I am doing a research paper for my summer history class and i wanted to get people's opinions about what they think. King Henry VIII is infamous for his six wives and his beheading of two of them, but did he have a right? They were both accused of adultery, which is punishable by death in this era, but those were only accusations. Also, his divorce from Katherine of Aragon and his formation of the Anglican church, is this justified? If you would please just give me your feedback that would be great, but i might have to use your nickname as a citing. If you do not want me to then please give me your imput anyways because i am not sure if i have to use it.
2007-06-25 18:50:43 · 5 answers · asked by runnerfreak 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
I wouldn't say one way or the other if he was justified. I think the purpose of your research paper is to take historical evidence and interpret it and make a decision. He was the King of England, and during his time period he basically was thought of as infalliable. If people did not support his opinion or did not think that what he was doing was justifiable, they would be put to death by the guillotine or by hanging. So ultimately, it did not matter if he made justified decisions or not.
2007-06-25 18:59:34 · answer #1 · answered by Matt R 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Divorce was also illegal, and he needed a son to pass on the crown and keep the government stable.
Ultimately he split from the Vatican and started his own church, which was not so restrictive and freed him from the harassment of the Pope.
The beheading strategy was just another case of domestic violence when the annulment idea wouldn't work.
He still ended up with a daughter successor. Fortunately Elizabeth turned out to be on the top ten list of great world historical leaders.
2007-06-25 19:08:20 · answer #2 · answered by Boomer Wisdom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. In his day the legal age of marriage was 12 for girls and 14 for boys. Not only that, the medical wisdom of the time held that regular sex was a medical necessity for girls once they had reached puberty - they dreamed up an illness called 'chlorosis' or 'green-sickness' that they thought teenage girls who got no sex were likely to suffer from. They also worried that girls and women were terribly lustful, far more so than men, and would get up to all sorts of hanky-panky if they weren't kept satisfied. So responsible parents married off their daughters as soon as they reached puberty, so that they would get enough sex respectably inthe marriage bed an wouldn't either get sick or disgrace their families by illicit cavorting. You might read Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - in the play Juliet is only thirteen and her parents think it's high time they got her safely married - Juliet's mother tells her that at Juliet's age she was not only married but already pregnant with Juliet. And Henry's grandmother, Margaret Beaufort, bore Hnery's father when she was only thirteen. It was just normal.
2016-04-01 04:48:47 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
By today's standards Henry VIII was immoral. I believe he was right to part with the Catholic church, especially back then when the Pope believed he was God. But, he didn't have to murder his wives and falsify evidence to do so. But we can not judge a man using today's standards for what a king did hundreds of years ago when it was considered OK for the king to whack off a head or two if he considered it necessary to achieve his end.
2007-06-25 19:05:44 · answer #4 · answered by lcmcpa 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, he might be considered one of the most famous of domestic violence.
2007-06-25 19:04:07 · answer #5 · answered by John T 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