PREVIEW： Epochs #270 ｜ The Life of Henry VIII： Part VI
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Summary
Henry VIII was a man of many talents. He was a scholar, a military man, a philosopher, a poet, a statesman, a writer, and an intellectual, but above all else, he was a religious man. And yet he was also a man who was, in the eyes of his critics, an enemy of the Roman Catholic Church. His name was Henry VIII, and he was known as one of the most feared men in England at the turn of the 16th century.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome back to Epochs where I shall be continuing my story of the reign of Henry
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the eighth as you may have noticed we're in the first year studio today because of uh just because
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of technical and scheduling reasons but we've done a number of epochs from the first studio
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haven't we we've got the bespoke video wall behind us for just such a purpose so let's continue the
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story we got up to the point where Anne Boleyn had had her head lopped off hadn't we we just got to
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that point so Henry also just gets married to Jane Seymour basically straight away doesn't he
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straight after that so let's pick up the story here as always for this episode for this series
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at least I'm reading from Professor Sir Charles Oman and Sir Winston Churchill so let's just pick
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up the story in Oman who wrote this but he had small time Henry had small leisure to spend on
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his wedding the wedding to Jane Seymour for the year 1536 was one of great peril to him
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a rebellion in Ireland led by the Fitzgeralds the greatest of the Anglo-Irish nobles was already in
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progress a still more dangerous phenomenon was the stir which was rising in the north of england
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the northern counties were always a generation behind the rest of england in their politics
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there the monks were more powerful and less disliked than any than in any other part of the
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land and the nobles still retained much of their old feudal power over their vassals
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and some of their old turbulence the north had beheld the breach with rome with dismay and
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dislike and remained strongly papist in its sympathies the dissolution of the monasteries
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moved it to an active protest against the king's religious action rioting suddenly broke out in
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lincolnshire and then in yorkshire the insurgents gathered in great bands and at last no less than
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30 000 men mustered at doncaster under robert ask a lawyer and lord darcy they called themselves
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the army of the church raised a banner displaying the five wounds of christ as their standard
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and demanded a reconciliation with the pope again be careful demanding anything from henry
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especially at the point of assault he's not the tough man to take that sort of thing laying down
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or is likely to capitulate in any way even on tiny points let alone on something as big as this
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but okay they demanded a reconciliation with the pope the restoration of the religious houses
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that's the monasteries and the dismissal of the king's impious minister cromwell and the quote
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heretic bishops quote who had favored the breach with rome the gentry of the north and the priors
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and abbots of the great abbeys of yorkshire joined the rising which men called the pilgrimage of
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grace that's what it's largely been known as throughout history the pilgrimage of grace
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i mean is it a pilgrimage an armed pilgrimage some people say that the crusades you know like
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the 11th 12th 13th century crusades are an armed pilgrimage a pilgrimage doesn't necessarily mean
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peaceful okay history is largely known this as the pilgrimage of grace because the rebels wished to
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go to meet the king and to submit their demands to his personal judgment again there's that old
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thing that only if only the king knew surely the king himself can't be for this in favor of all
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this surely it's just his evil ministers that's a story as old as time isn't it even up to the 20th
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even the 21st century surely the ruler himself that like the father figure surely he wouldn't
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be doing this to us it must just be his evil his evil ministers the worm tongues in his ear
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if only we could tell the big man himself what's going on surely he would protect us and do the
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right thing well very very very often that's just not the case and in this instance absolutely isn't
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the case this is what henry wanted robert ask and the others thought if they could just see the king
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if they could just tell him what was going on then everything could get fixed
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oman continued saying henry was caught unprepared but he managed to extricate himself from the peril
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by unscrupulous double dealing he sent the duke of norfolk again it's his sort of go-to military
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man isn't it the duke of norfolk whose dislike of protestantism was well known to treat with the
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rebels norfolk pledged his word that the king would pardon the insurgents and take all their
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demands into favorable consideration the simple northerners dispersed trusting to henry's good
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faith but the king employed the time he had gained in raising an army and getting together a great
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train of artillery he then marched into yorkshire as an invader and made no further pretense of
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listening to the claims of the insurgents classic henry viii there cannot be trusted once he's
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decided he's made his mind up about something that's what he's going to do that's what's going
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happen don't try even to change his mind certainly don't try to blackmail him or bully him or coerce
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him or anything or even argue with him in consequence the more vehement of the partisans
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of the old faith again took arms this was as henry desired says oman for he wanted an excuse to
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terrorize the north he easily put down the second rising and hung all the leaders of the pilgrimage
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of grace ask lord darcy lord hussey and the abbots of all the greatest monastic establishments of
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the north wally fountains gervaux barlings and sorely and this was between march and may 1537
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this fearful blow cowed most of the partisans of the papacy and no more open revolts followed
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but a little later the last representatives of the house of york were detected in paths which
