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Inventors
of the Modern World
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— FOURTH OF A SERIES —
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Henry
VIII at about age 45 (c. 1536).
The year was an auspicious one for the
king: his marriage to Anne Boleyn ended
(as did Anne's life, when she was
beheaded in the Tower); he married his third wife, Jane Seymour (who
would
give birth to his heir within the year;
and his favored illegitimate son, Henry
FitzRoy, died of tuberculosis at age 17.
Portrait by court painter Hans Holbein. |
TWO MARRIAGES END IN DEATH,
BUT FINALLY THERE IS A MALE HEIR TO THE THRONE
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enry VIII by the
age of 42 was pre-eminent Renaissance man of England. Politician, poet,
potentate, polyglot, Prince Charming, Henry was also an avid athlete,
artist, author, and adventurer, whose ascending star and prodigious
presence presided over England at a portentous period. But, entering
middle age and lacking a male heir, Henry had cast off his wife of
twenty-two years,
Catherine of Aragon,
and replaced her with young, pretty, and emotional
Anne
Boleyn.
In the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church (and, not coincidentally, the
Holy Roman Empire), England’s King Henry VIII was also adulterous and
polygamous. And now, caught between his need for a male heir and the
pressure of the Pope, Henry found it necessary to become an Anglican
Protestant and risk England’s security among the emerging nations of
Europe. |
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Anne Boleyn was not a popular queen. Spoiled, demanding, and lacking
diplomacy, she made enemies in the court and never gained the widespread
support of many of her subjects who still thought of Catherine of Aragon
as the rightful queen. All this would have been quickly forgiven, of
course, if only Anne Boleyn had produced a male heir for Henry. But it
did not happen. After giving birth to
Princess Elizabeth
in 1533, Anne became pregnant twice more, but both times—in 1534 and in
1535—the pregnancies failed.
Henry wearied of
Anne’s petulance. She was much younger than he. Perhaps he found her
immature, flighty, and uninteresting. Perhaps she found him less
attractive than she did men her own age. Perhaps most importantly Henry
regarded Anne Boleyn’s failure to produce a male heir as her greatest
flaw. The attentions of the king began to look elsewhere, and, soon
focused on
Jane Seymour,
a courtier in the queen’s entourage. Perhaps Anne’s enemies saw an
opportunity to rid England of its unloved queen by fabricating a series
of trumped up infidelities by Anne. Perhaps some actual indiscretions
committed by Anne Boleyn herself were discovered. We may never know. |
Jane Seymour c. 1536.
Portrait
attributed to court painter
Hans Holbein the Younger. |
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Anne Boleyn awaiting
execution
at the Tower of London. 1835
painting by Edouard Cibot. |
The king’s principal advisor,
Thomas
Cromwell,
told Henry of the rumors circulating the court, and urged Henry to
pursue an investigation into Anne Boleyn’s “treasonous” behavior. The
spring of 1536 was rocked by the charges becoming public, the arrest of
Anne Boleyn and others (including her brother), imprisonment in the
Tower of London,
a sensational trial, and, quickly, six gruesome executions at the Tower
and at Tyburn, outside of London’s walls near the present site of Marble
Arch. The king’s second marriage was over after three and a half
turbulent years. |
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(Read
seven things you don’t know about:
ANNE BOLEYN)
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During the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance, just as in more recent times, men of
extraordinary power—kings, emperors, presidents, even popes—commonly
took one or more mistresses. Henry VIII did not invent regal
philandering; he only made it infamous. For twenty-four years he stayed
wedded to one woman, his brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon. In
February of 1516, Queen Catherine of Aragon bore Henry’s first child who
would live to maturity,
Princess Mary.
During his marriage with Catherine, Henry dallied at least three times,
with the two Boleyn sisters, Mary and Anne, and with teenager
Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount,
who, in June of 1519, bore a mail child out of wedlock,
Henry FitzRoy.
The illegitimate Henry FitzRoy was acknowledged by the king as his son,
and raised—if not as a prince—as a duke-to-be. In September of 1533,
Queen Anne Boleyn bore Henry’s second legitimate child, Princess
Elizabeth. By this time, the 14-year-old Henry FitzRoy held the titles
of Earl of Nottingham, Duke of Richmond, and Lord High Admiral of
England. Three months after his half-sister Elizabeth’s birth, the
teenaged duke married
Lady
Mary Howard,
daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, one of the most powerful nobles in the
land. |
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The future looked
bright for the bastard son of Henry VIII. The namesake lad had always
been a favorite of the king. There was even talk of the boy eventually
being awarded the crown of Ireland, and, if Henry VIII could gain carte
blanche to name his own successor, possibly the throne of the United
Kingdom. But in 1536, events conspired once again to reshape the future
of the Crown of England. First, Henry’s marriage to Queen Anne Boleyn
was dissolved by her conviction for treasonous infidelities. The Queen
was beheaded in the
Tower of London
on May 19. Before the month was over, Henry had married for a third
time, this time to a courtier in Anne Boleyn’s retinue, the |
In a fictional portrait
of the first two generations of the
Tudor dynasty, King Henry VIII (lower left) is shown with
(clockwise) his father (Henry VII Tudor), his mother
(Queen Elizabeth of York), and his third wife (Queen
consort Jane Seymour). The painting, done by Remigius
van Leemput in the 17th century, is copied from the
original by Henry VIII's court painter Hans Holbein
the Younger. The original was lost in a fire. |
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twenty-seven-year-old
Jane Seymour.
