Story about six wives of Henry VIII worries directors, writers and just society almost 500 years later.
“It was the time of giants. We are all dwarfs compared to those people” (A. Dumas “Twenty Years Later”)
In June 1520, a meeting between the English and French kings took place near the port of Calais. The place of this meeting later received the name “Field of the Cloth of Gold.” But more on that later.
By the beginning of the 20s of the 16th century. Europe was simultaneously ruled by 3 strong and ambitious monarchs. They were approximately the same age and ascended to the throne at approximately the same time. They were the kings of England ( Henry VIII), France (Francis I) and Spain (Charles I), also known as the Holy Roman Emperor under the name Charles V. They inherited strong, centralized states, the unification of which was completed literally a couple of decades before their reign, with strong royal power and subordinate feudal lords .
This happened in France first. Louis XI, the first king to reign after the end of the Hundred Years' War, in just over 20 years of his reign transformed a virtually destroyed country, divided by large feudal lords into spheres of influence, into the strongest state in Europe at that time with almost absolute power of the monarch. The Estates General (Parliament) was assembled only once during his reign. The process of unification of France was completed by 1483. Francis I was Louis's great-nephew.
In England, this was facilitated by Henry VIII's father, Henry VII. He seized the throne, overthrew Richard III, married his niece, and ended the Wars of the Roses. The date of accession to the throne of Henry VII is 1485.
And finally, the Reconquista ended in Spain, which led to the reconquest of Spanish lands from the Moors and their subsequent unification under the rule of the crown. This happened during the reign of Charles V's grandparents - the Catholic Kings Ferdinand II and Isabella I. 1492.
If the beginning of the Middle Ages has an exact date down to a specific day - August 23, 476 - then the date of their end is much more controversial. Some believe that this is the English Revolution (1640), others - the day of the storming of the Bastille (1789), there are also dates for the fall of Constantinople (1453), the discovery of America (1492), the beginning of the Reformation (1517) , Battle of Pavia (1525), where firearms were first widely used. If we take the last 2 dates as a starting point, it turns out that Henry VIII, Francis I and Charles V are, among other things, the first monarchs of the New Age.
Charles V (I) was the youngest of the three kings. In 1520 he was 20 years old. At 16, he inherited the throne of Spain after the death of his grandfather Ferdinand. At 19 - the throne of the Roman Empire after the death of his second grandfather Maximilian I. Charles's father died very young, and his mother, Juana the Mad, was unable to rule. Karl's origin was the most "noble". His maternal grandparents were the Spanish kings Ferdinand and Isabella. On her father's side - Emperor Maximilian and the ruler of Burgundy, Maria, the only daughter of the last Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold. Charles inherited all these lands, receiving the unspoken title “Master of the Universe,” on whose empire the sun never set.
Henry VIII was the eldest. He was 29. At 18 he ascended the throne. On his mother's side, Henry was a descendant of ancient English kings from the Plantagenet dynasty. My father's origins were less noble. Here his ancestors were the Tudors and the Beauforts. Both families came from illegal marriages of their founders and were themselves considered illegitimate for a long time.
Francis I was 26. At 21 he became King of France. His background was the “worst” of all. He was the son of the Duke of Angoulême. He was the nephew of his predecessor Louis XII and the great-nephew of Louis XI. Francis ascended the throne only because there were no other male heirs. To secure his rights, he had to marry the daughter of Louis XII, Claude of France. However, Francis was a strong and charismatic personality. In addition, behind him stood his domineering mother Louise of Savoy and no less charismatic sister Margarita. These women supported the king in everything, and later, together with Charles V’s aunt Margaret of Austria, they concluded the so-called. Ladies' world (Paix des Dames). So it was a time of giants not only among men.
Throughout subsequent history in Europe there was a constant struggle for influence between the Habsburgs in Spain and the Valois and Bourbons in France. England stood a little to the side, but was considered by both as a possible ally. For this purpose, in June 1520, a meeting was organized between Henry and Francis. The latter was at war with Charles and sought support in England. Henry, in turn, had already met with Karl and - moreover - was married to his aunt Catherine of Aragon (which never really prevented him from conflicting with Karl).
“Field of the Cloth of Gold” got its name for the disproportionate luxury of the retinues of both monarchs, each of whom tried to look as rich as possible. The tents in the camp were made of gold and silver fabric. Henry's tent occupied an area of 10 thousand square meters. A wine fountain was installed in the camp, and tournaments were constantly held. In general, it’s classic – whoever has it richer.
Henry, by the way, was terribly nervous, and a few weeks before the meeting he was constantly tormented by the question of whether he should go with a beard or vice versa, which would be more respectable and impressive. As a result, the queen advised him to go with a beard, Henry later regretted it.
However, the entire external gloss remained the same. The consequences of the meeting were minimal. Especially after Francis put Henry on his back in hand-to-hand combat at the tournament. The latter did not forgive the humiliation. After 2 years, Henry entered into an alliance with Charles and began a war with France.
In the same 1522, English nobles returned from France, among whom was the Queen’s 15-year-old maid of honor Claude Anna Boleyn - the second of six wives of Henry VIII.
