Hello and welcome to today's history lesson.

My name is Mr. Merrett and I'll been guiding you through today's lesson.

So, let's get started.

Today's lesson is looking at Henry VIII and the King's Great Matter.

And by the end of the day's lesson we'll be able to explain why Henry VIII became dissatisfied with the Roman Catholic Church.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms and our key terms for today are heir and annulments.

An heir is a person who expects to inherit the property or position of another person when that person dies.

And an annulment, it means to declare something invalid.

Today's lesson will consist of two separate learning cycles and our first learning cycle is looking at what was the King's Great Matter.

So, let's get started.

Now, Henry Tudor, who was the second son of King Henry VII, was born on the 28th of June, 1491.

As his elder brother, Arthur, was destined to inherit the throne, Henry was destined for a life in the church.

These plans changed, however, when Arthur died of an illness in 1502.

Arthur's new wife who was called Catherine of Aragon, was the youngest daughter of the rulers of Spain who then betrothed her to Henry.

And the reason being is that the alliance that the marriage between the son of the English king and the daughter of the rulers of Spain, it was just too important to let go.

When Henry succeeded his father and became King Henry VIII in 1509, the two were finally married.

Henry and Catherine seemed pretty well matched.

They shared similar interests, and the English people liked their queen.

The marriage produced six children, including at least two boys, although all died except one girl, Mary.

As the years progressed, the lack of a male heir became more of an issue for Henry.

His father had become king at the end of the Wars of the Roses, which was a brutal civil war which had occurred because there was not a clear line of succession.

And although Henry did have a daughter, he had Mary, the last time a woman had been named heir to the English throne was about 400 years prior to this, and that had also even caused a civil war.

So, Henry was therefore growing increasingly concerned that his death would lead to a period of instability, perhaps even civil war, unless a male air could be produced.

Now, by 1525, the situation was dire.

Catherine of Aragon was unable to have any more children, and Henry had begun looking for a solution outside of his marriage.

One of Catherine's maid of honours was a pretty, flirtatious young woman, fresh from the French courts, by the name of Anne Boleyn.

Henry had already had a relationship with Anne's older sister, as well as several other women, and now he wanted the same with Anne.

Henry had actually fathered some illegitimate children, including at least one boy as well, but he wanted legitimate children in order to make sure that there'll be no concerns when he died over who would be the next king or queen.

And now although he wanted a physical relationship with Anne, Anne refused to have any kind of physical relationship with Henry unless they were married.

For Henry, this actually seemed like quite a perfect proposal.

A new wife who was intelligent and pretty, and most importantly, young enough to bear him a son.

And as a result of this, Henry sought an annulments from his wife, Catherine.

And this would've meant that his daughter, Mary, would be classed as illegitimate.

However, from Henry's perspective, this was a price that he was willing to pay, as a male heir would secure the family line and reduce the risk of civil war in England.

It's a pretty terrible thing to do to Mary, though.

The process of securing an annulment and marrying Ann Boleyn became known as the King's Great Matter.

Henry began to say that God had cursed his marriage to Catherine since in the Bible it stated that if a man married his brother's wife, their marriage would remain childless.

Now, although his marriage does not remain childless, and there was at least six children, five of them died either in infancy or were stillborn, and anyone that survived is a girl, which is not necessarily a bad thing, unless you're Henry VIII and you're looking for a male heir, in which case is almost as bad as being childless.

Catherine on the other hand, argued that her marriage to Arthur had not been a proper marriage as they had been too young to try for children.

So Henry's argument therefore was incorrect.

In 1527, Henry contacted the pope at the time, Pope Clement VII.

He contacted him directly in order to ask for an annulment.

And traditionally throughout history this has been something of a formality.

The Pope, generally speaking, has been happy to grant rulers annulments in return for something that he wants, either some sort of power, or some sort of prestige, or some sort of gift of money or land or titles for somebody else that will also therefore gain the Pope a favour as well.

So the pope, generally speaking, has been more than happy to do this sort of thing for rulers in the past.

However, the pope at this point in time, was not in a position to offer Henry an annulment.

And the reason being is that he was the prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, at the time, who also happened to be Catherine's nephew and Charles V was adamant that he and his family would not suffer any sort of embarrassment that an annulment might bring about.

So, he was trying to, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, was trying to protect his aunt's sense of decency, I suppose, and he didn't want her to be embarrassed or humiliated in the European stage.

Now, under these circumstances, the Pope refused therefore to grant the annulments.

