Today in 1534 Parliament passed the First Act of Succession.
It made official that Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was void (thereby delegitimizing their daughter Mary), that Henry’s marriage to Anne was legitimate, and that the Pope hadn’t had the authority to make a dispensation in the first place.
It also declared that the crown would pass to the children of Henry and Anne – first to sons, and if no sons came, to daughters – of course, Elizabeth had been born by this time.
The Act became law in May, and all the nobles had to take an oath saying they accepted it. The penalty was to be declared a traitor – something that Bishop John Fisher and Thomas More both found out, unfortunately.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th-century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested link:
Watching the Tudors Season 2 Episode 4 centered on the Act of SuccessionÂ
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.