Henry VIII became king of England at the age of 18, when his father died. He built a reputation as a loyal member of the church and was even proclaimed to be a "defender of the faith" by the pope because of a booklet he wrote supporting the teachings of the church. This was done to counteract the influence Martin Luther and John Calvin were having on Catholics in England.

When he was 36, Henry announced that he wanted to divorce his wife, Catherine. He held that the papal dispensation that allowed them to marry in the first place should not have been given, because Catherine had been his brother?s wife before he died. The real reason he wanted to divorce Catherine was that she had not given birth to a son, and he needed a son to be heir to the throne. The pope would not grant him an annulment, but Henry divorced Catherine anyway. He married Anne Boleyn, one of Catherine?s ladies-in-waiting. Henry was excommunicated from the church, but he made himself the "supreme ecclesiastical authority" in England, meaning that he held the highest religious office in the country. Sir Thomas More, the chancellor of England, and John Fisher, an English cardinal at the time, were both executed because they refused to support the king?s actions and religious authority.

Not only that, Henry eventually had Anne Boleyn beheaded, charging her with adultery. The reason for her execution might have been that their only child was a girl.

Henry VIII married four more times. His wives were the following:

• Jane Seymore, who died after bearing his only son
• Anne of Cleves, whom he divorced because she was unattractive; He married her only to secure his ties with Germany
• Catherine Howard, who was executed after being charged with unchaste behavior
• Catherine Parr, who was scheduled to be executed, but Henry died first

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