King Henry went to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Warham, to get a dispensation. Warham was in a political fight with the King and refused; but the King twisted his arm, and Warham gave in.

Twenty-some years later, it was obvious that Catherine, now in menopause, was not going to give Henry VIII the son he desperately craved. (This wasn't just male chauvinism; the last time an English king's only surviving child was a woman, there was a civil war.) And the incest that Henry was committing was preying on his mind -- that he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn was irrelevant.

Church marriage law says that if any party to the marriage is acting under duress, the marriage is void. Since Henry VII had pressured Archbishop Warham into granting the dispensation, Henry VIII asked for an annulment on the grounds that the dispensation was improperly given.