​Quick Facts About the People of the Reign

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Henry VIII, the Man

Family Tree

Children

Mistresses

​1509 - 1547 - A Summary

 A summary of the tumultuous events during the reign of England's most infamous monarch

It's Bite Size!

​A succinct account of the years 1509 to 1547, bringing life to the role of his six wives and the men and women who created the episodes leading to the Reformation. Follow the tumultuous events of Cardinal Wolsey’s tribulations with the papacy over the divorce of Catherine of Aragon. The Boleyn era, the rise of Thomas Cromwell and the Seymours, the break with Rome, a third marriage, this time to Jane. The Dissolution of the Monasteries, Cromwell’s disastrous alliance with the Germans and Anne of Cleves, enter and exit jezebel Howard, Catherine, promoted by her uncle Thomas Duke of Norfolk, another execution, on to the end, Catherine Parr and the aged kings last years.

​Timeline of the Reign

Quick Timeline

A Detailed Timeline

​Parliament

The English Reformation Parliament sat from 3 November 1529 to 14 April 1536.
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Parliament introduced legislation to curb the power and influence of the clergy and to sever the jurisdiction of the pope in England and Wales. Instead of the pope, it appointed Henry VIII as head of the church. The legislative also introduced laws to dissolve the monasteries.

Acts of The Reformation Parliament

Parliaments of the Reign - Dates and Legislation

​Henry VIII, the Reign - A New Look 

Mark Holinshed on Henry the Reign of Henry VIII
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A popular image of Henry VIII is that he was something of a hot-blooded womanising, fornicating tyrant who broke with Roman Catholicism to divorce and remarry over and over again.
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Henry VIII was ‘a veritable Bluebeard ‘who died of an excess of food, drink and sex – or was he?

Henry VIII, the Reign a New Look does exactly what it says on the cover, this concise book takes a new, fresh and innovative look at the reign of Henry VIII.

Full Contents
Read the Opening Chapters Here On Line

Rebellion - The Pilgrimage of Grace

The Pilgrimage of Grace was the name given to the massive uprising and rebellion in the north of England that began in Lincolnshire. It had the strength of numbers to oust the ruling regime of Henry VIII.
Read More Here

Pilgrimage of Grace Timeline

The People Involved in The Pilgrimage of Grace

Pontefract 24 Articles

​Dissolution of the Monasteries

How it Happened and Why it Happened

Dissolution Timeline

Holbein and Mallard

Hans Holbein, the Younger, was the German artist who built his reputation at the court of Henry VIII. His famous image of Henry propagated an impression which has been exaggerated over the years, of an all-powerful all-knowing king, often known today as a tyrant.

Among his other works is the portrait of the German noblewoman Anne of Cleves. He brought the impression back to England from Germany along with a similar image of Anne’s sister. Based on Holbein’s paintings, Henry was offered a choice between the two of which he should marry.

The king famously chose Anne, but when she arrived in England Henry thought he had been deceived, he did not find her attractive, and although he reluctantly performed a marriage ceremony with her, the union was never consummated and very soon annulled.

Was Holbein also a propagandist? Has he deceived all of us in his majestic portrait of Henry VIII?

Hans Holbein the Younger was not the only artist whose work included images of Henry VIII;

In the British Library is Henry VIII's personal book of psalms, his Psalter, which was written and illuminated in 1540 by Jean Mallard, a French emigré previously at the French court of King Francis I. 
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Here is a look at the work of the two men, reflecting their perception of Henry VIII, although, perhaps, with some artistic embellishment.

​Holinshed's Blog
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Check out the latest contentious post on Mark Holinshed’s Blog
 
Henry VIII, the Reign – the Blog

​The 1535 Royal Progress

The royal progress - the royal tour of 1535 left London in early July 1535 headed for Bristol. Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the royal court, meandering through the west of England would be away from Windsor for four months.

This was no romantic jaunt weaving from one country house or castle to another – this was strategic, and it was political – this was the summer;

When Seymour Trounced Boleyn

History Bites - A Little Humour at the Tudor's Expense!

A little bite of history every now and then is...

About

Henry VIII, the Reign - Author and Administrator, Mark Holinshed