“circa Regna tonat:” This Latin phrase can be translated to, ‘thunder rolls around the crown.’ The phrase was used repeatedly in Thomas Wyatt’s poem, V. Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides Circumdederunt me inimici mei (Wyatt). Wyatt scrawled this revealing poem while he watched Queen Anne Boleyn, who was believed to be his former lover, be beheaded by Henry VIII’s authority (Ridgway). “circa Regna tonat” can be used to describe the fear that Henry VIII’s court felt in the later part of his reign as King of England, regnal dates, 1509-1547; Henry’s later years often are what we remember Henry VIII best for because it makes for more interesting content in movies and television series than Henry’s true self was. The phrase is a fitting description for the later part of Henry’s reign because the courtiers did not know where the crown’s lighting was going to strike after they heard the thunder, and the thunder, Henry, was not always aware of the power of his lighting that followed. Scholars argue that while it is true that Henry VIII behaved volatilely during the second half of his life and reign, he was not always like this; believe it or not but, Henry VIII was once a gracious and athletic king that was loved by many. It is important to note his dynamic personality so that Henry VIII can be remembered correctly—as a diverse person that had complex and life-shaping issues to face. Henry VIII is one of the most infamous and immortal monarchs in British history because of his controversial marriages that often ended disastrously, his boisterous personality, and large physical stature. Because Henry had such an unbelievably fascinating and larger-than-life personality, it has been stereotyped and romanticized in books and on the movie and television screen. The media’s constructions of Henry’s personality make us feel like we know the king well, but can we trust this? (“Who was Henry?”) Since the more tragic events of Henry VIII’s life are shown, the general belief of him today is that he was a cruel tyrant. However, it is my belief that Henry VIII did not naturally transform his personality into what some scholars call tyrannical; forces in Henry’s life caused him to change from a friendly lord, enjoyed by his courtiers, subjects, and foreign ambassadors, into the tempered and feared king that we see him portrayed as today. 

Henry VIII was the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Previously, the Wars of the Roses (a civil war between nobles fighting for the crown) had ravaged the country for thirty years; King Henry VII and Elizabeth were married in the conclusion of the war and were now tasked with creating a stronger monarchy that was not as easily torn apart (Amin). The new king and queen of England had three children, Arthur, Henry, and Margaret Tudor. Henry was the middle child and second son, so because of primogenitor rules, much of Henry’s early childhood was not recorded because he was not the focus, his older brother Arthur was. However, everything changed when Arthur, the heir to the English throne and the Prince of Wales, died at age sixteen, right before Henry’s ninth birthday (Elton); this death changed the course of English history because it allowed Henry VIII, one of the most pivotal English monarch of all time, to mark his place in the history books. Whenever Henry became heir to the throne at his brother’s death in 1502, he inherited more than his brother’s title; Henry was now to marry Arthur’s unconsummated wife, Catharine of Aragon, after Henry became of age. This political match was thought smart by a majority of the English kingdom because of Catharine’s powerful and respected lineage. Catharine was the daughter of the very popular and loved Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the two monarchs that created the brand new united kingdom of Spain; the two gained the respect of the Pope by defeating, conquering, and vacating the Muslim population in the Iberian Peninsula, they also were responsible for opening up Spain to the riches of the New World by allowing Columbus to go on his adventure to “India” by going west, and the king and queen were seen as very pious and issued religious laws that reflected that. These two monarchs who were beloved by most, were able to create the Golden Age in Spain because of all the successes they had (“The Golden Age”). The reputation of these two pivotal Spanish monarchs came with Catharine when she was brought over to England so, her arranged marriage to Arthur (then Henry) was very exciting to practically everyone in the kingdom. Henry was crowned King of England in 1509 and married Catharine of Aragon soon after (Elton). The courtiers had great expectations for the young king. Henry VIII was a dashing, muscularly built, six-foot-tall athlete, who was recorded by those around him to have an equally dashing and charismatic personality (“Who Was Henry?”). Sebastian Giustinian, a Venetian ambassador described Henry VIII as “the handsomest potentate I ever set eyes on.” (“Who Was Henry?”) and, Edward Hall, a chronicler, praised Henry’s talents, “I cannot express the gifts of grace and of nature that God has endowed him with all” (“Who Was Henry?”). These first-hand descriptions of Henry VIII show us how Henry was seen in his younger years, as a handsome and capable man and king. Henry was not only seen as athletic though, but well-read as well; in 1515, Ambassador Giustinian recorded that Henry was “so gifted and adorned with mental accomplishments of every sort that we believe him to have few equals in the world.” (“Who Was Henry?”). There is no doubt that Henry VIII’s accession to the throne of England was full of joy and excitement at ushering in the new dashing young king’s reign. The early actions and reign of Henry VIII cannot be described as tyrannical because of all the positive commentary on his friendliness and the great expectations the sixteenth century subjects and courtiers had for his reign.

