Was King Henry VIII just in his actions towards wives?

Question

I am writing a research paper that is due tomorrow, so i was wondering if anyone could help me out.

Answer 1

No, not just at all. They were an expendable part of his obsessive drive to get an heir, which was extremely important in those days in order to consolidate his position on the throne, and to establish more firmly the Tudor dynasty in the person of his own legitimate son. Both he and his father, Henry VII, had executed or imprisoned the remaining members of the former ruling dynasty, the Plantagenets. The Tudor dynasty was still young.

While Henry seemed to like women very much, I don’t think he was capable of an enduring, monogamous love. Maggie (above) explains well; Henry’s last wife was Katherine Parr, a more mature and educated widow, who was lucky enough to outlive him.

None of the wives deserved the treatment or judgements they got. Katherine of Aragon was discarded to live out the rest of her life in gloomy, damp castles, separated from her only daughter, to die of, probably, cancer of the heart. Her crime was to be unable to produce a living male heir; those sons she did have did not live long.

Anne’s crime, imho, was to be too ambitious, and was far too feisty, tempestuous and vocal, as well as being unable to produce a living son, like her predecessor. Henry tired of all this; time was swiftly moving on, and he needed the heir –and preferably a spare or two.

This he got in the meek and obedient Jane Seymour. She was probably lucky to have died soon after being delivered of a healthy son; she remained in Henry’s memory as his “true wife”, and he is buried with her at Windsor. Who knows, however, what would have happened had she lived? Would Henry have grown bored with her? Would she have been able to bear him more sons?

Anne of Cleves was also lucky. She was abhorrent to Henry, who had to try to dispose of her without angering her relatives. So he divorced her, calling her the “King’s Sister”, and she lived on in England with access to the court – and causing him no trouble.

Poor little Catherine Howard’s crime was that of a young girl craving for a similar partner. She was only about 17 or 18 to Henry’s 50; he was fat, somewhat deranged and suffering from a suppurating leg. But he loved Catherine; she made him feel young again. She was not very bright, and her affairs were brought to Henry’s attention. He spent days blubbering in public about how badly he had been treated. Catherine was beheaded; a very fitting punishment for a young, naïve girl who had been pushed into Henry’s view by her ambitious relatives…

Katherine Parr was also lucky; in spite of one or two hairy moments when she was saved by a stroke of luck, she outlived her husband. (Not so lucky later, though; she married her first love and died in childbirth.)

Henry was self-obsessed and megalomaniac. In his early years, he was the very model of a renaissance prince, loving sport and jousting, music, dancing, etc; but later he turned into a cruel and brutal monster. He had affairs (once notably with Anne Boleyn’s sister) and illegitimate children, so he knew he could get sons. One son was by Bessie Blount, young Henry Fitzroy, the only one Henry acknowledged. It was, of course, all his wives’ fault. Never once did he consider that it just might be something to do with him.

Much of this must be read in the spirit of the times; the king was the most powerful person in the country, and he could do what he wanted. And Henry did, at the expense of everyone else. Henry himself would probably have seen his actions as infinitely just!

Sorry. Got carried away. Hope it helps a bit!

Answer 2

King Henry VIII is famous for his six wives and his cruel behaviour towards them.

The wife I think he treated most cruelly was Anne Boleyn. The woman who rocked the world of England (and Henry's world...for a while). This enigmatic French woman, by denying Henry her favors as a consort, caused him to nearly go out of his mind with desire. Henry decided that SHE could give him the male heir he wanted if he could just figure out how to get rid of Katherine. However, once he married Anne (against the will of the people...they hated her!) he became a bit disillusioned with her as well. She had lost their second child (a male!) during childbirth and the child was thought to have been deformed. She had a 6th finger on her left hand and Henry believed Katherine's daughter Mary was possibly being poisoned by Anne...he began to believe she was a witch. Finally to seal her fate, Anne's enemies contrived that she was having a love affair with her brother, George Boleyn...Georges wife, Jane (Lady Rochford) was coherced into testifying against her husband (Jane Boleyn would lose her head just a few yrs later!). Anne's enemies didn't stop there...they claimed she had affairs with Henry Norris, William Brereton, Mark Smeaton and Francis Weston (courtiers and acquaintances of Anne...all were beheaded on May 17, 1536). Anne was doomed and no one believed her defense, all of England called her The Great Whore...she was be-headed on May 19, 1536. Most historians emphatically agree that Anne was guilty of no such crimes.

Answer 3

Lacy Baldwin Smith notes, "A great deal of history can be gleamed from various novels and biographies dealing with Henry's many wives, who can be neatly recalled to mind by reciting the following:

'Divorced, beheaded, died;
Divorced, beheaded, survived' "(p. 121).

After Henry made a break with Rome, he swiftly rid himself of wives he didn't want and had new candidates queued up for queen should the current consort prove lacking. For instance, Anne Boleyn was Katherine of Aragon's Lady-in-Waiting, and Jane Seymour was Anne's, so his actions were neither just nor fair, but merely expedient. However, he wasn't without feeling. After all, he sent for a swordsman from France to behead Anne Boleyn, so she wouldn't suffer long.

Answer 4

Henry was completely unjust towards his wives. It is true that he was looking for a male heir, but even given the time period his actions were outrageous and no one but a king could have got away with it.

He seems to have married his first wife, Catherine, for love, but when she couldn't conceive a boy, threw her off for Anne Boleyn. He used as his excuse, that she was his brother's wife and therefore he couldn't marry her--after he had gotten a Papal dispensation to marry her in the first place.

Anne played her cards right (in a way) in that she spurned his advances, holding out for marriage for a long time.
She, too, produced a female child (who became Elizabeth I), and when she couldn't conceive a boy, and because she had many enemies at court (she worked hard in the cause of Protestantism) Henry denounced her as an adulteress, which she almost certainly was not, among other charges. He had her head chopped off. Catherine just eventually died and left her daughter to become Bloody Mary Tudor, restoring Catholicism with a vengeance.

After Anne, he married Jane Seymour, who died in childbirth giving him his male heir, Edward.

Then Anne of Cleves was presented to him as a political match. He didn't like her, didn't consummate the marriage,
and divorced her, but she lived with a house and allowance of sorts given her.

Katherine Howard came next and she was an adulteress and lost her head over that.

I forget the last wife's name, but fortunately for her, he was dying by that time and she outlived him.

He was a man used to getting his own way, and he overthrew English law, and the spiritual and therefore political supremacy of the Roman Catholic church.

As head of the church he more or less made up his own rules, and did what he wanted.

He was a cruel king, and cruel to most of his wives.

Maggie

Answer 5

Henry VIII pretty much was simply looking for a male heir, at least one that would actually live to adulthood. It seems the frustration of his failure caused him to attack the women he thought would be able to supply him with this asset. There is no doubt his actions were horrendous, but in the time in question, women were expendable so I'm sure some would have felt it acceptable to do what he felt necessary.... Aren't we glad we didn't live at court with Henry!

Answer 6

Sybaris is incorrect on one thing. Henry was capable of a long lasting relationship. He was married to Katherine of Aragon for over twenty years!

Ann was married for about 3.
Jane was a year. If she had survived, who knows? It could have been his last.

Answer 7

NO. Anyone else would have been convicted of murder and executed. He got away with it just because he was king.

Answer 8

Further proof that yes, it is good to be da king

Answer 9

no, it's pretty bad that murder was ok then and not divorce. don't you think so?