Henry VIII Personal Divorce Plea special dispensation from Pope
Julius II was necessary in order to allow him to marry his
brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine, his first wife,
failed to provide Henry a male heir to survive to adulthood. And
by 1529 Catherine was deemed too old to have Henry VIII's
greatest desire was to secure an annulment to his marriage so
that he could marry Anne Boleyn and produce a male heir. When it
was suggested to Catherine that she quietly retire to a nunnery
she steadfastly refused. Henry VIII set his hopes of an
annulment upon an appeal to Pope Clement VII. Pope was at the
time a prisoner of Catherine's nephew, The Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V, following the Sack of Rome in 1527, and this
prevented him from annulling the marriage. This one page letter
measuring 12.5 x 15.5 is written in Latin and dated January 18
1529.View full translation historically significant
correspondence represents Henry VIII's attempt to advance his
plans to annul his marriage to Catherine of A