Henry VIII was born on June 28, 1491 in Greenwich. He was the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. His elder brother Arthur was considered the heir to the throne. It was no coincidence that Henry VII gave this name to his eldest son. Traditional royal names were Edward, Henry, and Richard. The latter, for obvious reasons, was not in honor among the Tudors - even distant royal relatives did not have sons with that name (God forbid, they would be accused of secret sympathy for the Yorks). Since the not very noble Henry VII had complexes all his life about his origins and the legitimacy of his rise to power, he tried by any means to emphasize the greatness of the new dynasty. Therefore, the eldest son and heir was named neither more nor less in honor of the legendary Arthur. He gave his second son the traditional name Henry.
Henry VIII's parents Henry VII and Elizabeth of York:
Arthur received the best education for that time, his parents had high hopes for him and purposefully prepared him for royal duties. Prince Henry was also well educated, but he received much less attention. Meanwhile, the difference between the brothers was significant. Arthur grew up as a fragile, sickly child. There is even a version that due to poor health he was never able to enter into a relationship with his wife Catherine. Henry, on the contrary, was distinguished by amazing health, was very strong and physically developed. Arthur's death in 1502 at the age of 15 left Henry VII in deep shock. The younger prince began to be urgently trained in the ability to rule the kingdom. At the same time, his parents decided to have more sons - this was extremely necessary, because... The Tudors had no more contenders, and the Yorks were left with plenty of representatives. But Queen Elizabeth died in childbirth along with her newborn daughter. Another 6 years later the king died. Henry VIII ascended the throne at the age of 18. At that time he had a beautiful appearance (not like in later years). He was athletically developed, tall and fair-haired, was well educated (thanks to the timely care of his parents), intelligent and had a cheerful disposition, although with periodic bouts of anger, he loved hunting and other entertainment. English humanists, among whom was Thomas More, had high hopes for Henry and called him the “Golden Prince of the Renaissance.” In those years, no one could have imagined in him a future tyrant and cruel killer.
The reign of Henry VIII was almost 40 years, the entire first half of the 16th century.
Still from the film " Henry VIII and his six wives“.It is clear that the actor is 2 times older, but, unfortunately, there are no portraits of Henry in his youth and youth to see what he was like before he became monstrously obese and sick. In addition, pay attention - in this frame Henry is still dressed in the fashion of the Italian Renaissance - this is the very beginning of the 16th century. — 1510s.
And this is already the 1520s. Fashion has changed, and is inspired by the costumes of the Landsknechts, the German mercenaries who became very popular after the Battle of Pavia.
The undershirt that comes out in the slits of the sleeves, the slits and puffs - everything is taken from the clothes of the Landsknechts. Many Englishmen, including Henry, were fascinated by this fashion. Landsknechts are the “glamorous scum” of the Renaissance. Their life was spent in wars and campaigns and was very short, so they tried to decorate themselves as brightly (and pretentiously) as possible during their lifetime. Well, initially, the predecessors of these trendy cuts were ordinary rags, into which the clothes of mercenaries turned into during strikes with swords or spears.
This fashion turned out to be very tenacious. Even later, when the English costume underwent changes under the influence of French and then Spanish fashion, elements of the mercenary costume remained in the clothes of Henry VIII and his son - for example, the slightly elongated “skirt” of the doublets was a reminder of the armor of the Landsknechts.
Although Henry ruled independently from the age of 18, his wife Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his brother Arthur, had a significant influence on foreign policy. Later, when her influence began to fade, Cardinal Wolsey took up the matter. This lasted approximately 15 years.
To be continued…
On January 28, 1547, King Henry VIII Tudor of England died at Whitehall Palace. Much can be said about the reign of this sovereign. But he is known to the general public mainly due to his numerous marriages (Henry VIII had six wives). Many researchers believe that the main reason for the divorces and executions of wives that Henry disliked was the desire to preserve the throne of England for the young Tudor dynasty. Be that as it may, this desire of Henry VIII was satisfied: on October 12, 1537, his long-awaited son and heir, Edward, was born. His mother was Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour.
Edward VI - the unfulfilled hope of the dynasty
Having an heir to the dynasty was one of Henry VIII's most cherished desires. Only his third wife, who died shortly after giving birth, was able to realize this dream. The newborn prince became a real joy not only for his parents, but also for all of England, because he guaranteed peace and stability in the state.
The issue of Edward's health is still controversial. Some researchers say that he was a sickly child from birth. Others say that he had good health, despite the diseases common at that time, which he did not escape.
When Henry VIII died, Edward was only 9 years old. For several years before the death of Henry VIII, peace and quiet reigned in the royal family. Moreover, when leaving his will, the king did not forget to mention his daughters in it. Henry indicated that if Edward had no heirs, the next ruler of England was to be Mary and her heirs, and after her Elizabeth and her heirs.
His maternal uncle, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, was appointed guardian of the little king. The boy received an excellent education. He knew French, Greek and Latin, was interested in government affairs and was a staunch Protestant. During the short period of his reign, a Protestant catechism was written, the Book of Prayer was republished, and some reforms of Protestant worship were carried out.
There was a lot of intrigue surrounding the young king. His uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who was his guardian, was deposed in 1551 by the Earl of Warwick, who later became the Duke of Northumberland. Somerset was imprisoned for a time, and when he came out, he immediately tried to regain the favor of the king. However, by that time his opponent was already very strong and as a result the Duke of Somerset was executed allegedly for participating in illegal meetings.
