The Middle Ages Part II

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

So, discontent from some sectors. This became quickly a revolution of some sort. Henry used all his diplomacy levels and persuaded them to disperse by making various promises. However, his rule was not going to be seen as a sloppy or weak one, so, in 1537, he hanged the leaders of the movement.

Henry started to look for another wife. He had enough with Anne Boleyn and her two miscarriages. Chancellor Cromwell suggested Anne of Cleves. Henry asked a portrait of both Anne and her sister, but when he saw the portrait of Anne, he felt like he was going to marry her. When Anne of Cleves was sent to court and Henry set his eye upon her, he despised her. He said that she had an odor he could not stand and that the paint lied about the woman. He still married her in 1540 but divorced only six months later, without the marriage being consummated.

Cromwell was then sentenced to death for treason, that same year. He took a fourth wife, Catherine Howard. She was unfaithful to the king, and got beheaded in 1542. The king could not stand to be alone, and would not let the dynasty of the Tudors to die on the hands of Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn daughter, or Mary, Catherine's daughter. He was going to try, even though he had already lost the mobility of his leg, became obese and had an ulcer on his leg.

He found his fifth wife, Catherine Parr and married her in 1512. It took a few years and several wars for him to die, leaving the country on the hands of Mary and Elizabeth.

The Middle Ages on England may have been known as the Dark Age, but many concepts and reforms were made on England. This left a legacy from which England would enter a Golden Age.