The Death of Henry VIII: Did Henry VIII Ever Do Anything Good?

When he decided that he wanted a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, the pope didn’t allow it. Henry VIII wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, and believed that his first marriage was invalid due to Catherine marrying his brother. It left Henry VIII one option: to break away from the Catholic Church. When you look at the future and how the religion kept changing, it can be easy to think that this was one of his bad decisions. However, he did move England out of the Dark Ages because of it.

England was able to focus on more modern beliefs; beliefs that were stretching throughout Europe at the time. The people had the chance to read the bible for themselves as it was slowly translated into English; however, not all people in the country could read at the time.

One of his biggest accomplishments through the religious reformations was to make England more financially secure. While the dissolution of the monasteries is seen as a negative thing and people did lose their lives, there was a lot of money gained from that. The monasteries never paid tax, despite taking up a large area of the country and being extremely wealthy. The land could be used for other things, and would put more money back into the country’s pockets through tax.

Much of the money was put back into the king's coffers. Anne Boleyn wanted the money to go to the people, as she was very charitably minded. It was a problem between Thomas Cromwell and Henry's second wife, which may have been part of the reason for her downfall.

Henry VIII also managed to take away a tax, known as the “Peter’s Pence.” This tax was sent straight to the pope. Since the king was now the head of the church, there was no need to send money to the pope. Not only did this keep some money in the country, it stopped England funding its enemies, which was how the money was used.

There are a number of people credited for the foundation of the Royal Navy, and Henry VIII is one of them. He invested money into the warships in an attempt to take over more countries. These larger ships replaced the smaller ones and Henry VIII apparently tried to design his own. The extent to the design work is unknown.

The work didn’t stop at the ships. Henry VIII made the Navy permanent, and moved towards employing gunnery instead of boarding tactics. He also created the “council for marine causes,” which specifically ensured maintenance was carried out while away and that the Navy operated as it was supposed to.

State-of-the-art defences were created after Henry VIII’s break from Rome, due to the threat from both Spain and France. He made sure Kent, Cornwall and the areas between them were fortified against an attack. Coastal fortresses were also strengthened to protect the country, although the extent of all this work is unknown. Other areas were eventually strengthened, like Berwick, which wasn’t finished until the reign of Mary I.

Elizabeth I is often viewed as the greatest Tudor monarch. She helped to tidy the mess that her father and siblings had created before her, and tried to put more money back into the country. However, she nearly didn’t get the chance to become queen, since she was the daughter of the executed Anne Boleyn.

After Anne’s death in 1536, Elizabeth was stripped of the title princess and was just a lady. She was illegitimate and no longer eligible for the throne. Thanks to Katherine Parr, Henry VIII changed his mind at the last minute. In his will, he changed the order of succession to place both of his daughters back in after Prince Edward. There were conditions attached to that, but Elizabeth wouldn’t have had anything to fear: according to Robert Dudley, she had decided from a young age that she would never marry, so there was no fear that she would break the condition that she could only marry someone the Privy Council agreed on.

There are many more negative views of the second Tudor monarch compared to the positive ones. He has been widely seen as an obese tyrant, who was unhappy enough to marry six times. He cause the death of two of his wives directly and one indirectly. Catherine of Aragon may have lived for longer had she not been forced to live in such dire conditions after their divorce.

The only wife he may have truly loved was Jane Seymour. She died 12 days after giving Henry VIII the heir he believed he needed.

However, it was not just his wives who suffered. According to some sources, 37,000 people were executed or died at the hands of Henry VIII—and his daughter, Mary, is the one known as “bloody!” Some of the executions weren’t even valid and the trials wouldn’t have held any ground in a court of law today. Just a few examples include:

• Margaret Pole, who died at the age of 67. She was the last Plantagenet, being the daughter of the executed George, Duke of Clarence. While she lost the right to the throne after her father’s execution, Henry VIII was always worried that the York faction would use her and her family as a way to depose him.
• Henry Howard, who was the last victim of Henry VIII. Henry VIII feared that Howard would take the throne away from Prince Edward, due to having a link through both his mother and father. There was never any evidence that supported the man was conspiring to do this though.
• Anne Boleyn, who was Henry VIII’s second wife. She’s already briefly been mentioned, but she was partially the reason for Henry VIII breaking away from the Catholic Church. They married on January 25, 1533 and she died just over three years later. She was accused of various crimes, one of those was incest with her brother, George Boleyn. Both were executed, along with four other men accused of adultery with her. The evidence used in the court was fabricated when looking at the dates.

The death of Henry VIII on January 28, 1547, may have been a relief to many people, but it was still a time for sadness. The English people believed that their king was chosen by God and it was treason to think otherwise. There would have been some who supported him anyway—those who most benefitted during his reign.

Henry VIII was buried in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, next to his third wife, Jane Seymour. This was his chosen resting place, as she always had a place close to his heart. 100 years later, a relative and former king, Charles I, would be interred with them.