So we all know who the eighth monarch in our timeline to go by the name of Henry is? Good!
Henry VIII is normally depicted in history books (or more so the net technology, who’d have it?) as a large man in Tudor dress sporting a beard. When we think of Henry we see the dissolution of the Catholic Church, one of his largest royal actions. No? Ok his 6 wives I know.

King Henry VIII
But I suppose they do fit together, as it was the inability to divorce one of his queens that led him to act so drastically towards the church. The Church of England, being the end result of his marital disagreements. Henry's first wife was the widow of his brother Arthur, his elder brother in fact who died at the young age of fifteen. This helped seal an alliance between England and Spain as Catherine of Aragon was the daughter of King Ferdinand II and queen Isabella of Castile. To make this marriage possible both parties had to ask the pope then Pope Julius II to grant dispensation to avoid religious havoc. In the book of Leviticus it states that if one were to marry his brother’s wife they will remain childless. So to get the popes approval and to avoid claims of affinity, Catherine of Aragon claimed that her marriage to Arthur had not been consummated, although sexual intercourse was normally the act which confirmed a Tudor marriage!
Catherine of Aragon's marital bliss was short lived as we saw the two divorce shortly after.
We then saw (although not personally):
Anne Boleyn beheaded, Jane Seymour die, Anne of Cleves beheaded, Catherine Howard die and his 6th and final wife Catherine Parr outlive the monarch to be buried as a peasant in a pauper's grave.
So we are all aware that Henry VIII was a man who took action, a man who was strong-minded and willing to see the death of his own wives. Although, not many of us are aware of his love for verse!
It is said that the folk song ‘Greensleeves’ came about during Henry’s courting of his second wife Anne Boleyn. Henry had many a trouble trying to convince Anne Boleyn to become his queen. In hopes of wooing the pending victim of decapitation, Henry took quill in hand and penned the lyrics that we have seen put to music, becoming Greensleeves long after his death. The title Greensleeves we believe came into being as Anne Boleyn was a lover of green and like most Tudor women, wore long sleeves that covered the wrists.
Henry’s poetry led to a trend emerging within the Tudor courts where a knight would often uses poetry to woo his woman. Many a poet would find pay by writing poems to sell to knights of the realm to use as their own in hopes of obtaining their sweetheart’s hand in marriage.
The early court of King Henry VIII was summarised by himself in verse:
"Pastime with good company
I love and shall until I die,
Grudge who lust, yet none deny,
So god be pleased, thus live will I.
For my pastance, hunt and sing and dance,
My heart is set;
All goodly sport to my comfort,
Who shall let?
Youth must have some dalliance
Of good or ill some pastance;
Company methinks then best
All thought and fancies to deist;
For idleness is chief mistress
Of vices all;
Then who can say, but mirth and play
Is best of all.
Company and honesty
Is virtue, vices to flee;
Company is good or ill,
But every man hath his free will:
The best ensue, the worst eschew;
My mind shall be
Virtue to use, vice to refuse,
Thus shall I use me."
The poetry of the early period was collected and made into an anthology of Tudor works, namely Tottel's Miscellany. Although, sadly, many of the works were not of much quality. We also saw evidence of satire used within the kingdom in Skelton’s works but these were also not of much value to the reader.
We see more evidence of poetry in King Henry’s courts upon the remarriage of his sister Mary to the duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon.
This is shown within a painting of the wedding, where we see a fool of the court whispering into the duke’s ear;
"Cloth of gold do not despise
Though thou be matched with cloth of frieze;
Cloth of frieze be not too bold
Though thou be matched with cloth of gold."
The wedding itself must not of been very enjoyable for the duke as he was amongst many guests who had been keen to see his execution. Suffice to say the party was kept very low key!
During Henry’s courting of Anne Boleyn he had a competitor in the form of poet Thomas Wyatt. The two had many dispute, it was said that Boleyn encouraged the poet’s advances. There is not much evidence of the relationship between himself and the soon to be queen of Henry. I am guessing that Anne Boleyn is currently kicking herself for not choosing the hand of Wyatt, as her lifespan would have been much greater!
One of the four pieces we see written by Wyatt is as follows;
“What word is it that changeth not,
Tho' it be turned and made in twain?
It is mine Anna, god it wot,
And eke the causer of my pain,
Who love rewarded with disdain."
Although, Wyatt gave up on his advances after finding another woman upon which to focus his verse, which may have been Elizabeth Darrell who he was later involved with.
Throughout the reign of the famous Tudor monarch there are many more examples of poetry. Had the king not been so passionate about the pastime one wonders whether there would have such early examples of verse?
Suffolk also wrote his fair share of rhyming lines of language. One example we see is his epitaph for Henry Howard Earl of Surrey upon his death following a journey to Falmouth at instruction of the king which he sadly did not complete;
"A tongue that serv’d in foreign realms his king,
Whose courteous talk to virtue did influence
Each noble heart; a worthy guide to bring"
So, Henry was not the hard man we all believe him to be. He was indeed a good and very popular king with a much softer side. He became the muse of many a Tudor poet.
So to Henry I say;
Thou art a monarch of virtue,
A king who saw six wives,
We often speak of you,
And how cousins Howard and Boleyn, at thou hands died,
Yet many doth not know,
Many doth not see,
The inner monarch whom so chose,
To practise prose and poetry.
