I make no apologies for those of you who have stars in your eyes. There was little to redeem the man who used and abused everyone who was unfortunate to get in his way. I give him a fat pardon the pun zero out of ten. Sorry, my spelling is getting worse, the letter t is missing from the word it.
The dictionary describes a true psychopath as:a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.
He may have exhibited one of these characteristics but certainly not all of them. He was made to marry a woman previously betrothed to his brother. As a future king he was expected to follow certain rules and it is my belief that those rules are what created the monster we all know as Henry the Eighth.
What happens to an animal who has been caged up too long? He eventually fights back for his release. Are we not the same, if your choices were taken away how would you feel? You were made to love someone whom was not your choice to begin with. Also the age of the players in this story would attribute to some degree the fickle choices and decisions that were made.
He was a boy who was born into great power and because he was always surrounded by people who more or less looked after their own interests he came to the roads he took. Bad council can cause serious problems later on. I believe he grew to believe that every one was out to get him and that no one should tell him what to do.
Thus le monster is created. If he had not been swayed by his affections for Anne much of what happened may not have occurred at all.
Thus bad council once again. Had he not wanted to control every nuance of his life many people would probably have been spared. In the end as it was in the beginning vanity, bad council and absolute power that destroyed the good in Henry. But I do agree with you Henry was many things, but not a Psychopath, it is a word that has become generalised in every day language to describe in an exaggerated way someone who perhaps has a volatile temperament, or behaves irrationally at times….
Dawn I did not think such about what you said. I thoroughly enjoyed your posts. I was glad you said what you did. I thought she sure told them boys smile You are not the only one who can become an irrational just add blubbering idiot and the exorcist to my repertoire. I am very lucky to live in a country where women are seen as equals, not as a bargaining tool in the game of politics, power and the accumulation of wealth.
I have a little knowledge on the study of personality disorders, having read books on the criminal mind and the reasonings behind the behaviour, and its possible Henry could easily fall into the realms of being classed as a narcissistic sociopath, which to some degree could also be applied to many of those that worked his court.
It was a very dog eat dog world, brutal and bloody. No compassion or sense of moral obligation to others, typical Sociopathic behaviour. All those I mentioned above and more.
Making Henry no different. So why is it Henry that stands out further than any other monarch, is it judicial murder of 2 innocent wives, the cruel execution Margaret Pole etc. The likes of Cromwell and Wolsey, they were more than helped on their way to the scaffold by the jealousy of the high born Nobility.
There is no denying his physical and mental deterioration in the latter part of his reign changed him into the tyrant he is mainly remembered for, his paranoia of those around him, who were in the main working for the good of themselves. They also, in my opinion, should carry some of the responsibility for nudging a paranoid, mentally unstable King to cut down others on their behalf. Was he the worst of the bunch, when you compare him to a ruler who devised the Hang, Drawn and Quarter form of execution, who took his armies slashing and burning everything in their wake though Wales and Scotland murdering and starving to death men, women and children!!
Brothers against brothers, fathers against sons. That was absolute slaughter to the extreme, with no remorse. They ended up destroying themselves. I agree, absolute power corrupts absolutely, I agree that Henry sunk to acts of inhumanity, aided by a time when laws could be altered on the whim of the ruling monarch. To modern thinking people with rights, a different code of ethics, and a completely contrasting life style, of course this behaviour is beyond redemption.
All through history though, not just Tudor times. Was anyone with a modicum of power innocent from some form of inhumanity then. Religious men burnt people alive…. I am certainly not excusing Henry, and I cant see how you have reached that conclusion…he signed the death warrants, gave the orders, but I can see he was a King in his time, and I am from mine, and because of that I am not in the position to judge him fairly, who knows how any of us would have behaved in a different period of time as a Man, King or Priest.
Simpler for a women, you would do as you was told, no doubt! Bravo Dawn!! I agree with you on many aspects. None of us know how we would have acted or reacted to a world where the law was measured by the hierarchy in charge. A time where superstition ran rampant and people believed in prophesy. They were afraid of their own shadow and this included Kings and Noblemen. They were so to speak a slave of their time and there was a slippery slope between who was wrong and what was right.
Those who sought power and status then had an agenda of their own. Had Anne and her family not been so greedy seeking to overthrow Catherine rule and replace her with Anne he outcome may have been different.
In many ways Henry was manipulated into some of the situations that happened much as politicians today manipulate us to get our vote. Do you really believe that these people live the lives they portray on TV? It is staged so that they look good on camera and we buy it.
Kings had a whole different life and were subject to no one. But thank God times have changed and our heads of state can be held accountable for their wrong doings.
In saying this, I do not have romantic ideas of a man who was so feared. I do believe that there was a time when he was not as he was before his death. History tells us that he was very athletic in stature and he only gained weight later in life. Although I do not agree with the methods he chose to get them out of his life. I am glad we have choices now because it is only when our choices are taken away from us do we react to the extreme. Isnt it strange that nearly all the ills, wars and horrors of this and past worlds are caused by greed, lust, envy and megalomania,and so often they are little people especially the men.
The worst part is they all do it in the name of one god or another, nothing changed since mankind walked upright and probably never will.
One thing I applaud henry for is that I free to chose my religion if any. I do agree that freedom should be for everyone. It is greed and power that drives many people to ruin. Britain nearly fell into domination of the Catholic Church after the return of the Monachy under Charles the second who was supported by Louis the 14th. James the second tried with French support to bring Britain back under the Catholic Church but failed and James Daughter Mary ruled with her Husband Wilklian the third.