The Duke of Northumberland had very far-reaching plans. He managed to persuade the young king to bequeath the throne to Jane Gray, who was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII. The Duke planned to marry this young lady to his son, thus establishing a new dynasty. At the same time, neither Northumberland nor the king were at all bothered by the presence of Edward’s two older sisters, who were the founder of the dynasty’s granddaughters and, accordingly, had much more rights to the throne than Jane Gray. The eldest of Henry VIII's daughters, Mary, was an ardent Catholic. It was this fact that forced the young king, unlike his sister who adhered to the Protestant faith, to bequeath the throne to Jane. Three days after signing the will, Edward VI suddenly fell ill. His guardian, for one reason known to him, removed the doctors from the king, sending a healer instead.
Edward VI, the hope of the Tudors, died before his 16th birthday. Jane Gray was declared queen. Alas, the English people did not agree with the decision of their young king. The new queen lasted only nine days on the throne. She, along with the ambitious Duke of Northumberland, was accused of treason, arrested and executed. And Henry VIII's eldest daughter, Mary, ascended the throne.
Bloody Mary
On February 18, 1516, King Henry VIII Tudor of England and his first wife Catherine of Aragon had another child, which became a great joy, because baby Mary was their first healthy child who did not die immediately after birth. Although Maria was a girl, her birth gave hope that Catherine would be able to give birth to a long-awaited son.
The little princess was surrounded by a magnificent retinue. And by the end of 1518, her future fate was decided: she was betrothed to the heir of the French king Francis I. In the marriage agreement concluded by the two rulers, there was a clause according to which Mary became the heir to the throne if Henry died without leaving sons. However, the king himself at that time had not yet seriously considered such a prospect.
Maria was given an excellent education. She was taught to speak and write Latin and Greek correctly. She studied art and poetry, and also learned to ride and hunt with a falcon. However, her curriculum completely lacked subjects that could prepare her to rule the country. After all, her father, the king, did not consider this possibility at all. However, over time it became increasingly clear that Catherine would not be able to give birth to an heir to the king, and Mary was given the title of Princess of Wales, which was usually given to the heirs of the crown. The girl was 9 years old at that time, and she was already engaged for the second time - to the son of the Holy Roman Emperor.
Mary's life changed dramatically in 1527 when Henry divorced her mother, Catherine of Aragon. The young princess was declared illegitimate and removed from the palace. The biggest stumbling block was religion. Catherine of Aragon raised her only daughter as a rabid Catholic, and her father demanded that she convert to Protestantism. The girl refused. When Henry married Anne Boleyn and she bore him a second daughter, Mary was returned to court and assigned to the “legitimate” Princess Elizabeth. The new queen did not particularly favor her stepdaughter and often pulled her ears.
However, Anne Boleyn did not stay on the royal throne for long, and soon Mary reluctantly recognized her father as the “Supreme Head of the Church of England.” After that, the retinue due to the princess was returned to her. And soon the king married for the third time. His wife turned out to be a sweet and kind woman who not only gave birth to his long-awaited son, but also warmed his daughters. Unfortunately, another stepmother died shortly after the birth of the child.
By the time of Henry VIII's death, Mary was already 31 years old. She did not marry during her father’s lifetime, and after his death, her marriage even became dangerous for those around her young brother, the king. Therefore, she was kept away from the palace and from possible suitors for her hand. Young Edward was brought up with a deep dislike for his older sister. The 9-year-old boy was a staunch Protestant, and his sister Maria was an equally staunch Catholic. It was this contradiction that prompted him to deprive Mary of the right to inherit the throne.
Of course, Maria did not accept this will. Having learned about Edward's death, she came to London. The fleet and army went over to her side, and the Privy Council declared her queen. The unfortunate Jane Gray, appointed by Edward as his heir, was executed.
Upon ascending the throne, Mary first faced the same problem as her father: she desperately needed an heir. At that time, she was almost 38 years old, and she was not particularly beautiful. However, as soon as she received the throne, a groom was immediately found for her - the heir to the Spanish throne, Philip, who was 12 years younger than her. He agreed to marry Maria for purely political reasons; he rarely came to England, where he was not particularly favored. But Maria, judging by the letters and reviews of her contemporaries, had rather tender feelings for him.
Mary's other important tasks were to strengthen Catholicism in England and revive the country, which had become impoverished under Edward. Mary's reign, which began with the execution of Jane Gray, who was just a pawn in the hands of cunning relatives, was marked by a series of arrests and executions of Protestants. About three hundred people - especially ardent Protestants and representatives of the Anglican Church - were burned at the stake. Even those who agreed to convert to Catholicism were not spared. All these people were not just Protestants, it was through their efforts that the Reformation took place in England, and, accordingly, the split of the country. But the cruelty with which they were executed led to the fact that during the reign of Elizabeth I, Mary was given the nickname Bloody.
Medieval Europe was a world of merciless epidemics that claimed tens of thousands of lives and made no distinction between commoners and nobles. The Queen of England was no exception. The disease progressed rather sluggishly, and Maria had time to think about the future of her country. Her marriage to Philip never brought England the desired heir. The only heir remained a Protestant sister born to Anne Boleyn. On November 8, 1558, Mary conveyed her verbal blessing to Elizabeth, and on November 17 she died.
