JULY 11

On this date in 1533, King Henry VIII was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Clement VII.  This led to the separation of the Church of England (Anglican Church) from the Roman Catholic of which it was a part.

And just what did likable, athletic, manly Henry do to deserve this?  Well, mostly he had a weakness for the ladies and maybe weak DNA.  You see, in 1509 he married lovely Catherine of Aragon.  By 1533 (24 years later), she had not given him a son that lived over two months so he petitioned the Pope to have the marriage annulled.  No dice!

No problem for a king, I guess...he married beautiful Anne Boleyn anyway.  Three years later, he wanted to rid himself of Anne because she didn't give him a son (the man was getting desperate).  He didn't want to go through all that annulment hassle again, so he had her executed for treason and adultery.  

This time he chose Jane Seymour, an older lady who he knew could give him a son.  She did and it was Edward who became King Edward VI on Henry's death.  Of course, Jane soon died and Henry married Anne of Cleves.  That marriage lasted six months and his church had it annulled.  No kids, of course.

He immediately took up with Catherine Howard.  In a year or so, he had that marriage annulled.  Shortly after that as kind of a divorce present, Henry had her head removed.  The next year he married Catherine Parr.  Lucky for her, she and her marriage outlived him - again no sons.

Oh, by the way, he had many extra-marital affairs along the way including one with an Elizabeth Blount which produced a bastard son who lived 17 years and died before Henry.

Remember the old song by Herman's Hermits -  "I'm Henry the Eighth I am."  That was about a woman who married eight guys named Henry - not this King of England.
*o*