Editing Henry VIII (section)

=== Annulment from Catherine ===
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[[File:Catalina de Aragón, palacio de Lambeth.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|[[Catherine of Aragon]], Henry's first queen, {{circa|1520}}]]
[[File:1491 Henry VIII.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Portrait of Henry VIII by [[Joos van Cleve]], {{circa|1531}}]]
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During his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry conducted an affair with [[Mary Boleyn]], Catherine's [[lady-in-waiting]]. There has been speculation that Mary's two children, [[Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon|Henry Carey]] and [[Catherine Carey]], were fathered by Henry but this has never been proven. King Henry never acknowledged them as he did in the case of Henry FitzRoy.{{Sfn|Cruz|Suzuki|2009|p=132}} In 1525, as Henry grew more impatient with Catherine's inability to produce the [[male heir]] he desired,{{Sfn|Smith|1971|p=70}}<ref name="crofton51">{{Harvnb|Crofton|2006|p=51}}</ref> he became enamoured of Mary Boleyn's sister, [[Anne Boleyn]], then a charismatic young woman of 25 in the Queen's entourage.{{Sfn|Scarisbrick|1997|p=154}} Anne, however, resisted his attempts to seduce her, and refused to become his mistress as her sister had.{{Sfn|Weir|2002|p=160}}{{Efn|For arguments in favour of the contrasting view – i.e. that Henry himself initiated the period of abstinence, potentially after a brief affair – see {{Cite book |last=Bernard |first=G. W. |url=https://archive.org/details/anneboleynfatala00bern |title=Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions |date=2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-3001-6245-5 |url-access=registration}}.<ref name="gunn"/>}} It was in this context that Henry considered his three options for finding a dynastic successor and hence resolving what came to be described at court as the [[King's "great matter"]]. These options were legitimising Henry FitzRoy, which would need the involvement of the Pope and would be open to challenge; marrying off Mary, his daughter with Catherine, as soon as possible and hoping for a grandson to inherit directly, but Mary was considered unlikely to conceive before Henry's death, or somehow rejecting Catherine and marrying someone else of child-bearing age. Probably seeing the possibility of marrying Anne, the third was ultimately the most attractive possibility to the 34-year-old Henry,{{Sfn|Loades|2009|pp=88–89}} and it soon became the King's absorbing desire to annul his marriage to the now 40-year-old Catherine.{{Sfn|Brigden|2000|p=114}}

[[File:Henryviiiannulmentverdict.jpg|thumb|left|The annulment verdict given by Thomas Cranmer, 1533]]Henry's precise motivations and intentions over the coming years are not widely agreed on.<ref name="elton103"/> Henry himself, at least in the early part of his reign, was a devout and well-informed Catholic to the extent that his 1521 publication ''[[Assertio Septem Sacramentorum]]'' ("Defence of the Seven Sacraments") earned him the title of ''[[Fidei Defensor]]'' (Defender of the Faith) from Pope Leo X.<ref name="elton75">{{Harvnb|Elton|1977|pp=75–76}}</ref> The work represented a staunch defence of papal supremacy, albeit one couched in somewhat contingent terms.<ref name="elton75"/> It is not clear exactly when Henry changed his mind on the issue as he grew more intent on a second marriage. Certainly, by 1527, he had convinced himself that Catherine had produced no male heir because their union was "blighted in the eyes of God".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Phillips |first=Roderick |title=Untying the Knot: A Short History of Divorce |date=1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5214-2370-0}}</ref> Indeed, in marrying Catherine, his brother's wife, he had acted contrary to [[Leviticus]] 20:21, a justification [[Thomas Cranmer]] used to declare the marriage null.<ref name="Cole2015">{{Cite book |last=Cole |first=William Graham |title=Sex in Christianity and Psychoanalysis |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-3173-5977-7 |language=English}}</ref>{{Efn|"And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless."}} [[Martin Luther]], on the other hand, had initially argued against the annulment, stating that Henry VIII could take a second wife in accordance with his teaching that the Bible allowed for [[polygamy]] but not [[divorce]].<ref name="Cole2015"/> Henry now believed the Pope had lacked the authority to grant a dispensation from this impediment. It was this argument Henry took to [[Pope Clement VII]] in 1527 in the hope of having his marriage to Catherine annulled, forgoing at least one less openly defiant line of attack.<ref name="elton103"/> In going public, all hope of tempting Catherine to retire to a nunnery or otherwise stay quiet was lost.{{Sfn|Loades|2009|pp=91–92}} Henry sent his secretary, [[William Knight (bishop)|William Knight]], to appeal directly to the [[Holy See]] by way of a deceptively worded draft papal bull. Knight was unsuccessful; the Pope could not be misled so easily.<ref name="Elton109">{{Harvnb|Elton|1977|pp=109–111}}</ref>

Other missions concentrated on arranging an ecclesiastical court to meet in England, with a representative from Clement VII. Although Clement agreed to the creation of such a court, he never had any intention of empowering his legate, [[Lorenzo Campeggio]], to decide in Henry's favour.<ref name="Elton109"/> This bias was perhaps the result of pressure from Emperor Charles V, but it is not clear how far this influenced either Campeggio or the Pope. After less than two months of hearing evidence, Clement called the case back to Rome in July 1529, from which it was clear that it would never re-emerge.<ref name="Elton109"/> With the chance for an [[annulment]] lost, Cardinal Wolsey bore the blame. He was charged with ''[[praemunire]]'' in October 1529,<ref name="Lockyer2014">{{Cite book |last=Lockyer |first=Roger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a22hAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |title=Tudor and Stuart Britain: 1485–1714 |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-3178-6882-8 |page=46 |quote=The king had no further use for Wolsey, who had failed to procure the annulment of his marriage, and he summoned Parliament in order that an [[act of attainder]] should be passed against the cardinal. The act was not needed, however, for Wolsey had also been commanded to appear before the common-law judges and answer the charge that by publishing his bulls of appointment as papal legate he had infringed the Statute of Praemunire. |access-date=13 July 2014}}</ref> and his fall from grace was "sudden and total".<ref name="Elton109"/> Briefly reconciled with Henry (and officially pardoned) in the first half of 1530, he was charged once more in November 1530, this time for treason, but died while awaiting trial.<ref name="Elton109"/>{{Sfn|Haigh|1993|pp=92ff}} After a short period in which Henry took government upon his own shoulders,{{Sfn|Elton|1977|p=116}} [[Thomas More]] took on the role of [[Lord Chancellor]] and chief minister. Intelligent and able, but a devout Catholic and opponent of the annulment,<ref name="Losch2002">{{Cite book |last=Losch |first=Richard R. |title=The Many Faces of Faith: A Guide to World Religions and Christian Traditions |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8028-0521-8 |page=106}}</ref> More initially cooperated with the King's new policy, denouncing Wolsey in Parliament.{{Sfn|Elton|1977|p=123}}

A year later, Catherine was banished from court, and her rooms were given to Anne Boleyn. Anne was an unusually educated and intellectual woman for her time and was keenly absorbed and engaged with the ideas of the Protestant Reformers, but the extent to which she herself was a committed Protestant is much debated.<ref name="gunn"/> When [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] [[William Warham]] died, Anne's influence and the need to find a trustworthy supporter of the annulment had Thomas Cranmer appointed to the vacant position.<ref name="Losch2002"/> This was approved by the Pope, unaware of the King's nascent plans for the Church.{{Sfn|Elton|1977|pp=175–176}}