Mary Tudor, who ruled England for only a few years, became quite an iconic figure in the history of the country. She became the first woman on the English throne. But, alas, she also became a queen, for whom not a single monument was erected in her homeland. The day of her death was celebrated in England as a national holiday, and her entire reign is remembered as a series of brutal executions, for which her descendants called her Bloody Mary.
Good Queen Bess, or the last of the Tudors
On September 7, 1533, London froze in anticipation: the second wife of King Henry VIII, his adored Anne, was about to give birth to a child. And England, led by its king, was looking forward to its son. Their hopes were not destined to come true: the child was born healthy and strong, but alas, it was just another girl. The king was terribly disappointed. However, this did not stop him from organizing lavish celebrations in honor of the birth of his daughter, who was given the name Elizabeth - in honor of the king's mother.
Time passed, but Anna never gave her the long-awaited son. This time the king was more decisive than in the case of Catherine of Aragon; he did not wait 20 years for his next wife to give him an heir. Henry had no reason to divorce Anne Boleyn, but he had reasons to fabricate charges of treason against her. When Anne Boleyn was executed, Elizabeth was not even three years old. Like her older sister Mary, the girl was declared illegitimate and removed away from the royal court.
A series of wives followed, and some of them treated Elizabeth quite kindly. Alas, three of Henry’s four wives, whom the girl knew, met early deaths. It is generally accepted that the execution of Henry's fifth wife, Kate Howard, made such a strong impression on Elizabeth that she decided never to marry. However, some historians believe that this decision was made due to certain physical and mental defects of the princess.
Despite the fact that Elizabeth was recognized as illegitimate, her father was concerned about giving her an excellent education. Moreover, the young heir to the throne, Edward, also studied with her for some time. Elizabeth and Edward were very close; during the reign of Edward VI, Elizabeth was next to him. The death of her brother was a real blow for her, as was his will, which deprived her of her rights to the throne.
The reign of sister Mary became another test for Elizabeth. Religion continued to be the main stumbling block. Mary began to actively restore the position of the Catholic Church in England, which led to violent resistance from Protestants, who not only weaved secret intrigues, but also started outright riots. Regardless of whether Elizabeth took part in these protests or not, she - the Protestant heiress - always became their symbol. Elizabeth survived imprisonment in the Tower and exile. However, despite all the hardships of life, she remained the heir to the English throne.
At the insistence of the Privy Council and her husband Philip, Mary Tudor recognized her unloved sister as her heir a few days before her death. This is how Elizabeth Tudor became Queen of England. London greeted her arrival with thunderous applause.
The new queen was 25 years old. By the standards of that time, this was a respectable age, but she looked much younger than her peers, was friendly and followed fashion trends. In a word, she had everything that Maria lacked. Unlike her sister, Elizabeth did not settle scores with representatives of a religion alien to her. Moreover, one of her first acts was the creation of the “Act of Uniformity,” in which she announced that she would follow the course of the Reformation, but did not prohibit Catholics from celebrating Mass according to the Catholic rite. Thus, Elizabeth extinguished all hints of civil war in the exhausted country.
Elizabeth was haunted by the same Tudor curse that plagued her father and sister: she needed an heir. However, faithful to the decision made in her youth not to get married, at first she gently, and over time, more and more harshly rejected any suitors who were persistently matched to her. There was only one man in her life, whom evil tongues called her lover, which Elizabeth herself categorically denied, claiming that there was “never anything vulgar” between them. This was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, whose brother was married to the unfortunate “nine-day queen” Jane Grey. Robert and Elizabeth had a friendship from childhood that lasted until the count's death. Elizabeth trusted him so much that she even appointed him Lord Protector when she was seriously ill.
The policy of Elizabeth I (and she ruled for 45 years) was distinguished by thoughtfulness and frugality. She was also quite careful in her foreign policy. However, this did not stop her from getting involved in the war of the two queens, as the conflict between Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and wife of the French king Francis II, is often called. Mary considered herself a more legitimate contender for the English throne than Elizabeth, who bore the stigma of being illegitimate. Other heirs also laid claim to the throne of England, each of whom was related to the founder of the Tudor dynasty. However, Elizabeth managed to stop all these attempts. In the case of Mary - by execution.
During the reign of Elizabeth, England not only rose from its knees, to which it had been reduced by religious strife and waste of previous rulers, but also became a great power. Thanks to the personal efforts of Elizabeth, who financed and encouraged seafarers, the English fleet, which was founded under her grandfather Henry VII, became a thunderstorm of the seas, displacing even the Spanish fleet. The English pirate Francis Drake is world famous, who, in addition to smashing Spanish ships, bringing considerable income not only to himself, but also to England, also made an invaluable gift to all of Europe, bringing potato tubers from his travels. For his contribution to the fight against the Spaniards and the contribution of huge funds to the royal treasury, Elizabeth awarded Drake a knighthood.
Despite the fact that Henry VIII could not even imagine that a woman would ascend the English throne, his daughter managed to become one of the greatest rulers in the history of this state. Elizabeth actively developed the country's internal economy and economic relations with other countries, encouraged the development of the arts, during her reign the first English colony in America was founded, and the fleet became the most powerful in the world.
