King Henry VIII

Since History has been clouding my mind, might as well write about it. My latest interest is King Henry VIII. If you have no clue who he is whatsoever, King Henry VIII is known for being the Head of the Church, having a total of six wives, and had the future Mary I of England ; Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset; Elizabeth of England; and Edward IV of England. But how was he known for all of these?

Henry VIII was born in Greenwich Palace. He was the sixth child of Henry VII and  Elizabeth of York. Out of all the six children, only three survived through infancy. They were Arthur, Prince of Wales; Margaret; and Mary. In 1493, at the age of two, Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. In 1494, he was created Duke of York. It was expected that the throne would pass to Prince Arthur, Henry's older brother, while Henry was prepared for a life in the church.

In 1502, Arthur died aged 15. Henry VII renewed his efforts to an alliance between England and Spain, by offering Henry, Prince of Wales, in marriage to Prince Arthur's widow, Catherine of Aragon, the youngest surviving child of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. In order for the new Prince of Wales to marry his brother's widow, it was necessary for a papal dispensation from the Pope was normally required to overrule the impediment of affinity because as told in the book of Leviticus . Catherine swore that her marriage to Prince Arthur had not been consummated.

Due to the impatience of Catherine's mother, Queen Isabella I, influenced Pope Julius II  to grant release in the form of a Papel bull. So, 14 months after her young husband's death, Catherine was betrothed to his younger brother, Henry. By 1505, Henry VII lost interest in a Spanish alliance and the younger Henry declared that his betrothal had been arranged without his consent. However, only 17 years old, Henry married Catherine on June 11, 1509 and 13 days later, the two were crowned at Westminster Abbey.  

To Be Continued…

Baron de Montesquieu

Well, in History class...I just landed myself with another project. No one wants to talk about History, unless it somehow relates to wars and deaths that affected thousands of people all over the country or world. There could also be some historical characters in countries such as King Henry VIII, famous for having a total of six wives, landed him with only one son, who died at a young age, and two daughters, the future Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I.  So I for one, might as well as talk about this historical figure I will be “impersonating” as for a debate.

My historical figure is Baron de Montesquieu. Charles Louis de Secondat (Baron de Montesquieu) was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1689 to a wealthy family. He later went to college and studied science and history, eventually becoming a lawyer in the local government. De Secondat's father died in 1713 and he was placed under the care of his uncle, Baron de Montesquieu. The Baron died in 1716 and left de Secondat his fortune and his title of Baron de Montesquieu. He gained fame in 1721 with his Persian Letters, which criticized the lifestyle and liberties of the wealthy French as well as the church. However, Montesquieu's book On the Spirit of Laws, published in 1748, was his most famous work. It outlined his ideas on how government would best work. 


      Montesquieu believed that all things were made up of rules or laws that never changed. He set out to study these laws scientifically with the hope that knowledge of the laws of government would reduce the problems of society and improve human life. According to Montesquieu, there were three types of government: a monarchy (ruled by a king or queen), an aristocracy (ruled by the noble or wealthy class), and a republicanism (ruled by elected leaders). Montesquieu believed in democracy, which is now used today in the US government.