Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to history with me, Mrs. Dashwood-Anthony.

Today is our second lesson of six lessons, which are focusing on the enquiry question, why did Henry VIII break with Rome? But before we get started, I'd like you to check a couple of things.

Can you check that you've got a pen and paper or something to write on and with? And if you can try and find a nice quiet space so that you can concentrate throughout the lesson.

Once you've got that sorted, let's start.

Let's get started.

So in today's lesson, we're going to look at why Henry VIII wanted a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and also have a look at why he did not get one.

So to do this, we're going to explore the different concerns that he had as King of England, which then led to him making a break with Rome.

So, what is the message of this passage from the Bible? So to start the lesson, we're going to have a look at this passage from the Bible.

You may remember that one of Henry's aims as King was to make sure he made, or had a son who could inherit the throne when he died.

Sadly, this did not happen.

And Henry actually lost six children with Catherine and his only living child was a female called Mary.

Henry was very worried that if Mary was his heir to the throne that other males would try to take the throne, and thus end the Tudor line.

So taking all of that into consideration, why might this passage taken from the Bible, worry Henry VIII who was a devoted Catholic? So Henry VIII was very religious.

This is a passage from the Bible.

So what was the message of this passage, which would then worry Henry VIII.

I'd like you to pause this video now and give yourself a couple of minutes to read through the passage and consider what the meaning is.

Welcome back.

So let's read the passage together.

"And if a man take his brother's wife, "it is an unclean thing; "he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness, "dishonoured his brother; they shall be childless." So you may have picked out the word unclean.

So if a man take his brother's wife it is an unclean thing.

So it's an unclean action.

So you may have picked up that word unclean, and you may have thought about it and thought that what the message there is is that it's a morally wrong thing to do.

So it's the wrong thing to do.

You may have also thought that it's implying that it is an evil action, and certainly it's unlawful.

So you picked out that word unclean.

That's what you may have have got from that.

Then the next part is, the key word is dishonoured.

So he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness.

So he's dishonoured his brother.

So what does it mean if you've dishonoured your brother? If you picked that out, you may be thinking that what this message is implying is that the marriage has disgraced and shamed his brother.

So it's disrespectful thing to do to your brother.

And then the final sentence, or the final part of this passage is they shall be childless.

So the they in that line is referring to the new husband and wife, and then it says the word childless, so they shall be childless.

Now this means that the guilty couple will not have children.

Now, remember this is really important in Tudor England because a male, to have a male child in Tudor England because they needed an heir to the throne.

So let's read this passage again.

"And if a man take his brother's wife, "it is an unclean thing; "he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness "and they shall be childless." So that passage is saying that if you were to marry your brother's wife, then your punishment would be to remain childless in that marriage.

So if we think back to Henry and him marrying Catherine, who was previously married to Henry's brother Arthur, who died.

So this really concerned Henry, because he thought the Bible, this particular passage in the Bible was almost like a curse.

It was something that was saying he's being punished and therefore would be childless with Catherine.

And he attached that to not having a male child.

So what I would like you to do is show me what you have learned from this passage.

So you're going to read through each statement and then decide if in the passage that is true or false.

So if I read through them with you, one to five, you're then going to pause this video and write one to five in your books and write down whether it's true or false next to each number.

So number one, the passage implies that God approves of you marrying your brother's wife.

Is that true or false? Number two, the passage implies that if you marry your brother's wife when he dies then you'll have a happy life.

Number three, the passage implies that if you marry your brother's wife, your marriage will not be a happy one.

Is that true or false? Number four, the passage implies that if you marry your brother's wife, no children will be born in that marriage.

Is that true or false? And number five, the passage implies that if you marry your brother's wife, then God will bless you with children.

Is that true or false? So can you now pause the video and write down one, two, three, four, five, and true or false for each question, and then restart the video once you're finished.

Welcome back, let's go through the answers.

So number one, God approves of you marrying your brother's widow.

That is in fact false.

The passage clearly implies that God does not approve of you marrying your brother's widow.

That could be seen in the word unclean.

Number two, if you marry your brother's wife when he dies, then you will have a happy life.

That again is not true.

Thinking about the word childless, and the fact that it's an evil action.

It's unlawful, unclean action and thing to do.

So that is false.

Number three, if you're marry your brother's wife, your marriage will not be a happy one.

That is true.

The passage implies that if someone was to marry their brother's wife then the marriage would not be a happy one, because the way that it started.

Number four, if you marry your brother's wife, no children will be born in that marriage.

So that is true.

So it clearly states in the final line, they shall be childless.

And then number five, if you marry your brother's wife, then God will bless you with children.

So that is false.

So again, the final line reiterates that if you do marry your brother's wife then you will not have children, that is the punishment for doing that.

Today's lesson is focusing on why Henry decided to start a new church and break with Rome.

