The son and heir of Henry VII - Henry VIII (1509 - 1547) is one of the monarchs, opinions about which, both during their lifetime and in subsequent centuries, diverged sharply.
This is not surprising: under Henry V11I, the Reformation took place in England, and the image of him either in the halo of a saint, or in the guise of a devil, or at least a criminal polygamist and a bloody tyrant, usually depended on who characterized him - a Protestant or a Catholic. However, far from Catholic sympathies, Dickens called Henry VIII "the most intolerable scoundrel, a disgrace to human nature, a bloody and greasy stain in the history of England." And reactionary historians like D. Froude (in the book "History of England") extolled Henry as a folk hero. The eminent researcher A. F. Pollard, in his monograph Henry VIII, argued that Henry never had a "passion for unnecessary murders", without, however, giving himself the trouble to specify what should be considered "excess" here. Pollard's opinion has greatly influenced recent Western historiography. Even the well-known historian D. R. Elton, arguing with the apologetic assessment of Henry VIII, assured: “He (the king. - E.Ch.) was not a great statesman on the throne, as Pollard considered him, but he was more than a bloody, lustful , capricious tyrant of folk mythology". “Too many historians have painted Henry as the epitome of good and evil,” echoes Elton another recent biographer of Henry VIII, D. Bole, and adds that the time has come for a more cold-blooded assessment of this English monarch. D. Skerisbrick writes about the same in his book “Henry VIII”.What contributed to the transformation of Henry VIII, whom in his younger years Erasmus, More and other prominent thinkers of the era took for the long-awaited king of the humanists, into a cowardly and cruel despot? The author of the newest book on this topic, The Making of Henry VIII, Maria Louise Bruce, is trying to find an answer in the family conditions and peculiarities of Henry's upbringing, looking for unconvincing Freudian explanations...
Disputes have long been caused by each component of the character of the king: whether he is smart or stupid, talented or mediocre, sincere or hypocritical. His most recent biographer, G. A. Kelly, in The Matrimonial Trials of Henry VIII, concludes that the king was "half a hypocrite and half a man of conscience." (It is only unclear which of these “halfs” of the monarch was more sideways to his subjects.) Some historians, denying Henry all good qualities, recognized him at least one thing: physical weakness and firmness in achieving his goal.
The secret service, created by the founder of the Tudor dynasty, fell into disrepair at the beginning of his son's reign. For Henry VIII, who was firmly seated on the throne, intelligence services initially seemed not very necessary. The real pretenders to the throne disappeared, the fight against which was the main occupation of the secret agents of Henry VII. However, the growing international role of England prompted Cardinal Wolsey - the de facto head of government in the first decades of the reign of Henry VIII - to use the secret service to achieve foreign policy goals.
And then the Reformation came with its fierce struggle of parties that found support from outside: from Charles V - the Spanish king and the German emperor, from the French king Francis I, from the German princes, from the throne of Rome. In the course of this struggle, the ruling party made extensive use of the secret service of the English crown against its opponents. And those, in turn, created their own intelligence, more than once intricately intertwined through double agents with the "official" secret service.
As a rule, defeat in a secret war brought the leaders of the defeated side to the block. True, this was preceded by the formality of a trial on charges of high treason. But judges are usually a secret council, i.e. a group of lords who belonged to the camp of the victors (or defected to it) - only formalized the results of a secret war. Jurors who participated in less significant processes were actually appointed by sheriffs - loyal servants of the crown. Rarely has a secret war been combined with treason lawsuits with such consistency. The fact is that they were very much in the style of Henry VIII. His whim often ended the long covert struggle waged by rival factions. The path to the goal was through winning or maintaining his favor, failure was usually worth the head.
The English historian M. Hume (in his book The Wives of Henry VIII) wrote in 1905: “Henry was like a coffin… Like many people of this physical appearance, he was never a morally strong person and became weaker as how his body was overgrown with flaccid fat. Stubborn self-assertion and outbursts of rage, which most observers took for strength, hid a spirit that was always in need of guidance and support from a stronger will ... Sensuality, which came entirely from his own nature, and personal vanity were properties that ambitious advisers played on one by one. others used the king for their own purposes, until the bridle began to annoy Henry. Then his temporary master fully experienced the revenge of a weak-willed despot.
Justice was generally not distinguished by a penchant for mercy in this bloody age, when, according to More's famous expression, "sheep devoured people" and the entire state machine was aimed at suppressing the discontent of the landless peasants. It was believed that at least 72 thousand people (about 2.5% of the total population!) Were hanged during the reign of Henry VIII. The law rarely paid attention to extenuating circumstances, even in petty theft cases. During the reign of the Tudors, at least 68 statutes of treason were issued (in 1352 - 1485 only 10 statutes). The concept of treason was very broad. In 1540, a certain Lord Walter Hangerford was executed on Tower Hill for "high treason against sodomy". The statute, adopted in 1541, provided for the death penalty for lunatics "convicted" of high treason.
The reasons for the execution of the courtiers could be very different: some of them were turned into scapegoats, others were too noble and close (by birth) to the throne, others did not have time to dutifully follow the changes in the king’s church policy or simply expressed their disagreement with it in silence. Finally, many went to the chopping block, unwittingly arousing the royal wrath by some careless act. At times, the government was interested in not giving the defendants a word for acquittal. Then, if it was about influential people, they resorted to the adoption of an indictment by Parliament. More often, on the contrary, the authorities wanted to turn the trial into a spectacle for propaganda purposes. In these cases, even if the defendant pleaded guilty from the outset and, according to the law, all that remained was to pronounce the verdict, the comedy of the trial was still staged.