Henry VIII was beloved by his subjects because of his strong stature and personality in politics. The English subjects all carried the stories of what happened in the past whenever they had a militarily and politically weak king on the throne. One of England’s horribly weak kings was John I, regnal dates, 1199-1216. John I was responsible for the destruction of England’s Angevin Empire. The Angevin Empire lasted briefly and consisted of now-a-days Western France, Northern Ireland, and England. The powerful French king, Philip II, took advantage of John I’s incapacity to rule by starting battles with the English monarch over the Angevin Empire’s French territories; the French were victorious in all battles. These military failures cost the English a lot, including, men, resources, and money. In order for John I to fund this failing army, he had to increase taxes on the noble classes. The English nobles might have been okay with paying increasing taxes for winning battles, but since they only lost, tensions grew, exploding in a noble insurrection and the forced signing of the Magna Carta by John I in 1215, on the fields of Runnymede. John I was seen as a coward and hated by his people, so much so, that it is believed that he was poisoned by monks when he visited an abbey (Wilde). This is just one example of the disastrously weak kings England has had and what the English feared; Henry VIII was the opposite of a faint-hearted yes-man, and a strong king’s rule meant protection and victory in the eyes of the everyday Englishman. Lord Mountjoy, William Blount, wrote about Henry’s accession to the throne in a letter, “The heavens laugh, the earth exults, all things are full of milk, of honey, of nectar. Avarice is expelled from the country… Our King does not desire gold or gems or precious metals, but virtue, glory and immortality” (“Who Was Henry?”). This first-hand account shows that Henry VIII was believed by his court and subjects to be capable of handling any unruly nobles who have plotted against kings for the throne in the past. English subjects felt a sense of safety in Henry’s dominant personality and abilities. Henry VIII cannot be described as a cruel tyrant because he was a strong king and that is what England needed and wanted.

Henry VIII and Catharine of Aragon had a relationship that seemed permeant to everyone, including Henry and Catharine themselves. When looking at events in history, we cannot look at an initial event with the event that follows in mind. With Henry and Catharine, we know that they would not be together forever, but in that moment in time, their marriage to each other seemed permanent. Henry VIII showed he thought his marriage to the Spanish princess was ever-lasting too by having Tudor dynasty roses intertwined with the Spanish pomegranate imbedded in the architecture of Hampton Court Palace (Grueninger). So, it would be a shock to everyone when Henry initiated Henrician church reform to annul his marriage to the beloved, devout Catholic, Catharine of Aragon. It all began when Catharine had repeated miscarriages of Henry’s male heirs. Mary Tudor, born 1516, was the only baby that survived Catharine’s womb. Having a rightful male heir to the throne was critical for Henry to be remembered as a successful king, and Henry VIII was well aware of this fact. In the past, chaos and civil war had ensued over the English throne because there was not a rightful male heir who could be easily chosen through primogenitor. It is true that Henry VIII had daughters but leaving a female heir had not always had the best results either. In the past, the English King Henry I’s, regnal dates, 1100-1135, only son and heir, William Atheling, was lost in the “White Ship Disaster” in 1120. So, in 1127, Henry I proclaimed his daughter, Matilda, as the heir to the throne. Henry I also made all of his nobles promise that at his death, they would honor his wish for Matilda to be the reigning Queen of England. But, alas, at Henry I’s death the nobles rejected Matilda as queen and chose her cousin, Stephan of Blois to be the new king of England; chaos and civil war ensued shortly after this decision (“Matilda—Daughter of Henry”). Henry VIII did not want to be put in the same situation as Henry I by attempting to leave a female heir only. Having