Anne of Cleves was not beheaded. Her appearance repulsed King Henry and he could not consummate the marriage. He divorced her with a handsome settlement and treated her as "his honored sister" in the English court, although she could not remarry.
Catherine Howard was a little whore and was beheaded for adultry.
"Catherine of Aragon’s marital bliss was short lived as we saw the two divorce shortly after." This is not true at all. They married in 1509 and the marriage dissolved in 1533 — 24 years later, to be exact. Where are you getting your information?
@christy
Sorry, yes your right, my mistake. It was annuled 23rd of may 1533, due partly to intervention from anne boleyn. Although, i doubt they ever were in a state of marital bliss as henry was 'seeing' mary , anne boleyns sister during the marriage. Henry had lost interest in catherine due to the fact she was unable to produce a surving male child, she gave birth to two that died within a 2 months of arrival. The poor woman suffered the deaths of 4 children leaving only her penultamate child mary to suvive. Each of these increased henry's loss of interest.
In fact the new queen and himself celebrated upon her death.
So yes agreed, it was not shortlived.Thank you for pointing that out.
Ann of Cleves was not beheaded.
Many errors. Catherine and Henry were married for over 20 years, not a few. Anne of Cleves was divorced, not beheaded. Katherine Howard was beheaded. basic historical facts.
Your knowledge of history is rubbish as is your knowledge of the religious situation in England under Henry VIII.
As previous guests have pointed out, Henry married Catherine of Aragon when he was 17 in 1509, and he 'divorced' her under new English Law in May 1533. He did not seperate from her until 1531 and he did not begin proceedings until 1527 officially, although some secret proceedings and enquiries were made to test the validity of the marriage in 1525. He was married to Katherine for 24 years, and if you believe his marriage to Anne to have been invalid and his divorce a sham, as the Catholic Church did, then he was still married to Katherine at the time of her death in January 1536. Henry had respected the Holy Father up to 1532, and he decided to break from Rome in order to gain his divorce and because he had not yet got the decision that he wanted and he could not wait anymore. By Janauary 1533, Anne Boleyn was pregnant and he no longer had a choice but to marry her without the Pope's consent. They were married on 25th January, 1533 and the divorce was declared in England by Cramner in May 1533. However, the Pope, Clement VII decided for Katherine on 25th March 1534 and told Henry he had six months to get back to his wife or face the consequences. Henry was excommunicated as he would not obey, as for him the decision was too late and his re-modelling of the church in England had already began.
Unfortunately for both Henry and Anne, despite three attempts all she produced was the future Elizabeth I and two miscarried male children. Henry lost patience with her and got Cromwell to find a way out of the marriage, because by now he had found her replacement, Jane Seymour. It is correct to say that Anne was beheaded, but it is possible that she was not guilty of the charges and the victim of Henry's personal vendetta against her.
Jane, not Katherine Howard, is the one who died, 12 days after giving birth to Edward VI, and she is burried with Henry and was celebrated as the mother of his son and the wife that he wanted all of his life.
Anne of Cleves was not beheaded. She was mismatched to Henry and he disliked her. It is always assumed that he beleived her to be ugly, but there is no evidence for this. There may have been no real attraction, or that she had something else about her that put him off and I dare say that given by this time, Henry was now over-weigt and sadly had ulcers on his legs from his fall in 1536, the feeling was probably mutural.
Anne agreed to an honorable divorce or annullment after six months and was indeed treated as and given the title of the Kings Sister. She gained two royal palaces and several houses, a large sum of money, a pension and several items of gifts and jewellary and Henry spent a lot of time with her after the divorce. She also got on well with the kings children, and Mary gave her a royal tomb in Westmister Abbey and a fantastic funeral.
Katherine Howard was 17 when she married the king and the marriage was a disaster. Despite having a good sex life, Katherine wanted her cake and eat it; and had at least two lovers after her marriage and several prior to this. She deserved to be beheaded on 13th February 1542.
Henry was much wiser in his final choice of wife and may have only married again as he needed care in his last few years. Katherine Parr was a woman of charm and integrity and she was a good mother to the King's children and both nurse and companion to Henry. Her religious beliefs were contentious, as she was of the reformed faith and she later published a book the Laminations of a Sinner that explained her faith. She was a companion to Mary who dedicated a gospel of Saint John in Greek to her, and a mother to Edward and Elizabeth. She was learned and she had a good brain. She was his regent when Henry went to France in 1544 and she may have been meant to be regent to Edward, but Henry's will was changed in 1546. She was not with Henry at the end of his life, not because she was out of favour, but he did not want to upset her. He left her rich and well provided for. She married Thomas Seymour after Henry and died in child bed 18 months later. Her daughter was left in the care of her good friend, Catherine, Dowager Duchess of Suffolk. Although she also had a royal tomb in Sudely and a royal send off, her funeral was simple and the first Protestant Royal Funeral in England.
As to Charles Brandon and Mary getting married surrounded by enemies; there is no evidence for this at all. Some of Henry's council, which is a few people, made demands at first that the Duke pay for the marriage with his life, but they were soon silenced by the Kings support for the couple and his pardon for them. It is not clear how the others felt and unless you have evidence to support your statement, don't make it. There is no evidence either way as to how the wedding guests felt. However they felt, they enjoyed the feasting and jousting that went on for 13 days afterwards!
Cheers
Lyn-Marie