[GonzoGOP]

Any good which came from Henry VIII’s break with the Roman church was purely accidental. He was a fat, self indulgent absolutist dictator, who believed that rules applied to others, but never to him. He killed the innocent if their continued existence was inconvenient to him. Henry didn't disband the church out of some religious conviction, or because they were corrupt, but because they wouldn't pay him a cut of what they were taking in.

The closest comparison to Henry VIII in recent times is Bill Clinton. Some good may have come out of the 1990s but it was not by Clinton's design or but simply as an unintended consequence of his own lust and greed. If Bill could have done for Hillary and Monica what Henry did for Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard you can bet he would have.

[chesley]

Oh, well. At least Bill didn’t chop off Hillary’s head.

RATS!!! :)

[Revenge of Sith]

Also, Edward VI and Elizabeth I did more for Protestantism in England than Henry.

[Sherman Logan]

Henry didn't disband the church out of some religious conviction, or because they were corrupt, but because they wouldn't pay him a cut of what they were taking in.

Not actually true. Kings of England, including Henry, had fully demonstrated their ability to loot the clergy when they felt it was needed.

His basic motivation was what he felt to be the absolute need for a legitimate male heir. Given that England had in the previous century fought an utterly devastating series of civil wars over the succession, it is difficult to argue with his theory that a male heir was essential. It seems unlikely that his desire for divorce was motivated by sexual desires, since kings of the time had little problem getting all they wanted outside of marriage. As Mel Brooks said, "It's GOOD to be the king!"

Previous kings of England and other monarchs had routinely been granted divorces or annulments under these circumstances. The basic reason Henry couldn't get one from the Pope was because Catherine's uncle, Charles V of Spain and the Empire, exerted extreme pressure on the Pope not to let Henry have what he wanted.

The great irony here is that Henry's male heir was sickly and died young, while his eventual female successor, Elizabeth, turned out to be by any standard one of the greatest rulers of all time.