Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In middle age, he divorced his older, dull-eyed, post-childbearing queen, Catherine
of Aragon (see her portrait on the nearby wall), for the younger, shrewd, sparkling-eyed
Anne Boleyn (near Catherine; see photo, next page), in search of love, sex, and a male
heir. Nine months later, the future Elizabeth I was born, and the pope excommunicated
adulterous Henry. Defiant, Henry started the (Protestant) Church of England, sparking a
century-plus of religious strife between the country's Protestants and Catholics.
By the time Henry died—400 pounds of stinking, pus-ridden paranoia—he had wed
six wives (see the sixth, sweet young Catherine Parr, opposite her predecessors), executed
several of them (including Anne Boleyn), killed trusted advisors, pursued costly wars, and
produced one male heir, Edward VI (for more on Henry, see the sidebar, later).
• Opposite Henry is the looooong picture of...
