Henry VIII (1491-1547) and Wives

[Durham]

Yes. From what little we know of her- she comes across as smart and practical. The marriage didn’t work at all, but she “made lemonade out of lemons.” She got what she could out of what was undoubtedly a humiliating and hurtful situation and seemed to have a comfortable, independent life.

In some ways, Katherine’s post-Henry life would have been easier if she’d been more accepting. But I do admire how she had her principals. (She frankly comes across as the polar opposite of Anne Boleyn- and that is not a favorable comment towards Anne.)

Yes it would but she was a product of her religiosity not to mention her pride in being the daughter of the great Ferdinand & Isabella.

 

[Erin9]

I’ve wondered if Anne Boleyn was the classic example of a man getting bored with a woman after he finally “got” her. Or he didn’t like her so well once he finally got the unattainable woman. Because it sure didn’t take long for Henry to be over her. That and she didn’t give him a son.

 

[Erin9]

Yes it would but she was a product of her religiosity not to mention her pride in being the daughter of the great Ferdinand & Isabella.

Indeed she was a product of both.

I admire a woman who has values and sticks to them. And she put up with a lot of hardship and heartache in her life in a very dignified manner. Dating all the way- at least- back to the abominable way Henry VII treated her after Arthur died.

 

[Durham]

Indeed she was a product of both.

I admire a woman who has values and sticks to them. And she put up with a lot of hardship and heartache in her life in a very dignified manner. Dating all the way- at least- back to the abominable way Henry VII treated her after Arthur died.

She was certainly a strong individual. She ruled England as regent & won a glorious victory over the Scots of course. She was very much a great queen consort.

Her end was unbecoming of her (former) status as Queen of England & one of Henry's most shameful acts.

I've always been ambivalent about Ann.

 

[Erin9]

She was certainly a strong individual. She ruled England as regent & won a glorious victory over the Scots of course. She was very much a great queen consort.

Her end was unbecoming of her (former) status as Queen of England & one of Henry's most shameful acts.

I've always been ambivalent about Ann.

She certainly showed herself to be the daughter of Queen Isabella. Very strong woman. Shameful and unbecoming are excellent ways to describe Henry and her fate.

I’ve never found Anne Boleyn to be likable based on what we know of her. Interesting to be sure. Tragic in that I don’t think she deserved her fate. Even after she “won”, she seemed to delight in being unkind.

 

[Durham]

She certainly showed herself to be the daughter of Queen Isabella. Very strong woman. Shameful and unbecoming are excellent ways to describe Henry and her fate.

I’ve never found Anne Boleyn to be likable based on what we know of her. Interesting to be sure. Tragic in that I don’t think she deserved her fate. Even after she “won”, she seemed to delight in being unkind.

Some of Ann's behaviour comes across as spiteful but I suppose much of that may have been from a nagging sense of her own insecurity. I would also imagine that she was paranoid about her own daughter not sharing in Mary's fate at some point.

 

[Osipi]

Interesting conversation and just what I need as I just finished watching the Showtime production of "The Tudors" and although historically inaccurate and a lot of dramatic license added to the story, It affirmed for me a fantasy wish that I would like fulfilled. That wish being there and present as Henry VIII steps out of a time machine into the 21st century and being relegated with the fact that it was *his* genes alone that determined the sex of his children.

In Henry's time, women were pretty much lesser beings and as we've seen with the six wives of Henry VIII, disposable. Henry was an autocrat and wanted his own way in things from obedience from all his subjects, above the law and in fact, *was* the law in government (in his own mind. The King's Pleasure was deemed to him by God) and even in religious matters, no one told him "no" and if they did, he created it so he got what he desired.

Daughters, at the time, were also used for political gains as we've seen with Anne Boleyn. Her sister, Mary, was mistress to Henry but Anne held out and lured Henry on until she was Queen.

Catherine of Aragon, in my eyes, actually would have remained Henry's Queen for life should she have born him a son that survived. Wouldn't have stopped Henry from having a harem of mistresses but politically, I think a lot of things would have been different historically and perhaps the Church of England never established.

Jane Seymour did bear Henry a son that survived Henry VIII to become Edward VI. Another one that I believe may have been a Queen of Henry's for life at that point but she died of childbirth complications which led to .....

Anne of Cleves. Perhaps a politically inspired marriage that ended up working as well as oil and vinegar mixed together. It didn't even last a year and from thereon, was referred to as Henry's "sister".

Catherine Howard, I don't really know that much about but from what the program suggested was that she was young, flirty, fun and perhaps could be regarded as Henry's middle age crisis and wanting to regain his youth? That didn't last very long either. In fact, other than Catherine of Aragon, none of Henry's marriages lasted very long at all.

Catherine Parr, the last of the wives outlived Henry.

I think if someone like Henry VIII were to exist in our modern day of 2020, he would be a man famously known as the perennial "baby daddy" without the need to marry to produce children. Unless of course, he was a monarch of the UK and in this day and age, the self willed methods of Henry and the reforms he put into place to attain his goals wouldn't last very long at all.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Henry was punching above his weight with all six of the women he married, and that includes poor silly young Catherine Howard.

But my favorite has always been his unfortunate, tragically principled first wife Katharine of Aragon. It was after reading a novel about her called "The King's Pleasure" by Norah Lofts the summer i turned 12 years old that my obsession with Tudor England began.