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the king suspected to be treasonable. They thought, it seems, that the indignation of
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the Catholics against the king's doing might be turned into a dynastic revolution in favour
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of the old royal line. Edward Courtney, Marquess of Exeter, a grandson of Edward IV, and Henry
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Pohl, Lord Montague, a grandson of George of Clarence, were the persons implicated in
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this intrigue, which never got beyond the stage of treasonable talk. Nevertheless, the
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king beheaded them both though the evidence against them was most imperfect but henry never
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stayed his hand for want of legal proof and slew all whom he suspected once again he has been thought
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of as a time i mean starkey thinks of him as a tyrant many at the time and since of as thought
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of henry viii as something of a tyrant yeah he doesn't again right there doesn't necessarily
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need any legal proof he's just going to have you executed even in the 16th century that's uh
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beginning to be a bit much but nonetheless he could get away with it his his sort of his position
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the safety of his throne was never in doubt so he can get away with it effectively i mean we're
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just not in the wars of the roses anymore where other noblemen and houses will rise up and raise
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armies and march on london multiple times you know like they did to edward edward the fourth
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henry doesn't really need to worry about all of that he's just in a much much stronger position
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than say edward the fourth so he can just have people killed in a sort of what basically an
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extra judicial manner and he does oman continues saying he even imprisoned and some years afterwards
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executed the aged mother of lord montague margaret of clarence countess of salisbury
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sister of the unfortunate Edward of Clarence whom his father had slain 41 years back so yeah
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Margaret of Clarence a little old lady that even he couldn't Henry VIII couldn't abide even her
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still sort of living so even she's got to go I've seen more than one historian sort of point to that
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and say there's no way to sort of properly properly justify that if Henry had any sort of
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magnanimity in his bones he probably wouldn't have done that many of the others he had had executed
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you could at least make the argument that it was just the prudent thing to do even if it was
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extrajudicial it might it might be prudent whereas you know lopping off margaret of clarence's head
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when she's an old lady it's not like there was some giant rebellion about to spring up around
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the person of margaret of clarence and yet henry couldn't abide her still breathing so okay it's
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the measure of the man isn't it it's the measure of the man again don't cross him don't get on the
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wrong side of him he will mess up your program okay oman continues saying the insurrection in
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ireland which had been raging at the same time as the pilgrimage of grace ended in a way no less
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profitable to the king not only did he capture and hang well nigh the whole family of the
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Fitzgeralds of Kildare, the heads of the rising, but his armies under Lord Deputy Grey pushed out
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from the English pale and compelled most of the chiefs of Munster and Connacht to do homage to
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the crown, though the king's writ had not run in those provinces for two centuries. This was the
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first step towards the conquest of Ireland afterwards carried out by Queen Elizabeth.
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Meanwhile Henry's determination to strike at all the roots of papal power in England had been
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carrying him further than he himself realized on the road towards protestantism the quote
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articles of 1536 quote drawn up by his own hand declared that all doctrines and ceremonies for
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which authority could not be found in the bible were superstitious and erroneous so right there
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that's it's going quite far down the road of protestantism isn't it it's a full-blown break
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with with rome and catholicism there's no two ways about that i mean full-blown how henry didn't
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realize that or perhaps he did perhaps he did i mean i would have thought he did remember he was
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raised to be in the church wasn't it all his formative years and childhood his older brother
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arthur was supposed to be king and he was groomed to be in the church so henry 8th does it happens
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to actually know a lot about theology and such things and the actual logistics the reality of
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how ecclesiastical matters work so i would think there's no real way he didn't know that something
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like that you know declaring that any doctrines and ceremonies which are not found in the bible
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were superstitious and erroneous yeah that's that's sort of full-blown lutherism really
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it's protestantism certainly there is no way that rome could ever accept that and still allow you to
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be orthodox and one continues saying this quote the translation used was that made by a zealous
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protestant william tyndale who had printed it in antwerp some years before the unfortunate
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translator had been caught and burnt by the emperor charles v for being a heretic catholic
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heretic only a short time before his book became the rule of life for englishmen when the bible
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had once been placed in the hands of the people protestantism in england began to advance by leaps
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and bounds it was secretly favored both by archbishop cramner and by the king's great
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minister cromwell the latter thomas cromwell more logical than his master wished to see all traces
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of roman catholicism removed from england and tried to guide the king towards a frank recognition
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of protestantism and an alliance with the lutheran princes of germany but it was dangerous work to
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endeavor to govern or persuade henry as cromwell was defined to his cost yeah again henry not
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only sort of won't be argued with but even even this even if he feels like you're trying to
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manipulate him then you're you're already in danger just there right so full-blown uh going
