why henry was monster?

Answer 1

It must be remembered King Henry VIII was married to his first wife, Catherine of Arragon for over 20 years, and by all accounts it was a happy marriage. But, she was unable to provide him an heir to the throne. He became obsessed with the notion only a male could rule England. And so, attempted to divorce his wife. Both Henry and Catherine were Catholic. The Pope said no. So, Henry said to bad and formed his own church, tossing the Catholic Church aside and installing himself as head of the church, instead of the Pope. All in the land were forced to swear allegiance to the King and take up the new religion. Those who did not do so, or could not do so like Sir Thomas Moore were executed. Catholic churches were robbed of their treasure and clerics executed. Then you have the personal matter of his love life. If his wives could not bear him a male heir, they were gone, either beheaded or divorced. He was a man of advancing years and one must wonder what his physicological state was as he aged. Upon his death, his son Edward reigned briefly as a teenager who was succeeded by his Daughter Mary from his marriage with Catherine of Arragon. She reversed the religion question and reinstated Catholicism as the official religion. Many burned at the stake as she, like her father, felt they were correct in matters of faith. Her reign was a decade or less and then the crown passed on to his daughter Elizabeth, the child he had with Anne Boylen, his second wife and first wife to be lead to the chopping block. The irony of it all is Henry believed only a male could rule a country. Two of his daughters sat on the thone of England, and one, Elizabeth I led and succeeded in many area's where Henry had failed.

Answer 2

I suppose you are speaking of Henri VIII. He was a monster since he killed two of his wife only in order to take an other

Answer 3

My next door neighbour Henry was a monster because his mommy didn't like him much.

Answer 4

Every time he got tired of a wife he had her head chopped off AND Ann Boleyn wanted a burger bar in the basement of the castle but that wasn't okay with him.

Answer 5

Herman Munster married Lilly and had a baby and named him Eddy. Grampa was very happy.

Answer 6

I'm assuming that you mean the Tudor monarch Henry VIII?

Background on Henry VIII


brief discussion of his personality and historical importance

How can one adequately describe Henry's personality? Imagine yourself as Henry VIII, the second son suddenly yanked into the spotlight by your older brother's death. Sheltered and smothered by a father suddenly aware that he has just one heir left; handsome and intelligent and, by turns, both recklessly indulged and then denied. Any of us would have emerged as a mass of contradictions and frustrations. So Henry VIII, crowned king at the prime of his life, just eighteen years old and physically magnificent with more enthusiasm and energy than most of his contemporaries, became a conflicted and confused man. But it is a shame to let the last twenty years of his life color the interpretation of his entire life. One should not see him as simply an ogre king who beheaded two wives, divorced two others, and rejected another in one of the most humiliating ways possible.
His personality was quite amazing; his intelligence, learning, and curiosity impressed even the world-weary ambassadors who littered his court. His thirst for knowledge was insatiable, though it never became the near-mania that haunted Philip II. Henry VIII didn't spend his declining years surrounded by slips of paper detailing the most minute occurrences in his realm. But he did spend his entire reign reading dispatches, scribbling notations, meeting with diplomats and politicians. Very little occurred in England that escaped his attention; indeed, very little occurred in Europe that escaped Henry VIII. He prided himself on this and well he should; the Spanish ambassador reported that Henry knew of the fall of Cadiz before the Holy Roman Emperor.
He was usually genial company. He loved music and wrote his own. He enjoyed dancing and entertainment. He held countless banquets and tournaments. He enjoyed all physical activities and excelled at most of them. Hunting, archery, tennis, jousting - the king made his court into an endless round of competition and celebration. When he grew older, these former pleasures became torments; like most former athletes, Henry became fat as he aged and the once-loved pastimes became bitter reminders of the ravages of time. And he ruled over a country where almost half the population was 18 years old or younger! Youth was everywhere, staring the old king in his face. We can imagine the effects. Quite naturally, he sought reassurances - from women, his courtiers, his council. Affairs could distract him, but love affairs were never his grand passion. Despite his licentious reputation, Henry VIII was really a 16th century sexual prude; among his European contemporaries, he philandered the least. State affairs indulged his taste for war and glory; family affairs gnawed at his conscience and pride. But Henry VIII did not want distractions. He wanted a grand mission, a defining statement. In the end, he got his wish, though in the most improbable way possible.
He began life as a second son, destined for the church. It was the dream of Henry VII for his eldest son, Arthur, to be king and for his second son, Henry, to be the highest churchman in England. And so, for the first ten years of his life, Henry was a student of theology. And for the next thirty years of his life, he remained a dutiful son of the church. It is ironic, then, that his most significant historical achievement was the destruction of the Roman Catholic faith in England. The impact of the Henrician reformation forever altered the course of English history. Henry VIII, who had indulged in endless diplomatic squabbles and foreign wars, left no grand achievement beyond his own borders. Vast amounts of money were spent on these foreign entanglements - and many lives lost - but, in the end, nothing changed in the European balance of power. England, constantly pulled between the two great continental powers of France and the Holy Roman Empire, nearly bankrupted itself in an attempt to become respected and feared.
Why did Henry ultimately fail in those tasks normally reserved for monarchs? Ultimately, he was a victim of his times. The 16th century was a confusing mess of changing loyalties, betrayals, near-constant fighting, and most importantly, a rising skepticism of that great institution of the fading medieval world, the Roman Catholic church. With the advent of the printing press a century before, literacy and intellectual debate grew rapidly. The High Renaissance in Italy occurred during the first 20 years of Henry VIII's reign. It was a time of unparalleled scientific experiment, intellectual fervor, and spirited debate. In such a time, traditional views of kingship were bound to change for both the ruler and those he ruled.
(As evidence of this confusion, one need only remember that Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor crowned by the Pope, led the brutal sack of Rome in 1527. Charles, supposedly the anointed defender of the papacy, actually ordered his imperial army to loot, pillage, and kill their way through Rome and the Vatican. The pope ended up fleeing to relative safety in his nightshirt.)
While reading any biography of Henry VIII, one must remember the flavor of his times and judge him, if at all, by sixteenth-century standards. It's always amusing to read descriptions of Henry as the lustful tyrant torn between bedding and beheading innocent women; in truth, he blushed at dirty jokes and was more faithful than many 20th century husbands. He was married to Katharine of Aragon for over twenty years and had just a handful of mistresses. He waited years to physically consummate his relationship with Anne Boleyn, and despite being in the prime of his life, remained faithful to her until marriage. Was this sexual prudery a result of his early church training? Perhaps. Whatever the case, it was a hallmark of his life. Henry VIII was always an incurable romantic.
His personal and political decisions were always grandiose, melodramatic, and played for great effect. He loved pomp and pageantry, even as he loathed to deal with the consequences of his actions. Like his father, he was caught in the transition from medieval England to renaissance England. And like his father, he was well-versed in English history and desperate to continue the Tudor dynasty, to secure his claims to Ireland, Scotland, and France, to raise England to the status of its continental neighbors, and to expand his God-given right to rule all Englishmen. When reading about Henry's political and dynastic ambitions, one is always struck by the wide scope of his desires. Though most came to naught in the end, he actually planned invasions of France, plotted to join Charles V's invasion of Italy, and intended to seize the Scottish throne. The word 'ambitious' hardly does Great Harry justice.
His political ambitions failed and he bequeathed a woeful mess to his nine-year-old heir, Edward VI. His greatest achievement was a dubious one, and one for which he was often eager to distance himself - the Henrician reformation, the end of Roman Catholicism in England and the birth of the Anglican church. The king, for all his contradictions and failures, helped destroy the greatest institution in medieval Europe. Once Germany and England fell to the new heresy, its spread across Europe was inevitable and invincible.

