Humanising Henry

As usual in the Mayou household, the topic turned to history earlier, and this brought back a whole flood of thoughts from a presentation I did a couple of years ago on Henry VIII.  What has always struck me about interpretations of one of England's most famous monarchs is that as an 'historical figure' he is portrayed as if he were of another world.  What I love about history is that whatever culture, whatever era, whatever place a person comes from, human nature remains unchanged.  Think you have nothing in common with a Roman, or a Viking, or an ancient Egyptian? You do; we are all human beings who have felt love, pain and heartache, jealousy, anger, fear and desire.  It is with this in mind that I choose to view Henry VIII.

The traditional view of Henry is of a tyrannical ruler who beheaded two of his wives in cold blood and founded the Church of England so he could get shot of his first.  Like many historians, I am going to offer my views of the man in terms of three of Henry's six wives (and believe me I have views on the other three, perhaps a part two?).

Wife number one: Catherine of Aragon.  A happy marriage for around 17 years, many think the 'divorce' (actually it was an annulment, so the marriage had technically never been - ouch!) was all about Henry's lust for new hottie Anne Boleyn.  Well, it kind of was, but don't forget that Katherine had never produced the all important surviving son and heir, and by the time Anne came along Catherine was pushing 42!  Henry's father, Henry VII, had literally fought for the throne, with a tenuous claim to it, and Henry did not want to be the man to put an end to the dynasty.  Not only that, being a bit of a theologian, I believe he genuinely convinced himself, courtesy of a passage in the Bible, that his marriage was cursed because he had taken his brother's wife (Catherine had been married to his older brother, Arthur, who died). It took Henry about 6 years to get the marriage dissolved, and excommunication from his precious Catholic Church (as a child Henry was groomed for the priesthood, not the throne).  He sacrificed his faith, his hugely popular and once loved Queen, and six years of his life for a woman; lust or love?

But love can lead to hate, to jealousy and to anger.  Anne Boleyn had powerful enemies.  She was too loud, too outspoken, and far too protestant for some.  There is little doubt in my mind that Anne was set up when it came to accusations of adultery.  Whether or not she was guilty is of little consequence because Henry certainly believed she was.  Betrayed by the woman he loved, the woman he had fought and sacrificed so much for, humiliated as a man and a King, it is not difficult to understand his anger and sorrow.  She was actually executed for treason on the grounds that she had plotted to kill the King, so being found guilty, it was the law that called for execution, not the King.  Did he wish her dead for her deeds?  Here, my mind is divided.  Meek and mild Jane Seymour (his next wife) was already on the scene and Anne had miscarried a son not so long before her demise.  Jane was a huge contrast to troublesome and opinionated Anne and I think Henry longed for a fresh start with a marriage and hence, an heir, that all Europe viewed as legitimate (Catholics never accepted his annulment to Catherine; she was dead at this time).  Perhaps Anne's sentence was a convenience to Henry, but he was only acting within the law, and he allowed her a quick, pain-free death by opting for a swordsman, not an axe or the agonising stake.  A small mercy by today's standards I suppose, but a mercy nonetheless from a wounded and humiliated King.

Henry's precious third wife, Jane Seymour, died as a result of childbirth, and perhaps the fact he is buried with her shows the tragedy Henry's longed for son, Edward, brought with him.  I believe that Henry did love, at a time when so many monarchs only married for convenience and dynastic reasons.  There are countless examples of beautiful letters he wrote to his lovers, reminiscent of scenes from Romeo and Juliet.  Love was on his list of priorities, I am sure.  Up to this point, I see Henry's life as a constant, conflicting battle; to be the King he was never meant to be, to secure his father's dynasty with a son, to love and to be loved and to do God's will as he interpreted it.  The saddest part about this battle is that his first wife, Catherine (pictured), was probably his perfect match all along.  She was a strong woman, from a powerful dynasty, who stood by him as King and whom I believe loved him, and certainly at one time, he loved her.  She had sons, but they died in infancy.

Henry was smart enough to allow his two daughters to rule in their own right if his son died, which he did after only a short reign.  In a time when women were considered unfit to rule in England, little could Henry have known that one of his daughters would actually be one of the greatest monarchs England would ever see; Elizabeth I.  But as all we humans know, hindsight is a wonderful thing!