The break with Rome is a well known event in English history, although Henry did not set out to break with Rome. It is difficult to know whether Henry ever planned the break with Rome. Historians argue that there are many reasons to why Henry broke with Rome; the most thought reasons are his desire for more power, his desire for a son, his need for money and the state of the church. I think the most important reason why Henry broke with Rome was his desire for more power and need for a son.
Arguably, the main reason that Henry VIII broke from the Church of Rome was that he believed that he needed a son to make sure that the Tudor dynasty survived. He knew that if he did not have a male heir, a weak succession meant a weak reign. In those days there could not be a queen so Mary, Catherine of Aragon’s daughter, could not rule. Since Catherine had failed to produce a male heir Henry was getting worried. But added to this thought that God had punished him for marrying his brother’s wife and he thought that was the reason he got still born children. He then met Anne Boleyn who came up to him and told him she was pregnant with his child. Henry wanted to marry her before the child was born because she promised him that it would be a boy. He wanted to marry Anne Boleyn and therefore needed to get rid of Catherine, who he could not execute because she was the Princess of Spain. He wanted to divorce her on the basis that their marriage was illegal as she had previously married Arthur, Henry’s older brother. The Pope wouldn’t allow this because his predecessor had allowed a dispensation so that the marriage was illegal “in the eyes of God” and he was scared of Charles V who was the most powerful man in Europe and was Catherine of Aragon’s nephew. But desiring for a son wasn’t the only reason Henry broke with Rome.
By breaking with Rome, Henry was going to be able to gain more power. At the time Henry and his ministers wanted to dissolve the monasteries for three main...