It's important to have a look at what has happened previously.

In 1517 Martin Luther, a gen priest, openly criticised the Catholic Church, and this is considered the start of Protestantism, which challenged the Catholic church and challenged the Pope.

If you'd like to find out more about that, you can a look at the lessons under year eight, unit three.

So in response to Martin Luther, Henry in 1521, wrote a book titled "In Defence of the Seven Sacraments," which openly criticised Protestantism and defended the Catholic church and the Catholic religion.

The Pope was really impressed by this and decided to reward Henry with the title Defender of Faith.

So this point in time in 1521, Henry had proven that he was a devoted Catholic, he was a defender of the religion.

And if you remember, he was even attending mass up to five times a day.

But by the 1530s Henry was seriously thinking about breaking away, breaking away from the Pope and forming his own Protestant church.

And he actually did that in 1532, which is called the reformation.

So why? What changed, why did Henry go from being a devoted Catholic in 1521 to the head of a new Protestant church by 1532? So we are going to have a look at some of the issues that Henry had, which led to him making this huge change.

A huge change, which has lasted to the present day.

So over the next few lessons we're going to try to piece this puzzle together, with the goal of being able to explain in detail why this monumental event happened.

Let's have a look at the concerns that Henry had at this point in time.

So some of his concerns can be called political concerns.

So political concerns refer to his concerns about his position, his power, and this mainly focuses on the Tudor line, the Tudor royal line.

So one of Henry's aims as King was to have a male son, a male heir.

So a son who would then inherit the throne and continue the Tudor line.

However, sadly Catherine and Henry had lost six children, including two boys, and their only surviving child was a female called Mary.

At the time it was commonly believed that Catherine had actually failed at her duty of a wife, and by not producing a male heir for Henry and all the blame was placed on her.

So Henry started to look elsewhere.

He wanted to get a new wife who would produce a male heir for him.

And he then fell in love with Anne Boleyn.

So on the image on this slide, you can see that Henry is talking to a new woman, Anne Boleyn, behind Catherine's back.

So Henry fell in love with this new woman called Anne Boleyn, and he thought that he was meant to be with her, that she was meant to be his queen and that it would be her that would give him a male heir to the throne.

Alongside this, Henry also believed that he was being punished for marrying his brother's wife, his brothers widow.

So all of these are huge concerns of Henry.

He needed a son to inherit the throne.

He was in love with a new woman called Anne Boleyn.

And the only person who could help him solve these concerns, solve these problems was the Pope, as he was the only person who could cancel the marriage with Catherine and allow Henry to marry Anne.

The other concerns that Henry had linked to religion, so I'll refer to as religious concerns.

So you will remember the quote from the start of the lesson.

So Henry believed that his marriage to Catherine, his brother's widow, went against the teachings of the Bible and his own beliefs, and therefore God was punishing him.

So until he was granted a divorce he would be living in sin.

So this was also a religious concern of Henry's, because he thought he was going against the Bible.

As well as this, the church itself and the Pope had a very unique and strong power.

So the power of religion.

Remember that this point in time the majority of people in England were very religious and the church was very important to them, and therefore a lot of the priests and the monasteries were very loyal to the Pope.

So therefore whoever was head of the church potentially had the power to by rule Kings.

So this was a religious concern of Henry's.

So the Pope denying him a divorce became a huge concern for him.

As well as this criticisms had started to develop about the Catholic church and how it had moved away from the teachings of the Bible.

So it was becoming corrupt.

And consequently, some places had broken away from the Pope to stop this corruption.

So that was happening at this point in time, and Henry's advisors, some of Henry's advisors, wondered whether this was the right thing to happen in England.

So, another concern which developed in the late 1520s and the early 1530s, was the Pope not agreeing to the divorce.

So in the 1520s Henry sent his chief advisor, his main advisor, Thomas Wolsey, to arrange a divorce with the Pope.

Unfortunately for Henry, at this point in time Catherine, who was a Spanish princess, had a very powerful nephew called Charles V, who was now the Holy Roman Emperor.

If you have a look at the map in the middle of the slide, in yellow is the Holy Roman Empire.

So Charles V was the head of that, and that is where the Pope was based.

So the Pope was becoming more and more worried about Charles V power.

And in fact, their relationship had started to deteriorate, which means it started to fall apart.

In fact, Charles even imprisoned the Pope in 1527.

So the Pope was really worried about upsetting Charles V.

So when Henry tried to arrange a divorce, it was denied because Charles did not want his aunt, or wanted his aunt to remain Queen of England and Henry's wife, and therefore the Pope supported what Charles wanted instead of what Henry wanted.

This would actually dominate Henry's life for six years.

So for six years Henry tried to get a divorce agreed with the Pope.

So this was a huge concern for Henry that lasted quite a long time.