As you know, the formal pretext for the start of the Reformation was the family affairs of the "defender of the faith" - the title that Henry VIII had as a faithful son of the Catholic Church, who personally engaged in the refutation of Luther's heresy. Everything changed after the pope refused to legalize the divorce of Henry, who was carried away by the court beauty Anna Boleyn, with his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. The unexpected adherence to principles of Pope Clement VIII and his successor Paul III was determined by very good motives: Catherine was the sister of the Spanish king and the German emperor Charles V, whose possessions included most of Italy.
Even the most zealous defenders of the preservation of England's connection with the papacy recognized the danger that the Vatican would act as a tool of Spain. However, the Reformation had initially deeper socio-economic, political and ideological reasons. They were determined by the emergence and development of new, capitalist relations, the establishment of which took place in the struggle against the feudal system. Undoubtedly, dynastic motives also played a large role in the origin of the Reformation and the struggle between Protestant and Catholic states, but the attempts of some Western scholars to present these motives as the main reason for the break with Rome, which bourgeois historians resort to, in vain trying to refute the materialistic understanding of history, do not stand up to criticism. The divorce of the king was only a pretext for a long-awaited conflict with the head of the Catholic Church. When Henry VIII himself divorced Catherine of Aragon, and in 1534 Clement VIII died, refusing to approve the divorce, the king sharply rejected proposals to negotiate with Rome. Henry declared that he would not respect the pope any more than any of the very last priests in England. The gap was accelerated by Anne Boleyn, who was especially interested in it and managed to use her supporters and her secret service for this.
Anna, who spent her youth at the French court and thoroughly familiarized herself with the art of court intrigues, began a stubborn struggle against Cardinal Wolsey. The royal favorite suspected, and not without reason, that the cardinal, outwardly not objecting to Henry's divorce from Catherine, was in fact playing a double game. In fact, Anna managed to create her own intelligence network, led by her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, chairman of the privy council, and others, including the British ambassador in Rome, Francis Bryan. The ambassador, who was Anna's cousin, managed to get a letter from Wolsey, in which he begged the pope not to grant Henry's request. After that, the king did not want to listen to the excuses of the cardinal. In response, he only pulled out some paper and mockingly asked:
Hey milord! Is it not written by your own hand?
Only death saved Wolsey from arrest and the scaffold.
In 1531, Henry VI11 declared himself supreme head of the church in his domains. The annulment of the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon no longer required the permission of the pope. In 1533 the king celebrated his marriage to Anne Boleyn; the name of Catherine of Aragon after that became the banner of all opponents of the Reformation. Among them was Thomas More, the brilliant humanist writer of the immortal Utopia, whom Henry VIII, more than anyone else, sought to drag into the divorce camp. An eminent jurist and statesman, More served as Lord Chancellor. Researchers explain in different ways the real reasons that prompted More to refuse approval of the Reformation and the new marriage of the king. More probably feared that the Reformation would lead to a complete schism, the disintegration of Western Christianity into warring sects. Who knows, perhaps the eye of a shrewd thinker has already seen the calamities which, as a result of the Reformation, will fall upon the English masses, since it has created a convenient pretext for the confiscation of rich monastic possessions and for the expulsion from these lands of poor tenants.
In 1532, More, to Henry's extreme displeasure, asked to be relieved of his position as Lord Chancellor. After retiring, More did not criticize royal policy. He was just silent. But his silence was more eloquent than words. Anne Boleyn was especially bitter against More, who, not without reason, believed that a clear disapproval on the part of a man who enjoyed universal respect was a significant political factor. After all, the new queen was by no means popular: on the day of the coronation, she was greeted on the streets with abuse, shouting “whore”. Henry VIII fully shared his wife's fury, but did not dare, and it was not in his manner, to deal with the former chancellor, bypassing the usual judicial procedure.
In 1534 More was summoned to the privy council, where he was charged with various false accusations. An experienced lawyer, he easily refuted this not very skillfully invented slander.
The Privy Council was to retreat this time, but More knew Henry too well to harbor illusions. The king was going to hold the condemnation of the former chancellor by the House of Lords, but then decided to wait for a more convenient opportunity. “What is delayed is not abandoned,” More told his daughter Margaret when she first informed him that additional charges were being filed against him.
True, even among the members of the secret council there were people who, either for political reasons or under the influence of a certain sympathy for More, made attempts to warn him. Among them was the Duke of Norfolk, who was by no means distinguished by special sentiments. Upon meeting More, he said in Latin, "The wrath of a king is death." Moore calmly replied:
Is that all, my lord? Then truly the only difference between your Grace and me is that I have to die today, you tomorrow.
A new accusation arose in connection with the Act of Parliament of March 30, 1534. Under this law, the power of the pope over the Anglican Church was put to an end, the daughter of the king from his first marriage, Mary, was declared illegitimate, and the right to inherit the throne passed to the offspring of Henry and Anne Boleyn. The king hastened to appoint a special commission, which was ordered to take an oath of allegiance to this parliamentary institution.
More was one of the first to attend the commission's meeting. He announced his agreement to swear allegiance to the new order of succession to the throne, but not to the structure of the church introduced at the same time (as well as the recognition of the king's first marriage as illegal). Some members of the commission, including Bishop Cranmer, who led the church reform, were in favor of a compromise. Their arguments made Henry hesitate, fearing that the trial of More would not cause popular unrest. Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell and the queen managed to convince the cowardly king. They inspired Heinrich that such a dangerous precedent should not be created: after Mor and others, they would try to disagree with all the points of the oath taken from them. (Chancellor Audley may also have played a role.) On April 17, 1534, after repeated refusal to take the required oath, More was imprisoned in the Tower.
