@missy @lyxzen @rambo. For a long time now I have had an unhealthy obsession with the Tudors, particularly Henry the 8th and his wives. My book shelf is filled with history books and I made it my mission to understand WHY this king turned into such a tyrant when he showed such promise as a young Prince.
Henry was the perfect example of a renaissance Prince. He was 6ft 2inches tall, and at age 24 was described as "the most handsomest potentate I ever set eyes on." He loved to sing, dance, and also composed his own music. He nurtured talent for his choir as carefully as any modern day football manager. Once, after a competition between their two choirs, Thomas Wolseys choir won - so Henry poached the best singers from the cardinals quoir! He was interested in medicine and finding new remedies for his people. He married Katherine of Aragon, declared himself "sir loyal heart" and stayed with her for 24 years before he broke with the Catholic church in order to marry Anne Boleyn.
So what happened to make this man into someone who murdered thousands of his own subjects, including two of his wives and many of his best friends? And why, exactly, was it so important for Henry to have sons?
The first thing we have to consider is that Henry was never supposed to be King at all. He was the second son and his brother Arthur was the one who was sent away to do his training and prepare for his future as King of England. Henry was provided with a much more relaxed childhood, doing his lessons with his sister's and spending a lot of time with his mother whom he loved very much. When Arthur died suddenly at age 15, Henry's future was was set. This is possibly why in the early years of his reign, he was happy, relaxed, and his quest for sons wasn't so important......until he started to consider his family's past and after over 20 years his wife still hadn't given him a son.
The second, and possibly the most important point to consider is the fact that Henry knew that the Tudor throne was not secure. Henry's father, Henry Tudor, was right in the middle of the wars of the roses, better known to historians as the cousins war. Two families, fighting for the right to the English throne - the York's and the Lancasters. Both families had an equal claim, but the York's were much bigger. Henry the 7th was the last Lancaster who could claim the throne, whereas the York's were a huge family, with literally dozens of cousins whose claim was just as viable. When Henry Tudor won the battle of Bosworth field and took the crown from Richard the thirds head, he knew that he needed to unite the families or he would not be King for long. He married Elizabeth of York and together they created peace for many years. He had two sons, an heir and a spare and so completed the one fundamental job as King, to secure the dynasty of his line.
When the throne was passed to Henry the 8th, he would have known better than most that there was still numerous cousins left who had a claim, possibly a stronger claim than he did. But all he had to do was have sons and nobody could touch him. Not too difficult right? Wrong.
When his wife Katherine of Aragon had miscarriage after miscarriage, stillbirth and children who survived for only weeks, he thought nothing of his wife's pain when he started to seriously worry. He started to become paranoid that his family, his cousins, his friends were plotting to overthrow him. The duke of Buckingham was executed just for suggesting that Henry would never have a son and that his own claim was stronger. Katherine was older than Henry, so many pregnancies had taken their toll on her body, her courses were starting to dry up. When the young, vibrant, sexual Anne came along she provided an exciting distraction for him but when he asked her to be his mistress she refused and stated she would only ever be his lover as his wife, when she could provide him with a son and heir. Henry tore this country down the middle to be with her - his best friend and most trusted advisor Thomas More was beheaded because he would not support the break from the church, Katherine was banished from London and left alone, forbidden to see her only daughter the princess Mary - all to marry Anne and get his promised heir. So imagine his disappointment when Anne provided him with Elizabeth and had two more miscarriages after this.....Of course we all know what happened next.
Henry did not stop killing until every last claimant to the throne was dead. The last Plantagenet (York) Margaret, countess of Salisbury was beheaded on the 27th May 1541. She was over 70 years old and killed for no other reason than she had the last claim - even though she didn't even want it and was loyal to the king.
I hope that my "expertise" in this area have provided a few answers to one question. What made King Henry into the tyrant that he became?
Thanks Charlie.x
