Why did Henry VIII break with Rome?

3. Who or what influenced King Henry VIII to break away from Rome and form the Church of England?

• 3. Who or what influenced King Henry VIII to break away from Rome and form the Church of England?

• Answer:

  The simple answer is that Henry VIII wanted to annul the 24-year marriage he had with his first wife Catherine of Aragon, who was the widow of his brother Arthur, and marry Anne Boleyn, who was the sister of one of his mistresses. The annulment, btw, was sought because none of Henry's and Catherine's male children reached adulthood and Henry wanted a male heir to become king of England. There were some other things going on in the background... There was the irritant of the Pope claiming to hold the keys to government. According to the theory of divine right, the Pope, because he was, in theory, God's representative on earth, had the power to crown and dispose rulers. For Henry VIII to get a divorce from Catherine, he had to get permission from the Pope. If he did not get permission from the Pope, the Pope could excumunicate him. If the Pope excumunicated Henry VIII, his subjects would be freed to seek Henry's removal from the throne and not bound to obey him. The twin powers of crowning kings and excummunication gave the Pope termendous power. However, Papal permission was tied into the politics of Europe. Catherine was the daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and the aunt of Charles V, who ruled most of Central Europe as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Henry's desire to annul the marriage with Catherine would have been opposed by her family. Papal permission was complicated by the fact that Pope Clement VII was a prisoner of Charles V when Henry VIII sought the annulment. Because of this situation, Clement was not in a position to grant Henry his annulment, which meant, for Henry, that a foreign king was able to control his destiny through the Pope. The other major current going through Henry's need for an annulment was the succession battle faced by his father, Henry VII. Henry VIII wanted a clear order of succession to the throne, a clear-cut male heir to become king in order to avoid political instability after he died. The one thing standing between him and a male heir was Catherine. Henry VIII was able to take a wife after Anne Boleyn, btw, after he had her executed for treason...