Henry VIII, King of England (1491-1547). Henry was the second Tudor monarch, ascending the throne on the death of his father Henry VII in 1509. His annulment of his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) and his marriage to Anne Boleyn precipitated a split with the Catholic Church. While believing in the central Catholic theology, Henry declared the Church of England to be free of papal authority, the monarch becoming supreme head of the Church of England, and dissolved the Catholic monasteries, their lands being taken by the crown. Henry was married six times - divorced twice, had two wives beheaded, lost one after childbirth and survived by the last. In youth sporting and intellectual, he ended his days bloated and vindictive. This engraving by Houbraken comes from Birch's The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, published at London in 1752.