The Bible in English, Part 1 King Henry VIII
Henry was born June 28, 1491, in Greenwich, just outside of London, England. He died January 28, 1547, in London. He ruled as king of England from 1509-47. The English Renaissance and English Reformation began under his reign. He had six successive wives, Catherine of Aragon (mother of Mary I, future queen of England), Anne Boleyn (mother of Elizabeth I, future queen England), Jane Seymour (mother of Edward vi, Henry’s successor as king of England), Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr1.
As a boy Henry was an energetic, exuberant youth. He was adored and indulged by his parents until the untimely death of his older brother Arthur; this placed an enormous, unanticipated burden on the second son of the king as he was now the heir apparent to succeed the king. Two years later tragedy struck again when his mother, Elizabeth of York, died. His father, King Henry VII became even more protective of his son, he now lived a life of pampering and indulgence, but highly restricted in activities where he could injure himself2.
Just before young Henry’s 13th birthday he was moved from a primarily female household where he had been raised under his mother’s care, to join the royal household of his father. His independence was discouraged, hunting and jousting and other typical male teenage activities were allowed only with strict supervision. The ambassador of Spain complained the prince was inaccessible, that he was ‘kept like a girl’. Young Henry flourished academically, he excelled in languages, writing, mathematics, and more. He was accomplished in music, poetry, and threw himself into the sports of the Tudor court; Swordplay, wrestling and tennis were some of his favorites. He was described as the golden prince and was thought to be a universal genius3.
Henry VIII ascended to the throne upon his father’s death, 21 April 1509, at the age of 17. He was a powerful, healthy young man, full of charisma and charm. He understood the threats that England faced and made moves to establish the Royal Navy and encouraged extensive shipbuilding, the creation of anchorages, and the building of dockyards.
[1] Morrill, J. S. and Elton, . Geoffrey R. (2024, March 12). Henry VIII. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-VIII-king-of-England
[2] Henry VIII (detail), after Hans Holbein the Younger, probably 17th century, based on a work of 1536, © National Portrait Gallery
[3] Historic Royal Palaces, https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/henry-viii/#gs.5rdlb7, accessed 12 Mar 2024
As the king matured and settled into his leadership roles, he saw the beginnings of a new rebellion against the mother church. These issues had bubbled to the surface across Europe before with characters like John Wycliffe 1383 in England, and Jan Hus in 1419 in Bohemia (Czech). The current miscreant was Martin Luther, he was viewed as just another rabelrouser that needed to be dealt with swiftly and sternly. King Henry VIII sets down at his desk and authors, “Defense of the Seven Sacraments” in 1521. In this small book he defends the Holy Church and its hierarchy again Martin Luther’s “heresies”. Pope Leo the 10th is thrilled with this work and declares King Henry VIII the title of Defender of the Faith (Fidei Defensor). Interestingly, although history views Henry as a tyrant and a bully, to this day, Britain celebrates the Pope Leo’s pronouncement by inscribing Fid Def or F.D. on every coin minted 4.
The stage is now set for the coming reformation of the Christian church in England.
It is important to understand what was happening in the king’s life. His military successes as king fed his growing ego, he began to believe he could not fail. Added to this was the king’s court filled with political intrigues and plots of gaining personal power. Overlooked by the king was the long history of the peoples’ religious training and traditions. The king had created for himself the problems that would lead him to making several monumental decisions that would deeply divide the people of his own nation, causing wounds that would take centuries to heal and resentments that still fester below the surface.
King Henry had been married to his first wife, Katherine of Aragon for 24 years. She was bright, intelligent, a respected ruler and absolutely devoted to her husband and her Catholic faith. As the trusted queen she acted as regent in Henry’s absence while he was fighting in France, and at one point oversaw the attempted invasion from King James IV of Scottland.
