Expert: Mark Smith - 9/18/2006

Question
why did henry v111 fall out with the pope

Answer
Hello Kirsty.
It wasn't a question of religion as you might think, it was more simple than that - the subject of divorce. Henry had been married to Katherine of Aragon for 20 years by 1529, but had no son to succeed him, only a daughter. He wanted to divorce his wife and marry Anne Boleyn, but under the Catholic Church only the Pope could grant a divorce and this he wouldn't do on the grounds that not having a son was no good reason for a divorce. Henry's chief advisor, Thomas Cromwell, came up with the idea of rejecting the Pope and creating a new religion, roughly on the lines of the Protestant Church recently founded in Germany, with the King as Head, and as Head of his own Church Henry could divorce himself. It also had the advantage of England being entirely independent of the Pope who, as God's representative on Earth, claimed authority over Kings. And it meant that no more taxes would be paid to Rome, instead they would go to the King.
Mark