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Henry VII is crowned King of England after defeating Richard III at The Battle of Bosworth. The defeat of Richard III ended the War of the Roses which were a series of wars fough between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
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Henry VII and Elizabeth of York marry at Westminster. This marriage marked the unification of the two houses. They also had a son born in this year, Prince Arthur.
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Lambert Simnel, a pretender to the throne from Ireland, is intercepted and defeated by Henry VII.This was the last battle in the War of the Roses.
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11 year old Henry becomes heir to the throne after Prine Arthur catches a deadly disease and dies. He was only 15. He leaves his wife, Catherine of Aragon, behind. Henry VIII would later marry her.
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James IV of Scotland marries Henry's daughter Margaret. The marriage between the two was seen as a way of easing the tension between the Englsih and Scottish crowns.
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Henry VII dies and is succeeded by Henry VIII who was 17 years old at the time. He was regared as athletic and intelligent. He married his brothers widow, Catherine of Aragon, two months after he became king.
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James IV of Scotland is killed at the Battle of Flooden field. He declared war on England after they went to war with France as a reult of the Italian Wars. Thomas Howard led England's outnumbered army to victory.
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Thomas Wolsey becomes Henry VIII's chief minister in this year. In 1518, he basically became head of the English Church after being made Papal Legate. Wolsey's prestigous position soon came to end after he failed to arragne a divorce betweeen Henry and Catherine of Aragon.
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The Pope, Leo X, rewards Henry with the title Defender Of The Faith in recognition of his book 'Assertio Septem Sacramentorum' (Defence of the Seven Sacraments). Henry's book defended marriage and the supremacy of the pope and attacked the teachings of Martin Luther.
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In this year, Henry VIII appealed to the Pope Clement VII to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. This was because Catherine wa aging and he was desperate to have a male heir to the throne. He wanted to marry Ann Boleyn instead. The Pope blocked Henry's attempt to divorce his wife.
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Patrick Hamilton was a churchman who travleede to europe to learn about the reforming ideas of Martin Luther. He came back to Scotland to preach but he was tried as a heretic and burned at the stake in St Andrews
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The Pope rejected Henry's appeal to divorce his wife as this would go against the Catholic religion. Angered by this event, Henry put pressure on the Archbishop of Canterbury to grant him a divorce. In the end, the Church allowed him to end his marriage to Catherine and marry the pregnant Ann Boleyn a year later.
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The Act of Supremacy confirms Henry as the head of the Englsih Church and also seperated the Roman Catholic Church from the Church of England.
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Sir Thomas More is executed for treason after refusing to acknowledge the Act of Succession which made Elizabeth heir to the throne. He was Henry's Chancellor.
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Henry believed the monasteries were still loyal to the Pope after several measures were intorduced in England to end the Pope's authority. Whether Henry decided to rid of the monasteries for money is open to debate. Thousands of people were made homeless as a reult.
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Henry's second wife failed to provide him with a male heir to the throne. She did however provide him with another daughter, Elizabeth. Henry soon grew tired of Ann and she was found guilty of adultery and treason. She was executed at the tower of London.
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Archbishop Thomas Cramner organised the publication of a bible in English.
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Henry married Jane Seymour a few days after Ann was executed. She soon died after giving birth to Henry's only son. He was distraught by her death.