However, the Tudor curse remained: the queen never married and did not give England an heir. There are stories in historical literature that say that Elizabeth and Robert Dudley had a son whom they had to give up to be raised. However, there is no reliable confirmation of these stories. And even if this child really existed, his mother decided that he should not play a significant role in the future fate of England. On her deathbed, Elizabeth Tudor bequeathed the throne to the Scottish king James VI, who was the great-great-grandson of the founder of the Tudor dynasty. Ironically, he was the son of the same Mary Stuart, with whom Elizabeth fought for almost half of her life and whom she executed...
Despite a drop of Tudor blood, which allowed him to be declared heir, James became the founder of a new dynasty on the English throne. The Tudor Age ended on March 24, 1603 with the death of Elizabeth I.
The throne was inherited by Henry and Jane's son Edward IV (1537-1553). A responsible and well-read young man would have made a good monarch, but Edward was in poor health and died at the age of 15. At the instigation of the nobleman John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Edward bequeathed the crown to his cousin Lady Jane Gray (Dudley promptly married his son to her). Contrary to her wishes, Lady Jane was proclaimed queen, but nine days later she was overthrown by her rightful heir, Mary Tudor (1516-1558). Under Mary, the Reformation in England turned 180 degrees: a devout Catholic made every effort to restore Catholicism in her power. Since Protestantism had not yet taken root, the British calmly accepted the return of the Latin Mass. But Mary’s intention to marry the Spanish Prince Philip alerted them. The Queen was fascinated by Philip, but the twenty-seven-year-old Spaniard was not attracted to the withered virgin (38 years old by those standards was already a respectable age).
Quite soon, he began to flirt with her ladies-in-waiting, and then left his wife altogether, returning to his native Spain. Suffering from loneliness and the inability to get pregnant, Maria took it out on the heretics. Over 4 years, about 300 Protestants were burned. The Anglican Bishop Latimer was right when he proclaimed from the scaffold; “Today we will light a candle that will never go out.” With her atrocities, Mary earned the nickname “Bloody,” and her subjects finally hated Catholicism—you can’t force yourself to be nice. The end of Mary's reign was overshadowed both by the loss of Calais, England's last possession on French soil, and by personal drama: the illness that she mistook for a long-awaited pregnancy turned out to be uterine cancer. "Bloody Mary" was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth, whose reign the British call the "golden one" century." It was the era of poets and playwrights (Shakespeare's star rose), shrewd politicians and brave pirates. In her childhood and adolescence, Elizabeth suffered many hardships - the death of her mother on the chopping block, her father’s decision to recognize her as illegitimate, the execution of her stepfather Thomas Seymour, Catherine Parr’s fourth husband.
In 1554, the suspicious Mary kept her younger sister in prison for a couple of months, and then exiled her to Oxfordshire. Mary's death was a gift of fate for Elizabeth. The new queen was not at all like her withdrawn sister, who exhausted herself with fasts and vigils. Elizabeth turned out to be an active, wise and insightful woman, an inflexible politician and a witty interlocutor. She knew French, Italian, ancient Greek and Latin, was excellent in the saddle, adored grandiose balls, but at the same time she was distinguished by her economy. Only one feature of the queen caused concern - she was in no hurry to get married. Perhaps the injury received at the court of Henry VIII had an effect. Death from childbirth or on the scaffold, the situation of things that are brought to the bride and sent away as unnecessary - this is the fate of a married woman. Elizabeth wanted to control her own destiny. In the end, the British accepted her choice and even admired the Virgin Queen, who was married to her state. Poets compared her to the chaste Diana, the goddess of the hunt, and sailors named the American colony of Virginia in her honor. The queen basked in the rays of popular love. Although Scotland also converted to Protestantism and became much closer to England than to its longtime ally France, Elizabeth did not trust the Scottish queen Mary Stuart (1542-1587). She remained faithful to Catholicism and considered herself the legitimate heir to the English throne. In 1567, Mary was deposed and fled to England for protection, but the presence of a high-born Catholic woman was too much of a temptation for the English “papists.” Elizabeth considered it reasonable to place Mary under arrest, and in 1587 she signed her death warrant. The main enemy of England remained Spain, the stronghold of Catholicism and the mistress of the seas. The Spaniards reacted nervously to the development of the English fleet, especially since England supported Francis Drake and other pirates who robbed Spanish ships. In 1588, a serious threat loomed over England: the “Invincible Armada,” 130 heavy ships, sailed to its shores. But the English ships, although not numerous, were distinguished by their maneuverability and gave a good beating to the clumsy Spanish ships. It seemed as if nature itself was protecting Britain: a powerful wind carried the Spanish ships north, away from the English shores.