The severity of the prison regime was sharply increased in June 1535, after it was established that the prisoner corresponded with another prisoner, Bishop Fisher. More was stripped of paper and ink. He was already so weak from illness that he could only stand by leaning on a stick. Fischer was beheaded on June 22. Preparations for the Mohr trial intensified.
It was hoped at court that the prison deprivations had undermined not only the physical, but also the spiritual strength of More, that he would no longer be able to use his talent and wit in the courtroom. The frantic search for evidence proving "treason" continued. And since there were none in nature, they had to be hastily invented and created.
On June 12, Mora unexpectedly appeared in the cell, accompanied by two more persons, Attorney General Richard Rich, one of the most unscrupulous creatures of the king. Rich formally arrived to confiscate More's books, which he still had in prison. However, Rich's real intentions were quite different - to induce More, in the presence of witnesses, to statements that could be presented as having a treasonous character.
Supposing Parliament passes a law that God must not be God, do you admit, Mr. Rich, that God is not God?
No, - the Attorney General answered in fear, - I will refuse to admit it, since Parliament does not have the right to pass such laws.
More then avoided continuing the conversation, and Rich considered it too dangerous for himself. He decided not to take risks and use a reliable weapon - perjury ...
Heinrich did not want to delay any longer with the start of the process. This court was supposed to be an instrument of intimidation, a demonstration that all, even the most influential persons in the state, are doomed to death, if only they cease to be unquestioning executors of the royal will.
Barefoot, in the attire of a prisoner, More was led on foot from the dungeon to the hall of Westminster, where the judges sat. The accusation included "treasonable" correspondence with Fischer, whom More urged to defiance, refusal to recognize the king as head of the church, and defending a criminal opinion regarding Henry's second marriage. Even the very silence that More kept on the most important state issues was considered guilty.
The accused was so weak that the court had to give him permission to answer questions without getting up. But in this feeble body, there was still a fearless spirit. More left no stone unturned from the indictment. He remarked, incidentally, that silence had always been regarded as a sign of agreement rather than a sign of discontent.
Looking directly into the eyes of the scoundrel, after he told the court this phrase allegedly uttered by More, the accused said:
If what you have sworn, Mr. Rich, is true, then may I never see the face of God. I would not say this if things were different, for all the treasures of the world. To tell you the truth, Mr. Rich, I am more distressed by your perjury than by my own ruin.
Summoned at Rich's request, his two companions were careful not to overburden their consciences. According to them, they were completely absorbed in sorting through the books of the arrested person and did not hear anything from the words that he exchanged with Rich. It was obvious to everyone that Rich was lying. But that didn't change much. It’s just that the judges, who most of all valued royal favors and feared royal wrath, had to deal with the laws even more unceremoniously.
You, More, - shouted Chancellor Audley, - want to consider yourself wiser ... all the bishops and nobles of England.
Norfolk echoed him:
Your criminal intentions are now clear to all.
The obedient jury delivered the required verdict. However, even the participants in this judicial reprisal felt somehow not quite at ease. The Lord Chancellor, trying to quickly put an end to the unpleasant business, began to read out the verdict, without giving the last word to the accused. With his full presence of mind, More ensured that he was given the opportunity to express the convictions for which he sacrificed his life. Just as calmly, he listened to the verdict, dooming him to the barbarously cruel execution that was prepared for state criminals.
However, it was this exceptional self-control that saved More from additional torment. The king was more afraid of the impending execution, more precisely, of what, according to custom, the condemned from the scaffold would say, addressing the crowd. Henry therefore most graciously replaced the "qualified" execution with a simple beheading, ordering More to be handed over so that he would not "waste a lot of words."
God, save my friends from such mercy, - Mort remarked with his usual calm irony, having learned about the royal decision. However, he agreed without objection not to make his dying speech. The firmness of spirit did not change Mora for a minute even on July 6, when he was taken to the place of execution. Already on the scaffold, talking with the executioner, the convict jokingly threw out to him a moment before the fatal blow:
Wait, I'll remove my beard, there's no need to cut it, she never committed high treason.
The head of the “traitor” stuck on a stake inspired the Londoners with “respect” for royal justice for many months ...
Upon learning of the death of More, his friend, the famous writer Erasmus of Rotterdam, said: "Thomas More ... his soul was whiter than snow, and his genius is such that England will never again have such a thing, although it will be the birthplace of great people."
Mora was later canonized by the Catholic Church. A well-known English historian rightly remarked in this connection: “Although we regret the execution of St. Thomas More as one of the darkest tragedies of our history, we cannot ignore the fact that if Henry had not cut off his head, he (quite possibly) would have been burned by sentence. dads."
More's execution caused considerable outrage in Europe. The English government had to prepare and send to foreign courts detailed explanations designed to justify this act. The text of the explanations varied greatly depending on who they were intended for: Protestant princes or Catholic monarchs.
The first news that the executioner had done his job caught Henry and Anne Boleyn playing dice. The king remained true to himself when he received this long-awaited news:
You, you are the cause of this man's death, - Heinrich threw with displeasure in the face of his wife and left the room. He had already mentally decided that Anna, who gave birth to a girl (the future Elizabeth I), instead of the desired heir to the throne, would follow the executed chancellor. The occasion did not have to wait long.
The case of the "conspiracy" was entrusted to Chancellor Audley, who, apparently, decided at the same time to declare all his personal enemies as malefactors. The king explained to the courtiers that Anna had violated the "obligation" to give birth to his son (the queen had a daughter, and on another occasion a dead child). Here the hand of God clearly affects, therefore, he, Henry, married Anna at the instigation of the devil, she was never his lawful wife, and he is therefore free to enter into a new marriage. Henry everywhere complained about the queen's betrayal and named a large number of her lovers. “The king,” Chapuis reported to Charles, not without amazement, “says loudly that more than a hundred people had a criminal connection with her. Never has any sovereign, or any husband at all, exhibited his horns so everywhere and carried them with such a light heart. However, at the last minute, Heinrich came to his senses: some of those imprisoned were released from the Tower, and charges were brought only against the initially arrested persons.
