Henry VIII

1491 – 1547

Henry VIII was King of England from 1509 to 1547 whose desire to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon led him to break with the Roman Catholic Church and establish the monarch as Supreme Head of the Church of England, initiating the English Reformation. He married six times in pursuit of a male heir, having his second and fifth wives—Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard—beheaded on charges of adultery and treason. The Dissolution of the Monasteries he carried out in the 1530s seized the wealth of the English religious houses for the Crown and reshaped the English landed class for centuries.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM