King Henry Viii's Life And Accomplishments

King Henry VIII, born as Henry Tudor VIII, was born on June 28, 1491 in Greenwich, England. He was born to father King Henry Tudor VII and mother Elizabeth of York. Henry had 2 siblings growing up, one brother, Arthur, and one sister, Elizabeth. Both of his siblings died at a young age. When his older brother died, his father started to approve of Henry. When his father died in 1509, Henry Tudor VIII became King Henry VIII (“Young Henry VIII”). When Henry took the throne, he gave most of the responsibility to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. He did this because as a 17 year old boy, he felt he wasn’t ready for all of that responsibility at once (Sommerville). Even though he was king, he had no desire to know the everyday problems of England. One of Henry’s biggest accomplishments as king was implementing a naval fleet. He tried to get England to fight with Scotland and France (Scarisbrick 738). Henry is probably best known for his many wives. He was married to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for twenty years. It ended though, because Henry felt that Catherine was incapable of having a boy (Dague). She had 6 children, only one to live.

Syphylis is an STD caused by bacteria in an open wound (Dugdale). Many people believed that the alignment of the stars and planets was the reason he got syphilis. Other people thought it was a new type of plague (Smith). Syphilis is contagious and many people think he got it from one of his six wives. Pregnant women with syphilis have a high chance of miscarriages or stillborns, this is why people think that he got it from one of his wives (“Syphilis”). It is also believed that Henry could have had the gout (Brown). Gout is a disease that targets men in the age range of 40-50 years. This disease causes pain and swelling in the toes and feet (“Go ask Alice”). Henry died in 1547 due to the gout and syphilis, which they classified as a brain disease and made him very aggressive