So Henry passed the task of solving the King's Great Matter to his faithful servant, a man called Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

So what name was given to Henry's quest to end his marriage with Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn instead? Was it the King's Great Matter? Was it the King's Important Matter or was it the King's Necessary Matter? Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose A, the King's Great Matter, then very well done, that's the correct answer.

Let's have another check for understanding.

It's a discussion question.

I'd like to think, why did Henry want to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn? So, think about all the reasons you can think of.

Pause the video, whilst you do that, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's think what you could have said then.

So you could have said that Catherine was unable to have any more children, so she was past the point where her body could physically have anymore children.

Henry wanted a male heir.

Anne was young and able to have children, and Anne was also quite pretty and flirtatious as well.

Anne also refused to have a physical relationship with Henry unless they were married.

So for all of these reasons and a few more as well, Henry really wanted to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Okay, let's go for our first task for today then.

So, I'd like you to explain two reasons why Henry wanted a male heir.

So identify two reasons, and then explain why they are good reasons.

Pause the video, whilst you do this, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with that task.

So let's think what you could have said then.

So you could have said that Henry wanted a male heir, because he wanted a clear line of succession after him to prevent another civil war from breaking out over who should be king.

Henry's heir was his daughter, Mary, but Henry worried that a female heir would cause instability.

This was because the last time a woman was named heir to the English throne, 400 years earlier, that led to a civil war.

If you've got different reasons to me, that's absolutely fine.

I'm just looking to make sure that you've explained your reasons, that's the key thing there.

Well, let's go for another task now then.

So I've got two interpretations of the screen in front of you here, one from Laura and one from Izzy.

And I'd like you to read them and explain which one you agree with most and why.

So Laura's interpretation is that Henry wanted to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon to secure the succession with a male heir.

Whereas Izzy's interpretation is that Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn because she was young and pretty.

So have a think about which interpretation you most agree with and explain why.

Pause the video whilst you do that, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on fine with that task.

So let's think what you could have written then.

So you might have mostly agreed with Laura's interpretation, in which case you may have said that, I mostly agree with Laura's interpretation because Henry's father, Henry VII, became king after a brutal civil war and Henry did not want England to have that experience again.

Although a woman was capable of ruling England, Henry felt the possibility of causing a civil war by making his daughter his heir was too great a risk to take.

So while Henry was definitely attracted to Anne Boleyn, he wanted to marry her in order to get a male heir, not just because she was pretty.

Alternatively you might agree more with Izzy's interpretation, in which case you may have said, I mostly agree with Izzy's interpretation, because Henry had already had several affairs, including with Anne Boleyn's older sister.

I do agree with Laura that Henry had the goal of having a son so his succession would be secured, but like as Izzy says, Anne was younger than Catherine, so as well as being pretty, she would still be able to have many more children increasing the chances of a male heir.

If you've got different arguments to me, that's absolutely fine.

The key thing though is that you identify the interpretation you agree with and you justify why you agree with it more.

Right, let's move on now then to our second and final learning cycle of today, which is how to resolve the King's Great Matter.

Now, Thomas Wolsey was born the son of a butcher in 1475.

He became a priest and quickly worked his way up to position of great importance.

In 1513, he was tasked with organising an English invasion of France, which he accomplished so successfully that Henry entrusted him with other important tasks.

In February 1514, Henry arranged for his friend, Wolsey, to become Bishop of Lincoln.

And then in September, Wolsey was made Archbishop of York, the second most important position in the Church in England.

More was still to come, however.

Within a few years, Wolsey become a cardinal.

He had been appointed as the pope representative in England, and he was also made Lord Chancellor of England.

Wolsey had a lot of different titles, this is just a fairly small selection of them.

He was described by people in England as the alter rex, which is Latin for the other king, due to the amount of power that he now wielded, and the fact that he was now one of the wealthiest men in England.

His most important and difficult job though, was resolving the King's Great Matter.

Wolsey spent two years working on almost nothing else.

In 1529, Wolsey organised a special church court to argue for Henry's annulment alongside one of the pope's representative.

The pope had no intention of allowing Henry to get annulments, so instructed his representative to delay the event as much as possible.

The cardinal in question was genuinely quite ill, so it took him months to make his way from Italy up to England.

And then after several weeks of arguments, the pope's representative then explained that he didn't actually have the authority to make a decision, and therefore he would need to travel back down to Rome to speak with the pope in person.

This action spelt Wolsey's downfall.

Although he had worked hard to give the king what he wanted, Anne argued to Henry that Wolsey was deliberately delaying their marriage.