a rightful male heir was very important for the preservation of his dynasty and for the future safety of his kingdom. Henry VIII cannot be called a tyrant for his strong desire to have a male heir. All kings that wanted to be seen as having a successful reign, needed a rightful male heir. Therefore, after all of Catharine’s miscarriages, Henry began to think that Catharine was not a real virgin at the time of her marriage to him and that, consequently, God was punishing him for marrying his brother’s wife. These were the terms for annulment that Henry VIII brought to the reigning Pope. Such kingly matters would have easily passed in any other circumstance but, this was not the case because of Catharine’s respected lineage. The Catholic and pure Spanish lineage that was adored by all in Catharine was the very reason that Henry would have such a hard time of getting rid of her; it was also one of the reasons that Henry’s public opinion started to waver in devout Catholic subjects, since Catharine was seen as so devout to the religion. Catharine of Aragon was also the aunt of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V of Spain, who the Pope never dared to cross again after his imprisonment by the him in 1527 to 1528. Another force that caused Henry VIII to seek annulment was Anne Boleyn. Mary Boleyn and Anne Boleyn were daughters of an English nobleman, and the first Earl of Wiltshire, Thomas Boleyn. The Boleyn sisters came to Henry VIII’s court after staying in the French court of Francis I; while in France,  Mary gained an unsavory reputation for being on her back that caused her to be a mistress to Henry VIII before her sister, Anne, was (“Who Is Mary Boleyn? Everything You Need to Know”). Henry VIII was soon infatuated with Anne after she came to his court to become one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting. “The King’s great matter,” as Henry’s quest for annulment became known as, lasted until Henry’s secret marriage to Anne Boleyn and the passing of the Act of Supremacy in 1533 that resulted in the Pope excommunicating Henry VIII (“Act of Supremacy”). The Act of Supremacy placed the reigning English monarch at the head of the Church of England, not the Pope, allowing Henry VIII to have control over the church services and rules in his domain (this is still the case today). Henry VIII made Protestant reformation possible in England because this was the first introduction of Protestant ideas into English politics (Biography.com). The Act of Supremacy also came with an oath of loyalty that Henry VIII’s subjects were forced to take. The oath stated that the subjects would follow and agree with the Act of Supremacy and recognize his marriage to Anne Boleyn as true (“Act of Supremacy”). This, the Henrician Reformation, is where Henry VIII’s actions can be debated as tyrannical or untyrannical. The Oxford English Dictionary’s first definition for the word tyrant is, “One who seizes upon the sovereign power in a state without legal right; an absolute ruler; a usurper.” (“A Matter of Judgement”). This definition refers to a ruler who takes the throne without natrual right and rules without legal boundaries. Henry VIII cannot be called a tyrant under this definition because Henry was given the throne naturally and he did not break any laws of his kingdom. Another definition of tyranny comes from William Thomas in 1548, in the first biography of Henry VIII. Thomas defines tyranny by character, saying that tyranny is “the immoderate satisfaction of an unlawful appetite, when the person, whether by right or wrong, hath power to achieve his sensual will, and that person, also, who by force draws unto him that which of right is not his.” (“A Matter of Judgement”) It is possible to accuse Henry VIII as a tyrant by these standards because he did disregard the mental effect that separating England from Rome would have on his devout Catholic subjects (which would come back to hurt him later on), for his personal needs to annul the marriage he had with Catharine and marry Anne Boleyn. It can also be argued, however, that Henry separating England from the Pope was necessary for him to marry Anne Boleyn to have a male heir; which was key to having a successful reign and to not leaving his subjects in chaos at his death. 

