28 June
1491 A.D. Henry VIII’s Birth
Dr. Rusten tells the story.
Rusten, E.
Michael and Rusten, Sharon. The One Year
Christian History. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003.
Available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Christian-History-Books/dp/0842355073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393302630&sr=8-1&keywords=rusten+church+history
Henry VIII was born in 1491, the son of Henry
VII. He was named after his father as
the second born. He received a classical
education. As the second son, he was
trained for a position in the church, the usual route to advantage and
preferment for poor sons. The older son,
Arthur, died early, however. Henry VIII
was tagged as the heir apparent.
At 17, the father Henry VII went to his
reward. Henry VIII, adhering to his
father’s earlier wishes, married Catherine of Aragaon, a match to strengthen
the Anglo-Spanish alliance.
In 1509, both were crowned King and Queen of
England. The realm was to be managed by
Thomas Wolsey, later an Anglo-Italian Cardinal and Chancellor for Henry VIII.
Henry had two preliminary concerns: the developing
Reformation and a male heir. As for the
Vatican, Henry was in their pocket.
Henry was a 1.0 Anglican, that is, a Romanist with a Pope. He wrote The
Defense of the Seven Sacraments (now the idol of ACNAers and TFOs). The Pope conferred on the fat-cat the title
of Defensor Fidei, a title still
retained by English royals although little fulfilled. Henry’s little volume was
widely acclaimed and read on the Continent.
As Henry aged and Catherine turned out still-borns,
he worried about a male heir. Catherine
had produced Mary, but little else as a breeding mare. It was unthinkable that a woman should be
heir to the throne of England. Catherine
was 40 in 1526 and he child-bearing years were near an end.
By 1527, Henry was eyeing another potential mate,
Ann Boleyn. Wolsey tried to manage an
annulment to Catherine with the Vatican to make room for the young mare. But, it dragged on and on.
Henry, being criss-crossed and double-crossed,
turned to an ever-pliable chap, old Cranmer.
He was ever-pliable. Henry cut
off the Pope and made himself the English Pope.
But, notably, Cranmer was ingesting Lutheran influences quietly. Cranmer did the Tyrant’s bidding, annulled
the marriage to Catherine, and presided at the coronation of the Fat-cat and
Boleyn.
Poor Mary was discarded as a bastard, a casualty of
the war for a male heir. She was quietly
sequestered apart from her mother, Catherine of Aragon, never to meet
again…this side of Jordan.
Henry married the now-pregnant Ann Boleyn. Elizabeth 1 was the result (she too would be
declared a bastard, but more on that later). Through a series of legal
enactments, the Church of England separated from Rome. This was Anglicanism 2.0, or, Romanism
without the Pope—an arrangement that modern TFOs and Nashotans might like.
Then, came the nasty Reformation. The Newmanians and TFOs have been attempting
to write that out of history ever since the 19th century. But oh well, there really was an English
Reformation.
Henry VIII was born on 28 June 1491. Like all
mortals, high and low, the 400-lb tyrant with a 58-inch belly and a massive ego
to match, died on 28 January 1547.
Sources
Ashley. The
Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens. 630-6.
Schnucker,
Robert. “Henry VIII (1491-1547).” NIDCC. 461-2.
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