For the History Channel, I wrote about Henry VIII’s complex life and legacy.
In 1521, Henry VIII published a book-length excoriation of the German Protestant reformer Martin Luther, referring to Luther as “a venomous serpent, a pernicious plague, infernal wolf, an infectious soul, a detestable trumpeter of pride, calumnies and schism.” In recognition of Henry’s forceful piety, Pope Leo X awarded him the title “Fidei defensor,” or Defender of the Faith. But scarcely a decade later, Henry led a schism of his own, cleaving the Church of England from the wider Catholic Church after Pope Clement VII refused to annul Henry’s 16-year marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
Even after the newly-formed Church of England granted Henry VIII his annulment, Catherine of Aragon remained faithful to her former spouse, in part to secure the interests of their daughter, the future Mary I. In her final letter to the now-remarried Henry, the dying Catherine wrote, “‘Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things. Farewell.” Following the January 1536 news of Catherine’s death, Henry and his new queen, Anne Boleyn, appeared publicly in all-yellow attire. Although some historians argue that yellow may have been a color of mourning in the Spanish court of Catherine’s birth, it seems likely that the royal couple were relieved at Catherine’s death and enjoyed the color’s more cheerful overtones.