“Who does not tremble when he considers how to deal with his wife For not only is he bound to love her but so to live with her that he may return her to God pure and without stain when God who gave shall demand His own again.” (King Henry VIII) A quote derived from ignorance, greed, gluttony; these are just a few of the characteristics that initially come to mind when the name King Henry VIII presents itself. Known throughout the world for the legends of the King and his six wives, who ruled through fear and paranoia, we can seemingly get lost in this almost “cartoon drawn” teaching tool used to promote loyalty and kindness. While many ensure the king was nothing more than a medieval dictator, it’s equally fair to argue his legacy persists as a lasting contribution to modern Britain as we know it. In this Essay I will be covering the many benefits to King Henry VIII’s rule, and why he may perhaps not be the tyrant so many claim him to be
Henry’s father, King Henry VII, the original monarch of the House of Tudor, came to the throne after a bloody civil war with King Richard III, and became a king who was quite successful in reestablishing the English monarch post-war. He was a man of luxury and enjoyed dancing and art, but also found himself overindulged in his greed, and lost the faith of the people in his dying hour. Thusly upon his death, Henry VIII was tasked with regaining the peoples trust while establishing himself as a respectable leader. (UKTV 2018) “Whoever leads an auspicious life here and governs the commonwealth rightly, as my most noble father did, who promoted all piety and banished all ignorance, has a most certain way to heaven.” (King Henry VIII) So upon the death of his father, King Henry VIII arrested his the two least popular ministers who worked under the previous king, and had them hang, charged with high treason. While this may be perceived as malicious, this was in high support of the people, however this form of dealing with issues did happen to persist throughout the majority of his reign.
While his reign started off quite harsh, Henry is actually quite heavily acknowledged for his sophisticated demeaner. Recognized as one of the most cultured monarchs to ever rule Britain, he was a true patron of the arts, loving music and painting, and actually having written some poetry himself, he can be accredited for developing a cultured age of imagination and expression. He developed a war torn country into that of a cultivator of literature and the arts. Managing to break away from the previous held belief of kings that gluttony and self-indulgence was the only thing meaningful in life, he helped create a landscape for his people to learn and appreciate the emerging ideas at the time.
This isn’t to say Henry was just fascinated with the arts, but he was also well versed in many topics. He was an intellectual that’s talents spanned across a wide variety of matters, such as becoming an expert linguist, having interest with astronomy, being known for his athletic abilities considering his ginormous stature at the time of 6ft 2, far above the average height for anyone at the time, and of course his genius political understanding. (UKTV 2018) Along with his vast array of knowledge also came great charisma, allowing Henry to become known as one of the most charismatic rulers to rule Britain.
Due to his overwhelming charisma, the people at the time admired his lengths taken to secure the county both economically and security wise. Before his reign there was little to no middle class, but with his success in growing and spreading the wealth of the country, he allowed for the worth of currency to rise, and trade to boom. He and his supporting office became well known and well respected for their work done to improve the standard of living.
With the people on his side, it’s clear to see Henry never wanted to be known as the “tyrant” many claim him to be today. He wanted to show strength, not through mindless murder, but through set laws and regulations in the hopes of deterring internal disobedience. He had a strong desire to grow his country into a respected, strong nation equivalent to the super powers of Spain, France, and Rome at the time. This is far easier to perceive in his earlier years ruling over Britain where he was actually a very popular king. But perhaps his anger and harshness that is expressed in his later years was due to the diseased legs that deteriorated into impaired painful oozing logs of flesh by the time of his death, or the head injuries he had received during various sports incidents. (BBC) David Loades best said it, “We are, in fact, perfectly entitled to regard Henry as one of the major political architects who transformed medieval England into the dominant partner of a modern nation state. Whatever judgement we may pass on his faith or his morals, his political achievements justify his historical stature”.
