King of England (1509–47). The second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, he succeeded to the throne aged 18 and began his reign by executing Dudley and Empson, two of his father’s financial officers. From 1513 to 1529 Thomas Wolsey managed affairs of state and diplomacy while Henry played the part of the Renaissance prince, preferring hunting and dancing to government.

From 1525 he turned against his wife Catherine of Aragon because of her failure to provide him with male heirs. The pope’s refusal to annul his marriage led to England’s break with the Roman Catholic Church. With the assistance of Thomas Cromwell and a compliant, anticlerical Parliament (1529–36), legislation was passed to sever the English Church from papal jurisdiction and Henry became Supreme Head of the English Church (1534). He exploited the Dissolution of the Monasteries for his own profit and used the revenues from the dissolution to pay for his military campaigns of the 1540s. But he remained conservative in doctrine, believing in Catholicism without the pope and retaining the title “Defender of the Faith” granted him by the pope in 1521 for his treatise against Luther. Meanwhile he married Anne Boleyn and subsequently Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, of whom only Jane Seymour bore him a son, the future Edward VI.

Little was achieved by his expensive wars with France and Scotland, but a powerful English navy was created. His attempts to capitalize on the struggles of Francis I of France and Charles V of Spain severely undermined the English economy.