The remnants of the Armada had to go around Scotland and Ireland, losing ships in storms and wrecks. The English were confident in God's protection and the power of their state. As soon as Elizabeth breathed her last, the messengers galloped at full speed to Scotland, where King James VI (1566-1625) was waiting for news. Ironically, Elizabeth’s successor was the son of Mary Stuart, who was executed by her: the Scottish king ascended to the English throne under the name James I. Opinions about the new monarch were divided. On the one hand, the British had difficulty understanding his accent and mocked his unkempt manners and unsightly appearance. In addition, Yakov showed homosexual tendencies. His favorite was George Villiers (1592-1628), the first Duke of Buckingham, and the whole country rejoiced when in 1628 the royal favorite fell victim to an assassination attempt (Alexandre Dumas very freely described this episode in The Three Musketeers). On the other hand, James maintained stability at home and abroad. One of the greatest achievements of his reign was the translation of the Bible into English, which was used by all English-speaking countries for several centuries in a row. The pious king dealt with both witches (under him, witch trials flourished) and Catholics. In 1605, the Gunpowder Plot was uncovered to blow up Parliament and kill the king. In memory of the miraculous salvation of the monarch, every November 5th the British burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes, one of the participants in the conspiracy.
Defending the “divine right” of kings, James I quarreled with parliament, and his son Charles I (1600–1649) took the conflict to a qualitatively new level. Timid and withdrawn, Charles did not get along well with those around him, with the exception of Buckingham, who managed to lose several important battles to the French. The British were even more upset by Charles's marriage to the French Catholic Henrietta Maria. Several times parliamentarians expressed their indignation to the monarch, until in 1629, tired of complaints, he dissolved parliament. For the next 11 years, the king ruled alone, but in 1639 and 1640. was forced to convene advisers again. The Crown needed funds for the war with Scotland, where a serious conflict broke out over the introduction of Anglican worship there (the Scots belonged to an even more strict branch of Protestantism - Presbyterianism). Taught by bitter experience, the parliamentarians were in no hurry to disperse. The Long Parliament began, the majority of which belonged to the Puritans, ardent opponents of any Catholic remnants (including such lovely customs as Christmas pudding and May Day festivities). In 1642, the confrontation between the king and parliament resulted in a civil war (in Soviet historiography it was called the “English bourgeois revolution”).
The war split the country: the west took the side of the king, while the east, including London, supported the “roundheads” (the soldiers of parliament received this nickname for their short haircuts). The leader of the rebels was the Cambridge landowner Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), a brilliant military leader and unyielding politician. When the Scots defected to the Parliamentarian camp in 1644, Charles had to fight on two fronts, and the outcome of the civil war was a foregone conclusion. After the defeat at Marstonmoor, the king lost the north, and in 1646 surrendered to the Scots, who handed it over to the Parliamentarians a year later. In January 1649, Charles appeared in court on charges of crimes against the fatherland. Although the king denied to the last that he, God's anointed, could be judged by mere mortals, this did not stop Parliament from signing his death warrant. On a frosty January day, the king went to Whitehall Palace for the last time. In order not to shiver from the cold, he put on two undershirts in case onlookers would think that the monarch was shaking with fear. After his execution, England was proclaimed a republic, and in 1653 Cromwell was granted the title of Lord Protector.
(1491-1547) was distinguished by an extremely cruel and unpredictable character. To this we can add that he loved women extremely and married many times. The wives of Henry VIII are a separate issue. There were 6 of them in total. The crown bearer lived the longest with his first wife. Her name was Catherine of Aragon(1485-1536). This was her second marriage. And in the first, she was married to Prince Arthur (the older brother of the English king), who died at a young age in 1502. In 1509, Catherine united herself by the bonds of Hymen with her younger brother, who ascended the throne.
This marriage continued until January 1533, but it did not bring happiness to either the husband or the wife. The couple had a girl in 1516, who was named Maria. There were 2 more children, but they died as babies. The king dreamed of an heir to continue the Tudor dynasty. But nothing worked out with the first wife. I had to part with her after so many years of family life. But the Catholic Church was categorically against divorce. As a result of this, the king declared the English Church independent, and gave himself a divorce.
Catherine of Aragon (left) and Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn became the second wife of the loving crowned prince in 1533.(1507-1536). This woman had a strong and strong-willed character. Her husband tried his best to please her. He even ordered the execution of those members of the nobility who opposed this marriage. In September 1533, Anna gave birth to a girl instead of the expected boy. The husband's disappointment knew no bounds. True, the girl was not easy, and the future Queen of England Elizabeth I, but who could have known about it at that time.
The second birth ended unsuccessfully: the child was stillborn. The crowned husband gradually began to cool towards his wife. And she organized lavish holidays and bought insanely expensive jewelry in the absence of her husband. In the end, the king got tired of all this. In May 1536, Anne Boleyn was accused of cheating on her husband, and the woman was brought to trial.
She was accused of witchcraft and incest. Allegedly, she was sexually active with her brother. To these accusations they also added a conspiracy against the king. But the most outrageous thing was the ridicule of the poems that the crowned husband composed in his leisure hours.
Execution of Anne Boleyn
The court's decision was harsh and merciless. Anne Boleyn was sentenced to death. At that time, 2 types of deprivation of life were used in England. This is burning at the stake and beheading. The right to choose the method of death belonged to the king. He ordered that his unfaithful wife’s head be cut off, but not with an ax, as had always been the practice, but with a sword. The French executioners were good with the sword, but the British were not skilled in this matter. Therefore, I had to order a specialist from France.