As he had with Anne Boleyn, the king hastened to solve the question of
royal succession, and Jane was pregnant by the beginning of 1537.
Jane Seymour’s pregnancy took on new urgency when, in July, 1536, the
king’s beloved son, Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond, died of
illness—possibly tuberculosis—at the age of 17, and without consummating
his marriage to the Duchess Mary FitzRoy. |
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The Empress Matilda,
granddaughter of William the Conqueror: often considered first Queen of
England. |
Four hundred years
earlier, England had experienced a ruling queen, albeit a short-lived
reign that was contested throughout its length by an equally strong
rival. The time was less than three-quarters of a century after
William of Normandy
had conquered England in 1066. The heir to the English throne drowned in
a horrific shipwreck in the English Channel off France. No other male
children survived to follow
King Henry I
to the throne. Instead, King Henry forced his nobles to pledge their
loyalty to his daughter,
Matilda,
who would become England’s first female monarch. However, a strong
rival, the king’s nephew (and Matilda’s cousin)
Stephen of Blois
gained the support of most of the nobility upon Henry’s death. The
resulting struggle for the throne between Matilda and Stephen was
England’s first civil war, lasting almost twenty years, and called
The
Nineteen-Year Winter
or
The
Anarchy.
King Henry
VIII, Renaissance man, knew his English royal history. He certainly was
aware that the English
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nobility—the kingdom’s most powerful men’s club—would not warmly welcome
a woman monarch. After two marriages and at least three affairs produced
only two living daughters and an illegitimate son lost to illness, Henry
would pin his hopes on a third wife, Jane Seymour, producing a male
heir. |
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At
Hampton Court Palace
south and west of London on October 12, 1537 (exactly 45 years after
Columbus discovered America) a son was born to Jane Seymour and King
Henry VIII. In the city throughout the night cannonade at the Tower of
London blasted their approval.
Prince Edward
was vigorous, lively, and sweet. Across England King Henry’s subjects
celebrated Edward’s birth with expressions of happy relief knowing that
at long last there was a proper male heir to the throne. However, the
happiness was soon muted with sadness. Within two weeks of giving life
to Edward, Jane Seymour suddenly fell seriously ill—likely from the
complications of childbirth—and died within a day.
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Jane Seymour's toddler
son,
Edward VI, son and heir of
King Henry VIII. Portrait from
1537-8 by Hans Holbein
the Younger. PD-Art. |
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(Read
seven things you don’t know about:
JANE SEYMOUR.) |
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In 1537 King Henry
VIII was 46 years old. At the time life expectancy for adult Englishmen
was 47 years. But life was such that some 40% of the population died
before reaching twenty years old, and infant mortality and childhood
diseases claimed many who began life as strong, viable babies. Henry
VIII had his heir, at the cost of Jane Seymour, the love of his life.
Now Henry needed an insurance policy: a second son would provide the
statistical security the kingdom required.
Of course a fourth wife
would be necessary.
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A
fanciful painting from the mid-1540's shows the idealized royal family
of Henry VIII: (from
the left) Princess Mary (daughter of Catherine of Aragon and later Queen
'Bloody' Mary I), Prince
Edward (son of Jane Seymour and soon to be King Edward VI), King Henry
VIII (soon dead), Queen
Consort Jane Seymour (already dead nearly a decade), and Princess
Elizabeth (daughter of Anne
Boleyn, and eventually Queen Elizabeth I, last and greatest of the Tudor
Monarchs). |
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– END OF PART IV –
PART V WILL APPEAR IN A FUTURE ISSUE OF
HOMEZINE
TRAVEL BACK IN
TIME TO TUDOR ENGLAND:
-
Read
all about it here:
TUDOR ENGLAND TODAY.
See
where King Henry VIII lived, played, worked, and died.
Tudor history can still be explored in person: in castles,
palaces,
inns, and pubs throughout London and England.
HOME AT FIRST
helps you relive Tudor history, while you
live in a comfortable, modern
lodging next door to the
Tower of London at our
APARTMENTS AT ST. KATHARINE’S MARINA.
IN 2009
ENGLAND MARKED THE
500TH ANNIVERSARY OF HENRY VIII
Several special exhibitions at noted London landmarks associated with
King Henry VIII
marked the 500th anniversary of
the great king’s coronation in 1509.
Learn all about travel with
HOME AT FIRST
to:
•
ENGLAND •
LONDON •
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