In China's ancient royal history, unrequited love was not uncommon. The affairs of the emperors of successive dynasties can be said to have been for several days. However, such chaos only exists in China? This is clearly not the case.
In the far West, there is also a period of affair in which a younger brother married his widow. The older brother died, and the younger brother not only took over the crown of his brother but also his sister-in-law, who was Henry VIII of the Tudor dynasty in England.
A marrying a sister-in-law
Henry VIII, known in British history as the "wife-killing maniac", married a total of six queens in his lifetime. The first queen was Catherine of Aragon, the original match of Henry VIII's brother.
Catherine is the sister of juanna, a mad Spanish woman, and a princess of Spain. She traveled thousands of miles from Spain to England to become the wife of Henry VIII's brother Arthur, with the aim of allying England and Spain against the growing power of France. But Arthur was frail and sick, and died not long after.
King Henry VII of England, in order to maintain political relations between England and Spain, wanted to marry the Spanish princess to his youngest son. Although Catherine was a Spanish princess, she was in a foreign country and was taken hostage by the British royal family to rule Spain, and Catherine's life was actually not good at all.
She was of noble birth, beautiful and elegant in demeanor, and Henry VIII had long liked this good-looking sister-in-law. After ascending the throne at the age of 18, Henry VIII and Catherine soon married and became husband and wife.
In order to make the combination of the two men justified, Henry VIII prepared for a long time, thought of many ways, and made a lot of efforts. The Biblical book of Leviticus has a verse, "Do not peep into the nakedness of your brother's wife." "According to Catholic tradition, the union of Henry VIII and Catherine was completely impossible.
In order for catherine and Henry VIII's marriage to be recognized by the Holy See, the Pope had to be persuaded to agree to the marriage. As a result, the British royal family argued that Catherine and Henry's brother Arthur never had a relationship, and with many efforts, the Pope accepted this statement and agreed to the marriage of Catherine and Henry VIII.
After the marriage, although Queen Catherine was 5 years older than Henry VIII, both of them raised eyebrows and had a happy marriage. Henry VIII, though not educated as an emperor as a child, received the anti-Roman theological education that was prevalent in northern Europe, excelled in tennis, horseback riding, poetry, and political skill.
At that time, Henry VIII chose to be a staff officer not based on his origin, but on his personal ability. He often consulted the wise men of the religious and legal circles to strengthen his power. Henry VIII always had ambitions to expand outward. In 1519, Henry VIII lost the pre-election of Holy Roman Emperor, and England turned to support France.
Ii. Break with the Holy See for divorce
The greatest achievement of Henry VIII's reign was the breaking of the traditional rule of the Plantagenet dynasty, the complete break of the compromise relationship between the Rulers of England and the people of England, between the capital London and the localities, and between the King and the Church. Henry VIII had in fact become the ruler of England at that time with the highest ruling power, mastering secular life and religious society.
At that time, martin luther's Reformation on the European continent was raging and boiling, and at first Henry VIII did not support it, and even wrote tens of thousands of words specifically to refute Martin Luther's views. But because henry VIII was the second queen, he turned to full support for Martin Luther.
Martin Luther
Queen Catherine, although a few years older than Henry VIII, was very beautiful. Only with the passage of time, in 1526, Queen Catherine was already in her 40s, and in the more than 20 years of marriage with Henry VIII, Catherine gave birth to six children, but only a total of daughters were left, which was the famous Bloody Mary.
At this time, Catherine had already miscarried many times, and the chances of giving birth to a male heir were very slim. Henry VIII was always very attentive and had many mistresses. Although Henry VIII was not only a woman, Catherine's position as queen was still very stable.
Until Henry VIII realized that Catherine's body and age could not produce a total of healthy male heirs, Henry VIII wanted to abandon Catherine and marry another woman.
Bloody Mary
At this time, one of Catherine's maids, Anne Boleyn, entered Henry VIII's sights. Anne was young, beautiful and stylish, and had been educated in Paris, France. She is ice and snow smart, good at music, dance. When Henry pursued Anne, Anne refused Henry VIII's pursuit.
The young girl was not content to be henry VIII's mistress, she wanted to be queen of England. But Henry VIII's attempt to divorce Catherine was hampered. The Pope at the time was under the control of the Holy Roman Empire and the de facto ruler of Spain, Charles V, the child of Catherine's brother.
Many years before Catherine and Henry VIII were married, the Pope accepted that Catherine had never slept with Henry's brother Arthur. Now, twenty years later, it is really difficult to overturn the original statement. Catherine, on the other hand, firmly disagreed with the divorce.
Henry VIII's request to the Pope for a divorce from Catherine was refused. Henry began to take revenge on the church. Enraged, Henry VIII decided to start a new lease on the wheel and break with the Roman Catholic Church.
At the same time, he openly paired up with Anne, ignoring Catherine, the queen, and was threatened by the Holy See to drive Anne away. In response, Henry VIII sent only five percent of the original to send the Pope.
Anne Boleyn
III. Separation from the Holy See Reformation
At that time, the British aristocracy and the burgher class wanted the Reformation in England. Henry VIII used a clever young man, Cromwell, to impose a series of decrees in England, setting off a reformation in England itself.
First, the King of England became the supreme leader of all churches in England. It has the right to appoint various clergy and to make judicial decisions. As long as the law of Christ allows "the king to qualify." All taxes collected by the Church of England in various guises are paid to the King of England.
Henry VIII then ordered the dissolution of the monasteries in various parts of England and the return of property and land that had been catholic to the royal family. England established a Protestant church without a pope.
In 1563, the English Parliament adopted the Thirty-Nine Principles of Faith, which stipulated that the Bible was the core of faith, insisted that "as long as you believe in Jesus, you can be exonerated", and legally clarified the status of the Anglican church.
The vigorous Reformation in England weakened the theocracy and strengthened the royal power, which was actually a bourgeois reform movement, and the emerging bourgeoisie became an important force in support of the English Reformation.
Shortly after the Reformation, Henry VIII instructed Archbishop Cumberleigh to agree to his divorce from Catherine and to approve henry VIII's and Anne's wedding.
Although the Holy See did not recognize and excommunicated Henry from the Catholic Church. Henry VIII did not care at all about this, and he quickly demoted Catherine to "widow princess" and refused to recognize his marriage to Catherine. But Catherine was adamant and unyielding, and was exiled by Henry VIII.
In 1953, Anne gave birth to a total of daughters, named Elizabeth. Henry VIII did not get what he wanted, he opposed the church and fought against the parliament in order to get a total of sons.
Soon, Henry VIII became tired of Anne and quickly empathized. Anne, on the other hand, was guillotine charged with adultery, just four months after the death of the first queen, Catherine.