The execution took place on May 19, 1536. The Queen wore a luxurious dress made of green silk, trimmed with red at the bottom. She hung a gold cross on her chest and pulled white gloves on her hands. She clutched the Bible to her chest, and so climbed onto the scaffold. In front of the scaffold, she took off her hat and knelt down. She was blindfolded with a white scarf. After this, the woman laid her head on the block, and the executioner waved his sword and cut off her head. The king, who observed all this, immediately ordered everyone to have fun.
Jane Seymour (left) and Anna of Cleves
Third wife was Jane Seymour(1508-1537). She gave birth to an heir to the throne, who was named Edward. But after giving birth, the woman fell ill with childbed fever and died.
The next wife was Anna Klevskaya(1515-1567). But the crown bearer married her not out of love, but out of political calculation. Anna was the sister of the Duke of Cleves. The lands under his command were part of the Holy Roman Empire. This marriage cemented the alliance of the German princes and the king of England.
Everything would be fine, but Henry VIII did not like the appearance of his new wife when she arrived in England. The wedding took place in January 1540, and already in June the newlyweds separated. The reason was the previous engagement of Anne of Cleves to the Duke of Lorraine. But the woman did not leave England. She remained as the “king’s sister.” Until her death, she remained at court and died only 10 years after the start of the reign of Elizabeth I.
The fifth wife was Catherine Howard(1521-1542). This was a very young lady with whom His Majesty fell passionately in love. The wedding took place in July 1540. After this, the king was transformed. It seemed that his youth had returned to him. Masquerades and balls began to be held at court. But the young wife found herself with a tarnished past. She had lovers before marriage and had no intention of living differently after marriage. Almost immediately after the wedding, the betrayals began. It soon became clear that the girl was engaged to one of her suitors.
When the king found out about all this, he became furious. The lovers were executed, and the unfaithful wife herself ended up on the scaffold on February 13, 1542. The poor thing was in a state of shock, so they practically carried her to the place of execution. The unfortunate woman's head was placed on the block, and the executioner, swinging an ax, separated it from the body. There was no fun after this execution. Everyone left in a depressed state.
Catherine Howard (left) and Catherine Parr
The last sixth wife was Catherine Parr(1512-1548). She married Henry in 1543. The far from young autocrat lived with her until his death in 1547. All these years he was seriously ill. But the wife did not give any reason for additional grief. This was her third husband. The women had extensive experience of family life, which excluded suspicion and betrayal.
Thus, it is clear that all the wives of Henry VIII were completely different women in character and appearance. All of them found themselves at the top of life, but some did not stand the test of success. Therefore, the end for these ladies turned out to be different. And taking into account the harsh morals of the 16th century, 2 of them ended their lives on the scaffold.
C The reign of Henry the Eighth, the second Tudor king, was one of the longest and best documented in English history. Everyone knows the events of his personal life, which would have been more than enough for three men, not one: six wives, two of whom he executed, divorced one, and abandoned the other, declaring the marriage invalid. A brief biography of some of his wives could be summarized in one line:
Divorced, Beheaded, Died; Divorced, executed, died
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. Divorced, executed, survived..
Next, there is confusion with children, who is illegitimate and who is not. In order to gain freedom in his personal life, he broke with the pope, who did not approve of divorce, and became the evil Pinocchio’s own head of the church, simultaneously executing everyone who did not have time to adapt.
Despite the fact that the TV series “The Tudors” and also the film “The Other Boleyn Girl” portray King Henry as a muscular, handsome brunette, in reality he, of course, was not one. Or was it?
At the age of sixteen they wrote about him: “A talented rider and knight, he is popular among his associates for his ease of handling.” When Henry the Eighth turned fifty, it was said of him: “He was old before his age...he was often quick-tempered, easily angered, and increasingly succumbing to black depression as the years passed.”
It is interesting to trace the changes in the king’s appearance, which reflected not only the natural passage of time, but also the events that happened to him.
So, on June 28, 1491, King Henry the Seventh and his wife Elizabeth of York had a second son, who was named after his father.
I think it was an angel with golden curls and light eyes. True, the child was extremely spoiled, he even had his own whipping boy, who was punished for the little prince’s hooliganism.
Prince Henry grew up to be a well-educated and well-read man, fluent in French and Latin and Spanish, well versed in mathematics, heraldry, astronomy and music, and interested in science and medicine. He was a true man of the Renaissance - he loved art, poetry, painting, and at the same time, he was sincerely pious.
Importantly, academic knowledge did not prevent him from becoming a tall, handsome, well-built athlete and a passionate hunter; By the way, I loved...tennis. However, the lack of discipline in education, unbridled character, reluctance to study what is not interesting, traits that are forgivable for the second son of the king, later brought him and England many problems during his reign.
The Venetian envoy wrote about the young prince that he was the most handsome of the monarchs he had taken away, above average height, with slender and beautifully shaped legs, with very fair skin, with bright, reddish-brown hair, cut short in the French fashion; the round face was so beautiful that it would have suited a woman; his neck was long and strong.
The fact that the prince was well built is confirmed by the size of his youthful armor: 32 inches at the waist and 39 inches at the chest (81 cm and 99 cm). His height was and remained 6 feet 1 inch, which is equal to about 183 cm, if I’m not mistaken, with a weight of 95 kg. He also had good health: in his youth he only had a mild case of smallpox, and periodically suffered, also in a mild form, from malaria, which was common in Europe at that time (there were many swamps that have now been drained).
