Which English king asked the Pope to annul his marriage as he had married his brother's widow?
Leicester Abbey "pliable" his future changes to the church (i.e. the future Dissolution of the Monasteries, of which Cromwell was the architect). In 1527 King Henry VIII asked Pope Clement VII to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, but the pope refused. This started a series of events known as English Reformation in which Henry broke away from the authority of the pope. In lieu of the pope, Henry assumed authority over the church: all priests and religious figures, including monks, were required to swear support to the royal supremacy over the church. Abbot Bourchier and the 25 canons at Leicester
Pope Clement VII which forbids only such unions if the brother had children. Moreover, a special dispensation from Pope Julius II had been given to allow the wedding. Henry now argued that this had been wrong and that his marriage had never been valid. In 1527 Henry asked Pope Clement to annul the marriage, but the Pope, possibly acting under pressure from Catherine's nephew, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, whose effective prisoner he was, refused. According to Catholic teaching, a validly contracted marriage is indivisible until death, and thus the pope cannot annul a marriage on the basis of a canonical impediment previously