After his father's death in 1364, Henry VIII and his siblings were placed under the tutelage of their uncle Louis I the Fair who, followed the wishes of his late brother, installed him as a canon of the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross in Wrocław in 1378.

During the period of his administration, Henry VIII's disputes with the local nobility finally erupted when his older brother Rupert I send him a dozen kegs of beer from Swidnica as a gift.

The dispute, despite the attempted mediation of the Archbishop of Gniezno, Janusz Suchywilk and King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (who even ordered the plundering of the property of Wrocław's Canons, treating them as responsible for the prolonged conflict), dragged on and only ended in May 1382, as a result of the compromise ruling of the papal Legate, Bishop Thomas Lucerii.

Henry VIII refused this nomination because of the opportunity to take over the diocese of Włocławek after the current holder, his relative Jan Kropidło – also Duke of Opole, resigned from his post to become the Archbishopric of Gniezno.

The official ordinance of Henry VIII as Bishop of Włocławek, which as a Diocese included not only Kuyavia in Poland, but the portion of Gdańsk Pomerania within the State of the Teutonic Order, took place on 14 May 1389.