Roman Emperor Charles V. Anne and Henry were
secretly married in January 1533. When Henry’s hopes
for an annulment did not materialize, he broke ties with
the Roman Catholic Church, and Thomas Cranmer,
archbishop of Canterbury, annulled his marriage to
Catherine. Unfortunately for Anne, her promise to give
Henry a son went unfulfi lled. In September 1533, Anne
gave birth to their daughter Elizabeth, the future Queen
ELIZABETH I. A miscarriage and a stillbirth followed.
Anne’s days as queen were numbered. In May 1536,
she was imprisoned in the TOWER OF LONDON on
charges of adultery (which translate into treason for
the queen) with several men, including her own
brother. Though the charges coincided with Henry’s
own desires, it is probable that the general charge of
adultery was true; even Anne’s father and uncle testi-
fi ed against her. Only 10 days after Anne’s execution,
Henry took a third wife—Jane Seymour, one of Anne’s
ladies-in-waiting. She provided the 45-year-old King
Henry with his longed-for heir, giving birth to the
future Edward VI on October 12, but died two weeks
later. Henry VIII’s fourth wife was the German prin-
cess, Anne of Cleves (1515–57). The marriage was
famously annulled only a few months later. His fi fth
wife was Anne Boleyn’s cousin, Catherine Howard
(1521–42), who met her cousin’s doom not even two
years into the marriage. Henry’s last wife was the twice-
widowed Catharine Parr (1512–48), who outlived
him.
Though most famous, perhaps, for his many wives,
Henry also changed England irrevocably by breaking
from the Roman church. At one time declared
“Defender of the Faith” by the pope, Henry was for-
mally excommunicated in 1533. This not only affected
the country fi nancially and politically, but also in a lit-
erary sense. Poetry became a medium through which
support for Protestantism was expressed (e.g., The
FRENCH HISTORY), criticism of Catholic relations was
leveled (e.g., The SPHEPHEARDES CALENDER), and martyr-
dom was upheld (see ROBERT SOUTHWELL).
Henry was the fi rst English monarch to be educated
under the infl uence of the Renaissance. Because of his
interest in classical culture, fostered in part by his
tutor, JOHN SKELTON, Henry was considered by the
humanists of his time to be an ideal monarch. He
achieved recognition as a scholar, linguist, musician,
and poet. He was particularly known for his lyrical
compositions, several of which remain popular today.
The Henrican court was also home to a great number
of courtier poets, including Sir THOMAS WYATT, among
others.
Before King Henry died, he prepared a will stating
that Edward would be his heir, but that Mary was to fol-
low him if Edward were to die childless, with Elizabeth
taking the throne if Mary were to die without an heir. In
this will, Henry seems to be a bit of a prophet, as each of
his three children ruled after him in succession.
FURTHER READING
Marshall, Peter. Religious Identities in Henry VIII’s England.
Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2006.
Mayer, Thomas F. Thomas Starkey and the Commonweal:
Humanist Politics and Religion in the Reign of Henry VIII.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Ridley, Jasper. Henry VIII: Politics of Tyranny. New York:
Fromm International, 1985.
Melissa A. HarrisHENRY THE MINSTREL See BLIND HARY.
HENRYSON, ROBERT (ca. 1425–ca. 1500)
By the 20th century, Robert Henryson was considered
the most well-known and critically important of the
MIDDLE SCOTS poets, a group which usually contains
Henryson, JAMES I of Scotland, WILLIAM DUNBAR, and
GAVIN DOUGLAS, along with some other minor names.
However, Henryson’s birth and death dates are unclear
mainly because he was neither a well-known nor a
popular writer while alive. Indeed, while most schol-
ars’ best guess is that his major period of production
was around 1475, it can only be said with certainty
that his work was in circulation sometime during the
last half of the 15th century. Henryson lived in Dunfer-
mline, in Fife, and he was master of the grammar
school in the Benedictine abbey there. Dunbar’s
“LAMENT FOR THE MAKARIS” was published in 1508 and
refers to Henryson’s death, causing scholars to estimate
it to around 1506.
During his life, three of Henryson’s major poems—
The MORALL FABILLIS OF ESOPE THE PHRYGIAN (a collection
of fables demonstrating his facility with both ALLEGORYHENRYSON, ROBERT 215