[Amnorix]

January 5.

While it is tempting to post the sale of Babe Ruth by the Red Sox to the Yankees (1920) for $125,000, that doesn’t seem to have tremendous historical significance.

January 5, 1531. On this day, Pope Clement VII expressly forbade King Henry VIII of from divorcing his wife, Catherine of Aragon. King Henry VIII is justifiably famous for many reasons, including the unification of England and Wales and being one of the principal founders of the Royal Navy, which would go on to dominate the world’s oceans for the next several centuries. Principally, however, he is known for his many marriages and his break from the Catholic Church that dominated

Ironically, Henry was initially a staunch defender of the Catholic Church. His situation was complicated, however, by his wife’s inability to give him a male heir. Five of Catherine’s six children were stillborn or died in infancy, while the sixth was female. Desperate for a male child, Henry resolved to have his divorce annulled and marry Anne Boyeln, one of his queen’s ladies-in-waiting.

Normally such a petition would easily be granted, especially for a reigning monarch with a record of supporting Rome. The Pope’s situation was complicated, however, by his effective imprisonment by King Charles V of Spain, who had more or less conquered . The significance of this is that Catherine of Aragon, Henry’s wife, was Charles Vth’s aunt.

While the story took several years to play out, Rome never relented, which resulted in Henry’s break with , the founding of the Protestant Church of England, and seizure of monasteries (also necessary to fund Henry’s profligate spending). The cultural and economic impact on England (and therefore, as well) can hardly be overstated.