亨利八世(1491～1547年)

Henry VIII

英格兰国王（1509～1547）。亨利七世之子，1509年践祚，不久与寡嫂亚拉冈的凯瑟琳结婚。其第一任首相是沃尔西，1515～1527年间的政策几乎完全由他掌控。1527年亨利想与凯瑟琳离婚，再娶安妮.布林，但教宗克雷芒七世拒不批准他的婚姻无效。由於沃尔西未能帮他解决这件事，因而被一脚踢开。新任首相克伦威尔决定英国教会应脱离罗马独立，因而在1532年开始了一场革命，允许亨利在1533年迎娶安妮。新任主教克兰麦则宣布第一次婚姻无效。不久，安妮为亨利产下一女，即後来的伊莉莎白一世。亨利因而成为英国教会的首脑，代表了他最大的成就，但也带来很大的後遗症。因为亨利之前曾对教宗十分地忠实，还被冠上「信仰的扞卫者」的头衔，结果现在被开除教籍，他因此不得不平抚各新兴独立教派的改革情绪。1530年代他的权力大增，特别是把修道院的财产收归王室所有和徵收新的教士税後，但他早期温文的学者形象已被血腥的杀戮者恶名永久掩盖。许多人因拒绝这种新秩序而被杀，如摩尔。亨利後来对安妮逐渐厌倦，1536年以通奸罪将她处死。他很快地又和简.西摩结婚，她为他产下一子（爱德华六世），但因分娩而死。三年後，在克伦威尔的唆使下，他与克利夫斯的安妮结了婚，但他很讨厌安妮，很快就离了婚，1540年把克伦威尔送上断头台。此时的亨利已变得十分偏执，还变得很胖，身体情况很糟。1540年他与凯瑟琳结婚，她在1542年因通奸罪被斩首。1542年英格兰与苏格兰开战，在财政上耗费巨大。1543年他娶了凯瑟琳.帕尔，她存活了下来。亨利死後由他的儿子爱德华继承。

English version：

1491～1547年

Henry VIII

King of England (1509-47). Son of Henry VII, Henry married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon (the mother of Mary I), soon after his accession in 1509. His first chief minister, Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey, exercised nearly complete control over policy 1515-27. In 1527 Henry pursued a divorce from Catherine to marry Anne Boleyn, but Pope Clement VII denied him an annulment. Wolsey, unable to help Henry, was ousted. The new minister, Thomas Cromwell, in 1532 initiated a revolution when he decided that the English Church should separate from Rome, allowing Henry to marry Anne in 1533. A new archbishop, Thomas Cranmer, declared the first marriage annulled. A daughter, Elizabeth I, was born soon after. Becoming head of the Church of England represented Henry's major achievement, but had wide-ranging consequences. Henry, once profoundly devoted to the papacy and rewarded with the title Defender of the Faith, was excommunicated, and he was obliged to settle the nature of the newly independent church. In the 1530s his power was greatly enlarged, especially by transferring to the crown the wealth of the monasteries and by new clerical taxes, but his earlier reputation as a man of learning became buried under his enduring fame as a man of blood. Many, including St. Thomas More, were killed because they refused to accept the new order. The king grew tired of Anne, and in 1536 she was executed for adultery. He immediately married Jane Seymour, who bore him a son, Edward VI, but died in childbirth. Three years later, at Cromwell's instigation, he married Anne of Cleves, but he hated her and demanded a quick divorce, and he had Cromwell beheaded in 1540. By now Henry was becoming paranoid, as well as enormously fat and unhealthy. In 1540 he married Catherine Howard, but had her beheaded for adultery in 1542. In 1542 he waged a financially ruinous war against Scotland. In 1543 he married Catherine Parr, who survived him. He was succeeded on his death by his son Edward.