The Tudors for Dummies (AvaxHome Download) (13 page)

For more details on Anne's end, flick to Chapter 5.

Killing Cromwell

When you're the earl of Essex, chancellor of the exchequer, secretary of state

and master of the rolls, not to mention vicar general and lord privy seal, you

can expect a bit of opposition, and that's exactly what Cromwell got. He was

hated by:

The nobility, especially the powerful duke of Norfolk, who regarded him

as an upstart

The Church, because he destroyed the monasteries

Conservatives, because he introduced an English Bible and supported

preachers who leaned towards Protestantism

While Henry was busy in the spring of 1540 with the shock of the arrival

of Anne of Cleves (she wasn't quite the beauty he'd expected) and lusting

after Catherine Howard (see Chapters 3 and 5), the arch Protestant basher

Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, accused Cromwell of heresy.

The crime of heresy was a handy one to have at your disposal in the 16th cen-

tury. Anyone not following the traditional religious line could be charged with

heresy � and the penalty was death.

Cromwell was condemned by an Act of Attainder in July 1540, which meant

no trial (if there had been, so little evidence against him existed he'd prob-

ably have got off) and he was executed on Tower Green days later. It was

the hottest summer in living memory and he went well, maintaining his inno-

cence but with the surprisingly magnanimous words, `I am condemned by

the law to die . . . I have offended my prince, for the which I ask him heartily

forgiveness.'

Telling Friend from Foe

Henry's high-handed decisions throughout his reign made him enemies.

Some opposed his:

Act of Supremacy

Destruction of the monasteries

Seeming over-reliance on advisers like Wolsey and Cromwell

Wars with France, especially when taxes went up and a French fleet

appeared off the south coast in 1545 Chapter 4: Running the Kingdom, Henry's Way 79 And of course, there were those who loved him because of the above. You have to remember that the king was the Lord's anointed. Cross the king and you crossed God. Others believed that the king's decisions were always right because he was king; anything bad was probably the work of evil men like Cromwell.

Offending Henry It was always a risky business to upset the king and those who did � Wolsey, Cromwell, Buckingham, More, various wives � usually came to a sticky end.

Three who got away with it were:

Catherine of Aragon: She was furious when Henry told her he didn't

consider their marriage legal in the eyes of God or man � oh, and that

meant Mary was illegitimate too. She kept up her opposition for ten

years, yet he never took action against her.

Sir George Throgmorton: He spoke out against Henry in the Commons,

and when the king sent for him to explain himself he told him outright

that he disapproved of his relationship with Anne Boleyn on account of

the fact that the king `had to do' with her sister and mother. `Never with

the mother,' Henry answered, and a very lucky Sir George walked away

(backwards, of course, and having bowed three times).

Thomas Cranmer: He was archbishop of Canterbury and he, Cromwell

and Henry all sang (literally!) from the same hymn sheet until 1539. Then

Henry put the brakes on religious change by bringing in the Six Articles

(see Chapter 6) which underlined the basics of the Catholic Church.

Cranmer quietly opposed Henry on this and lived to tell the tale. Henry

also backed him over charges of heresy when the archbishop seemed

to favour Protestant preachers and he turned a blind eye to the fact that

Cranmer was married (all priests were supposed to be celibate).

Disagreeing with Henry was easy (there was a lot to criticise), but you had to do it in private so that people couldn't use gossip against you and you couldn't oppose the king openly in case that became rebellion. Henry took criticism, not opposition.

Meeting Henry's enemies There was nothing to rattle anybody's cages until 1529 and the king's `great matter'. Buckingham had gone (see the earlier sidebar `A duke gets done in') because he was a potential threat and no more. It was breaking with Rome that caused much of the problem. 80 Part II: Handling Henry VIII

The most prominent opposition to Henry came from:

Thomas More: A family man who lived in Chelsea, west of London, More

was a lawyer and scholar who served Henry faithfully under Wolsey. He

didn't want to be chancellor and resigned in 1532 because he saw the

way the religious wind was blowing. He refused to acknowledge Henry

as head of the Church under the Royal Supremacy and was imprisoned

and beheaded.

