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| From:  terrilee62 (Original Message) | Sent: 6/25/2006 8:58 PM |
In the paper today, a columnist wrote about taking her nieces to London as a graduation present (she is based in Dayton, OH). Among other things, they "befriended a Beefeater at the Tower of London and soaked it all in as he delivered an emphatic history lesson on Henry VIII: 'He was a lecherous, murdering ba-a-stard who never did anything for this country!"  While I am still thinking about how I would describe his reign, I don't think I would say that he never did anyting for his country. For one, didn't H8 revive the British navy? And he gave the country one of it's greatest rulers, Elizabeth I! While I doubt that I will ever leave Ohio and visit across the pond, if I ever did, I would probably be arrested for arguing with a Beefeater, if he gave me that particular 'history lesson'.  I'm telling myself that it was all an act for Yankee tourists, but then I wondered, how would you, if you were in that uniform, synopsise Henry VIII's reign? |
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he was a chauvinest, I think its all karma. I think the fact that he put men as a higher rank then women put karma on him big time. Even when he did have died young. His only daughter left (after mary passed on) went on to become one of the greatest british royals ever lived. Now that is what I call karma on a chauvinest guy lmfao. |
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He was his own biggest victim.......Everything he could want for he had, except what he needed most, a male heir, till Jane Seymour!  |
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Has anyone read "The Autobiography of Henry VIII (with notes from his fool, Will Somers" by Margaret George? She does an excellent job of getting into his mindset! One passage keeps from that book keeps running through my mind. Will Somers is noting that from H8's becoming king until the death of the New Year's boy (in 1511), everything was golden. Masques, feasts, jousting, he ran riot with his father's squirreled-away fortune. For H8, it seemed like the sun was shining down 24-7 and God was extremely pleased with Henry.  When his son died (and there's a what-if for you, had that boy lived, he would have been 18 in 1529, when Henry made his passion for Anne Boleyn known to the world....) anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, all was sunshine & roses for Henry VIII the first year or so of his reign, then his son died, Catherine kept having miscarriage after miscarriage, his snake of a father-in-law showed his true self, etc. etc. etc. Henry spent the remainder of his life trying to recapture those first golden days again. (She also plants the thought that Henry VII really wasn't that fond of his second son, he reminded him too much of his father-in-law, Edward IV! If Henry felt rejected by his mortal father, it stands to reason that he thought that God loved him when all was going Henry's way. When things went bad, he was trying to make God love him again. Of course, being Henry, it couldn't be his fault, no, no it was his wife's fault! Very interesting.) If you look at his life & reign through that frame of reference, it's sad, really. Almost makes me feel sorry for him. But it doesn't!  Just some food for thought... |
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I read that book a couple of years ago.....I do see Henry as being a victim of himself! Just think about how he lived, anything and everything he could wish for was at his command with the exception of a living male heir, something so out of his control that it could have put him over the edge.....There was another book I read, not sure if it was this one or not, but it was stressed how H7 almost last words to H8 were to "get a male heir".....It is almost as if H8 felt he had to this to live up to making himself right for his father, not so much from love, but just so he wouldn't seem a failure.... |
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Even in this century, and in this reign of Elizabeth ll, Princess Diana & Prince Charlies' sons were referred to, "an heir and a spare". William is the heir, and Harry is the spare! I think it was expected of the King to produce an heir to secure their kingdom and their line. Having male heirs was their job so to speak! |
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Henry VIII achieved the practically impossible...to be more of a s**t than his dad. At least Elizabeth had the good grace to die childless and spare us from any more of the Welsh milksop's vile, bloodthirsty decendants. Alan....definately a Yorkist! |
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*sighs* I guess I'm the only one who likes Henry.... |
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I couldn't say that I like Henry, but he was certainly an interesting person. That's why I feel about all the Tudors really, I don't consider any of them to be particularly likeable, but they were all interesting people, in their different ways. Louise |
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He threw you out Or had your head If you and he Were in his bed. |
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Painter summed that up nicely ROFL |
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He threw you out or had your head if you and he were in his bed? Now Painter, You know that's not entirely true First he had to marry you! Without that contract your risk was little You only had to slap and tickle! But enter that contract And produce no male heir And pretty soon You were out of there Out of Hank's favour And out of his bed And by and by... Without your head! |
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