Notes from Henry VIII by Tracy Borman

• Henry VIII as "the spare" was raised in his mother's household.  
• After Arthur's death, Henry VII floated marrying Catherine of Aragon -- locking up the dowery was that important. 
• Henry VII fell gravely ill after Arthur's death and the book questions whether succession would have been really stabilized in that case.
• The tradition was for the next monarch to attend his or her predecessors funeral.  
•  Thomas Cranmer was married twice before becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury.  The second time was shortly before being appointed to Archbishop Henry VIII (who did not know).  Reformation was in the air.
• Cranmer was modest and contrast to Henry VIII's other advisors.  
• Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell carefully laid the ground work England's religious shift.  Cromwell on the legal side, Cranmer the ecclesiastical. 
• The eventual Cardinal Thomas Wolsey partied hard with the King during the early years of his reign and wasn't some heavy downer person to the King's way of life.  As almoner he became the go-between with the King and his cabinet