The indictment alleged that there was a conspiracy to take the life of the king. Anna was charged with a criminal relationship with the courtiers Noreys, Brerton, Weston, musician Smeaton and, finally, her brother John Boleyn, Earl of Rochford. Counts 8 and 9 of the indictment stated that the traitors entered the community with the aim of killing Henry and that Anna promised some of the defendants to marry them after the death of the king. The five "conspirators", in addition, were charged with accepting gifts from the queen and even jealousy towards each other, as well as the fact that they partially achieved their villainous plans against the sacred person of the monarch. “Finally, the king, having learned about all these crimes, impiety and betrayals,” the indictment said, “was so saddened that it had a harmful effect on his health.”
In drafting the indictment, Audley and Attorney General Hals had to solve a lot of puzzles. For example, is it worth ascribed to Anna an attempt to poison Henry's first wife Catherine and his daughter from this marriage, Mary Tudor? After some hesitation, this accusation was abandoned: they did not want to confuse the attempt on the king with the intention to poison the “Dowager Princess of Wales,” as Henry’s first wife was now officially called. The question of “chronology” was very delicate: to what time should the alleged betrayals of the queen be attributed? Depending on this, the question of the legitimacy of Anna's daughter, Elizabeth, which was of such great importance for the order of succession to the throne, was decided (supporters of the "Spanish" party expected to elevate Mary to the throne after the death of the king). However, here they decided without a host. Henry eventually realized that it was indecent to accuse his wife of infidelity already during their honeymoon, that his only heir Elizabeth would in this case be recognized as the daughter of one of the accused, Noreys (since the marriage with Catherine was annulled, Mary was not considered the legitimate daughter of the king). Therefore, Audley had to seriously work on the dates, so as not to cast a shadow on the legitimacy of Elizabeth's birth, and to attribute the imaginary betrayals to the time when Anna gave birth to a dead child. In the end, they managed to get around all these chronological slingshots, although not without a clear conflict with common sense. Since the indictment imputed to the defendants the commission of their crimes in the territory of Kent and Middlesex, a grand jury was assembled from these counties. Without presenting any evidence, they obediently voted to bring the accused to trial.
Already on May 12, 1536, the trial of Noreys, Brerton, Weston and Smeaton began. There was no evidence against them, except for the testimony of Smeaton, forced to this by threats and promises of a posha if he slandered the queen (but Smeaton also denied the existence of an intention to kill Henry). However, this did not prevent the court, which consisted of Anna's opponents, from sentencing all the accused to a qualified execution - hanging, being removed from the gallows while still alive, burning the entrails, quartering and decapitation.
The absence of any real evidence of guilt was so obvious that the king ordered Anne and her brother Rochford to be tried not by a court of all peers, but by a specially selected commission. They were all the leaders of the hostile queen of the party at court. In addition to the “crimes” listed in the indictment, Anna was accused of mocking Henry and ridiculing his orders with her brother (it was about her and Rochford’s criticism of ballads and tragedies composed by the king). The outcome of the process was a foregone conclusion, Anna was sentenced to be burned as a witch or to be beheaded - as the king would have it.
Even faster was the trial of Rochford. Of course, all accusations of incest and conspiracy against the king were pure fantasy. The only "evidence" was some kind of free opinion of the accused about the king, which even under the then legislation was difficult to bring under the concept of high treason. In court, George Boleyn carried himself with great dignity. Norfolk and other judges, having come to the cell of the condemned, hoped to obtain a confession. But Boleyn was adamant, denied all charges. He reminded the judges that perhaps their turn would soon come, for he, like them now, was powerful, enjoyed influence and power at court. It was not possible to achieve any confessions from Anna either.
Henry hurried with the execution, appointing it two days after the trial of Rochford. The defendants did not even have time to prepare for death. However, for all the nobles, the “qualified” execution, by the grace of the king, was replaced by decapitation.
First, all six men were executed (Smeaton was entertained with the hope of pardon until the very last minute, but since no one confirmed his slander, he was hanged after the rest of the convicts). Rochford was the first to put his head on the chopping block. His dying speech has come down to us, perhaps in a not entirely accurate retelling of a supporter of the "Spanish" party. “I came here,” said George Boleyn, “not to preach. The law has found me guilty, I submit to the law and I will die by the will of the law. I beg you all to hope only in God, and not in vanity; If I had done so, I would have survived. I also appeal to you: do the will of God. I diligently and zealously studied the word of God, but if I conformed my actions to the word of God, I would not be on the block. Therefore, I beg you, not only read the word of God, but also fulfill it. As for my crimes, there is no reason to list them, and I hope that I will be a saving example for you. I ask you from the bottom of my heart to pray for me and forgive me if I offended anyone, as I forgive all my enemies. Long live the king!" Only in such a frame did Rochford dare to speak of his sister's innocence. The established royal absolutism led to the formation of an appropriate psychology among their subjects.
Anna had a flash of hope for salvation. It was possible to unearth some kind of youthful passion for the queen long before she met Henry. If Anna gave her word to marry at the same time, then her subsequent marriage to the king became invalid. One could also declare this marriage incestuous on the grounds that Anne's older sister Mary Boleyn was Henry's mistress. In this case, the “treason” of Anna with five already executed conspirators would not have been jurisdictional, the “crime” would no longer exist, even if it had been committed. Archbishop Cranmer solemnly held a ceremony at which the king's marriage on the basis of "additionally revealed new circumstances" (Henry's connection with Mary Boleyn was implied) was declared invalid and optional. However, instead of the exile that Anna's friends were counting on, instead of expulsion abroad, to France, the king preferred to send his divorced wife to the chopping block. No one, of course, dared to mention that Anna, even if the "accusations" against her were considered proven, was now innocent. 12 hours after the divorce was proclaimed, a royal order arrived at the Tower to behead the former queen the next day. The delay of two days was clearly caused only by the desire to give Archbishop Cranmer time to dissolve the marriage.
