Why is our School named after Henry VIII?

The simple answer is that he gave money towards starting a school in Abergavenny and paid for a teacher.

However things are never as simple as they seem!!

Was Henry just being a nice King or did he have an ulterior, more cunning, motive?

Kings were not usually in the habit of giving money away without good reason. So why did he do it?

He wanted to keep the Welsh, particularly those near the border like Abergavenny in his good books. Why did he want to do that?

Well for that we have to explore Henry VIII reign in a more detail.

§ He had taken supreme power of the Catholic Church in England away from the Pope,

§ He had closed down the Monasteries

§ And he had passed an Act of Union to strengthen his control of Wales.

So it’s obvious why he had to name the school isn’t it?

When someone in charge makes too many changes they also make lots of enemies. Henry VIII had solved his marital and financial problems by breaking away from the Pope, but he made other problems worse. He lived in constant fear of a Catholic invasion from France, Ireland and Spain. Read on….

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