The Renaissance

petitioned Clement for a dissolution of his
marriage, which Clement adamantly re-
fused to grant. On the suggestion of his
adviser Thomas Cromwell, Henry declared
an end to the supremacy of the pope and
the establishment of an English church
with himself as its leader. His break with
the church was sealed by his secret mar-
riage to Anne Boleyn in 1533.

When the pope excommunicated the
king for this act, the English parliament
passed measures to ban appeals from En-
glish religious courts to the pope, to force
the English clergy to elect bishops that
Henry nominated and, by the Act of Su-
premacy, to recognize Henry as the su-
preme head of the Church of England. En-
glish citizens had to acknowledge this Act
by swearing an oath; punishment for defi-
ance was imprisonment or execution; a
measure that was taken against Henry’s
own Lord Chancellor and trusted adviser
Sir Thomas More. Uprisings against the
new church were put down without mercy;
Catholic shrines were destroyed, and the
property of the church was seized by the
crown and redistributed to loyal ministers,
nobles, and courtiers.

Anne Boleyn, mother of the future
Elizabeth I, was unable to produce a male
heir; for this Henry blithely arranged
charges of witchcraft, incest, and adultery
against her, for which she was executed.
Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, gave
birth to Prince Edward in 1537 but died
shortly afterward. A marriage to a German
princess, Anne of Cleves, ended swiftly in
divorce, after which Henry married Cathe-
rine Howard. This fifth wife was executed
in 1542; Henry’s sixth and last wife, Cathe-
rine Parr, survived him.

Henry’s reign saw an important trans-
formation in England to Protestantism, an
event that would have violent repercus-

sions in the kingdom for the next century.

He annexed Wales, defeated the rebellious

Scots at the Battle of Solway Moss, and

captured the port of Boulogne from the

French, who regained the city through the

payment of a ransom. The more promi-

nent role of England in the affairs of Eu-

rope would be affirmed by political and

military victories achieved by Henry’s

daughter Elizabeth in the last half of the

sixteenth century.

SEEALSO: Boleyn, Anne; Cromwell, Tho-

mas; Elizabeth I; More, Sir Thomas; Tu-

dor dynasty

Holbein, Hans (the Younger) ...........

(1497–1543)

A German artist, a leader of the Renais-

sance in northern Europe, who achieved

his most famous works at the court of

King Henry VIII of England. Born in

Augsburg, a town of southern Germany,

he was a student of his father, Hans Hol-

bein the Elder, a noted painter of the late

Gothic style in Germany. Holbein the

Younger journeyed to Switzerland, where

he apprenticed with the painter Hans

Herbster and where he joined the painters

guild. He also encountered the humanist

scholar Desiderius Erasmus, who engaged

him to create illustrations for his bookIn

Praise of Folly. Holbein ran a busy work-

shop in Basel that turned out portraits on

commission from the city’s leading fami-

lies, as well as altarpieces and stained glass

for local churches. Well-known works from

this time are the paintingsDead Christand

Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two

Saints, and a series of forty woodcut prints

known as theDance of Death. In 1524, he

visited France, where he discovered the

technique of drawing in chalk, a method

employed by the French portraitist Jean

Clouet. Holbein left Basel in 1526 to seek

Holbein, Hans (the Younger)