• 1491 - Born at Greenwich on 28 June
• 1502 - Henry's older brother Prince Arthur, heir to the throne dies, leaving Henry as the heir.
• 1509 - Acceded on to the throne on the death of his father Henry VII, 22 April.
• 1509 - Crowned : Westminster Abbey, 24 June.
• 1509 - Married Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the King and Queen of Spain and Arthur's widow.
• 1513 - English army defeats the Scots at the Battle of Flodden
• 1514 - Under the peace treaty with France, Henry's youngest sister, Mary was married to the King of France, Louis XII.
• 1515 - Thomas Wolsey becomes Chancellor of England.
• 1516 - Catherine gives birth to Princess Mary, later Mary I.
• 1517 - Martin Luther publishes his 95 theses against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1518 - The Pope and the kings of England, France, and Spain, pledge peace in Europe.
• 1521 - Henry VIII is made ‘Defender of the Faith’ by the Pope for being a good Catholic.
• 1530 - Cardinal Wolsey is accused of high treason, but dies before he can be brought to trial. His main crime was failing to secure a divorce for Henry from Catherine of Aragon.
• 1530 - Sir Thomas More becomes Chancellor of England.
• 1532 - Henry's marriage to Catherine is annulled.
• 1533 - Henry marries Anne Boleyn
• 1534 - Henry VIII forms the 'Church of England'. Henry is confirmed as 'Supreme Head of the Church of England' following a parliamentary Act of Supremacy
• 1535 - Sir Thomas More is executed after refusing to accept Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England.
• 1536 - The Dissolution of the monasteries starts. Henry VIII orders Thomas Cromwell to start closing most of the small monasteries in England.
• 1536 - Anne Boleyn is executed for high treason and Henry marries Jane Seymour.
• 1536 - The Pilgrimage of Grace.
• 1536 - Act of Union between Wales and England.
• 1537 - Jane Seymour gives birth to Edward (later Edward VI), but dies after childbirth.
• 1540 - Henry marries and divorces Anne of Cleves.
• 1540 - The end of the Dissolution. All the monasteries in England have been closed.
• 1540 - Thomas Cromwell is executed on a charge of treason.
• 1540 - Henry marries Catherine Howard, his fifth wife.
• 1542 - Catherine is executed for treason.
• 1543 - Henry marries Catherine Parr, his sixth wife.
• 1547 - Henry VIII dies, Whitehall, 28 Jan, aged 55.

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