Henry's Legacy to England

England was a much changed nation following the reign of Henry VIII. Great palaces, such as Hampton Court, acted as monuments to the king's appetite for pleasure and beauty. The establishment of a strong naval force has served the nation well up to the present time. The powerful grip that the Church had held on the English society had been loosened allowing Parliament to become stronger, with devastating consequences less than a century after his death.

Henry was a complex personality whose reign left much of the fabric of the nation worse while leaving much of it better. The main legacy left by Henry's reign is undoubtedly the establishment of the Church of England. Before Henry came to the throne England was predominantly a Catholic nation. New religious ideals from abroad, like those of Martin Luther, and the dissatisfaction of many with what they saw as the idolatry of the Papacy may have been a problem for Henry to solve. Instead it turned out to be a disadvantage he turned to his own use.

Henry's incessant pursuit of a male heir led to his desire for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Divorce was frowned upon by the Catholic Church and Henry was warned that if he attempted to divorce from Catherine he would be excommunicated. Henry had been granted the title 'Defender of the Faith' by the Pope some years before but even this was not strong enough in the Church's eyes to keep Henry in the fold.

Henry VIII defied the Pope in typical fashion. Between 1536 and 1540 Henry, with the able assistance of Thomas Cromwell, carried out what has been known as the 'Dissolution of the Monasteries'. More than 800 monasteries around the country were seized by the crown or destroyed. The die had been cast, England was now a Protestant land.