Not only that, Wolsey had made plenty of enemies who were nobles, who objected to Wolsey's humble upbringing and immense power and wealth, and they also added their voice to Anne's.

And in July 1529, shortly after the church court ended, King Henry VIII stripped Wolsey of all of his power except being Archbishop of York.

Wolsey later left London for York, but on the 4th of November, 1530, Wolsey was arrested for treason after it was discovered that he was engaged in a plot to have Anne Boleyn exiled.

On his journey south to face the king, he had an accident in which he hit his head, and he died on the 29th of November, 1530.

He almost certainly would've been executed anyway once he got down to London, but at least he would've potentially had the chance to defend himself.

But, as it so happened, an unfortunate accident killed him off, anyway.

By the end of 1530, King Henry VIII was in an awkward position.

His friend and greatest servant was dead.

He had one daughter who he wanted to declare illegitimate.

His wife had been unable to get pregnant for more than a decade and had been banished from courts, which upset the English people as they really liked Catherine.

And the pope was refusing to grant him an annulment.

He was unable to marry the woman he was now in love with, and most importantly, from his point of view, he did not have a male heir to secure the line of succession.

Okay, let's have a quick check for understanding now then.

So, true or false, Pope Clement VII refused to annul Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Make your choice now.

Okay, if you chose true, then congratulations, that is true.

Let's justify this statement now then, why is it a true statement? Is it true because Pope Clement VII had been imprisoned by Catherine's nephew, emperor Charles V? Or is it true because Pope Clement VII had a personal dislike of Henry VIII after Henry attacked Roman Catholicism? So choose your justification now.

Okay, if you chose A, then very well done.

That is indeed correct.

Let's have another quick check for understanding now.

So what was the main reason that Cardinal Wolsey was removed from office in 1529? Was it for being overheard insulting Anne Boleyn? Was it for failing to secure an annulment for the king, or was it for stealing information from Henry VIII? So choose your answer now.

Okay, if you chose B, then well done, that is the correct answer.

Right, let's go for our next task now then.

So, I'd like you to read the statements below, and for each statement I'd like you to give a specific example that supports it.

So the first statement says that Cardinal Wolsey tried to secure an annulment for Henry VIII.

The second statement is that Pope Clement VII was unlikely to grant Henry an annulment.

And the third statement is that Henry was unhappy that he was not granted an annulment.

So pause the video whilst you do this task and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on okay with that task.

Let's think what you could have written then.

So for that first statement, you could have said that for, well, the fact that Cardinal Wolsey tried to secure an annulment for Henry VIII, that Wolsey arranged a special Church court to argue for Henry's annulment.

For the second statement, that Pope Clement VII was unlikely to grant Henry an annulment.

You could have said that the Pope had been imprisoned by Catherine's nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.

And for the third statement, that Henry was unhappy that he not granted an annulment.

You could have said that Henry took away almost all of Wolsey's titles and power.

If you have different examples to support the statements, that's absolutely fine as long as you've got some specific details to support those statements.

That's what I'm looking for.

Right, let's go for our next task then.

So, I'd like you to explain why Henry VIII became unhappy with the Roman Catholic Church by 1530.

So pause the video whilst you complete this task, and I'll see you in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hope you got on okay with that task.

Let's think then of what you could have said.

So you could have said that Henry had grown unhappy with the Roman Catholic Church by 1530, because the pope refused to let him annul his marriage to his wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon.

Henry and Catherine had one surviving child, a daughter, but Henry wanted a son to secure the line of succession and prevent any chance of civil war breaking out.

The pope was held prisoner by Catherine's nephew, Emperor Charles V, so Henry may have felt that Pope Clement VII was bowing to pressure from Charles V to prevent his aunt from being upset, rather than doing the right thing for England.

If you've got a different argument to me, that's absolutely fine.

The key thing there is you've explained the points that you've made.

Right, let's summarise today's lesson now then.

So, King Henry VIII wanted a male heir to prevent any risk of civil war breaking out over issues about the line of succession.

As his wife, Catherine of Aragon, was unable to have any more children, the only way for this to happen would be to end his marriage with Catherine and marry someone else.

Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn.

The efforts to make this happen became known as the King's Great Matter.

The pope refused to grant Henry an annulment, and the failure of this enterprise led to the downfall of the king's most trusted servant, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

Thank you very much for joining me today.

Hopefully you've enjoyed yourself.

Hopefully you have learned something, and hopefully I'll see you again next time.

Bye-Bye.