Henry VIII Part 1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sheen

Sheen was one of the favourite palaces of the Plantagenet monarchs. Edward III died there and Richard II his grandson spent a lot of time there. Richmond was build by Henry VII on the grounds of the destroyed palace. Nonsuch was built by Henry VIII. Greenwich did not burn.

Answer: Arthur

Henry VII named his son Arthur to rekindle memories of the legendary King Arthur. Unfortunately Prince Arthur was not physically strong. After his marriage to Katharine of Aragon, he was sent to Ludlow Castle to carry out duties there, fell ill and died.

Answer: James IV of Scotland

Margaret had one son by her first husband James IV who became James V. James V married Mary of Guise and had a daugher who became Mary Queen of Scots. Margaret married, secondly, the Earl of Angus and had a daugher Margaret who was the father of Henry, Lord Darnley, who became the second husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Mary and Darnley had a common grandmother.

Answer: Louis XII of France

Mary agreed to marry Louis of France with the proviso that she would be free to choose her second husband without interference. When the elderly Louis died, she married Charles Brandon - with whom she was in love prior to her first marriage. Although Henry had agreed to allow her freedom of choice, he made things upleasant for a while after she returned to England. Mary had a daugher Frances with Charles Brandon. Frances was the mother of Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day queen.

Answer: six

Henry's wives can be remembered by the old two-line rhyme:

Divorced, beheaded, died,
Divorced, beheaded, survived.

Technically, Henry was divorced three times since he also divorced Anne Boleyn. A bill of "divorcement" was passed by Parliament - although beheading seemed to be a more permanent solution to his problem and is better remembered.
The beheaded wives were Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

Answer: Anne Boleyn

Anne's personality had begun to weary Henry and she had failed to give him the long-sought son. (A son was born still born.) Henry sought a way out of the marriage and Thomas Cromwell obliged with a treason - witchcraft trial. Anne was granted the privilege of having an executioner imported from France who used a sword rather than the English axe.

Answer: Thomas Culpepper

On the scaffold, Catherine said that she would rather be Thomas Culpepper's wife than Queen of England. George, Viscount Rochford was charged with incest with his sister Anne Boleyn and executed. Mark Smeaton (musician) and Henry Norris were both charged with adultery with Anne Boleyn and executed. Jane, Viscountess Rochford, George Boleyn's widow, was executed as being an accomplice to the adultery of Catherine Howard and Thomas Culpepper.

Answer: Francis I

Louis XII was the first husband of Mary Tudor and the predecessor of Francis I. Henry II was Francis I's son and married to Catherine Medici. Francis II was a son of Henry II and married Mary Queen of Scots.

Answer: Edward

Edward was not a physically strong boy. He became king at nine and died at 16. He stongly supported the Protestant cause and moved the Church of England away from the Henrician Church of his father. Henry Fitzroy was Henry's illegitimate son.

Answer: Pilgrimage of Grace

The causes of the Pilgrimage of Grace were both political and religious. The north was not as comfortable with the 'new' religion as was the south and resented the increasing royal authority. The rebellion was well organized and at one stage more than 20,000 persons were in rebellion. Norfolk had been previously committed to the Tower. Wyatt led a rebellion in support of Elizabeth against her sister Queen Mary.

Answer: True

Wolsey, a butcher's son, became active in secular government and was a remarkable bureaucrat. He organized both military expeditions as well as the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He neglected clerical duties until his downfall. He alienated the king when he was unable to obtain his divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

He had previously alienated the young Anne Boleyn when he thwarted her desire to marry Henry Percy of Northumberland. As she rose in prominence, she was able to turn the king against his councillor.

Answer: Thomas Cromwell

Anne of Cleves did not live up to her advance publicity and was dubbed by Henry "the Flanders Mare". Cromwell's career went on a downward spiral as a result of this marriage. More was an earlier Lord Chancellor and was executed because he would not support the Act of Succession which invalidated the marriage of Katherine of Aragon. Bishop Fisher was executed for the same reason. Cranmer was Henry's Archbishop of Canterbury and a supporter of the 'new' religion.

Answer: Greenwich

Nonsuch was a fantasy palace built by Henry VIII. Hampton Court and Westminster (originally York Palace) were both build by Cardinal Wolsey (Archbishop of York) but extensively rebuilt by Henry.

Answer: 55

Although, conditioned by the media, we think of Henry as being old when he died, he was still a relatively young man. He suffered from an ulcerated leg, caused by syphilis, some believe, or a jousting accident that did not heal.

Answer: Yes

Henry was her third husband. Both of her previous husbands had been elderly and so she was used to dealing with a mature individual. She strongly supported the 'new' religion and was intellectually Henry's equal. Her tact allowed her to present her views at the same time she kept her head. Upon Henry's death she wed Thomas Seymour and died in childbirth at Sudley Castle.