Henry’s Rule

By Claudius Mollokwu

This new biography of Henry viii tells the tale of one of the most influential monarchs in the world’s history. Detailing Henry’s assent to the throne of Britain and detailing his momentous break from the Roman Catholic church as a result of internal disputes concerning his love life where he established the Anglican church, the text goes some way to advance new discoveries about Britain’s break from Rome and the agent that caused the breakdown.
Henry and his team of men also transformed the country by modernising many of its institutions and empowering them with authority and discretion.
Henry is a tale of one king and how his country became mixed up and caught up in one man’s personal issues, leading Britain to acquire new powers and influence in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Sep 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781728375045

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Published by AuthorHouse 09/26/2022

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7505-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7504-5 (e)

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CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1 Origins

Chapter 2 Henry’s Formation

Chapter 3 Reformation

Chapter 4 Henry and the State

Chapter 5 Foreign and domestic policy

Chapter 6 Henry and his Wives

Chapter 7 Endgame

Concluding Thoughts

Bibliography

Anglican Moments

PREFACE

I first encountered King Henry Tudor of England during my studies at primary school. I was never to meet him again until this present time when I sought to refresh my memory and revisit my earlier studies in Tudor England. Of course, I had kept up with Henry through various disparate readings of the Tudor period but I did not have a substantive awareness and knowledge of Henry and his era. This monograph offers me the chance to revisit Henry and all that his era and times entails.

I seek to offer a comprehensive outlook on Henry’s rule and all that said rule meant and how it influenced England.

Henry is one of the most important and transformative rulers that has reigned in western history- even world history. As the historian Jasper Ridley notes, Henry was ‘perhaps the most formidable and famous King who has ever reigned in England’. He has described as one the ‘most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne’ and his reign has been described as the ‘most important’ in English history (cf. Guy, Starkey, The Six Wives of Henry, Ives).

Henry gave birth to England as the modern day nation state where England gained a self identity and a self confidence through the establishment of its own church- the Anglicana ecclesia, which was to be given imperial power by later generations of king and queens who capitalised on Henry’s success and creation of a national church and conquered many territories that gave birth to the British empire. From a small country of little note Henry transformed he country to one of note that enjoyed large territories and gained in the process her own new religion which enjoyed a massive and significant influence. England and her new religion was to conquer much of the world turning England into a major global player and global power in the global world. Henry expanded England’s territories by annexing Scotland, Wales and Ireland hence giving birth to the United Kingdom as it is known and configured today.

History for the most part has not been kind to Henry. As Ridley notes, recent historians have painted Henry as ‘a stupid, lazy blunderer, a ‘bit of a baby’ (cf. Ridley, Henry viii)- even a tyrant, if you will. Even Tv serialisations for the most part have portrayed Henry in an unflattering light. This biography aims to set aright this view of Henry. Far from what conventional studies tell us of Henry, Henry was actually an enlightened and highly competent leader and king. He knew what he was doing- he wasn’t ignorant- far from it- Henry was intelligent, cultured and applied himself diligently to the task of governing England.

Henry was a success- far from being a dictator as conventional studies have told us I have chosen to rehabilitate Henry’s reputation where I note that he was a democrat and a collaborator. Far from being a dictator, Henry was a collaborator and consulted many involving many and all in the governance of Britain. Henry was a dominant figure involving himself in all areas of English life. He cared for his people and his people cared for him. As the Tudor historian, David Starkey notes, Henry was not afraid to surround himself with men of high ability. He often delegated many responsibilities to his ministers. Henry oversaw and presided over an age of great men- he led a team of brights such as Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer. In collaboration with both Wolsey and his successor Cromwell, Henry ushered in the birth of the constitutional monarchy where England emerged as a modern, democratic and bureaucratic nation state. Parliament under Henry flourished and emerged as a central and leading institution in the lives of the British people, giving birth to parliamentary democracy. Henry was the first monarch to come up with the doctrine and principle of the ‘divine right of kings’- a principle that deeply influenced his successors, King Charles Stuart and King Louis xiv of France whom Charles was twinning with.

Henry set the tone and the beginning of the English empire with his territorial claims to French territories. He established England as a naval power and a manufacturing hub where England made and traded cloth, earning a significant and large amount of money from the enterprise.

In terms of literature, there is much concerned with Henry and his reforms to the country. The likes of Tudor historians such as Geoffrey Elton, and more recently his students and colleagues, David Starkey and Diarmaid MacCulloch have contributed much to studies concerning Henry and that period. Both Professor Starkey’s and Alison Weir’s biographies of Henry are two of the best most recent studies on Henry that have been written- if you get a chance- read them. My book seeks to advance and develop further discoveries concerning Henry and his governance of Britain.