John Fisher: He was chaplain to Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII's mother,

and bishop of Rochester in Kent. He opposed Henry's divorce from the

start and followed More's fate, but not before the pope (Paul III) made

him a cardinal. Like More, Fisher became a saint in 1935, everybody

having forgotten the fact that he'd been carrying on a treasonable cor-

respondence with Charles V shortly before his arrest.

Reginald Pole: A relative of the Tudors, he'd been educated at Henry's

expense. He opposed the king over the `great matter', but Henry let him

go to Italy (then considered the centre of learning) to continue his stud-

ies. From here, Pole launched an anti-Henry book and worked with the

pope to make life as difficult for the king as possible. Henry couldn't

reach Pole, but he made sure Cromwell's spies watched and ultimately

arrested the various members of his family left behind. Some of these

were executed, including Pole's aged mother, the countess of Salisbury

(cries of `Shame!').

The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536: This became the greatest political pro-

test of Henry's reign. What its leaders wanted was to put the clock back

four years before all the upheavals with the Church began. Henry was

sympathetic at first, because clearly no ill will against him personally

existed. But a minor rising in Yorkshire tipped the balance and 125 ring-

leaders were hanged, 12 from the walls of Carlisle and 62 in surrounding

villages. Churchmen weren't immune either � four canons, nine monks

and an abbot all faced the rope (more cries of `Shame!').

Sir Thomas More � a man for all seasons

Much painted by Hans Holbein, the king's Court Robert Bolt's excellent play A Man For All

artist, More was a Humanist who wanted to Seasons has been filmed twice with Paul

reform the Church from within. His book Utopia, Schofield and Charlton Heston as More.

written in 1516, puts him right up there with the Schofield in particular is brilliant, and check

best scholars of the Renaissance. His History of out the mood swings shown by Robert Shaw

King Richard III started the trend for modern biog- as Henry. Vanessa Redgrave had a bit part

raphies. In 1935 he was declared a saint, having as Anne Boleyn in the Schofield version and

performed miracles after his death as a martyr. played More's wife alongside Heston.

Outward show was as important to Henry's style of government as the hard

work done by others behind the scenes. Henry looked every inch a king and

his hearty, boisterous lifestyle (see Chapter 3) backed this up. Weddings,

births of royal children and hosting important visitors were all excuses to

hold a tournament, spend money and show off.

Painting power

Check out the famous portrait by Hans Holbein. Henry has:

Huge confidence � note the body language of hands on hips and feet

planted firmly apart

Lots of money

Powerful legs

Superb taste in clothes

Very broad shoulders

But that was all front. Check out the portrait again. Henry has

Far too much body fat (a 54-inch waist, as we explain in Chapter 3)

Little piggy eyes that seem to trust no one

Terrible taste in soft furnishings (see the wall behind him) � but of

course, that's just our opinion!

And remember what we can't see:

His ulcerated leg, bandaged under his hose (tights)

His bad breath

His near baldness (carefully hidden by the plumed hat)

We always think of Henry with short hair and a beard. In fact, he wore his

hair long until the mid 1530s, and although he grew several beards during his

reign he quickly got bored with them and had them shaved off (no doubt by

one of his company of barber surgeons).

As you see in Chapter 16 on his daughter Elizabeth, health, strength, beauty

and youth were all just smoke and mirrors. 82 Part II: Handling Henry VIII

Reflecting greatness in buildings

To accentuate his greatness, Henry built or acquired a set of magnificent

houses:

Bridewell in London was rebuilt from decay over a seven-year period

and cost Henry �20,000.

Hampton Court had been Wolsey's place. Henry took it over after he

fired the man in 1530. (For more about this palace, see Chapter 19).