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against his wishes or his will of course that's off the table but yeah even if he thinks you're
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trying to uh manipulate him coerce him manage him even if he gets the first inkling that you're
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trying to manage him you're attempting to try and put words in his mouth no matter how subtle
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even that is a massive massive problem and well that's where cromwell thomas cromwell finds
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himself among saying one more step at least he did induce his master to take the final destruction
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of all the remaining monasteries the plunder of the lesser houses had been so profitable
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that henry was easily induced to doom the greater of to the same fate in the course of 1538 to 39
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and into 1540 all were swept away in many cases the abbots and monks were induced to surrender
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their estates peaceably into the king's hands in return for pensions or promotion but where
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persuasion failed force was used an act of parliament was passed by henry's submissive
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commons bestowing on him the lands of all the monastic foundations then they were suppressed
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i.e closing them down taking all their wealth and money and closing them down entirely taking on
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the estates so any levies or taxes that they used to bring in that just now goes to the crown
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then they were suppressed the harmless and well-ordered ones no less than the worst and
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most corrupt when the monks offered obstinate resistance the king dealt very cruelly with them
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the wealthy abbots of glastonbury reading and colchester were all hung really for reluctance
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to surrender their houses nominally for treason in refusing to acknowledge the king's complete
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spiritual supremacy as head of the church the enormous plunder of the monasteries bought the
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king little permanent good he had promised to use it for ecclesiastical purposes and had broached a
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scheme for founding many new churches and schools and creating 20 fresh bishoprics but in the end
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he lavished most of the lands of the religious houses upon those of the nobles and gentry whom
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he thought worth bribing the church only benefited by the endowing of the six new bishoprics oxford
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chester peterborough bristol gloucester and the short-lived sea of westminster but henry was
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resolved to show the protestants that they must not expect his countenance in spite of the blows
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which he was dealing to the roman catholics again he liked to keep everyone guessing he's broken
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with rome in no uncertain terms and yet he's still insisting he's not a lutheran that he's not a
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full-blown protestant so so what is he yeah it's one of those policies where you know the policy
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itself is unclear deliberately so to keep everyone guessing it's a bit of a crazy crazy thing to do
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really i mean henry met he only works really if you can manage it perfectly if you've got an
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absolute dictator an absolute king and you can something like that even begin to work usually
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usually but that is what henry is isn't he he's not he's not an absolute monarch the way you know
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richard the first might have been or the way william the first might have been but he's not
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far off of it if you've got someone that is really truly at the head of the state and the head of
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government and sets all policy okay maybe something like this will work well henry does make it work
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for him okay so although he's suppressing all the monasteries and breaking with rome he doesn't
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want the protestants to get to get to uppity and think that he's he will do everything they want
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in the very year in which the majority of the greater monasteries fell he forced his parliament
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to pass the cruel bill of the six articles this odious measure condemned to forfeiture on the
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first offence and to death on the second all who should write or speak against certain of the
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ancient doctrines of the medieval church of which transubstantiation in the sacrament the celibacy
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of the clergy and auricular confession were the chief and this was in 1539 so again you can have
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everything stolen from you by the state by the king by the crown and then put to death if you
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don't do these very very very catholic things if you don't accept the idea of these very very
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catholic things and yet he's destroying all the monasteries he's he's the spiritual head of the
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church now not the pope but you must still do these very very catholic things and in another
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way adhere to these very very protestant things right it's a mess bit of a mess but again that's
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exactly what henry wanted meanwhile the king had at last obtained the male heir for whom he had so
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much longed his third wife jane seymour bore him a son prince edward in 1537 though she died at the
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child's birth it was a few a couple of days later on this boy all of henry's fondness was lavished
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he was to be the sole heir to the throne and his sisters mary and elizabeth were both stigmatized
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as illegitimate end quote okay so a fair bit has happened there obviously the continuing story of
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the break with rome and sort of that odd balancing act between between the pope and luther henry's
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own going his own third way if you like and then also that he's got he's got rid of amberley in
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has he and now he's got marriage to jane seymour got her pregnant quite quickly and she did give
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him a boy a living boy which was exactly what henry had always always wanted he'd feared hadn't
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he that for years and years god and the heavens had decided against him that he should never have
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boy well he's finally got one he calls him edward edward the sixth later to become but jane seymour
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henry's favorite out of his six wives his absolute favorite she died there was complications she
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lived for a while after the birth but did just die and she was very young i think she was only
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in her early 20s still so obviously very sad we hope you enjoyed that video and if you did
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