Example research essay topic: Henry Vii Male Heir - 1,218 words

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Spain and England had a history of poor diplomatic relations, and it was common in the Fifteenth Century for members of a royal family to marry off a daughter or son to a child from another royal family, to establish an alliance between those two countries. Catherine of Aragon was the youngest child of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castille, who almost immediately began looking for a political match for her. When she was three years old, she was engaged to Arthur, the son of Henry VII of England. Arthur was not even quite two at the time. When Catherine was almost sixteen, in 1501, she made the journey to England. When she and Arthur were married on November 14, 1501, in old St.

Pauls Cathedral, London. Catherine was escorted by Arthurs younger brother, Henry. Following the ceremony, the young couple moved to Ludlow Castle on the Welsh border. Less than six months later Arthur died, possibly of the sweating sickness.

Historians speculate that the history of England would have changed drastically if Arthur had lived a year longer. Catherine was now a widow and still young enough to marry again, so on June 25, 1503, she was formally engaged to the kings second son, Henry, now Prince of Wales. The marriage, however, didnt take place during Henry Vii's lifetime. Henry made use of the presence of the unmarried princess in England to extort new conditions, and especially to secure the marriage of his daughter Marry to the archduke Charles V. By 1505, when Henry was old enough to wed, Henry VII wasnt as keen on a Spanish alliance, and young Henry was forced to reject the engagement. Catherines future was uncertain for the next four years.

When Henry VII died in 1509, on one of the new young kings actions was to marry Catherine. She was finally crowned Queen of England in a joint coronation ceremony with her husband Henry VIII on June 24, 1509. Catherine enjoyed a few years of married happiness; Henry showed that he could be an affectionate husband, and the alliance with Ferdinand was maintained against France. During Henrys invasion of France in 1513, she was made regent; and showed great enthusiasm in preparing for the Scottish expedition, by riding north to put herself at the head of the troops, when the victory of Flodden Field ended the battle. A year after the Flodden Field victory an affectionate meeting took place between the couple.

Ferdinand's treachery, however, in making a treaty with France, stirred up Henrys wrath, and his angry accusations fell upon Catherine, who took the opportunity in 1520, during the visit of her nephew Charles V to England, to urge the policy of gaining his alliance, rather than that of France. After that, Catherine accompanied the king to France, the celebrated visit to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, but in 1522, war was declared against France and the emperor again welcomed to England. Shortly thereafter, Catherine found herself pregnant. This first child was a stillborn daughter born prematurely in January, 1510. This disappointment was soon followed by another pregnancy. Prince Henry was born on January 1, 1511 and was christened on the 5 th.

There were great celebrations for the birth of the young prince, but they were halted by the babys death after fifty-two days of life. Catherine then had a miscarriage, followed by a short-lived son. In February 1516, she gave birth to a daughter named Mary. Henry took the disappointment in stride. When a Venetian ambassador ventured to commiserate with him over the babys sex, he replied cheerfully, The Queen and I are both young, and if it is a girl this time, by Gods grace boys will follow. The King showed no sign that he was seriously concerned about his lack of sons.

There were probably two more pregnancies, the last recorded in 1518. What Catherine thought, no historians can rightly say, but, as time passed, and no boys, indeed, no living children, followed, she began to devote more and more time and thought to the upbringing and education of her daughter. The idea that girls could and should be given the opportunity to benefit from the kind of academic training, normally reserved for boys, was of comparatively recent origin, being a product of the Renaissance. Sir Thomas More, a lawyer, was the first Englishman seriously to experiment with the unique idea that girls should be educated too. With memories of her own mother, who had fought her way to the throne, ruled an unstable country with effectiveness, expelled the last of the Arab rulers from Spain and still found time to bring up a family of five, Catherine naturally saw that the English queen could too.

Henry was growing frustrated by his lack of a male heir, but he remained a devoted husband. He had at least two mistresses that we know of: Bessie Blount and Mary Boleyn. By 1526, though, he had begun to separate from Catherine because he had fallen in love with one of her ladies (and sister of one of his mistresses), Anne Boleyn. Two more dissimilar women than these two deadly enemies can hardly be imagined. In 1527, Catherine was in her forty-second year. As a girl she had been pretty, small and well made, with a clear pink and white skin and auburn-colored hair.

Now her once slender figure was thickened from child-bearing, and her lovely hair had darkened to a muddy brown, but visiting ambassadors still remarked on the excellence of her complexion. A short and fat little woman with a soft, sweet voice which had never lost its trace of foreign accent, she faced the enemy shielded by an absolute inward assertion of right and truth, and her own unbreakable will. By the time Henrys interest in Anne became common knowledge, Catherine was forty-two years old and no longer able to conceive. Henrys main goal now was to get a male heir, which his wife was not able to provide, so Henry began to look at the texts of Leviticus which says that if a man takes his brothers wife, they shall be childless. Even though he had one living child, that the child was a girl meant it didnt count in Henrys mind.

The King began to petition the Pope for an annulment. Catherine was kept in the dark about Henrys plans for their annulment. When the news got to Catherine, she was extremely upset. She was also at a great disadvantage since the court that would decide the case was far from impartial, so Catherine appealed directly to the Pope, who she felt would listen to her case, since her nephew was Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. Henrys supporters accused Catherine of spiritual superiority, of prejudice. She was one of those uncomfortable people who would literally rather die than compromise over a moral issue, but to have succumbed would have meant admitting to the world that she had lived all her married life in incestuous adultery, that she had been no more than the kings harlot, the Princess, her daughter, worth no more than any mans casually forgotten child; it would have meant seeing another woman occupying her place.

The shyest of wives might well have jibbed at such se...

Research essay sample on Henry Vii Male Heir