Lesson 2: Loyal Heart: Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
Henry at the beginning of his reign.
This segment will assist students gain a greater understanding of Henry VIII of this period.
After dinner, we were taken to the King [Henry VIII], who embraced us, without ceremony, and conversed for a very long while very familiarly, on various topics, in good Latin and in French, which he speaks very well indeed, and he then dismissed us, and we were brought back here to London...
His Majesty is the handsomest potentate I ever set eyes on; above the usual height, with an extremely fine calf to his leg, his complexion very fair and bright, with auburn hair combed straight and short, in the French fashion, his throat being rather long and thick. He was born on the 28th of June, 1491, so he will enter his twenty-fifth year the month after next. He speaks French, English, and Latin, and a little Italian, plays well on the lute and harpsichord, sings from book at sight, draws the bow with greater strength than any man in England, and jousts marvelously. Believe me, he is in every respect a most accomplished Prince; and I, who have now seen all the sovereigns in Christendom, and last of all these two of France and England in such great state, might well rest content. Venetian ambassador to Henry's court
Henry VIII apparently had everything a person could ask for. At the beginning of his reign, not only was he rich, ‘a prodigy of precocious scholarship,’(1) talented, but even his appearance made one courtier comment,
[the king is] extremely handsome. Nature could not have done more for him. He is much handsomer than any other sovereign in Christendom. (2)
Perhaps that was the source of his problem. In his early days, the gifts of life fell abundantly in his lap, but it made him greedy for more. When Henry Tudor’s life didn’t go the way he expected, he became the tyrant King that history remembers all too well.
After an education overseen by his grandmother Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, a woman highly respected for her intelligence as well as her piety, Henry VIII, not quite eighteen, ascended the English throne, to the great joy of his subjects. Almost the first thing he did was marry his brother's widow, the twenty-three-old Catherine of Aragon.
Henry said, as well as satisfying treaty requirements, he was fulfilling a promise made to his father on his death bed,(3) but I wonder if this was entirely true. I tend to believe Henry married Catherine not only for political reasons, but also perhaps because of a confused sense of chivalry knowing full well, after his brother’s death, how badly she had been treated by his father. It is also possible that Henry may have been smitten by his attractive sister-in-law.
Certainly, in the early years, Henry and Catherine’s relationship – before all their disappointments – seemed like a love match. They shared many interests, and Catherine was, if not more, a fit mate for this prodigy of precocious scholarship. Certainly, poor Catherine never stopped loving Henry.
Having quickly married the bride of his choice – all plans went underway for their coronations. Henry VIII's father had spent his reign stabilising his position as king, passing on to his son a safe, secure and financially sound Kingdom – Alison Weir’s Henry VIII, the King and his court put forwards estimates as high as 1,250,000 pounds.(4) So there was plenty of money to do the coronation in great style; Henry and Catherine’s lavish coronations looked forward to a reign famous for its pageantry and magnificence.
In his first days as king, Henry desired to distance himself from his father’s reign – with all its reputation of careful and cautious management. He disregarded his grandmother's wishes, (a disregard made easier by her death just after the coronation), that he accept the guidance of Bishop Fisher(5).
One of his first acts as King was to execute Dudley and Empson – unpopular ministers of his father(6)- but who had ensured that Henry the son inherited a healthy treasury. Considering these men had only done what Henry VII had wanted, there seems to be something unfair about their executions by Henry VIII, when they experienced the unkindest cut of all. But whatever the reasons for their downfalls, Dudley and Empson’s deaths in 1510 demonstrate that Henry – even this early in his reign – was capable of ridding himself of unwanted problems in the most permanent but bloody way made available to him.
Henry possessed one major weakness (and he had many) when it came to women – probably stemming from his happy childhood where his mother was so important to him. He had no resilience against a woman's tears. Many times, crying women melted his resolve, making him do other than he planned or wished. Knowing this, Henry often chose the tactic of avoidance. What he did not see would not touch him.
(1) Alison Weir, Henry VIII, The King and his court, page 7
(2) Ditto
(3) Garret Mattingly; Catherine of Aragon; London; 1942; page 95
(4) Alison Weir; Work Cited; page 13
(5) Alison Weir, Henry VIII, Work cited; page 17
(1) Alison Weir, Henry VIII, Work cite; page 22
References:
In Henry VIII, the King and the Court - a wonderfully researched book - Alison Weir brings alive Henry VIII in all his glory and his magnificent court, not fearing a bit of controversy along the way. This is a must read for people interested in the period.