In her dying speech, Anna said only that now it makes no sense to touch on the causes of her death, and added: “I do not blame anyone. When I die, remember that I honored our good king, who was very kind and merciful to me. You will be happy if the Lord gives him a long life, as he is endowed with many good qualities: fear of God, love for his people and other virtues, which I will not mention.
Anna's execution was marked by one innovation. In France, beheading with a sword was common. Heinrich also decided to introduce a sword instead of the usual ax and to conduct the first experiment on his own wife. True, there was not enough competent expert - I had to write out the right person from Calais. The executioner was delivered on time and proved to be knowledgeable. The experience went well. Upon learning of this, the king, impatiently waiting for the execution, shouted cheerfully: “It's done! Let the dogs out, let's have fun!" By some whim, Henry decided to marry a third time - to Jane Seymour - even before the body of the executed woman cools down. The marriage took place on the same day.
Now there was little left, Heinrich liked to act according to the law. And the laws had to be quickly adapted to the wishes of the king. Cranmer, in fulfilling Henry's order to divorce Anne Boleyn, formally committed an act of high treason. According to the act of succession to the throne of 1534, any “prejudice, slander, attempts to violate or humiliate” Henry’s marriage to Anna was considered high treason. Many Catholics have lost their heads for attempting to "belittle" in any way this marriage, now declared invalid by Cranmer. A special clause was included in the new act of succession of 1536, providing that those who, with the best of motives, recently pointed out the invalidity of Henry's marriage to Anna, were not guilty of high treason. However, a proviso was immediately made that annulment of the marriage to Anna did not exonerate anyone who had previously held the marriage to be unenforceable. At the same time, it was declared high treason to question both of Henry's divorces - both with Catherine of Aragon and with Anne Boleyn. Now everything was really all right.
THE FATE OF CHANCELER CROMWELL
In the fall of Anna, her former ally, Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell, who used his secret service for this purpose, played a large role. Having studied the system of espionage under Henry VII, Cromwell significantly developed it, following the example of the Italian states - Venice, Milan. In the conditions of a serious aggravation of the internal situation of the country, the existence of a mass of discontented people, he used the intelligence network he had created primarily for police purposes. The agents of the royal minister eavesdropped on chatter in taverns, conversations on the farm or in the workshop, watched sermons in churches. However, special attention, of course, was paid to persons who caused displeasure or suspicion of the king. even under Cardinal Wolsey, they acted simply: they stopped the couriers of foreign ambassadors and took away dispatches. Under Cromwell, these dispatches were also taken away, but after reading they were sent to their destination (it will take another half a century, and English intelligence officers will learn to open and read reports so deftly that the addressee will not even think that they were in the wrong hands).
Cromwell's spies for many years intercepted all the correspondence of Catherine of Aragon, who could send news about herself abroad only with the help of Chapuis. Since the ecclesiastical orders were no doubt bitter enemies of the Reformation, Cromwell got his agents among the monks as well. One of them, the Franciscan John Lawrence, secretly reported to the minister about the intrigues of his order in favor of Catherine of Aragon.
The Secret Service under Cromwell did not disdain provocations either. So, in 1540, a certain Clement Philpo from Calais was arrested and accused of participating in a conspiracy to transfer this French city, back in the 14th century. conquered by the British, into the hands of the pope. Philpo was released after his confession. But the former commandant of Calais, Viscount Lyle, who was the illegitimate son of Edward IV, the king of the York dynasty, and therefore an objectionable person for Henry VIII, got into the Tower. Although Lyle was proven innocent, he died without a trial or release order. His title was given to the royal favorite John Dudley, son of Henry VII's minister, who was executed by Henry VIII upon his accession to the throne.
Now it's Thomas Cromwell's turn. He was hated everywhere, often guided by completely opposite motives: there was no such stratum of society on whose support or simply sympathy he could count. For the common people, he was the organizer of bloody persecutions, the strangler of speeches against the new exactions, hardships that fell upon the peasants after the closure of the monasteries. For the nobility, he was an upstart - a commoner who took an inappropriate place for him at court. Catholics (especially the clergy) did not forgive him for breaking with Rome and subordinating the church to the king, plundering church lands and wealth, patronizing the Lutherans. And those, in turn, accused the minister of persecuting the new, "true" faith, in a condescending attitude towards Catholics. The Scots, the Irish, and the Welsh had their own long account of Cromwell.
There was only one man - Henry VIII - whose interests always benefited from the activities of the minister. Cromwell played a leading role in asserting the supremacy of the monarch over the church, in expanding the powers of the royal privy council, whose rights were extended to the north of England, Wales, and Ireland. Cromwell filled the lower house of parliament with the creatures of the court and turned it into a mere instrument of the crown. He managed to sharply increase the revenues of the treasury through the confiscation of monastic lands, as well as the taxation of trade, the development of which he encouraged by a skillful patronage policy. Thomas Cromwell managed to achieve the strengthening of English influence in Scotland, a significant expansion of the possessions of the British crown in Ireland, and the final annexation of Wales.
What more could be demanded of a minister who not only carefully carried out all the orders of the king, but also sought to guess his desires and anticipate plans, which he had not yet had time to think of? However, the very successes of Cromwell (as in the old days of his predecessor, Cardinal Wolsey) aroused an increasing feeling of jealousy in the narcissistic Henry, who was furious at the mental superiority of his minister. The existence of Cromwell was evidence of Henry's inability to extricate himself from the painful divorce case, to reorganize state and church affairs in the spirit of royal absolutism. The minister was a living reminder of the second marriage of the king, the shameful process and the execution of Anne Boleyn, which they so wanted to consign to eternal oblivion. More than once it seemed to Henry that Cromwell was preventing him from applying his state abilities in practice, to stand on a par with the largest politicians of the era - Charles V and Francis I. teaches the king and makes him abandon his plans, putting forward ingenious arguments that are difficult to find objections to! It seemed to Henry that he knew as well as Cromwell (or at least learned from him) the secrets of government that brought such excellent results. He will be able to multiply them, and without causing discontent, which his minister did not avoid. But it is necessary that this unworthy, this upstart, who has held the post of chief adviser to the king for so long, does not use the secrets entrusted to him for evil. It was impossible to allow, having calmly retired, he began to criticize the actions of the king, put spokes in the wheels of that policy that would finally create Henry the glory of a great commander and statesman. And most importantly, Cromwell will be a good scapegoat...
Under these conditions, the fall of Cromwell, whose only support was the king, was only a matter of time. All that was needed was an excuse, the last drop that overflowed the cup, one awkward step to slide into the abyss ...
After the death of the third wife of the king, Jen Seymour (she died after childbirth, giving Henry the heir to the throne), Cromwell led negotiations for a new bride for his sovereign. Several nominations were put forward. The choice fell on Anna, the daughter of the Duke of Cleves. Captious Heinrich looked at the portrait, painted from another portrait by the famous Hans Holbein, and agreed. This German marriage was conceived in connection with the emerging threat of the formation of a powerful anti-English coalition consisting of the two leading Catholic powers - Spain and France, ready, it seemed, for a while to forget the rivalry that separated them. In addition, the marriage to a Protestant was supposed to further deepen the Anglican head's rift with Rome.
At the end of 1539, Anna of Klevskaya set off. Everywhere she was expected by a magnificent meeting, prescribed by a 50-year-old fiancé. Posing as a gallant knight, he decided to meet his bride in Rochester, 30 miles from London. The royal entourage Anthony Brown, sent as a courier, returned very embarrassed: the future queen very little resembled her portrait. Brown could not know that Anna of Klevskaya was even less suited to her future role in terms of intelligence and education received at the court of a small German principality with its pedantic lifestyle. In addition, the bride was not the first youth, and at the age of 34 she managed to lose much of the attractiveness that even ugly girls have in their youth.
No wonder that Brown, like a cautious courtier, concealed his embarrassment, refrained from any enthusiasm and informed Heinrich that he was expected. When meeting with the German woman, Heinrich did not believe his eyes and almost openly expressed his "dissatisfaction and unpleasant impression of her personality," as the courtier who observed this scene reported. After muttering a few phrases, Heinrich left, forgetting even to give Anna the New Year's gift prepared for her. Returning to the ship, he remarked grimly: "I see nothing in this woman like what was reported to me about her, and I am surprised how such wise people could write such reports." This phrase, which acquired an ominous meaning from the lips of such a tyrant as Henry, seriously frightened Anthony Brown: one of the participants in the marriage negotiations was his cousin Southampton.
But Heinrich was not thinking about him. The king did not hide his displeasure from those close to him, and Cromwell directly announced: “If I had known about all this earlier, she would not have come here. How to get out of the game now? Cromwell replied that he was very upset. After the minister himself had the opportunity to look at the bride, he hastened to agree with the opinion of the disappointed groom, noting that Anna still had royal manners. This was clearly not enough. From now on, Henry only thought about how to get rid of the "Flemish mare", as he dubbed his betrothed. The political reasons that prompted the English king to seek the hands of the daughter of the Duke of Cleves boiled down to encircling Flanders, one of the richest lands of the empire of Charles V. Surrounded on all sides by the opponents of the emperor - England, France, the Duke of Cleves and the Protestant princes of Northern Germany, Flanders would have become a weak spot in Charles V's empire, prompting him to seek reconciliation with Henry. In addition, the possibility of such an encirclement of Flanders could induce Francis I to abandon the idea of an agreement with his old rival, the German emperor.
Although these considerations remained valid, Heinrich instructed to help him "get out." Cromwell set to work. Anna, it turns out, was intended to be married off to the Duke of Lorraine, and the document containing the official release of the bride from her promise remained in Germany. It was like a saving loophole: Heinrich tried to accept the role of an insulted and deceived person. But sooner or later the paper would have been delivered to London. But Heinrich was afraid to simply send Anna home, since the wounded Duke of Cleves could easily go over to the side of Charles V. Cursing, gloomy as a cloud, the king decided to marry.
The day after the wedding, Henry VIII announced that the newlywed was a burden to him. However, he refrained from open rupture for some time. It remained to determine: is this gap so dangerous? In February 1540, the Duke of Norfolk, an opponent of "German marriage" and now an enemy of Cromwell, went to France. He became convinced that the Franco-Spanish rapprochement did not go far. In any case, neither Charles nor Francis intended to attack England. But it was precisely by referring to this threat that Cromwell motivated the need for a German marriage. Norfolk brought his happy news for Henry and in return learned no less good news for himself: the duke's niece, young Catherine Howard, was invited to royal dinners and dinners, where the closest people were allowed.
Cromwell tried to strike back: his intelligence tried to compromise Bishop Gardiner, who, like Norfolk, sought reconciliation with Rome. The minister also confiscated the property of the Order of St. John: the gold that flowed into the royal treasury always had a calming effect on Henry.
On June 7, Cromwell was visited by his former supporter, and now a secret enemy of Wrightsley, close to Henry. He hinted that the king should be released from a new wife. The next day, June 8, Wriothesley again visited the Minister and again insistently repeated his thought. It became clear that this was a royal order. Cromwell nodded his head, but noted that the matter was complicated. The minister was offered to free the king from Anna of Cleves in order to clear the way for Catherine Howard, the niece of his enemy.
While Cromwell bitterly pondered the order he had received, Henry had already made a decision: before getting rid of his new wife, it was necessary to get rid of the annoying minister. Wrightsley, on the orders of the king, on the same day, June 8, drew up royal letters accusing Cromwell of violating Henry's plan for a new church structure.
Yesterday, the still almighty minister became a doomed man, an outcast, marked with the seal of royal disfavor. Other courtiers and advisers already knew about this - almost everyone except himself, the head of the secret service. On June 10, 1540, as members of the Privy Council were walking from Westminster, where Parliament was sitting, to the palace, a gust of wind tore off Cromwell's hat. Despite the usual courtesy, which demanded that the other advisers also take off their hats, everyone remained in their headdresses. Cromwell understood. He still had the courage to grin: “A strong wind tore off my hat and saved all yours!”
During the traditional dinner at the palace, Cromwell was shunned as if he had been plagued. Nobody spoke to him. While the minister listened to the visitors who came to him, his colleagues hastened to leave for the meeting room. Belatedly, he entered the hall and intended to take his seat, remarking: "Gentlemen, you are in a hurry to start." He was interrupted by Norfolk's shout: "Cromwell, don't you dare sit down here! Traitors don't sit with nobles!" At the word "traitors," the door opened and the captain entered with six soldiers. The head of the guard approached the minister and gestured to him that he was under arrest. Jumping to his feet, throwing his sword on the floor, Cromwell shouted with burning eyes, in a breathless voice: “Such is the reward for my labors! Am I a traitor? Tell me honestly, am I a traitor? I never intended to offend His Majesty, but since I am treated this way, I give up hope of mercy. I only ask the king to let me languish in prison for a short time."
On all sides Cromwell's voice was drowned out by cries of "Traitor! Traitor!”, “You will be judged according to the laws that you have composed!”, “Every word of yours is treason!” In the midst of the torrent of swearing and reproach that fell upon the head of the deposed minister, Norfolk plucked the Order of St. George from his neck, and Southampton the Order of the Garter. The soldiers had to almost save Cromwell from the angry members of the council. Cromwell was taken through the back door straight to the waiting boat. The arrested minister was immediately taken to the Tower. The doors of the dungeon did not have time to slam behind him, as the royal envoy, at the head of 50 soldiers, occupied Cromwell's house by order of Henry and confiscated all his property.
In the casemates of the Tower, Cromwell had ample time to reflect on his position. There was no doubt that this was the end. Cromwell was not thrown into the Tower to be let out alive. He could imagine in every detail how events would unfold: false accusations designed to hide the real reasons for the fall of the all-powerful minister yesterday, the comedy of the court, a predetermined death sentence. The choice now was not which political course to take. Now there was only an opportunity to escape from the terrible "qualified" execution. Cromwell himself more than once had to take upon himself the organization of such massacres, and he already knew in every detail how this was done. The very walls of the Tower seemed to be filled with the shadows of the victims of royal arbitrariness, people killed and tortured here at the behest of Henry VIII and with the active assistance of his faithful Lord Chancellor. Human life was nothing to him if it had to be offered as a sacrifice on the altar of state necessity. And this need he repeatedly happened to declare both the royal whim and the interests of his own career (not to mention the thousands of participants in peasant uprisings executed at the demands of the landlords). The Tower of Blood and other dungeons of the Tower were for Cromwell a sure and convenient means of isolating a person from society, while leaving him for a long agony in one of the stone bags of the state prison or directing him to Tower Hill and Tyburn, where the axes and the executioner's rope saved the prisoner from further suffering . On a dark June night, the Tower finally appeared to Cromwell what it was to many of his victims, a sinister instrument of ruthless royal despotism. The minister himself experienced all the horror and helplessness of the prisoner in the face of a ruthless, blunt force that doomed him to a painful death.
Cromwell's enemies were quick to spread rumors about his crimes - one worse than the other. The example was set by the king himself, who announced that Cromwell was trying to marry Princess Mary (an accusation, however, prompted by Norfolk and Gardiner). Until recently, Cromwell sent people to the chopping block and the fire for the slightest deviations from the far from well-established Anglican orthodoxy, either towards Catholicism, or towards Lutheranism, deviations in which the king, most of the bishops and members of the privy council could rightly be accused of. The indictment, which was soon presented to Parliament, spoke of Henry's closest assistant of many years as "the most vile traitor", raised by the favors of the king "from the meanest and lowest rank" and repaid with betrayal, about the "vile heretic" who distributed "books aimed at to dishonor the sanctuary of the altar." He was credited with statements that, "if he lives a year or two," the king will not be able to even resist his plans if he wants to. References to extortion and embezzlement were supposed to reinforce the main accusation of "treason" and "heresy".
It was well known to everyone that the main accusation was pure fiction. This was understood even by the townspeople, who everywhere lit bonfires as a sign of joy over the fall of the minister, who personified everything hated in Henry's policy. But, of course, most of all they rejoiced at the death of an imaginary traitor abroad. Charles V is said to have fallen on his knees to thank God for such good news, while Francis I uttered a cry of joy. Now, after all, we have to deal not with a dexterous and dangerous opponent, which was Cromwell, but with a vain Henry, whom they, first-class diplomats, will not be able to get around. If only this dodgy Cromwell hadn't managed to get away somehow (from a distance it was not clear that the fate of the former minister had been finally decided). Francis even hastened to inform Henry that Cromwell had so settled a long-standing dispute over the maritime prizes seized by the governor of Pecardia that he had put a large sum of money in his pocket. Heinrich was delighted: finally, at least one specific charge against the former minister! He immediately ordered that detailed explanations on this issue be demanded from the arrested person.