You have to remember that there were other people with a greater claim to the English throne than the Tudors. The Poles of the Plantagenate dynasty had decendents still alive and imprisoned. As king, he could give orders but it was also his privilege to immediately change his mind without bothering to consult anyone. His will was law. And so he demonstrated his power by doing exactly as he liked, oftimes choosing the perfect moment to throw everyone off guard and demonstrate his complete authority. It may have seemed irrational to his contemporaries, and also to us, but it was quite an effective policy. It meant that no one ever really knew where they stood with the king. And so, not knowing his true feelings, they were all the more eager to sycophantically fawn over him and seek his approval.

Henry had mistresses, one of whom bore him a son. His wife of the time Queen Katherine had had many miscarriages and thus for Henry to get a son on his mistress was the only proof in those days of his potency. Henry thought that because Katherine had been married to his brother previously that he was being punished by God as he could not father male heir with the Queen.

Why did Henry divorce Katherine and seek to marry Anne Boleyn?

One cannot separate the king's desire for a son, indeed its very necessity, from his personal desire for Anne. The two interests merged perfectly in 1527. Henry had discovered the invalidity of his marriage to Katharine. Now it was possible to annul his marriage and secure his two fondest hopes - Anne's hand in marriage and the long-desired heir.

Why did Henry break from Rome and dissolve the monasteries?

Simply in order that he could marry and produce a male heir and also to gain the money, lands and power of the monasteries.

By 1535 Henry's health worsened. The first signs of the illness which would kill him appeared (occluded sinus on his leg). Headaches became frequent and severe. The king was a hypochondriac. Now unable to indulge his love of sports, he instead indulged his fear of pain and illness. And he was frequently impotent. He was in his mid-forties and increasingly obese; this, combined with his other ailments, made his continued virility questionable. Certainly his 'mistresses' did not conceive. But the continued lack of an heir and Anne's miscarriages must have reminded him of Katharine. How could it not? Like most of his contemporaries, the king blamed his wife when she did not conceive or carry to term.
Henry's decision to thoroughly destroy Anne baffled even her enemies. There was a possible way out which would spare Anne's life. Henry had admitted an affair with her sister, Mary. He could have argued that was as damning as Katharine's marriage to his brother. But he chose a more direct route. He had her arrested, charged with adultery, witchcraft, and incest; the charges were ludicrous even to her enemies. Her brother George was arrested as well. His despised wife, Jane Rochford, testified about an incestuous love affair. Whether anyone believed her was irrelevant. Henry VIII wanted Anne convicted and killed. George would also lose his life, as did three of their friends. Only one had confessed to the charge, and that was under torture; it was still enough to convict them all.

