Chi ha sposato Hendrik VIII van Engeland?

Hendrik VIII (Engels: Henry VIII) (Greenwich, 28 juni 1491 – Westminster bij Londen, 28 januari 1547) was van 1509 tot 1547 koning van Engeland, heer van Ierland en later ook koning van Ierland. Hij stamde uit het Huis Tudor en was een zoon van Hendrik VII en Elizabeth van York.

Hendrik VIII staat bekend als het stereotype van de zelfbewuste renaissance-vorst. Hij was intelligent en geïnteresseerd in kunst en wetenschap. Hij werd echter ook beschouwd als liefdeloos, egoïstisch en wreed. Tegenstrevers, echtgenotes of dienaren die hem niet aanstonden, ruimde hij meedogenloos uit de weg. Hendrik was berucht vanwege zijn huwelijksperikelen; hij heeft zes echtgenotes gehad, van wie hij er twee liet onthoofden.

Tijdens zijn bewind werden Engeland en Wales wettelijk verenigd in één koninkrijk, meer dan twee eeuwen na de verovering van Wales door Engeland. Een nog belangrijker ontwikkeling was de afscheiding van de Anglicaanse Kerk van de Kerk van Rome, vanwege een conflict met de paus over de ontbinding van zijn eerste huwelijk. Hiermee werkte hij onbedoeld de protestantse Reformatie in de hand. Hij liet zich in 1511 door paus Julius II betrekken in de Oorlog van de Liga van Kamerijk tegen Frankrijk, waarbij hij in de rug werd aangevallen door Frankrijks bondgenoot Schotland. Hij en vooral zijn echtgenote Catharina van Aragon - die de in Frankrijk vechtende Hendrik "waarnam" - wisten Schotland in 1513 echter een zware nederlaag toe te brengen in de Slag bij Flodden Field. In Frankrijk boekte hij enkele militaire successen, zoals in de Slag bij Guinegate. In 1516 stichtte Hendrik VIII de Britse postdienst Royal Mail en benoemde hij Brian Tuke als Master of the Posts (postmeester).

Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, historical Spanish: Catharina, now: Catalina; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until its annulment on 23 May 1533. She had previously been Princess of Wales while married to Henry's elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, for a short period before his death.

Catherine was born at the Archbishop's Palace of Alcalá de Henares, and was the youngest child of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. She was three years old when she was betrothed to Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII of England. They married in 1501, but Arthur died five months later. Catherine spent years in limbo, and during this time, she held the position of ambassador of the Aragonese crown to England in 1507, the first known female ambassador in European history. She married Henry VIII shortly after his accession in 1509. For six months in 1513, she served as regent of England while Henry was in France. During that time the English defeated a Scottish invasion at the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part with an emotional speech about courage and patriotism.

By 1526, Henry was infatuated with Anne Boleyn and dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter Mary as heir presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne. He sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England's schism with the Catholic Church. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters in England. In 1533, their marriage was consequently declared invalid and Henry married Anne on the judgement of clergy in England, without reference to the pope. Catherine refused to accept Henry as supreme head of the Church in England and considered herself the King's rightful wife and queen, attracting much popular sympathy. Despite this, Henry acknowledged her only as dowager princess of Wales. After being banished from court by Henry, Catherine lived out the remainder of her life at Kimbolton Castle, dying there in January 1536 of cancer. The English people held Catherine in high esteem, and her death set off tremendous mourning. Her daughter Mary became the first undisputed English queen regnant in 1553.

Catherine commissioned The Education of a Christian Woman by Juan Luis Vives, who dedicated the book, controversial at the time, to the Queen in 1523. Such was Catherine's impression on people that even her adversary Thomas Cromwell said of her, "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History." She successfully appealed for the lives of the rebels involved in the Evil May Day, for the sake of their families, and also won widespread admiration by starting an extensive programme for the relief of the poor. Catherine was a patron of Renaissance humanism and a friend of the great scholars Erasmus of Rotterdam and Thomas More.

Anna Bolena (in inglese Anne Boleyn; Blickling Hall, 1507 – Torre di Londra, 19 maggio 1536) è stata regina consorte d'Inghilterra e Irlanda, dal 1533 al 1536, come seconda moglie di Enrico VIII Tudor.