She been married to Henry’s older brother at 15, but Arthur died six months later of a mysterious disease while traveling, she became a widow upon his death. They claimed the marriage had never been consummated, King Henry VII had hoped his younger son would marry her when he came of age, this would protect the alliance with Spain. Katherine did marry the young Henry when his father the king head died. She bore him six children, but only his eldest daughter Mary survived. Over the years the King had become obsessed with having a son as his heir, this relentless desire would eventually destroy their marriage, cause a division in the church that caused the creation of the Church of England, and ultimately divide the nation5.
Katherine had an unknown number of pregnancies that ended in births and miscarriages. She eventually gave birth to a son, Prince Henry Duke of Cornwall, in 1511. The christening celebrations included an opulent tournament at Westminster, but tragedy struck again. The baby died at just 52 days old, the royal family was left devastated. In 1516, Katherine gave birth to
[5] Historic Royal Palaces, https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/katherine-of-aragon/#gs.5rjp70, accessed 12 Mar 2024
Princess Mary (the future Queen Mary I). Mary was to be her only child to survive to adulthood. Katherine adored her and saw that Mary had an excellent education just as she had enjoyed. Unfortunately, Henry was still troubled by not having a male heir to the throne6.
In 1522, a young lady named Anne Boleyn arrives at the court as one of Katherines ladies-in-waiting. She had just returned from the very fashionable time serving in the French court, Anne was young, intelligent, elegant, and witty, she immediately caught the eye of King Henry. Henry was known to have had several mistresses and even an illegitimate son, but Anne refused his advances. She may have understood the bigger picture and hoped to be his wife rather than just another mistress.
King Henry became determined to marry Anne Bolen, convinced she would be the one to bear him a son to be the heir to the throne. But even the King had limits on what he could do, to marry Anne Boleyn, he would first need a divorce to end his marriage to Katherine. Divorce was not common in Tudor England, and couples that formally separated could not remarry. Henry hoped to petition the Pope for an annulment of his marriage to Katherine, this would relieve him of Katherine and her child Mary and allow for children from Anne to be legitimate heirs to the throne. His case for annulment was based on the previous marriage of Katherine to his brother Arthur, he would argue that they had consummated their marriage. This would mean that Henry had married his ‘sister’ and committed the sin of incest. Therefore, his marriage to Katherine was illegitimate, his daughter Mary was illegitimate, and the church had made an error in allowing the marriage to go forward in the first place. Henry dispatched Cardinal Wolsey to Rome to present the King’s “Great matter” to the Pope directly. Unfortunately for all parties involved, the Pope took years to investigate and eventually refused Henry’s petition for divorce7.
Henry used every political tactic and trick he could conceive of to intimidate the church, he attempted to strongarm the church through threats of withholding funds due to the church until he could get his way. Henry eventually got impatient waiting on the Popes decision and privately banished Katherine and Mary from the Royal Court in 1532 and publicly banished them a year later. He separated Katherine and Mary by sending them to different locations to live, not allowing mother and daughter to see each other or communicate8.
Meanwhile, Willaim Tyndale has had to run from his homeland of England and is in hiding on the continent of Europe. He moves from city to city, translating the Bible from the original languages into English. As he finishes each book of the Bible, they are left with a printer, he often moves to another city to continue his work. The printed copies are then smuggled back into
[6] Historic Royal Palaces, https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/katherine-of-aragon/#gs.5rjp70, accessed 12 March 2024.
[7] https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/history-and-stories/katherine-of-aragon/#gs.5rjp70, accessed 13 Mar 2024.
[8] https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pope-clement-vii-forbids-king-henry-viii-from-remarrying, accessed 13 Mar 2024
England for the people to read and treasure. The people are seeing the Bible in their language for the first time and are thrilled. These new books of the Bible in English are highly illegal to possess and must be hidden away. Tyndale has become a thorn in the side of the Catholic Church, who want to find him and stop him from continuing his work.
King Henry has the idea that if he could win Tyndale to his side, this would give Henry a powerful voice against the Catholic traditions and vocally support the headship of the royals. Tyndale quickly shut this down by rejecting the king’s ovations and made it clear he was intent on fulfilling the call of translating the Bible into the common vernacular of English so the people to be able to read God’s Word for themselves.
To be continued . . .