The King´s Great Matter, Henry Viii

the king´s great matter

The heading of this essay refers to the troubles that King Henry VIII had to face when he decided to annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon and the consequence ofthis.
Catherine the Aragon came into the throne of England after a null and void marriage with the Prince of Wales Arthur, brother of Henry VIII. It was not common that a man married his brother´s widow,even there was a cannon law that forbidden it specifically (it is collected in the bible that who dare to do this, will face a curse). But the marriage between Arthur and Catherine meant an alliancebetween Spain and England and there were a lot of pressure to keep the deal. So,as Catherine had always denied the consummation of her marriage with Arthur , after a papal dispensation, both Spanishand English reigns decided to marry her with the next in the line of succession, Henry. In despite of this Henry VII, father of Henry, finally was not sure of the marriage and the wedding would onlytake place after the death of the king and the coronation of Henry VIII.
According to many historians the marriage between Henry and Catherine was happy, although the King always had other lovers. So,what was the reason to want the annulment of his matrimony? It was the need of obtaining a male heir who could consolidate the power of the Tudor dynasty. Catherine had been pregnant many times, andeven gave birth some babies, but the only who survived was female, Mary. Moreover the queen was getting older a with less possibilities of fathering children so, Henry´s desperation began to grow. Hedecided that the only chance he had was to marry again with another woman who were able to provide him with a male heir.
The chosen was a young women named Anne Boleyn, the sister of one of Henry´smistress. Henry soon fell in love with her, desiring impatiently the annulment of his marriage with Catherine.To obtain this he appealed directly to the Holy See sending his secretary William Knight...