So before we move on, let's just recap what concerns Henry had.

So Henry wanted a male heir to inherit the throne.

Henry was in love with Anne Boleyn.

Henry believed he was being punished by God, so he was going against what the Bible was teaching.

But also in the background to all of this happening is that there were growing criticisms of the Catholic church.

So these different concerns are what led to the English Reformation, which is when Henry breaks with Rome in 1532.

So what I would like you to do now is answer some comprehension questions that focus on what was Henry's great matter.

So what were his concerns? So the questions that I would like you to have a go at answering are number one, it was believed that Catherine had not fulfilled her duty to her King.

What did Catherine not do? Number two, Henry believed that he had not had a son because God was punishing him.

What did Henry believe he was being punished for? Number three, give two reasons why Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn.

Number four, why did the Pope refuse to divorce Catherine and Henry? And then your challenge question is, how might the church and the Pope threaten Henry's power? On the next slide are some sentence starters to help you answer these questions.

So there's a sentence starter for each question.

What I would like you to do now is pause this video, read through the worksheets, open and read through the worksheet, and then have a go answering those questions.

Once you're finished then unpause the video, resume the video, and we'll go through the answers together.

Welcome back and well done by giving those questions a go.

Let's have a look at the answers together.

So number one, it was believed that Catherine had not fulfilled her duty to her King.

What did Catherine not do? So an acceptable answer was, or is she had not had a son.

A good answer is an answer that is a full sentence and adds a little bit more detail.

For example, it was thought that Catherine had not fulfilled her duty to her King as she had not had a son to inherit the throne when Henry died.

So you've added a bit more detail in there and used a full sentence.

It's important to remember that if you did not get the same wording, it does not mean that your answer is incorrect.

All answers are different.

This is just an example of what you could have said, or could have written.

Number two, Henry believed that he had not had a son because God was punishing him.

What did Henry believe he was being punished for? So why was Henry being punished? An acceptable answer is marrying his brother's wife.

However, a good answer is Henry believed that God was punishing him because he had married his brothers widow, which went against a teaching in the Bible.

So you've added the detail that there is a teaching in the Bible that says that you should not marry your brother's wife.

Number three, give two reasons why Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn.

An acceptable answer is he loved her and she could have a son for him.

A good answer is a full sentence that says, Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn because he was in love with her, and he believed that she would give him a son and heir to the throne.

So you're linking back to the idea of having an heir to the throne.

Number four, why did the Pope refuse to divorce Catherine and Henry? An acceptable answer is he didn't want to upset Charles V.

But a good answer is the Pope did not agree to Henry's divorce because he did not want to risk upsetting Charles V, who was Catherine's nephew and the Holy Roman Emperor.

Their relationship had already fallen apart and the Pope did not want to make the situation worse.

So that's a really detailed answer there and it gives you all of the key information.

The challenge question was how might the church and the Pope threaten Henry's power? So you're linking ideas about religion and political ideas and power together.

So an acceptable answer might be people listened to the Pope instead of Henry.

But a good answer could be, kings had struggled to share power with the Pope for hundreds of years.

The Pope might have threatened Henry's power because the Pope denied him a divorce, and because the church was loyal to the Pope instead of Henry.

You may want to have a go at our extension activity today.

And the extension activity is why is Henry's desire for an heir known as his great matter? So using what you have learned in today's lesson, your challenge or extension task for today is to write a paragraph explaining your answer to that question.

So why was Henry's desire for an heir known as his great matter? You might want to include the following in your answer.

So Henry believed that he was being punished by God.

Henry's need for a male heir, so why did he needed that male heir.

Henry's desires for Anne Boleyn.

And then the Pope not agreeing to a divorce.

So the fact that this took, or this was going on for six years and all of these issues combined is why this is called, or referred to, as Henry's great matter.

So if you have a go writing a paragraph, explaining your answer to that question that would be fantastic, well done.

Here's some sentence starters to help you answer this question.

So you might want to say, Henry's desire for an heir is known as the great matter because.

Or one reason why this is referred to as Henry's great matter is.

You can add detail about Catherine.

And you can even put forward your main reason why you think this is referred to as his great matter.

So just to recap the two main points from today's lesson.

So what were Henry's concerns? He had political and religious concerns.

His political concerns were focused on him wanting a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, as he needed a son, an heir to the throne.

And his religious concerns were focused on the fact that he believed he was being punished by God, but also because he potentially may want to end the Pope's influence.

What will we be doing next lesson? So next lesson we're going to focus on the Act of Supremacy.

So we'll have a look at what happened when Henry was not given a divorce, what actually is this Act, and how would it impact England, so what was the impact on England? That brings us to the end of our lesson.

I just want say a big thank you for all of your hard work.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your lessons today, and I'll see you soon for our next lesson.

Thank you.