One of the kings most notable accomplishments is his separation from Rome and the Catholic church and the establishment of the Church of England. (BBC) This pivotal point in English history allowed for the origin of modern English identity. “Well beloved subjects, wee thought that the clergy of our realm had been our subjects wholy, but now we have well perceived that they be but half our subjects, yea, and scarce our subjects: for all the prelates at their consecration make another to the pope, clene contrary to the that they make to us, so that they seem to be his subjects, and not ours.” (King Henry VIII) While you may argue King Henry did this solely for selfish reasons, you can’t argue that without this massive shakeup in history England would be able to grow both independently and financially with the intense grip Rome held on it at the time. For at the time the citizens of Britain largely agreed with the protestant beliefs and themselves wished to disassociate with the Roman Catholic traditions. (Jez Ross) With this new and reformed view on faith, the country was even further able to reform itself and explore art, culture, and freedom like it had never before.
One of the ways England was able to distinguish itself once leaving the Roman Catholic church was through Henry’s approval of translating the Bible into English. “Be not judges yourselves of your own fantastical opinions and vain expositions; and although you be permitted to read Holy Scriptures and to have the Word of God in your mother tongue, you must understand it is licensed so to do only to inform your conscience and inform your children and families, not to make Scripture a railing and taunting stock against priests and preachers. I am very sorry to know and hear how irreverently that precious jewel, the Word of God, is disputed, rimed, sung, and jangled in every alehouse and tavern, contrary to the true meaning and doctrine of the same.” (King Henry VIII) Though Henry started the protestant reformation, he wasn’t a big fan of changing up the religion as a whole. Really it became the same thing as the church exempt from the authority of a pope. (BBC) So the Bible still persisted as the main form of worship. His translating of the Bible into English allowed for more of the masses to comprehend what it said, and to this day the English Bible 16th edition is used all throughout the world.
As stated prior, this separation from the catholic church allowed and influx of necessary wealth to fall at the feet of King Henry VIII. Henry was able to dissolve all the monasteries looting their treasures, and take back the land that was once given to the church, once more strengthening the country as a whole. With this additional funding, Henry was thusly able to formulate what would later become one of the fiercest naval armies in history. A navy that without, would have left many battles at a loss including Queen Elizabeth I’s battle against the Spaniards. (Jez Ross) Henry was also able to develop his army into one of the strongest in the world, buying state of the art armor, technologically advanced weaponry, and a defense incomparable to any other army.
Henry, though remarkably vicious to several of his wives, did end up marrying Jane Seymour, a woman who he always deemed his favorite wife, even going as far as to one day be buried next to her, did birth him a son, Edward VI, who would later become the successor after King Henry VIII passed away. Jane However, died due to issues brought on from the birth, and while much of the officials scrambled to get the King married again, Henry was able to focus more on strengthening his country. The most crucial thing he did at this time was passing the Laws in Wales Act of 1535, which annexed Wales. This annexation allowed for England and Wales to unite and form one large country. This both strengthened England as a whole, but also created a time of great stress for the King, pushing him further and further towards a state of great paranoia.
King Henry VIII controlled a freshly established monarchy thrown upon him by a weak predecessor, forced to overcome great obstacle even at the expense of tarnishing his own name. By no means is King Henry a good person. He can be described as selfish and cruel on occasion, but this depends on what lens you choose to view him through. He killed not only some of his own wives, but thousands of Catholics. He chastised the Catholic Church, and any citizen that directly opposed his word. But perhaps it can be said that a king that rules through strict law and unforgiving consequence, can also have a countries best interests in mind. He wanted to protect his county by all means, to provide room for religious interpretation, and encourage the development of art, music, science, and knowledge in general. He wished to economically stabilize his country in order to develop a middle class, and to make certain his nation could reign supreme when pinned against any foe. And whether his actions were done for purely selfish reasons, doesn’t retract from the fact that many of the decisions he made have allowed modern England to develop into the county it is today. So to conclude, there is no proof that King Henry VIII wasn’t a bad person, but it is true that many of his actions resulted in countless good things. Thusly I cannot call him a tyrant, nor a just king, but rather a disciplined man who altered England’s monarchy forever.