Henry VIII of England was a powerful king, who ruled England from 1509 until 1547. In this time, Henry was set upon having a son to succeed him, which his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, never succeeded in giving him. Henry believed that he could fix this problem, if only he could find a way out of this marriage, which was against Catholic law at the time. Henry attempted to get permission from the pope to divorce Catherine, but failed. Now, it may seem that the pope only denied this request because it is simply against the law of the church, but also Charles V, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Catherine of Aragon’s nephew. This led to the pope being forced to deny this appeal form Henry. Henry then went against the will of the church, divorcing Catherine and marrying a new wife, Anne Boleyn, which further separated England from the Church.
Henry was justified in divorcing his wife Catherine of Aragon because he did this because Catherine was formerly Henry’s brother’s wife. When his brother died and Henry obtained the throne, he believed it to be fitting to marry Catherine. However, in the bible it is mentioned that “If a man marries his brother's wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.” This led Henry to believe that this is the reason why his wife could not bear him a son. He then believed that first off, this marriage could not be legitimate because he had married his brother’s widow, and also the only way to have a son would be with another woman. So Henry attempted to go throughout his divorce by the church, but when it could not be done, he took matters into his own hands. Henry divorced Catherine against the Church, and also remarried to Anne Boleyn, again against the Church.
Henry then also made another large, important movement away from the Catholic Church. He declared himself the head of the Church of England. This was the yet another huge impact on the relationship between the Catholic Church and England. This then allowed Henry to be with his now wife Ann Boleyn. Now, as when Henry had gone about and divorced his wife, this was already viewed as a questionable act on his part. But now, with Henry announcing himself as the head of a religion seems to have gone over the top. It is just showing Henrys obsession with power, with it not being enough that he was the head of a country, he also had to be the head of an entire religion. Now it seems that Henry is only in these ordeals for selfish reasons, no longer for his country.
This entire ordeal that Henry had effectively brought his country into seems to be only for himself, and personal reasons. Even though he was justified in divorcing his wife, Catherine of Aragon, he was not justified in announcing himself the head of an entire religion of people.
a) It is not clear that you have actually used any of the primary sources you have cited. And without in-text citation of primary sources, your entire essay suffers from lack of concrete support and your argument is rendered irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteb) Much of this paper (especially the first paragraph) reads as summary. That's not what we're going for. Assume your reader already knows the history; what your reader wants is your argument and answer to the question.
I'd suggest doing over.
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