The King's Great Matter

The Spanish-English marriage alliance of Catherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur was arranged when the children were very young. Catherine traveled to England only to face tragedy when her young husband, Arthur died in 1502.Henry VII wanted to marry Catherine to his younger son, who would be, Henry VIII so that he did not lose the dowry money from Catherine's parents and to secure some other agreements between the two countries. In the Catholic Church, it was forbidden to marry the wife of a deceased brother. A papal dispensation was required for the marriage. It was easily obtained from Pope Julius II. Henry VII died before the marriage took place but Henry VIII immediately married Catherine once he became King. Many people involved questioned the validity of this dispensation. Catherine's mother, Isabella did not like the idea of her daughter being remarried and requiring a document from the Pope to have it done. But, once Henry VII died and Henry VIII proceeded with the marriage, no one mentioned the dispensation or the validity of it until Henry decided that he needed a grounds for divorce. Under the circumstances of Henry not wanting to be with his wife anymore, he proposed many doctrines that had been insignificant until then. Henry and Catherine actually had a fairly good marriage. The biggest problem in the marriage was lack of ability to produce a male heir. This was very important to Henry. They tried several times but were not successful. The couple did have one child that lived but, it was a girl named Mary. After many miscarriages and years of disappointment, Catherine began to get much older and lose much of her attractiveness. Henry not only began to lose interest in his wife, but he also began to worry about not having a son to succeed him on the throne. This was when the King's great matter began. Throughout this time period, Cardinal Wolsey, an advisor to Henry and very powerful in the Catholic Church, moved closer and closer to Henry. As the