Expert: Mark Smith - 9/17/2006

Question
um.. mark, could you help me out? im doin a history prodject on henry the 8th and i need a little more information on him. I've got imformation on: where+when he was born,who his wives are,who his kids were,when he joined the holy leage, that he was unsucsessful with wars with scotland+spain, made himself head of church, and when he was young everyone thought he was going to make a good king, but didnt really,and one of the places he lived was in leeds. do you have anything else for me?

Answer
Hello Elinor.
I think you mean his wars with Sotland and France, England was never at war with Spain under Henry VIII. Also one of his residences was Leeds Castle in Kent, not Leeds in Yorkshire.
The main features of his reign are :
The Reformation; the move away from the Church of Rome to the Church of England and all that that entailed such as the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
His six marriages, which were variously political, religious or personal.
His foreign policy; three wars with France and Scotland and generally good relations with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire.
Henry VIII is probably the most studied King in British history and there is plenty of information about him on the web or, better still, in books.
Mark