I have chosen to offer an evaluative assessment of Henry’s reign predicated on the primary and secondary sources that were available to me at the time of writing.

This study aims to take a fresh and original approach to Henry Tudor, one of the most important and significant figures in the history of Britain- of Europe and even the world, of all time.

CHAPTER 1

ORIGINS

H enry Tudor viii was born on Tuesday 28 th June 1491 at the royal palace at Greenwich, Kent to King Henry vii of England, from the House of Lancaster and Elizabeth of York, from the House of York (cf. Crofton). Henry was the third child and the second of three sons, after Arthur, five years older than Henry- his brother and heir presumptive to the English throne- Henry also had four sisters including Margaret and Mary (cf. Crofton) of which three passed away in infancy. According to Ridley, Henry was born just six years after his father, Henry vii, became king. Elizabeth, Henry’s mother was ‘beautiful’ and a ‘very noble woman’ [who was popular] and much loved’.

Henry was baptised by Richard Foxe, the bishop of Exeter, lord privy seal and one of Henry’s leading ministers, at the nearby church of the Observant Franciscans (cf. Scarisbrick), whose religious community was based at Greenwich. His father, Henry supported the community at Greenwich and was granted special status as a favourite abode of the new king. Greenwich was to retain its status as the king’s favourite place long into Henry viii’s career as king and was rivalled only by the new Palace of Whitehall. According to Starkey, Henry’s christening was met with much fanfare, like many ceremonies that typified Tudor ceremonies, the christening was a real mixture of the sacred and secular. The assistant clergy stood separately on the lower steps leaving space for the two figures of note- Bishop Foxe and Henry. The church was draped with ornate fabrics, which typified the Tudor’s love for ornate dress and vestments. Henry was greeted with much pomp and ceremony- trumpets rang out, the attendents duly lit and held torches, the heralds dressed up for the occasion in their best, whilst the young Henry was ‘wrapped in a mantle of cloth-of-gold furred with ermine and clutching a decorated and lighted candle in his hands, was carried in triumph in a burst of light and sound’.

As Starkey notes Henry’s arrival was met with little fanfare. None of the historians of note mentioned or detailed the facts of Henry’s baptism- they were very much underwhelmed. His father’s commissioned poets could be bothered to greet the young prince with a commemorative poem. It was only his grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, that recorded the details of his birth in the calendar book of hours which she used as a family chronicle. The general populace too were underwhelmed- since Henry was born in the summer, people had other things to do that celebrate the prince’s birth- most of the populace had left London for the country in order to enjoy their summer holidays known as the ‘Long Vocation’.

Both of Henry’s families- the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York – were engaged in conflict for the English throne- this became known as the ‘War of Roses’- both sides of the families had claims to the English throne. Four kings, two princes and a several royal dukes had met violent deaths, others were imprisoned, dissociated or driven into exile. All were Henry’s relations: his father, mother, uncles, grandfather, grandmothers, great-grandfather and cousins innumerable.

Henry viii and his wife Elizabeth of York married at Westminster Abbey. Their marriage was significant- it heralded the end of a bitter civil war and feud that had lasted for some thirty years between the rival branches of the Plantagenet dynasty. Together the red rose of Lancaster- Henry’s side was united with the white rose of York- his wife’s family, into one family- the House of Tudor. Hopes were high for the new couple- ‘Everyone considers [the marriage] advantageous to the kingdom’, observed one foreign ambassador noting that ‘all things appear disposed towards peace’. The House was to last the best part of several generations- one king and two queens before the Tudor’s cousins, the Stuarts assumed the role of sovereign ruler of Britain. Everyone rejoiced- the family feud was over- as Bernard Andre notes, ‘The people,’ ‘constructed bonfires far and wide to show their gladness and the City of London was filled with dancing, singing and entertainment’. After so many decades of war, it was now time to give peace a chance.

The marriage was only the first step in uniting the family. They now needed children, the ‘progeny of the race of kings’ who would incarnate the union of the two Houses of York and Lancaster and leave a lasting legacy. Whereas Henry’s predecessor Henry vi had to wait a long eight years for a son, Edward iv waited for six, whilst Henry vii was incredibly lucky- within a short space of eight months after the marriage, Elizabeth of York, his wife, gave birth to his son and heir, Arthur.

The two- Henry and Elizabeth did not get off to a good start. According to the humanist scholar, priest and diplomat Polydore Vergil, who authored a history of England during several years stay in said England Elizabeth was concerned about marrying