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The Six Wives of Henry VIII, A New (I Hope) Perspective

© Ellen McDaniel-Weissler

The history of the oft-married King Henry VIII of England is not the saga of unbridled lust, heedless egotism and thoughtless persecution which is often popularly depicted. To understand the events of the years of Henry's reign, why he behaved as he did, and what the final effect of his actions was on the world at large, one must have some understanding of the man himself (as well as we can discern him through the mists of history and legend), of the culture in which he was nurtured, and of the political pressures which shaped the policies he followed as his turbulent reign unfolded.

With the unquestioned primacy over Christendom of the Vatican and the Pope as the Vicar of God, Henry's schism from papal authority and his daunting embarkation on the journey toward autonomy can be seen variously as hedonistic, selfish, temperamental, courageous, reformist, or simply foolhardy. It would be a simplification to claim that Henry did what he did purely out of personal whim - the royal obligations and the burden of posterity always hung heavily over him, even at his most impulsive. Yet it would be injudicious and naïve to think that Henry acted only out of the most disinterested of motives. No human being is that cut and dried. Whatever issue carried the most weight with him, it is safe to state that Henry VIII was one of history's most conflicted and most precedent-shattering monarchs.

Henry VIII evidently believed (or chose to believe, or chose to claim that he believed) that his overriding objective in marrying six times was the begetting of the male heir many were convinced was needed to ensure stability in England after the turmoil of the Wars of the Roses. It is possible that Henry, a consummate practitioner of self-delusion, was indeed convinced of the purity, selflessness and patriotism of this motive, and genuinely did not question the crucial nature of all the shifts to which he resorted in order to obtain this end. It is also true that he was the first English monarch to follow his heart in all but one of his marriages, wedding only women to whom he was first attracted, whether they were advantageous political alliances or not, with the exception of his fifth wife, Anne of Cleves.

To give him his due, he might also have been peripherally aware of other incentives besides the question of the male heir. Henry seems to have had a yearning for romance, instilled in him as a second son who was never destined to rule. His initial education had fitted him for a role in the Church, but he clearly possessed a bent toward chivalry, nobility, courtly love and the legends of the Knights of the Round Table. He had an innate dislike of having his will thwarted, an active sexual drive, and an almost phobic fear of disease and death which drove him to surround himself with the young and healthy.

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