 

[LauraS3514]

That's how I was taught,though my teaching nuns had a preference for Katherine of Aragon

Catalina of Aragon was married to Henry VIII for longer than the rest of his wives put together. She was an excellent (public) Queen whose only "failure" was in not bearing a surviving son. It is also not surprising that she would not see a problem with having only a daughter as the Iberian Peninsula had long had a tradition of reigning Queens even if England had not.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Catalina of Aragon was married to Henry VIII for longer than the rest of his wives put together. She was an excellent (public) Queen whose only "failure" was in not bearing a surviving son. It is also not surprising that she would not see a problem with having only a daughter as the Iberian Peninsula had long had a tradition of reigning Queens even if England had not.

Exactly ,Castile ,Aragon and Navarre all had a tradition of Queen Regnants and Katherine herself was the daughter of one very powerful and famous queen.

Anne Boleyn personal vendetta against humiliating both Katherine and Mary has forever tarnished her image in my opinion.

 

[Durham]

I suppose Henry's perspective was very much centred on English history. Matilda was the only precedent & that had been a very unfortunate time for England. Henry was after all only one generation away from a nasty dynastic conflict. The Battle of Towton for example was more bloody that any other single battle on English soil.

The irony of course was that Elizabeth turned out to be arguably the greatest of all English monarchs even if her sister was arguably one of the worst.

 

[An Ard Ri]

If only Catherine de Médicis had married Henry he'd more than likely have ended up as her 1st victim and England and Henry's wives would have been spared so much misery

(The above is made in jest )

 

[Osipi]

With Henry VIII, there are so many different possible scenarios that *could* have come about and totally change English history as we know it. ?

 

[An Ard Ri]

Had Henry VIII died before 1530,Katherine of Aragon would have made an excellent Regent for her daughter Mary I.

 

[Durham]

A major issue for queen regnants was who to marry. Marry a foreigner & risk the kingdom being taken over by strangers or marry one of your own subjects & make the rest very jealous. Mary Tudor got it wrong, Elizabeth ducked the issue & Mary Stuart got it even more spectacularly wrong.

 

[Osipi]

I guess it really sucked to be a woman back then and even worse if one was a Queen Regnant.

 

[Gawin]

If only Catherine de Médicis had married Henry he'd more than likely have ended up as her 1st victim and England and Henry's wives would have been spared so much misery

(The above is made in jest )

LOL you were born in the wrong century!

 

[An Ard Ri]

The Downfall of Thomas Cromwell

Thomas Cromwell was not a likeable figure he had made many enemies including the Boleyns ,Catholics and the nobility in particular the Duke of Norfolk and Bishop Gardiner.

https://www.historyextra.com/period...happened-why-executed-henry-viii-final-years/

 

[Prinsara]

The Downfall of Thomas Cromwell

Thomas Cromwell was not a likeable figure he had made many enemies including the Boleyns ,Catholics and the nobility in particular the Duke of Norfolk and Bishop Gardiner.

https://www.historyextra.com/period...happened-why-executed-henry-viii-final-years/

Wolf Hall is a very good novelization of Cromwell and events, though.

 

[Durham]

Wolf hall is as good as I Claudius & Claudius The God. Really elevates the historical novel to an art form.

 

[An Ard Ri]

I loved Wolf Hall,in the tv adaptation I was more sympathetic towards Thomas Cromwell at the start .Claire Foy was wonderful as Anne Boleyn.

 

[Kataryn]

She was certainly a strong individual. She ruled England as regent & won a glorious victory over the Scots of course. She was very much a great queen consort.

I found it interesting that Henry VII's claim to the throne was through his mother's descendance from John of Gault, Duke of Lancaster and third son of Edward III. through his third marriage (which was only legitimized after the children were already born, for his second wife was still alive when he had fathered them with his mistress, who he later married) when Catherine of Aragon had a more senior claim and legitimate claim to the English throne through her descent of John of Gault. Plus the Castilian Royal family was at that time of the most prominent Royal families, while Henry VII's claim to England was not recognized in all of Europe's realms. So after marrying the York-heiress Elizabeth, the marriage of his son to a Castile princess was very important for Henry VII. It was very unfortunate for Henry VIII. that Catherine could only give him a daughter despite 7 pregnancies.


Henry divorced Catherine only after she could not longer bear children and did not enter a real marriage to Anne of Cleves, another foreign Royal lady. All other wifes were his subjects, so he could do away with two, one died in childbed and the last survived him. It seems the Tudor dynasty was doomed from the start, all living descendants of Henry VII. came through his two daughters.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Fun quiz on Henry VIII and his wives from the BBC History Magazine,i scored 7 out of 9 ,not so bad.

https://www.historyextra.com/period/tudor/henry-viii-wives-quiz-test-knowledge-tudor-questions/

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Scored 9/9...I have been obsessed with this subject since childhood.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Scored 9/9...I have been obsessed with this subject since childhood.

Well done I fell down on 2 questions that I should have known

 

[Biri]

I failed only in one (concerning Catherine Howard's ghost)

 

[Countessmeout]

8/9. I had a brain fart and guessed cherries instead of quail for the food question. Henry and his wives are one of my favorite topics.

 

[Katrina22]

Quiz Results

Scored 8 out of 9, forgot about the fight between Jane Seymour and Anne Boleyn!

 

[Katrina22]

good for you, Moonmaiden23, BRAVO! Henry would be proud! LOL

 

[US Royal Watcher]

Well done I fell down on 2 questions that I should have known

Thank you for posting. I am absolutely fascinated by Henry VIII and his wives. I got 8/9. I felt that two of the choices for a Katherine Parr question could have been considered correct and ultimately chose the wrong answer.