. On opposite sides of one fireplace, facing one anther are portraits of Thomas Moore and Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein he Younger.
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If you are ever in NYC, go to the Frick Musem. On opposite sides of one fireplace, facing one anther are portraits of Thomas Moore and Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein he Younger.
# posted by 
: 8:15 PM
: 8:15 PM << Home