St James's Palace in Whitehall was built from scratch in the 1530s.

Nonsuch Palace, south of London, was Henry's fantasy home. It had a

park of 2,000 acres, cost �24,000 and was still unfinished at the time of

Henry's death.

Punching above his weight

Henry was colossal, but the image he projected at the time and the image we

have now is even greater. His people loved him for his greatness. He stood up

to the French, the pope and the holy Roman emperor.

The Reformation may have been a European development, but Henry's con-

tribution to it � one that he never intended � was that it became peculiarly

his. British historians called it the Henrician Reformation.

Six Weddings and Two Funerals:

Henry VIII's Wives and Girlfriends In This Chapter

Meeting Henry's wives

Marrying and divorcing for England

Going to the block � Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard

H enry VIII's love life is world famous. He's the only English king to marry

six different women, two of whom literally lost their heads as a result

of saying Volo � `I do'.

Henry's marriages are all about politics as much as sex. In the 16th century

the government was the king and procreation was essential for a dynasty like

the Tudors to survive. It was vital that a queen should be fertile.

In nearly 32 years of marriage Henry created 11 pregnancies with four differ-

ent women and fathered four children who lived beyond babyhood:

Mary � the future Queen Mary I

Henry Fitzroy � illegitimate, the son of Bessie Blount

Elizabeth � the future Queen Elizabeth I

Edward � the future King Edward VI

After 1537 Henry was responsible for no more pregnancies, even though the

king had three wives to go � Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine

Parr. Catherine Parr outlived Henry and became pregnant by her next hus-

band, so the fertility problem was probably Henry's.

Don't let Henry's track record fool you. Six wives and a couple of mistresses

give the impression that Henry was a stud and womaniser. In fact, he took

marriage very seriously � so seriously that he executed two of his wives for

adultery.

Henry comes out of all this looking a rather sad figure. Driven by the

need to produce a legitimate male heir, his frequent marriages smack of

desperation. But he seems to have genuinely loved each of his wives (except

Anne of Cleves, who everybody realised was a big mistake). Equally, he tired

of women easily and his own monstrous ego was the real cause of all the

marital breakdowns.

Courting Catherine of Aragon

In Chapter 2 we explain that Catherine was the daughter of `the most Catholic

of kings', Ferdinand of Aragon, and Isabella of Castile.

Joining Team Tudor

Catherine was engaged to Arthur, Henry VII's eldest son, when she was 7.

Henry VII was an upstart who had, after all, taken the crown of England by

force and his legal claim to it was dodgy. He knew that making an alliance

with one of the oldest royal families in Europe would go a long way towards

acceptance.

In 1501 the real wedding (as opposed to the proxy one � see Chapter 2)

took place in England and everybody thought the couple were well matched.

Both spoke fluent Latin and had been brought up good Catholics (at this

stage nothing else existed in the Christian world) but with a humanist slant

(see Chapter 1).

Pretty as a picture?

It was the job of Court portrait painters to make 16th century pale skin and a high forehead in a

their sitters as pretty or handsome as possible, woman was considered a sign of beauty and

so we can't really rely on their accuracy. Easily intelligence. We know Henry was famously

the best portrait painter of his generation was deceived by Holbein's painting of Anne of

Hans Holbein from Augsburg in Germany, and Cleves, although she does look pretty plain

his paintings are so good we have to believe in his miniature. Anne Boleyn has a rosebud

that they're fairly accurate. Other portraits are mouth and blobby nose; Catherine of Aragon

very average and the problem is made worse has a huge chin in all portraits except Holbein's.

by later copies and engravings, particularly It's probably safest to say that the clothes are

by the Victorians. It doesn't help either that accurate but the faces aren't. If in doubt, I'd

society's ideas of beauty have changed: in the stick with Holbein. Chapter 5: Six Weddings and Two Funerals 85 Although Catherine had been due to marry an English prince for years and was clearly a smart girl, no one had ever taught her English, so she must have felt quite lost in her first months in the country, speaking Spanish to her ladies of the chamber only.

