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Academics Weekly Assignment — November 27th, 2022

Welcome to the Academics weekly assignment for the week of November 27th, 2022! These weekly assignments will give our Professors the ability to showcase some of their lesson ideas here on the website. Each assignment will be posted for a week, in which everyone will be able to read about the topic and respond to the assignment prompt. This week's assignment is "Unmagical Studies - Henry VIII" created by Lyra (myriadofanger).

The assignment is as follows:
Overview
King Henry VIII is quite the well-known king for a few different reasons. Some are more… violent than others. On one hand, Henry VIII was the one who started the English Reformation and many other reforms. On the other, he is incredibly well known for the 6 marriages he had during this lifetime. Starting in 1509, those of England had to deal with this crazy monarch’s wants and desires until his death in 1547.

Note: Many spellings of the names of these queens are correct. These are the ones I went with for the assignment, however spellings such as Katherine, Bullen, etc., are valid as well!

Catherine of Aragon:
Queen Catherine of Aragon was the first wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and she married Henry VIII in 1509. For a married royal couple, the two were happier than most. Catherine had one child who survived over the course of her life: future Queen Mary Tudor I, who is more commonly known as Bloody Mary due to propaganda. Catherine was a very loved queen, and she enjoyed her role until disaster struck around the year 1522. This was when Anne Boleyn came into play, causing Henry VIII to rethink his marriage to Catherine and cheat on her. This marriage came to an end in 1533 with Henry VIII causing the Church of England to split from the Pope, making Henry VIII Head of the Church. He annulled his marriage with Catherine to marry Anne in 1533.


Anne Boleyn:
Queen Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII from 1533-1536. Henry VIII became interested in her in 1522 when he saw her in court, appointed as a maid of honor to Catherine of Aragon. Thus began the decline of Catherine and Henry’s marriage. Anne refused any affection from Henry unless he married her, causing Henry to try and find ways to annul his marriage to Catherine, saying it had never happened and was an illegitimate marriage as she first married his brother who died shortly after. This was the spark of the Reformation in England. In 1533, Henry split from the Pope, annulled his marriage to Catherine, and made Anne Queen of England. However, trouble was met quickly as Anne was not having sons. She had one daughter who lived by the name of future Queen Elizabeth Tudor I. A jousting accident led Henry VIII to come into contact with Jane Seymour, who was a maid of honor for both Catherine and Anne. His want to marry Jane led to Henry accusing Anne of many horrific things that historians today debate the validity of. Unable to defend herself as a Queen, she was beheaded by an expert swordsman from Calais in 1536.


Jane Seymour:
Queen Jane Seymour was his third wife and Queen of England from 1536-1537, which was an incredibly short reign. After Anne’s death, the two quickly got married. Many claim that Jane was the wife Henry loved the most, as he was buried next to her upon his death. Some say this was only due to the fact that she never lived long enough to refute this as well as the fact Jane provided Henry his first and only legitimate son: future King Edward Tudor VI. Henry VIII was thrilled to have a son, however, trouble was met as Jane had died shortly after in childbirth.


Anne of Cleves:
Queen Anne of Cleves was his fourth wife who ruled for only a short while. She was Queen of England from January 6th, 1540 to July 12, 1540. After Jane’s death, Henry did not marry for a while until an advisor suggested he did for alliance purposes. A painter, Hans Holbein, painted a portrait of Anne for Henry to see. He decided he would marry her, and Anne sailed to England from Germany. However, Henry VIII and his historical sources around him claim that Anne looked nothing like the photo painted of her. Sources say he called her the “Flanders Mare”, suggesting she looked like a horse. Both Henry and Anne were unhappy in the marriage, so they quickly annulled it. Anne of Cleves was one who got the better end of the deal after the marriage, as she was commonly referred to as the “Queen’s Sister” and received lots of money to live lavishly after her future death.


Katherine Howard:
Queen Katherine Howard was the fifth wife of Henry VIII who reigned from 1540 to 1542. She was a maid of honor to Anne of Cleves, which is how Henry saw Katherine and decided she would be his next queen. The two married after Anne’s annulment, though this would soon come to an end. Unlike some of the claims attributed to her cousin, Anne Boleyn, Katherine decided to cheat on Henry VIII with an English courtier, close friend of Henry VIII’s, and the Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Henry VIII named Thomas Culpepper. Though still entirely proven, many sources show that their relationship was incredibly probable. Henry discovered the relationship as well as Katherine’s past relationships before him and decided he did not like it. Thus, Katherine was taken to the Tower of London and, in a similar yet different death to her cousin Anne Boleyn, beheaded by the axeman, causing a cruel end to the queen’s life.


Catherine Parr:
Queen Catherine Parr was the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII. She reigned from 1543 until his death in 1547. Catherine already had plans to marry a love prior to Henry picking her to be his wife. When she received the news, she was reluctant to do so due to the fates of the five prior to her. However, saying no to a king has serious consequences. During the marriage, Catherine took on more of a caretaker role due to Henry’s age and the incredibly awful wound he had on his knee due to the jousting accident years prior. She was the one who helped Henry reconcile with his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, instead of shunning them for being the children of his past wives. Catherine was almost arrested for being a Protestant, however, she managed to lie and weave her words to have Henry VIII drop charges. She was a loving wife, and she survived past Henry’s death in 1547.


Assignment
Option 1:
Creative: You have gotten transported back in time to the reign of King Henry VIII. With your apparent status, you have the ability to be inside the castle and talk to every queen who comes through it. Do you speak to them? If so, what about? What questions would you want to ask? Which queen seems the most interesting to you?

Option 2:
Quiz:
  1. What years did Henry VIII reign from?
  2. Who was the mother of Mary Tudor?
  3. How did Anne Boleyn die? (Exact cause including who did it)
  4. Which queen is said to be the true love of Henry VIII?
  5. Who reconciled Henry with his daughters?
  6. What did Henry say Anne of Cleves looked like?
  7. Who is Katherine Howard the cousin of?
  8. Look up one interesting fact about a queen of your choice and put it here. Why do you find it interesting? Would you want to learn more?
Please make sure to write at least 5 full sentences to get AC for this assignment! Your assignment must be entirely written by you and may not be plagiarized (including copying anything from online sources, books, or movie plots) in any way. Assignments must follow all PotterworldMC rules, which can be found here; assignments that do not follow all PotterworldMC rules will be subject to punishment. If your assignment does not meet the requirements, you will be unable to redo your assignment for this week. Assignments are due at 12am PST on Sunday, December 4th, 2022. You may submit as soon as you would like, but any assignments submitted after that time will not receive grades. You may receive up to 20 ACs for your submission. House points will not be awarded to any submissions. If you have any questions, please reach out to a Jr. Professor, Sr. Professor, Academics Advisor, Academics Lead or Head of Academics on Discord.

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