Alternate Henry VIII, if it werent for the damned dog

In OTL Henry VIII is famous for the messy divorce of his first wife Catherine of Aragon (so messy it involved the removal of her head). He wanted a divorce with Catherine but that went against the Catholic church, so Henry sent an English cardinal to negotiate with the Pope to allow the divorce. At the first part of the meeting things were going pretty well and the Pope was almost certainly going to allow it. But Cardinal Wosley had decided to bring his greyhound along for the trip, when the meeting was over and Wosley bent over to kiss the Pope's feet the Greyhound thought it looked like his master was about to get kicked in the head so he attacked the Pope and bit him several times. The Pope was furious and refused the divorce, basically inventing Protestantism and starting countless wars.
Lets say Cardinal Wosley is more of a cat person, and suffices to bring his tabby Mr.Tibbles rather than an over-protective greyhound. The divorce goes as planned and Protestantism is never invented.
 
I thought it was more complicated then that?

Van555

It was, especially concerning Catherine's uncle the emperor and his power and influence. Also Catherine of Aragon was not one of the two wives who lost their head.:) Unless that's part of the suggested different TL in which case Henry would probably find civil war and a Spanish/German invasion.

Steve
 
OMG!:mad:

Anyone who has ever bothered to read a book on Henry VIII will know full well he did not execute Catherine of Aragon, which would have been the worst diplomatic blunder ever. He executed Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. Catherine of Aragon died about a year (if I remeber my dates properly:rolleyes:) after she was divorced from Henry.
 
How about we just make it a lot simpler. Henry waits one year longer than he did in our timeline and Catherine of Aragorn dies anyway. The question of whether he divorces her then becomes irrelevant. What happens after that?
 

Art

Monthly Donor
WHAT?

Starting Protestantism? You think that ASS Henry STARTED PROTESTANTISM? Are you insane? It's English Protestantism that he started, and not even that, really.
 
Starting Protestantism? You think that ASS Henry STARTED PROTESTANTISM? Are you insane? It's English Protestantism that he started, and not even that, really.

Also, of course, the reason the Pope rejected Henry's request is because he had been taken hostage - or rather, put under the military occupation form of house arrest - by Charles V, Catherine's nephew, who under no circumstances was willing to let the Pope agree to the divorce. The Pope was told what to say to Henry by Charles, in other words. I've never heard of the dog story but it is certainly nothing more than a folk story.
 
Top