The newly-weds spent an extended honeymoon at Ludlow Castle on the Welsh Marches (borders) and it was here that Arthur died, probably of tuberculosis. We don't know whether the marriage was ever consummated. Very quickly, the 17-year-old princess was betrothed to Arthur's 11-year-old brother, Henry.

Church law said, based on the Bible's Book of Leviticus, that if a man married his dead brother's wife it was an unclean thing and he would be childless. The only man able to turn this ruling on its head was the pope, Julius II, who duly gave his consent.

Catherine herself was now in limbo. Ferdinand didn't want his daughter back (thanks, Dad!) because he was busy with affairs of state. So Ferdinand briefly made Catherine his ambassador, which improved her English and (uniquely at the time) gave a woman a political role in a man's world.

Striking a match Because of the shifts in European relations Henry VII had cooled on the Spanish Alliance marriage, but his death meant that Henry VIII could make up his own mind and the couple were married weeks later. Henry and Catherine were crowned in a joint ceremony on Midsummer's Day 1509. The streets around Westminster Abbey were hung with tapestries and gold cloth. The livery companies, all wearing their finery, lined Cheapside, the City of London's high street. Henry's horse was draped in gold damask and the king's doublet sparkled with rubies, emeralds and pearls. Catherine's litter was pulled by two snow-white horses. Over the top, or what?

Catherine swore she was still technically a virgin, despite some teenage boast- ing from Arthur. We're probably best off taking her word for it!

Making babies, losing babies Nine months after their wedding Catherine gave birth to a stillborn girl. This was very common at the time, with no scans or modern medical checkups available. It was a sign of gloom and doom to come, but Henry wasn't aware of that yet. 86 Part II: Handling Henry VIII

Infant mortality

The reason so many children died young or and anaemia. This left women prone to infec-

were stillborn is probably down to the frequency tions and gave them low resistance to illnesses.

of their mothers' pregnancies. Women's diet of The medical practice of bleeding (cutting veins

grain, vegetables and honey (they didn't eat as or applying blood-sucking leeches) for all sorts

much meat as the men) led to a low iron intake of illnesses made matters worse.

In January 1511 Catherine gave birth to Henry, who should have gone on to

be prince of Wales and eventually Henry IX. Tournaments and feasts were

held and the church bells rang out. Within weeks, however, rejoicing turned

to despair; baby Henry died from what today people call sudden infant death

syndrome (SIDS), and for the first time the relationship between king and

queen began to deteriorate.

It was two years before Catherine was pregnant again and it ended in miscar-

riage. Court gossip suggested Henry was looking elsewhere for excitement,

perhaps with the duke of Buckingham's sister, but the Court was always full

of rumours and no doubt Catherine tried to ignore the chat.

When Henry went to war in France in 1513, he made Catherine regent in his

absence, but this only papered over the cracks in their relationship.

Hitting the rocks

Henry may have been carrying on with Bessie Blount by this time (see

Chapter 3), but if so he was still persevering with Catherine. In January 1515

she miscarried again � another prince she failed to deliver. Henry was at

home in England but didn't visit her or even send condolences, such was his

disappointment.

Eleven months later Catherine produced the first of Henry's children who

would see adulthood. The child was healthy but it was female, and a newly

disappointed Henry made all the right noises about the baby, named Mary,

being `a token of hope' and `a good beginning' (nobody knows what Catherine

thought of this damning with faint praise).

Catherine was now 31 and her final pregnancy ended in miscarriage in 1518.

Lives were generally shorter in the 16th century and the menopause hit

Catherine at 33 or 34. She'd gone through six pregnancies and two live births

and was putting on weight rapidly. By the time of the Field of the Cloth of Gold

(1520; see Chapter 3) everybody accepted she was past it � a disaster for a

king desperate for a son.