Henry VIII An Old Tale of Wives by Mark Holinshed

About the History Documentary - Chapter List
In a completely new look at the reign of Henry VIII this series takes us from the early 1500s to the dissolution legislation at the end of the Reformation Parliament 1536. More below the Chapters.
Episode One
0:00 Introduction
3:39 The Man Henry VIII - Image Maker and Propagandist Hans Holbein
15:15 The Rulers of Christendom
20:36 The Habsburgs the Power of Dynasty
23:15 The Rise and Rise of Thomas Wolsey
26:16 Wolsey and the Papacy
30:21 Christendom the Geography
34:36 Pope Julius - His Holy League and Everyone Against the French
37:03 The Battles - Spurs and Flodden
39:25 Thomas Wolsey's Fidelity to the Papacy
41:25 Cardinal Bainbridge and Thomas Cromwell in Italy
42:55 Henry VIII Wedding Planner - for the Wrong Wedding
47:04 Sister Mary Married to the King of France Instead
47:56 Francis I New King of France
50:48 Wolsey Manipulates the Gullible King


It will show in particular that the break from Rome was not a consequence of any desire that Henry VIII might have had to marry Anne de Boulogne, otherwise known as Anne Boleyn.

In this first episode titled The State of Christendom, we begin with an introduction to the man who was Henry VIII. Then take a look at the rulers on the continent of Europe at the turn of the 16th century and examine the balance of power and geography, all of which set the stage for one of the most dramatic episodes in England's history.

We familiarise ourselves with Catherine of Aragon’s Transtamara family's dynastic ambitions the enormous territories of the Habsburgs of Austria and Germany. The domineering Valois of France, the hitherto ambitious Tudors of England, and the papacy's vast spiritual and temporal authority.

In amongst all the dynastic grandeur. There was one man, a commoner, a layman who rose to incredible heights drawn by an insatiable desire for power – the power that he craved had been created over centuries.

This man was Thomas Wolsey, and the power he craved was that of the papacy – the papal office.
He wanted to be Pope, and it was that insatiable lust for authority that ultimately led to the overturn of the old medieval order.