To establish his status amongst European monarchs through marriage
To re-establish the role of the nobility
To establish himself as a warrior kings through success in a battle
Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon
A marriage between Henry and his brother Arthur's widow, Catherine of Aragon, had been discussed since Arthur's death, but had not been finally agreed while Henry VII was king
Henry and Catherine married
11th June1509
By the mid-1520s
Henry would repent of the rapidity of his marriage to a woman who was over five years older than he was, especially once it was clear that she could never present him with a healthy male heir
Re-establishing the nobility
The nobility had been largely frozen out of direct political influence by Henry VII. This changed with the accession of Henry VIII, who shared the tastes and dominant military culture of the aristocracy
The nobles did not in the end achieve the politicaldomination they had hoped for because Henry chose to promote the interests of Thomas Wolsey, the churchman who had organised the war in France on his behalf
Foreign Policy
The pursuit of military glory, which fitted in closely with Henry's rehabilitation of the traditional nobility, led directly to war in France, a theme which would recur regularly throughout the reign, usually with the same results: vast amounts of money were spent to achieve painfully small gains which had little or no strategic significance
