What was church like back then?

Most of the nobility went to Mass at least once a day, and here's what it was like:

The priest said the Mass privately, at the altar, often behind a screen. The people attending Mass said their own private devotions. They could walk around and pray their Rosary (as there were no pews).

The point of attending Mass was not to watch or interact; you tried to grasp at some of the awe, tried to take hold of some of the miracle for yourself.

It was a sensual experience: scents (incense), sounds (bells), visuals (icons).

Popular spirituality was communal--the living and the dead helped each other out. If your aunt died, the living family helped her out by praying for her release from Purgatory. If you needed help with your crops one year, you prayed to your dead relatives and the saints for assistance.

Helping each other out, like was one big living and dead family.

He was HOW tall??

In an age when the average man was around 5'4, King Henry towered over the rest at a truly imperial height of around 6'2.

Picture this: Katherine of Aragon was only around 4'9.

From 'Defender of the Faith' to Excommunication

Henry VIII was an extraordinarily pious man his entire life. Seems like an odd way to describe the monarch who supplanted the Pope as the head of his church, but even that he did (partially) out of religious conviction.

The beginning of his reign coincided with the spread of religious reformation. To counter the impact of Martin Luther and other heretics, he wrote a book, Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (In Defence of the Seven Sacraments). Likely ghost written by his admired friend Thomas Moore, the book won him the title of Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) from Pope Leo X. (This was rewarding for a man who, being a second son of a king, had been intended for religious life.)

A depiction of Henry from his personal Psalter
(from British Library)

Years later, driven by fatigue with his first wife and passion for his second, he began challenging the pope. Debate persists whether his religious scruples were genuine or merely a facade to justify his earthly desires, but he said his conscience was troubled because his first marriage was invalid.

Henry had rescued his brother Arthur's young widow by marrying her when Arthur died a few months into their marriage.

He fought for years to shirk his first wife. He cited the Book of Leviticus which calls marriage to a brother's wife unclean. After wrangling with the Roman Church to find a way to be granted an annulment, he was given a radical idea: why bother going through Rome at all?

A king's people should pay allegiance to him first, not to some foreign power (the Pope). And regardless of what the Pope says is legal liturgically, it's forbidden in the Bible (sort of). Can the pope overrule the Bible?

This is the question Henry put to the leading European universities, a masterful idea. When their verdicts came in, Henry interpreted the results as a liberation from the 'Bishop of Rome.'

Henry annulled his marriage (not divorced, since a marriage is invalid if against the law of God). Having thus circumvented the pope, he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and thus heaven.

His upbringing was steeped in religion because as the second son of a king, he was intended for religious life. Even though his path changed on the untimely death of his brother the heir, he was a passionately religious man until the day he died.

Still up for debate: whether he purified the Church or tyranny and corruption, or used religion to justify and enable his earthly desires.

Henry's favorite wife

So of the six, which was Henry's favorite wife? Here follows a case for and against each.

Katherine of Aragon: Their two-decade marriage began when Henry chivalrously saved Katherine from her life of isolation and poverty. The lauded marriage had political advantages. Both spouses were learned, pious, and popular. Too bad it soured when Henry got bored and frustrated: no heir.

Anne Boleyn: He fought for six years to marry her, but soon tired of her--again, no heir. The qualities that made Anne an attractive mistress also made her a poor wife; wives were supposed to be obedient and quiet, not tempestuous, flirty, and demanding.

Jane Seymour: She set herself up as everything Anne was not: obedient, submissive, traditional. Years after her death (from childbirth), Henry requested to be buried beside her. She gave him his male heir. She may very well have been his favorite. Maybe only because she didn't live long enough for their marriage to sour.

Anne of Cleves: He wasn't attracted to her and declared he liked her not. Married for less than a year, his estimation of Anne grew after his divorce. She was accommodating, and very popular. After his next divorce there were rumors that he would remarry Anne. Henry and Anne had an amicable relationship until natural death ended it.

Katherine Howard: This was a return to romanticism and youth for Henry. He showed her off to court and country, and was reluctant to believe the slanders when they were first brought against her. Judging by the passion of his grief after her downfall, he had really loved her.

Katherine Parr: The second of his marriages not to end sourly, maybe because he died before their relationship could be torn apart. He was quick to forgive her and defend her. He trusted her to be regent as he led a war in France. A leading contender as his favorite wife.

Of the six women, there are only two he didn't put away, though he undoubtedly loved all of his wives at some point. Anne of Cleves he loved as a brother, Katherine of Aragon he loved as a knight. Rather than a man who took marriage lightly, Henry was a true romantic.

Perhaps his problem was that he put too much emphasis on a romantic marriage.

Henry goes on Summer Vacation!

Even kings got a summer vacation.

Most years, the court went 'on progress' in late summer/early fall. King and court would uproot and travel around the country, staying in the houses of various lords and nobles.

