These years also marked the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, when the young priest Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg on October 31, 1517 Henry was fascinated by theology and sought to bring to his court men of great learning, including the esteemed scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam At this time, Henry was completely opposed to the reformers, writing his own refutation of Protestant doctrine titled The Assertion of the Seven Sacraments, published in May 1521 Henry’s Divorce from Catherine By 1525, Henry could see that Catherine would never bear him a son Catherine was already 40 years old, and only their daughter Mary had lived past early childhood Henry was greatly concerned to ensure a male heir to the throne for he knew that others would claim the throne, especially under a queen Henry had an illegitimate son and considered the possibility of raising him to an official status but worried that this would simply aggravate the problem Complicating matters was the fact that Henry had become enamored of a woman at his court named Anne Boleyn and was seeking to make her his mistress Finally in 1527, Henry decided to seek divorce from Queen Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn This required papal dispensation, a matter complicated greatly by the fact that Charles V had recently invaded Rome, the home of the pope, and was understandably hostile to Henry’s desire to divorce Charles’s aunt The key figure in the negotiations with Pope Clement VII was Wolsey, now England’s cardinal and the second most powerful man in England after Henry The argument crafted by Henry, Wolsey, and other councilors was that the marriage of Henry and Catherine was illegal, since she was previously married to Henry’s brother Arthur (even though a papal dispensation had been received for the marriage) Clement was pressed by both Henry and Charles to decide one way or the other but succeeded in delaying a decision for nearly five years Wolsey’s unsuccessful efforts to get a decision from Clement eventually led to his downfall and removal from office Breach with The Catholic Church When informed by Anne Boleyn in 1533 that she was pregnant, a frustrated Henry decided to take matters into his own hands and declared that England had the authority to decide this matter, not a foreign pope The legal and political maneuvering to accomplish this was complex, as Henry was both trying to avoid open war with Charles and Francis and to ensure that the neces- Henry VIII 163 sary acts of Parliament were done correctly By May of 1533, the new archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, with the support of nearly all the English bishops, had declared Henry divorced from Catherine and recognized his marriage to Anne The breach with the Roman Catholic Church became complete in March 1534, with the passing of the Act of Supremacy, declaring that the king was, next to Christ, the “only Supreme Head in earth of the Church of England.” In order to ensure support for the act, an oath was administered to both church and civic officials Most took the oath, but a few notable men refused to take the oath, including the king’s own chancellor, Thomas More More, Bishop Fisher, and several others were put to death for their refusal to take the oath This marked the beginning of the present-day Anglican Church as well as the suppression of the Catholic Church in England Henry’s Subsequent Wives and Children The hoped-for male heir did not come from Anne Boleyn In September 1533, Anne bore Henry a daughter named Elizabeth, eventually crowned Queen Elizabeth I Anne and Henry’s relationship slowly worsened after their marriage, but it was in April 1536 after Anne miscarried a baby boy that rumors of Anne’s infidelity surfaced Charges of infidelity and treason were brought against Anne and her supposed lovers (though it is not clear how truthful the charges were) Anne and several men were put to death in May 1536 Two weeks after Anne’s death, Henry married Jane Seymour, a woman he had been courting for several months Jane bore a son, Edward VI, in September 1537 and died soon after from the effects of childbirth Henry was not to have any more children Henry did have three more wives in succession After a series of negotiations in 1540, Henry agreed to marry Anne of Cleves, the sister of an influential German duke Assured that Anne was a great beauty, Henry was greatly disappointed upon meeting her, nearly putting off the marriage Henry divorced her six months later in order to marry his new lover, Catherine Howard, in July 1540 His choice of Catherine was an unwise one Unbeknown to Henry, Catherine had several previous lovers and perhaps had continued a relationship with one of them after her marriage This eventually came to the notice of Henry’s councillors, and with Henry’s consent, Catherine was tried and convicted of treason and executed in February 1542 In July 1543, Henry married Catherine Parr Only Catherine Parr and Anne of Cleves outlived Henry By 1544 at age 53, Henry was an old man He was substantially overweight, and his legs gave him great