The scholar and curator of research at Hampton Court Palace, Suzannah Lipscomb, calls the year 1536, Henry VIII’s “annus horribilis.” (“Who Was Henry?”). This is because the year 1536 held all the ingredients to turn a gracious king into a tempered and volatile monarch. By the time 1536 started, Anne Boleyn had already given birth to the princess Elizabeth and was three months pregnant with another child. Henry’s accursed year started in January with a serious and detrimental jousting accident. The accident not only knocked the king unconscious, but also opened an old ulcer in his leg that would cause him pain and torment for the rest of his life (Gammell). So, all of the events that followed in that year (and in the rest of his life), Henry faced with debilitating pain from a smelly and pussy opening in his leg; chronic pain is enough to make anyone depressed, much less a king who was known for his athleticism and who had the responsibility of an entire kingdom on his shoulders. Then, shortly after Henry VIII’s life-changing accident, his ex-wife, Catharine of Aragon, died from natural causes on the same day that his current wife, Anne, had a miscarriage of Henry’s long awaited male heir (Gammell). We have already discussed the importance of having a male heir for the English throne so, that loss must have been heart-breaking for Henry. But the death of his ex-wife, whom he was married to for twenty-four years and used to love, on the same day must have made the event earth-shattering for the king. In May of 1536, rumors of Anne being an adulteress with her brother, George Boleyn, and other courtiers surfaced and the girl that Henry loved so dearly was tried and executed (Gammell). Henry had fought hard for the annulment of his marriage with Catharine of Aragon, going as far as changing the whole religion of England so that he could marry Anne Boleyn; now Henry believed that she had cheated on him with her own brother and others so, heart-broken, he sentenced her to death by beheading. This was another life-shaping event for Henry in 1536 that undoubtedly would have changed his outlook on life to be more pessimistic because he felt betrayed by someone he loved most. But it does not stop here, Henry VIII had a not-so-secret ‘bastard’ son, named Henry Fitzroy. Henry VIII named his first son the first Duke of Richmond and Somerset—showing just how proud the king was to have a son. But the young Duke died at age seventeen, shortly after the Boleyn incident, leaving Henry with no son at all (Gammell). Now, after the failed attempts of two wives to give Henry a son and heir, his only son dies after the already tumultuous events of the year so far; the loss of a child is already enough to drive the sanest person into despair and madness. Henry VIII’s annus horribilis still was not over yet though, the condemned year was rounded off with an uprising in the north from Catholic rebels who called their cause the Pilgrimage of Grace. The rebels felt they could be supported after Henry VIII was publicly criticized by his Catholic cousin, the kind of Scotland, for rejecting the Pope. Henry VIII’s armies were outnumbered by the Pilgrimage of Grace and Henry was forced to reach an agreement with the rebels (Gammell). After all of the destructive events that happened in 1536, Henry is having to now swallow the pride he had as a strong king to reach an agreement with traitors to the crown. So, 1536 birthed the Henry VIII that he is mostly remembered for: an obese, cruel, diseased and, personally tyrannical king. The events that took place in Henry VIII’s personal and political life during 1536 changed his character; this cements the fact that Henry VIII was a diverse person and not just one sided.

 In conclusion, Henry VIII possessed qualities that made him a good king of England. He was the strong king that England desired and needed, yet he is still most remembered and shown as the callous king that Henry became after the events in the year 1536. In the first-half of Henry VIII’s reign, he was described as a gracious and athletic king who was loved and enjoyed by many; his subjects and other foreign observers were excited for Henry VIII’s accession and were optimistic about what was to come from him. Henry did not choose to turn into a mean old man in the second part of his life and reign but, the events that occurred in 1536 caused Henry VIII to be seen as the larger-than-life tyrant he is portrayed as today. It is necessary that we note this change in the king’s character in order to honor his reign the best we can. Historical figures, though we cannot see them today, were just people like you and me. We all have pivotal events in our life that make us dynamic, this applies to Henry VIII as well. Henry VIII was not just the character he is presented as in entertainment, he was a real, dynamic king who shaped British history forever.
