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April 21 and Henry VII, aged 52 and a bit, dies at Richmond Palace in Surrey. He was buried at Westminster Abbey, next to his
beloved wife Elizabeth, and was succeeded by his son, who became Henry VIII. Henry VII had reigned for almost twenty three and a half years.
Henry's VII's reign was a good one. He stopped the wars and fighting in England and he made the legal system better as every borough or shire had to
have a Justice of the Peace whose job was to make sure local laws were obeyed in their area. They were appointed for a year and were unpaid. Local upper-class
people saw it as an honour and that it gave them some local influence. Henry was also very thorough in keeping records both of the nation and his own personal
accounts. Some of these accounts survive today and it can be seen that he bought his daughter Mary a lute, which is a musical instrument a bit like a guitar, and
he spent money on a lion for his wife’s animal collection.
We know a bit more about how Henry looked than we do of previous
Kings as many people now had their portraits painted, like a modern day selfie. Sometimes the painter could improve the look of the person, something which would
be very useful in many of the selfies I have seen, (excluding mine, of course). Henry was tall and slim, had blue eyes and, so they say, bad teeth. He was very
intelligent and quite friendly but did suffer from poor health for a lot of his life. But, most of all, he achieved his ambition and created a dynasty that was to
rule England for 118 years.
It’s sometimes quite fun with history to try and think what might have happened if something else didn't. You can do that with so many things we have
written about. What if Claudius had been a strong emperor and hadn’t needed to invade England? What if Alfred had lost to the Vikings? What if Harold had waited in
London and William run out of food? What if… What if…The most important two words in so many things in life not just history.
The reason I said all that is one, because I want you to see that history can be exciting but also because it is so relevant to the events that happened
during the 16th century. If little Prince Arthur hadn’t died, there might never have been a Church of England. Why, well read on.
Although Henry VII had actually changed his mind about his son marrying Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII had a different idea. He became King, as I said,
on April 21 and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 24. In between times, on June 11, he married Catherine of Aragon. Henry was 17 and Catherine was 24.
In 1516 Catherine had a daughter called Mary. Henry really wanted a son because, at that time, the way things worked was that when the King died his
eldest son became the next monarch and then all other sons in age order. If there were no sons then the eldest daughter would be crowned.
This rule was only changed in 2013 when it was decided by Parliament that children will succeed in age order regardless of whether they are male or
female. Catherine had some other children but none of them survived more than a few weeks.
Forward to 1515AD
