Historical Research for Project

Since my project is about Henry VIII and how he came to invent divorce, I needed to do some historical research into henry VIII, his life at the time the short film is set and the events that took place. I had to do this in order for the short film to be realistic. Below are some points which I think are important to set the scene for the short film idea.

• Born 28 June 1491
• Died 28 January 1547
• King from 21 April 1509 til death
• He separated the Church of England from the Rome Catholic Church
• Caused the 'Dissolution of the Monasteries' after struggles with Rome
• As well as king he was an author and composer
• He rejected marriage to Catherine of Aragon when he was 14 (1505)
• Married Catherine in 1509 after Henry VII died
• Catherine had 5 children;
• 1st- 1510- stillborn girl
• 2nd- 1511- Henry died 7 weeks late
• 3rd- 1514- miscarriage
• 4th- 1516- Mary- survived
• 5th- 1518- stillborn girl
• Henry became impatient at Catherine's inability to produce an heir and had past child bearing age (40 years old)
• Henry had many affairs including; Anne Hastings, Mary Boleyn and Elizabeth Bount
• Elizabeth had a child in 1519 (Henry FitzRoy- died 1536)
• Henry had 3 options to get an heir
• legitimise Henry FitzRoy
• marry off Mary and hope for a grandson (althoughMary was an undersized child, so couldn't have produced an heir while Henry VIII was alive)
• reject Catherine and find another wife
• 1525- Henry met Anne Bolyen, who refused his advances (he'd had an affair with her sister)
• 1527- Henry told Catherine their marriage was never valid- the Old Testament forbade marrying your brothers wife (Leviticus 20:21)
• 1528- Henry became infatuated with Anne Boleyn and was planning his second marriage
• He appealed to the Holy See and sent secretary William Knight to Pope Clement VII to sue for an annulment on the ground Catherine had consummated he marriage to Henry's late brother Arthur.
• Knight had difficulty getting access to the Pop as he was imprisoned at the time.
• He obtained a conditional dispensation of new marriage.

Even though the scene I am concentrating on for my storyboard and pre visualisation shot will be purely based on Henry VIII trying to get rid of Catherine of Aragon, I will use the background information to make the characters in the scene believable. For example, Henry was involved in so much change in England that he will most likely be a stressed character. I have decided the scene will be set in Henry's quarters with his secretary William Knight, and will be just before Knight goes to find Pope Clement VII. The script to go with my storyboard will reference much of the information above, including a great deal about Catherine and the lack of an heir.