Portrait of 18-year-old Henry (where, in my opinion, he somehow looks an awful lot like his great-uncle, Richard III).
And this is young Prince Hal through the eyes of a modern artist.
Armor of young Henry (left) and armor of Henry in his 40s (right)
Henry in 1521 (age 30)
Portrait of Henry aged 34-36 Age 36-38
In the eyes of his subjects, the young king, who ascended the throne after his miserly father, who sent his last surviving relatives after the Battle of Bosworth to the scaffold or into exile, who had not convened parliament for ten years, was the personification of a new wonderful hero. “If a lion knew his strength, it is unlikely that anyone would be able to cope with him,” Thomas More wrote about him.
His reign proceeded more or less smoothly until the king reached the age of 44.
Henry at the age of 40: the prime of his life
By this time, the king had already divorced Catherine of Aragon and married the clever Anne Boleyn, but the turbulent events did not particularly affect his health: until 1536 he had no problems with it, except for a gradual increase in weight. Judging by the very detailed ordinance he personally drew up regarding the royal table, the king had what is called a brutal appetite for meat, pastries and wine. Hence the fullness that is already present in the portrait at the age of 40, which is not present in the portrait of 30-year-old Henry (see above). Yes, the king was a womanizer and a glutton, but he had not yet become Bluebeard and a tyrant.
What happened in January 1536 at the tournament in Greenwich? Already quite obese, Henry could not stay in the saddle and fell in his armor from his horse, which also wore armor. The horse then fell on top of him. The king was unconscious for two hours, his legs were crushed and most likely suffered from several fractures. There was justifiable fear for his health, so much so that Queen Anne suffered a miscarriage: unfortunately, it was a boy. As if this were not enough, the king's illegitimate son, the young Duke of Richmond, soon died, and Anne was soon accused of adultery.
The fractures and other wounds healed at first, but soon the king began to suffer not only from headaches, but also from chronic, extensive, wet, purulent ulcers on his legs. Because of the pain, he could not speak and was silent for ten days in a row, suppressing a torn cry. Doctors tried unsuccessfully to heal these ulcers by piercing them with a hot iron, or excising them without allowing them to heal in order to “help the infection come out along with the pus.” Also, most likely, the king had been suffering from diabetes for a long time by this time (hence the incurability of ulcers). Is it any wonder that physical suffering, coupled with the consequences of a head injury, completely changed the character of the monarch?
Now researchers claim that as a result of an injury at a tournament in 1536, Henry the Eighth suffered damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, which are responsible for self-control, perception of signals from the external environment, social and sexual behavior. In 1524, when he was 33 years old, he also suffered a minor injury when he forgot to lower his visor and the tip of an enemy's spear struck him hard above his right eye. This gave him recurring severe migraines. But in those days they did not know how to treat brain injuries, as well as diabetes.
Those around him knew about the king's health, but everyone who dared to open their mouth was accused of treason and sent to the scaffold. Henry could give an order in the morning, cancel it by lunchtime, and then be furious when he learns that it has already been carried out.
From that moment on, a new, dark stage of the reign began.
The king's most passionate desire at this point was to obtain an heir to continue the Tudor dynasty. Multiplied by the serious psychological changes that occurred to him after 1536, this desire resulted in a series of impulsive and cruel actions for which Henry is famous to this day. It is more than likely that the king suffered by that time from a lack of potency. Even the actual fulfillment of his dream with the birth of his son from Jane Seymour, Edward, could not change anything.
Heinrich is about 49 years old
Henry VIII and the guilds of barbers and surgeons (the king was very interested in medicine, and these guilds were created under his patronage). The king is 49 years old on the canvas.
Detail of a 1545 portrait showing Henry, Edward and - posthumously - Jane Seymour.
And this is the entire portrait, on the left and on the right - the king’s two daughters.
Despite his painful condition, his spirit was stronger than his body, and Henry lived for another eleven years. Ignoring doctors' prohibitions, he traveled a lot, continuing his active foreign policy, hunted and... ate much more. The makers of a History Channel documentary recreated his diet based on surviving sources: the king consumed up to 13 meals daily, consisting mainly of lamb, chicken, beef, venison, rabbit and a variety of feathered birds like pheasant and swan, he could drink 10 pints (1 pint = 0.57 l) of ale a day, as well as wine. Although, on the other hand, it is also possible that this was only the king’s menu, offered to him by the cooks, and by no means what he actually ate. But...
With the impossibility of his previous mobility, he quickly gained weight and by the age of fifty he weighed...177 kilograms! Judging again by his armor, his waist from 81 cm in girth at the age of 20 grew to 132 cm at the age of about 50. By the end of his life, he could barely walk on his own. The condition of the ulcers on his legs only worsened, they emitted such a strong smell that he announced the approach of the king long before he appeared in the room. Katherine Parr, whom he married in 1543, was more of a nurse than a wife for him, only she could calm the monarch's fits of rage. He died in 1547, exhausted by attacks of fever and regular cauterization of ulcers.
In fact, judging by the armor of the end of his reign, the width of the king's torso was almost equal to his height!
The entire variety of existing portraits of Henry the Eighth is posted on this wonderful resource:
And here in English you can watch the documentary film "Inside the Body of Henry the Eighth"
