Uneasy Lies The Head That Wears A Crown

Having just finished the third book in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy on Thomas Cromwell, I am now way smarter than I was on the subject of Henry VIII.

He was most famous, of course, for all of his wives. He married six of them. Three of the marriages were annulled. One ended in divorce. Two of the wives were executed. One of the wives died after giving birth.

His first annulment resulted in England abandoning the Catholic Church and starting up the Anglican religion (also known as Episcopalian). The pope pretty much excommunicated England. The Holy Roman Emperor and the French King made plans to invade England. That’s a pretty big price to pay just to leave your first wife.

Except for his first wedding day, everything else I just described happened in a ten year period.

On the surface, it seems like Henry VIII was bat shit insane. That’s probably a fair point. Crowned king at the age of eighteen, by this point he’d been on the throne for close to twenty years. Being in a position of absolute power for that long probably does mess with your mind. Also, in that span of time, he had a horrible injury that left him severely concussed and opened up a painful leg ulceration that never healed. That might have had a bit to do with all of this crankiness as well.

But it wasn’t entirely madness. Henry desperately wanted a male heir. Catherine of Aragon had a number of miscarriages, gave birth to a boy that died shortly thereafter, and the sickly Mary. Catherine was past child bearing age and Henry really wanted a boy. Anne Boleyn gave birth to Elizabeth before having multiple miscarriages. Jane did give birth to a son before dying. No other wives produced children.

Why was it so important for Henry to have a male heir? Well, if you look at the kings that immediately preceded Henry VIII, you’ll see that most of them did not come to a good end. The Tudor line was new and if he wanted it to continue, he was going to have to bring forth a whole bunch of boys.

To see what I mean, let’s take a look at the kings that preceded Henry VIII. I’ll start with Henry VI and finished with Henry VII, Henry VIII’s father. Keep in mind that this isn’t old history to Henry VIII. Most of the events that I describe occur either in his lifetime or within 25 years before his birth.

Henry VI

He was the son of the great warrior King Henry V. Unfortunately, Henry V died young. Henry VI became king at the age of nine months. That is not the optimal way to become king. By the time that he came of age, his regency had already lost a lot of ground won by King Henry V. Unfortunately, Henry VI was not exactly king material. Timid and shy, he had serious mental health problems. He had a complete mental health breakdown. By the time he regained his senses, he had been dethroned by Edward IV and the War of the Roses, the English civil war, had started. He was captured by the Yorkists and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was later rescued and became King again. It was not to last. There was another battle where his son was killed and he was captured again and imprisoned in the Tower of London. This time Edward IV was not going to take any chances. It appears that he ordered his brother, Richard of Gloucester, to kill Henry VI.

Edward IV

Upon the death of his father, he became the leader of the York faction during the War of the Roses. He overthrew Henry VI to become king before being overthrown himself years later. Exiled to Flanders, he plotted his comeback. He invaded and in the ensuing battles, was able to defeat the Lancaster faction and crown himself king. As just mentioned, he ordered the death of Henry VI. More tragically, one of his brothers, Clarence, had temporarily joined the Lancaster faction before recanting and coming back to the Yorks. Unfortunately, Edward IV could not forgive this and ordered his death. At the time of the execution, Clarence and his brother Richard of Gloucester was feuding. There’s a rumor (that Shakespeare broadcast in Richard III) that it was Richard that killed Clarence. Mysteriously, Edward IV later fell sick and died. Poison was suspected.

Edward V

Next on the hot seat was Edward IV’s son, Edward V. The not great news for Edward V was that he was twelve at the time. Even worse news was that his father named Richard of Gloucester as his Lord Protector. That Richard. The Richard that had already killed a king and might have killed his brother. Richard first contrived to get Edward IV’s marriage to be declared invalid. That would remove Edward V and his little brother from the succession. Since his other brother Clarence was already condemned as a traitor, his children were already removed from succession. This left the path clear for Richard. Just to make sure, Edward V and his little brother, were taken to the Tower of London and later ‘disappeared’, almost assuredly murdered at Richard’s order.

Richard III

Even given that he has been dealt some pretty seriously bad propaganda by William Shakespeare, Richard of Gloucester was not a nice guy. Now crowned Richard III, it only took the murder of two kings, possibly his brother, and two young children to accomplish it. Crowned in 1483, he didn’t get a chance to enjoy it much. Henry Tudor invaded England in 1485. Richard III was slain at the battle of Bosworth, famously being the last English king to die in battle. This ended the Battle of the Roses.

Henry VII

Conversely, Henry Tudor, now Henry VII, was the last English king to gain his kingdom through battle. Here’s the thing. The Tudor’s don’t even come close to having the ancestral lineage to claim the throne. There are several older families that descend more directly from the Plantagenets. Therefore, although he won the battle fair and square, there are lots of people around him with daggers behind their backs waiting for him to slip up so that they can claim the throne. Even so, he managed to reign for over twenty years and was succeeded by his son.

So there you have it. Of the five kings that preceded Henry VIII, his father was the only one that unquestionably died a natural death. He was only the second Tudor ruler. His grasp on the throne was somewhat precarious.

How did all of those marriages and deaths and annulments work out for the Tudor family? Well, Henry VIII did have one son, and upon Henry’s death, was succeeded by him, Edward VI. Unfortunately, he was only nine years old. We saw how well that usually works out. Even worse, he died when he was fifteen. Not wanting his sisters to succeed him, he attempted to bypass them by naming his cousin, Lady Jane Grey. She lasted a whole nine days before being deposed and executed. Mary then took over. A devout Catholic, she tried to rollback the Anglican reforms. She died after only five years of rule. This brought on the much more famous Elizabeth, who ruled for some 45 years. However, Elizabeth never married. Her death marked the end of the Tudor reign. Upon her death,  the throne passed to the King of Scotland, James VI (to maximize confusion, to be known as James I in England).

Even after all of Henry’s marriages, annulments, and executions, the Tudor family never extended their rule beyond his immediate children. That was a lot of frenetic activity for not a lot of gain.