Per volere del re fu primo marchese di Pembroke, nonché madre della futura regina Elisabetta I. Il suo matrimonio con Enrico VIII fu causa di considerevoli sconvolgimenti politici e religiosi che diedero origine allo Scisma anglicano.

جين سيمور (حوالي 1508 - 24 أكتوبر 1537) كانت ملكة إنجلترا والزوجة الثالثة للملك هنري الثامن منذ زواجهما في 30 مايو 1536 وحتى وفاتها في العام التالي. أصبحت ملكة بعد إعدام زوجة هنري الثانية آن بولين، التي اتهمها الملك هنري الثامن بالزنا بعد فشلها في إنجاب الوريث الذكر الذي كان يرغب فيه بشدة. ومع ذلك، توفيت جين بسبب مضاعفات ما بعد الولادة بعد أقل من أسبوعين من ولادة طفلها الوحيد الملك المستقبلي إدوارد السادس. كانت الزوجة الوحيدة لهنري التي تلقت جنازة ملكية؛ ودُفن لاحقًا إلى جانب رفاتها في كنيسة القديس جورج، قلعة وندسور.

كانت جين سيمور إحدى وصيفات الملكة السابقة آن بولين زوجة الملك هنري الثانية. لم تحظ جين سيمور بقدر عالي من التعليم كزوجتيه الأولى أو الثانية، فلم تكن تعرف القراءة أو الكتابة. كانت سيمور بدينة بعض الشيء، حيث لم تكن تمارس الرياضة، وكانت دائمة الإحساس بالإرهاق. وبعد تسعة أشهر من الزواج، أنجبت للملك وريثًا ذكرًا، والذي قامت الاحتفالات الكبيرة لقدومه، إلا أنها توفيت بعد 12 يومًا من الولادة، وتزوج هنري بعدها من زوجته الرابعة آن كليفز.

على العكس من آن بولين، لم تشارك جين سيمور في شؤون الملك، إلا في عام 1536، عندما طلبت من الملك أن يغفر للمشاركين في تمرد حركة مهاجري الرحمة. رفض هنري طلبها، وذكرها بمصير آن بولين عندما تدخلت في شؤون الملك.

Anna di Clèves (Düsseldorf, 28 giugno 1515 – Londra, 16 luglio 1557) è stata una principessa tedesca, sorella del duca Guglielmo di Cleves e, per pochi mesi del 1540, regina consorte d'Inghilterra e Irlanda, come quarta moglie di Enrico VIII Tudor.

Catherine Howard (Lambeth, 1521 circa – Londra, 13 febbraio 1542) è stata una nobildonna inglese, regina consorte d'Inghilterra e Irlanda come quinta moglie del re Enrico VIII Tudor.

Catherine Parr (c. July or August 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the final queen consort of the House of Tudor, and outlived Henry by a year and eight months. With four husbands, she is the most-married English queen consort. She was the first woman in England to publish in print an original work under her own name in the English language.

Catherine enjoyed a close relationship with Henry's three children, Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. She was personally involved in the education of Elizabeth and Edward. She was influential in Henry's passing of the Third Succession Act in 1543 that restored his daughters Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession to the throne. Catherine was appointed regent from July to September 1544 while Henry was on a military campaign in France; in the event that he lost his life, she was to rule as regent until Edward came of age. However, he did not give her any function in government in his will.

On account of her Protestant sympathies, she provoked the enmity of anti-Protestant officials, who sought to turn the King against her; a warrant for her arrest was drawn up, probably in the spring of 1546. However, she and the king soon reconciled.

On 25 April 1544, Catherine published her first book, Psalms or Prayers, anonymously. Her book Prayers or Meditations became the first original book published by an English queen under her own name on 2 June 1545. She published a third book, The Lamentation of a Sinner, on 5 November 1547, nine months after the death of King Henry VIII.

After Henry's death on 28 January 1547, Catherine was allowed as queen dowager to keep the queen's jewels and dresses. She assumed the role of guardian to her stepdaughter Elizabeth, and took Henry's great-niece Lady Jane Grey into her household. About six months after Henry's death, she married her fourth and final husband, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley. As brother of Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, Seymour was uncle to Henry's son and successor Edward VI, and the younger brother of Lord Protector of England Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. Catherine's fourth and final marriage was short-lived, as she died on 5 September 1548 due to complications of childbirth. Her funeral, held on 7 September 1548, was the first Protestant funeral in England, Scotland or Ireland to be held in English.