The route changed every year, depending on the politics of the moment, as did the size of the entourage and the length of stay at each stop along the way.

The purpose was threefold:

• Avoid the plague: outbreaks were more common during summer months, and Henry was plague-o-phobic. Even if he was already on progress and news came that one of the travelling courtiers was symptomatic, he would take only his closest intimates and flee on horse to a remote hunting lodge.
• Be seen by the country: Visibility and pomp were important elements of establishing the majesty of the monarchy. A good king knew that it was good public relations to be seen by more than just Londoners. For example, Henry and wife five Katherine Howard went on progress to the north of his kingdom to show the former norther rebels that he mercifully forgave them for being "ingrate and unnatural towards their Most Rightful King."
• Hunting: The sport was better in the country. Henry loved to hunt, hawk, fish, ride, and so on. So what the king wants, the king does. (image: Bushy Park, confiscated on Cardinal Wolsey's downfall, and a favorite deer hunting park of the king)

Henry could act like a spoiled child at times, so why not take a summer vacation like a school kid too? Who would dare risk their head to deny him?

Bloody tyrant or chivalric renaissance man?

If you read the letters of foreign ambassadors at the English court and contemporary chroniclers, Henry VIII was a talented, generous, learned, and pious king. At least at the beginning of his reign.

As a second son, he wasn't raised to be the king. Arthur was the heir, and Henry was the spare. Some historians assert that Henry was being groomed to enter the church, which made him a passionately religious man who fancied himself a theologian. The pope bestowed the title of Defender of the Faith (Fidei Defensor) for Henry's writings about the sacrements and ironically authority of the pope.

He spoke Latin and French, a bit of Spanish (probably because of his first wife), and tried his hand at Greek.

He was musical--he played several instruments, sang, and danced well. He also wrote music, though he probably did not write 'Greensleeves.' His most famous piece 'Passetyme with gude companye,' was played in the Scottish court and was a favorite of his daughter Elizabeth.

After his brother's death, Henry's father sheltered him from the gentlemanly skills his peers were practicing. Thus when he became king, Henry did them often and with zeal. He was a great rider, hunter, jouster, tennis player (which was a more brutal sport in its medeaval form), and archer.

Henry was well-read in classical literature and wanted to be known as a scholar. He was an amateur astronomer, cartographer, alchemist, and architect. He saw himself as a chivalrous knight, a brave soldier, a king after the Bible's King David. And he was for the first decades of his reign.

How did the Arthurian knight become a egotistical spoiled tyrant?

The seeds were planted by Anne Boleyn, and a man prone to vanity and used to flattery began to believe that he could not be wrong.

Indeed he staked his soul on this belief.

Why Henry did NOT have six wives

Henry would have told you he had two or three wives, not six. Here are his verdicts on his supposed wives.

Wife 1 Katherine of Aragon: NOT a true wife
Though married for some 20 years, Henry eventually realized that their marriage was against the law of God (never mind that the Pope specifically allowed this marriage). It says in the Bible a man is not allowed to marry his brother's widow. The result was not divorce, but annulment--the marriage had never been good in the first place. So he was still a bachelor.

Wife 2 Anne Boleyn: NOT a true wife
He maneuvered for six years and split from the Roman church to marry Anne, but he later decided that he'd been bewitched into marrying her. And she was condemned for adultery (which was also treason when married to the king) and incest. So off with her head!

Wife 2 Jane Seymour: Wife indeed
was everything Anne Boleyn was not. She was demure, obedient, and agreeable. Even though she was likely exaggerating her differences from Anne, she was still a welcome respite from the tumult of marriage with Anne Boleyn. She was probably Henry's favorite wife. Too bad she died days after giving birth to her son with Henry in her first year of marriage.

Wife 4 Anne of Cleves: NOT a true wife
Like Wife 1, this was a political marriage. She was brought in to Englad with celebration and ceremony (and expense), but when Henry finally met her, he was repulsed. "I like her not" he said, and he only went through with the marriage because he was in too deeply to back out. Within a few months, he dug up her old pre-contract of marriage, retroactively making her ineligible for marriage in the first place. Since he declared they had never consummated the marriage, it was annulled.

Wife 5 Katherine Howard: Debatable 
This marriage was never officially annulled, although there were good grounds to do so after her execution for treason. A proclamation was issued forfeiting her title of 'Queen.'

Wife 6 Katherine Parr: Wife indeed
A legitimate marriage. Although she came close to execution for her zealous reforming religious views. Who knows if Henry would have found a reason to move against her if he had lived longer.

So depending on who you ask, Henry went through a marriage ceremony probably seven times (likely twice with Anne Boleyn), but had as few as two true wives. When you're the king, you're beyond the law, and in this case, even beyond logic.