Henry VIII (nicknamed Copper Nose) was King of England from 1509 to 1547. Henry VIII was 17 when he became king. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, provided him with a daughter, Mary, but no male heir. In order to divorce her, he broke with the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England. Five subsequent marriages produced two children, Elizabeth and Edward (later Edward VI). The break with Rome led to the Dissolution of the Monasteries (in which monastic lands and buildings were sold or disposed of, and the monks disbanded or imprisoned) and the beginnings of the English Reformation. Henry's involvement in European politics brought him into conflict with the Scots who were defeated at SolwayMoss in 1542 (the Scots had been defeated before at the Battle of Flodden in 1513). Control of Wales was strengthened by the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542 which united England and Wales administratively and legally, and gave Wales representation in Parliament. Henry died in 1547, leaving his sickly 10-year-old son to inherit the throne as Edward VI.
Henry's nickname of copper nose came about after, having spent the money left him by his miserly father, he minted inferior silver coins. The silver soon wore away from the prominent parts of the coins, notably the king's nose, revealing the base copper below, and the nickname was born. Research Henry VIII
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