Henry VIII

Henry's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, is arrested following revelations about her sexual life before marriage and allegations involving Thomas Culpeper during her marriage. She is executed at the Tower of London.

State of the evidence

Allegations

Attribution

Directly implicated

Person targeted by the proceedings

Catherine Howard

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

Henry VIII's regime closes religious houses, seizes their revenues and lands, and transfers a substantial share of monastic property to the Crown and subsequently to new owners.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Thomas Cromwell, the King's principal minister, is arrested, condemned by attainder and executed on Tower Hill. He begs Henry for mercy, which never comes.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Person targeted by the proceedings

Thomas Cromwell

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

Under Henry VIII, parliamentary attainder and treason legislation become major instruments for eliminating religious opponents, suspect nobles and former associates of those in power, sometimes without ordinary criminal procedure.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Institutional responsibility

Assets obtained through dissolution flow in large quantities to the Crown before being sold or redistributed. Anne Boleyn wanted a greater proportion used for education or charity, while Thomas Cromwell organised their transfer to the royal treasury.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Tens of thousands rise in northern England against the dissolution of the monasteries and other regime policies. Following a period of negotiation and renewed unrest, the government prosecutes and executes numerous participants and leaders.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Person targeted by the proceedings

the Pilgrimage of Grace rebels

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

Anne Boleyn is arrested, accused of adultery, incest and plotting against the King's life, then convicted and beheaded. Historic Royal Palaces describes her trial as a "sham trial" filled with her enemies.

Attribution

Directly implicated

Person targeted by the proceedings

Anne Boleyn

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

Following the Act of Supremacy, recognition of the King as Supreme Head of the Church becomes a political requirement. Refusal to acknowledge the new supremacy or the succession defined by the regime may lead to prosecution for high treason.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Bishop John Fisher and then former Chancellor Thomas More are executed after refusing to accept the central requirements of Henry VIII's ecclesiastical supremacy. More is imprisoned for fourteen months before his trial and beheading.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Person targeted by the proceedings

John Fisher and Thomas More

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

The failure to secure papal annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon contributes directly to Henry VIII's break with Rome. Parliament adopts a series of statutes making the King the supreme authority of the Church of England.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated