Unquestionably, modern film has taken enormous lengths to portray England’s King Henry VIII as a tyrannical monarch with an overwhelming libido who had absolute power over his realm; however, the true nature of the infamous king and his power over his nation are far more intriguing than cinema is capable of portraying. In reality, the power enjoyed by England’s most infamous monarch varied throughout his reign. Additionally, his power was easily manipulated by various courtiers or even his most personal advisors. Furthermore, the amount of influence exhibited over the monarch varied according to the individual motives of the courtier and the year in the king’s reign. In the early years of King Henry’s reign, the king was more preoccupied with enjoying the benefits of fame and power than with ruling his country. During this period, the king was young, energetic, athletic, and quite happy to embrace these qualities of youth. Unfortunately, this left a rather large void in terms of governing England. Into this void, stepped his most trusted advisor, Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey, during the early years of King Henry’s reign, enjoyed an immense amount of power and influence over many different arenas of English society. He served in several different church positions, much to his contemporaries char grin, and he served as the Lord Chancellor of England from 1515 onwards until his eventual fall from the King’s grace. These positions rewarded Wolsey with an immense amount of influence over the young King Henry VIII and his power. As the king was preoccupied with his youth, he was quite happy letting the cardinal act in his stead. As one can well imagine, letting another act in one’s stead had a detrimental effect on the king’s power.... ... middle of paper ... ... his ruthlessness steadily progressed throughout his reign. Additionally, what begin as a likeable young king grew into a powerful tyrant who would leave England upon his death with a lasting legacy of cruelty, depravity, and the true perils of power. Unquestionably, King Henry VIII’s power is with the modern world still as it shaped the course of English history up to and including the present. Bibliography Bucholz, Robert, and Newton Key. Early Modern England 1485-1714 a Narrative History. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2009. Clarke, Peter. "Canterbury as the New Rome: Dispensations and Henry VIII's Reformation." The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 64, no. 1 (2013): 20-44. Ives, E.W. "Henry VIII's Will: The Protectorate Provisions of 1546-7." The Historical Journal 37, no. 4 (1994): 901-14. Mantel, Hilary. Bring up the Bodies. New York: Picador, 2013.
When we look at Henry as a king we have to look in the context of
Comparing Henry VIII's Government in 1509 to 1514 to His Father's From the transition of Old king to Young king we can assume there will be lots of differences in the personalities between Henry VII and Henry VIII, these differences are what makes Henry VIII's policies and government different to that of his father. Henry's personality was quite amazing, his intelligence, learning and curiosity impressed the ambassadors who littered his court, and his thirst for knowledge was insatiable. 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. 'I have no fear
The Revolutionary Policies of Henry VIII Henry was a supreme egotist. He advanced personal desires under the guise of public policy or moral right, forced his ministers to pay extreme penalties for his own mistakes, and summarily executed many with little excuse. In his later years he became grossly fat, paranoid, and unpredictable. Nonetheless he possessed considerable political insight, and he provided England with a visible and active national leader. Although Henry seemed to dominate his Parliaments, the importance of that institution increased significantly during his reign.
When Henry VIII ascended to the throne in 1509, he became yet another English monarch without absolute power over his realm. Despite not having the same authority as his contemporary European monarchs, Henry was the recipient of two very important prerequisites for a successful reign. The first was a full treasury and the second was a peaceful transfer of power, which had been anything but certain in England since the War of the Roses. At first he was content to enjoy the fruits of his father’s labor, but ultimately he sought glory in his own name. Henry plunged into needless conflict in Europe, eliminated anyone who opposed him, and became so obsessed with securing a male heir that he engineered a split with the Catholic Church. It was this adventurous spirit that would lead to a decline in both of his key inheritances. Henry VIII may not have been an absolute monarch in the sense that his contemporaries were, but he often acted in a manner that resembled a supreme sovereign. Consequently, his reign seems to have been focused on his own ambitions instead of his subjects’ welfare.
Henry II, King of England, ruled strong and intelligently during his reign, making England one of the strongest countries at the time. Three important things occurred during his reign. The first one is the relationship between Henry and Thomas Becket. The second thing is the achievements he had done to help England become a strong and powerful country. The third important thing in his reign is how he altered the financial system, to take power away from the barons, and using taxes to help him build a fighting force, to keep England from being invaded.
A successful monarchy relies upon a stable leader who is concerned with the satisfaction of those he rules over. Henry Bolingbroke the IV in Shakespeare's Henry the IV Part I follows a trend set by his predecessor in Richard II of self-indulgence and neglect of his kingdom. These leaders worry about the possibility of losing their kingdom or their soldiers to other nobles who were also concerned more with obtaining a higher position rather than governing. The king must also be wary of his own life, something that was once revered and guarded closely by other nobles. Wars once fought for gaining or protecting land are overshadowed by personal battles fighting for the position of king.
Henry V is not a simple one as it has many aspects. By looking into
Henry IV is a play that concerns itself with political power and kingship in English history. References to kingship are prevalent throughout the play, especially in the depiction of the characters. Although most of the characters in this play could teach us about kingship, I would like to focus my attention to Prince Henry. I think that this character helps us to best understand what kingship meant at this particular time in history.
Great Brittan: Butler & Tanner Ltd, Frome, Somerset., 1984. Print. Loach, Jennifer. “Mary Tudor And The Re-Catholicisation Of England.”
King Charles “passed his whole life with the highest love and esteem of everyone, both at home and abroad, and not the least charge of cruelty or unfairness was ever brought against him by anyone” (143). He “protected, increased the size of, and beautified his kingdom” (141). When it came to family, “he could not stand to be parted from their company” (142).
Wright, Glenn. “Christianity and Romance in Medieval England”, English Studies, 93:1, 106-107. 2012. DOI: 10.1080/0013838X.2011.638447
Henry VIII life was marked with tragedy and achievements. The overall reign of the Tudor Dynasty is the same. The next two rulers Edward VI and Mary brought England down slowly. However, Princess Elizabeth saved the country and brought it to the best state the country had been in for years. Henry would have been proud of Elizabeth the Virgin Queen. Too bad the fate of not having an heir to the throne repeated and the dynasty was given over to the Spanish.
King Henry VIII’s reign before he met Anne Boleyn must be assessed in order to understand why he severed his ties with the Roman Catholic Church, and subsequently instated the Act of
The Holy Roman Empire was an empire in central Europe consisting of many territories and ethnicities. Once very powerful, the empire’s authority slowly decreased over centuries and by the Middle Ages the emperor was little more than a figurehead, allowing princes to govern smaller sections of the empire. Though the various ruling princes owed loyalty to the emperor, they were also granted a degree of independence and privileges. The emperor, an elected monarch, needed the allegiance of the princes and other aristocracy to support him, in turn giving them power or money. This tenuous allegiance between powers was greatly strained in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as religious reform dominated Europe and religious tensions divided the empire. Beginning in the sixteenth century, the empire’s power significantly declined because of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation split the empire’s states into Protestant and Catholic divisions, straining the peace between territories. Though the relationship between the princes and the emperor had already been tenuous, the princes, seeing the religious divisions, sensed weakness in the empire and further challenged imperial authority. The Holy Roman emperors battled Protestant princes in Germany into the seventeenth century, where tensions were still high from the Reformation and wars of religion – initially contained to the German territories – began to include other territories and states. As more European states joined the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire continued to deteriorate. From the early sixteenth to the mid seventeenth century, the Holy Roman Empire’s power declined greatly because of its internal religious rifts, conflicts (in particular the Thirty Years War, whic...
Burns, Julia. "Notes MLA 6318". Church and State in Early Modern England. Fall 2013. Dr. D. David.