Henry VIII succeeded his father in 1509 and initially presented himself as an energetic Renaissance monarch. He campaigned against France, including the victory known as the Battle of the Spurs in 1513, while English forces defeated Scotland at Flodden. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey managed much of the king's diplomacy and administration. The Field of the Cloth of Gold meeting with Francis I in 1520 displayed royal magnificence but did not produce lasting peace. Henry also defended Catholic doctrine against Luther, receiving the title Defender of the Faith in 1521.

The absence of a surviving male heir from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon became a political and dynastic crisis. When efforts to obtain a papal annulment failed, Henry displaced Wolsey and advanced policies through Thomas Cromwell and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. His marriage to Anne Boleyn and the legislation of the Reformation Parliament broke papal jurisdiction in England. The Act of Supremacy in 1534 recognized the king as supreme head of the English church, and refusal to accept the new order led to executions including those of Thomas More and John Fisher.

The dissolution of monasteries transferred extensive religious property to the crown and then to lay owners, changing landholding, charity, and worship. Resistance included the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, which Henry suppressed after initial negotiations. The Six Articles of 1539 reaffirmed traditional teachings. His successive marriages and the executions of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard reveal how dynastic concerns, court rivalry, and royal power could determine personal as well as public outcomes.

In later years Henry pursued expensive wars with Scotland and France, taking Boulogne in 1544 and expanding the navy and coastal defenses. Taxation, sale of crown lands, and currency debasement helped meet costs but created longer-term difficulties. Government became increasingly dependent on ministers and factional politics as his health declined. He died in 1547 and was succeeded by his son Edward VI. Henry's reign strengthened the monarchy's control over the church and transformed England's religious and institutional landscape, but it also involved executions, coercion, fiscal strain, and unresolved confessional divisions. His six marriages became famous, yet the establishment and exercise of royal supremacy form the central public development of his career.