It was at this time when England took to supporting the Protestants of Europe that with John Churchhill under Queen Anne that freed Europe from the domination of France and the Catholic Church It lead to the rise of England and Britain to the world stage as a champion of free thinkers and liberty Up to this time France had been the Ruling power and it fermented armed agression against England in both Scotland and Ireland Thank You Henry for giving us our part to play in forming the modern world.
Who knows what would be the situation if today Europe lived under a Theocracy because we all can plainly see what the results in the middle east. Hi what I find unforgiveable about Henry 8th is his total lack of ability to be honest with himself. He hid behind a veil of piety and statesmanship in order to get exactly what he wanted.
That was very much an afterthought. They were only chattels to him, as everone else was. He had no regard for anyone else and is the epitome of the exreme selfishness and cruelty of a man with no external restraints. I would have more respect for him if he had been honest with others and most of all with himself. He must have been a very unhappy man as only happens when you have a flexible consciounce and lie to yourself.
I always thought it was his wish to marry Catherine of Aragon as he had no need to to stablise his reign and no need of her in that sense. I think it was his way of proving his manhood to marry his dead brothers wife.
It is impossible to speculate how this country would have turned out without his reign or reformations and we need to be aware of viewing him through rose tinted spectables. What would later become the United States most likely escaped the worst aspect of that period but it was very hard for Ireland.
That is why he got nearly lbs and started going nuts. Think you mean Henry Vlll eh.? To be honest l thought this condition was mainly to do with dentistry, you learn something new everyday! The author also has a medical background. Henry would have been in agonising pain in later life, no painkillers them, that alone would not help a persons temperament or mental balance…l think most of us can relate to pain, i.
I just came here to say that Anne of Cleves was the bomb. She was straight gangsta- pragmatic, intelligent, AND by all accounts a genuinely nice lady.
Anne of Cleves: Like A Boss. Henry 8th, was inherently evil — a mass-murderer in the vein of such as Mao and Stalin — however much historians may attempt to whitewash him. Not a King but a political criminal posing as one. His ghastly reign caused lasting damage to the character, institutions, spirit and lives of the people of the British Isles, who did not recover their amour propre as a nation for generations — at leeast until the end of the 17th century.
Comments Carol Dennis says:. January 29, at am. Natalie says:. January 29, at pm. Emma Nation says:.
January 31, at pm. October 6, at am. Sandra says:. May 21, at pm. Dick Cheng says:. December 20, at am. From Dick Cheng Yeah,, he drinks red wine a lot each day and was so fat. To Everyone. Tom Cook says:. August 31, at am. Catrina Whitley says:. January 30, at am. Thanks — again — for another fantastic article.
February 1, at pm. Jo Clark says:. January 28, at pm. Paul says:. August 26, at am. He was badly embalmed, if at all. The coffin burst at Syon House. Anne Barnhill says:. Dawn says:. February 14, at pm. Pamela Alsop says:. June 25, at am. Anna says:. November 15, at pm. Jean Roughley says:.
August 15, at am. Graham says:. September 8, at am. Denmal says:. January 24, at am. January 24, at pm. January 26, at am. January 27, at am. January 27, at pm. January 28, at am. February 4, at am. February 5, at am. February 6, at am. February 7, at am. February 8, at am. February 9, at am. February 9, at pm. February 10, at am. February 10, at pm. February 11, at pm. February 12, at am. Henry was an active king in those years, keeping a festive court, hunting, jousting, writing and playing music.
But the lack of a male heir—especially after he fathered a healthy illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, in —gnawed at the king. The king decided to seek a papal annulment that would free him to remarry. Wolsey was forced from power for his failure and died in awaiting trial for treason. In Henry and Anne Boleyn were married, and their daughter Elizabeth was born. Mary was declared illegitimate and Elizabeth named his heir.
In January of Henry was unhorsed and injured during a jousting tournament. When news of his accident reached the pregnant Anne, she miscarried, delivering a stillborn son.
Henry then spurned her, turning his affections to another woman of his court, Jane Seymour. Within six months he had executed Anne for treason and incest and married Jane, who quickly gave him a son the future Edward VI but died two weeks later. Anne of Cleves was a political bride, chosen to cement an alliance with her brother, the ruler of a Protestant duchy in Germany.
The marriage only lasted a few days before Henry had it annulled. He then married Catherine Howard, but two years later she too was beheaded for treason and adultery. In the last years of his reign Henry grew moody, obese and suspicious, hobbled by personal intrigues and by the persistent leg wound from his jousting injury. His final marriage, to the widow Catherine Parr in , saw his reconciliation with Mary and Elizabeth, who were restored to the line of succession.
His 9-year-old son Edward VI succeeded him as king but died six years later. Withers and his colleagues located traces of two octagonal towers—likely the remnants of tall viewing stands that functioned similarly to bleachers, enabling spectators to watch jousting tournaments from above—buried about 5.
Per Live Science, the tiltyard stretched about by feet, with ample room for armored jousters to lunge toward one another on horseback and wield their long lances. In the years following the fall, however, his mental and physical condition steadily worsened.
A study conducted by scientists at Yale University posited that in his later years, the Tudor monarch displayed symptoms consistent with a history of traumatic brain injuries. As a young man , Henry had embraced rough-and-tumble sports— particularly jousting —and he seemed to have a propensity for accidents.
In , the king failed to lower the visor on his helmet while jousting and suffered a blow to the head above his right eye.
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