Henry wed jane Seymour 10 days after the execution of Anne Boleyn such was his need to beget a male heir. On 20 July 1536, he received the devastating news that his only illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond, had died at the age of 17. There had always been the possibility that Fitzroy could have succeeded him, but now Henry VIII was left with only two daughters, both declared illegitimate. It is certain that if Jane had not provided a son, she would have been quickly discarded. Personal affection could not overcome political necessity.

Henry and Jane had a son Edward and his reaction to Jane's death shows a side to the King not often seen. Jane's early death, at the moment of her great triumph, and her gentle character had an enduring hold on Henry VIII's memory. She was given a solemn state funeral; Princess Mary acted as her chief mourner. In her short time as queen, Jane had attempted to reconcile Henry and his stubborn daughter. Her body was embalmed and laid to rest in the tomb at Windsor Castle which Henry was building for himself. Years after her death, even while he was married to other women, Jane continued to appear in royal portraits as queen consort. Her special status as mother to the heir was never forgotten.

The king wore black until well into 1538 and waited more than two years to marry again. This was the longest interval between marriages during his reign.

If we look at Henry and Catherine Howard we can see that he didn't simple get tired of her and have her executed. On 2 November, while Henry attended a Mass for All Souls' Day, Cranmer passed him a letter with the charges of adulary. The king was immediately 'perplexed' and believed the letter was a forgery. This was his first and thoroughly honest reaction; Catherine had deceived him well. He ordered Cranmer to keep the matter private and began an investigation. It took but a few days for Catherine's house of cards to come tumbling down. An assortment of female servants were arrested and sent to the Tower, as was Dereham. He was tortured; he confessed his earlier relationship and named Culpeper as the queen's current lover. Culpeper was then arrested, tortured, and confessed.

When confronted with the confessions, Henry's confusion gave way to great anger and self-pity. He managed to blame everyone but himself for this latest marital catastrophe. He wished for a sword to slay Catherine himself - a not uncommon reaction for a cuckolded husband, particularly one who had been so generous and trusting. He left Hampton Court on 5 November, sailing to Whitehall Palace. Catherine was arrested on 12 November and her tearful pleas to see the king were ignored; she was locked in her rooms. Two days later, she was taken to Syon House. She would never see Henry again.

Henry was now viscious because he was ill, probably impotent and his young wife had made him look impotent as a ruler to the whole of Christendom. He had no choice other than to kill her.


With the beheading of Thomas Cromwell and Henry's wife Katherine Howard, the executions of numerous individuals both Protestant and Catholic for their faith, and the expensive, rather futile war in France in the mid-1540s, Henry firmed up his historical reputation as a great tyrant. In examining the later years of his reign, destruction seems to be the common denominator in so many of Henry's policies and actions: destruction of the monastaries, destruction of the newly arrived Protestant religion and the lives of its adherents, destruction of his wives and of a succession of his ministers, and finally the destruction of the royal treasury.
Henry was no doubt feared as a tyrant by those who knew him and by those who swore allegiance to him from afar as their king. The royal household was full of intrigue and fear. One statement uttered that could have been construed as an affront to the king's person could mean the end of a career, and courting the king's wrath–as Cromwell did when he brought Anne of Cleves to England–could mean the end of one's life. Cromwell was not even allowed to stand trial in his own defense, but instead had his fate sealed in Parliament with a Bill of Attainder. It is ironic that Cromwell–who had been so important to Henry in the years of the break with Rome and who had been instrumental in the executions of men such as Sir Thomas More–was hurried away to his own execution by the same powers he had helped to strengthen.
Through all of these unfortunate events, Henry himself remained convinced of his personal righteousness. With equal zeal, Henry wished to stamp out both Popery, as Roman Catholicism was called by its enemies, as well as Protestantism. The test of a heretic usually concerned the doctrine of Transubstantiation. Near the time he was burning Protestants and beheading Catholics for treason, Henry proudly sent the Catholic Emperor Charles V a copy of the religious primer that was used throughout England to teach the doctrines of its new Church. The orthodox doctrine of Transubstantiation figured prominently in the text, and Henry wanted Charles to see it, so that he could see how the Church of England was orthodox, even as it rejected Popery.
Henry's ruthless actions in the name of the Church of England can be somewhat counterbalanced by the conviction of many loyal to the new regime that the changes, both religious and political, were of the greatest importance to England and occasionally called for strong-armed enforcement. The draining of the royal treasury, however, and the loss of life in France for the sake only of Boulogne, seem to merit less understanding. The war in France was carried out largely because of Henry's desire for a sort of "last-hurrah" on the continent: Boulogne was of very little strategic importance, and the war itself was essentially a futile attempt to win a bit of personal glory for Henry in his old age. It cost Henry popularity back home in England, though the success of his armies in Scotland was able to offset the effect.