Henry was married to Catherine of Aragon but only had one daughter, Mary, in years. He was desperate for a son, because he wanted to secure his dynasty and girls could not, at that time, inherit the throne in their own right. Henry then met Anne Boleyn and fell in love with her. He wanted to divorce Catherine and marry Anne, but the Pope wouldn't let him.
The Pope's refusal was not only based on the Catholic belief that marriage is for life, but also influenced by the fact that the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, was holding him captive. Charles V was Catherine of Aragon's nephew!
Henry kept asking the Pope for a divorce for six years. Then Anne became pregnant. The situation was now desperate. If the Pope wouldn't back down, Henry would have to find another way to get a divorce.
Henry knew that a German monk called Martin Luther had been complaining about the Catholic Church. He said that the Catholic Church was corrupt and was more concerned with making money, through high taxes, than with helping people get to heaven. The German princes, who didn't like paying taxes, supported Luther and had broken away from the Catholic Church. They no longer had to do as the Pope said. Henry had criticised Luther publicly, and had even written a book defending the Catholic Church in 1521. However, by 1532 he was starting to see the advantages of breaking away from the authority of the Pope, even if he still shared his religious views. In 1533 Henry VIII broke with Rome by marrying Anne Boleyn and declaring his marriage to Catherine void (invalid).
Have a look at these cartoons. Some cartoons show that Henry wanted to divorce Catherine and marry Anne, some cartoons show why he wanted to do this. The best cartoons show, as well, that he used the religious changes in Germany to his own advantage in order to divorce Catherine.
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