Cromwell's enemies like Norfolk triumphantly predicted a shameful death for the traitor and heretic. Well, what about friends? Did he have friends, and not just creatures - supporters who owe him their careers? Of course they were silent.
Everything that the "heretic" Cromwell was accused of was fully applicable to Cranmer. Nevertheless, the archbishop silently joined the unanimous decision of the House of Lords, which passed a law that sentenced Cromwell to be hanged, quartered and burned alive.
In prison, the disgraced minister wrote desperate letters. If it were in his power, Cromwell assured, he would endow the king with eternal life, he sought to make him the richest and most powerful monarch on earth. The king was always in relation to him, Cromwell, supportive, like a father, not a master. He, Cromwell, is rightly accused of many things. But all his crimes were committed unintentionally, he never plotted anything evil against his master. He wishes every prosperity to the king and heir to the throne... All this, of course, did not change the fate of the condemned "traitor".
However, before his execution, he had to serve one more service to the king. Cromwell was ordered to state all the circumstances surrounding Henry's marriage to Anna of Cleves: it was understood that the former minister would shed light on them in such a way as to facilitate Henry's divorce from his fourth wife. And Cromwell tried. He wrote that Heinrich, on several occasions, spoke of his determination not to use his "rights of a spouse" and that, consequently, Anna remained in her former "pre-married" state. Common sense, which did not leave the convict when compiling this letter, betrayed him when he concluded his message with a cry for mercy: “Most merciful sovereign! I'm begging for mercy, mercy, mercy!" It was already a request not to save a life, but to get rid of the terrible torture on the scaffold. Henry really liked the letter both as a useful document in a divorce and this humiliated plea: the king did not like it when his subjects calmly accepted the news of their execution. Heinrich ordered that a letter from a recent minister be read aloud to him three times.
The divorce was carried out without much difficulty - Anna of Cleves was satisfied with a pension of 4 thousand pounds. Art., two rich manors, as well as the status of "sister of the king", placing her in rank directly after the queen and Henry's children. And it remained for Cromwell to give an account of some of the sums spent and to find out about the reward that was due to him for the memorandum on the fourth marriage of the king. On the morning of July 28, 1540, Cromwell was informed that Henry, as a special favor, allowed him to confine himself to beheading, saving the convict from hanging and burning at the stake. True, the execution was to be carried out at Tyburn, and not at Tower Hill, where persons of higher birth were beheaded. Having given this gracious order, Heinrich, who again became a groom, did everything necessary and could now, with a "clear conscience", leave the capital on vacation with his 18-year-old bride Catherine Howard. And Cromwell was to set out that very morning on his last journey from the Tower to Tyburn. In the last hours of his life, he seemed to have overcome the cowardice that possessed him, while in him, contrary to evidence, the hope of pardon was still smoldering.
A strong, stocky man, who was not yet 50 years old, outwardly calmly looked at the chopping block, the hushed crowd. A thousand royal soldiers kept order. The audience, with bated breath, waited for the death speech: whether it would be delivered in the Catholic spirit, as the victorious party of Norfolk and Gardiner would like, or in the spirit of Protestantism, or whether the convict, who remained so calm, would deceive expectations altogether by refusing to confess. No, he starts talking... His words could well satisfy the Catholic listeners. Cromwell seems to want at the last hour to please the enemy party that sent him to the scaffold. “I came here to die, not to make excuses, as some may think,” Cromwell says in a monotonous voice. “Because if I were to do this, I would be a despicable nonentity. I am condemned by law to death and I thank the Lord God that he appointed me a similar death for my crime. For from a young age I lived in sin and offended the Lord God, for which I sincerely apologize. Many of you know that I am an eternal wanderer in this world, but being of low birth, I was raised to a high position. And in addition, since that time I have committed a crime against my sovereign, for which I sincerely ask for forgiveness and beg you all to pray for me to God that he forgive me. I now ask you who are present here to allow me to say that I die faithful to the Catholic faith, not doubting any of its dogmas, not doubting any of the sacraments of the Church. Many have slandered me and assured me that I hold bad views, which is not true. But I confess that, just as God and his Holy Spirit instruct us in the faith, so the devil is ready to corrupt us, and I was corrupted. But let me testify that I am dying a Catholic devoted to the holy church. And I sincerely ask you to pray for the prosperity of the king, so that he may live with you for many years in health and prosperity, and after him his son Prince Edward, this good offspring, may long reign over you. And once again I ask you to pray for me that as long as life is preserved in this body, I would not waver in my faith in anything.
What was the reason for this, of course, premeditated confession, which could hardly reflect the true feelings of the former minister, the great chamberlain of England, who was thrown on the chopping block at the whim of the king? Perhaps the explanation can be found in the desire of the convict to retain his position at the court of his son, Gregory Cromwell? Or were there some other motives that prompted Cromwell to repeat what people had said before him before putting his head under the executioner's ax? He did his job well, and the crowd cheered loudly. A century will pass, and the great-great-grandson of the executed minister Oliver Cromwell will speak with a descendant of Henry Charles I in a completely different language. But this will take another century.
JOKES OF THE "PROTECTOR OF THE FAITH"
The assassination of Cromwell was followed by the order of the king to "cleanse" the Tower of state criminals. It was then that the above-mentioned Countess of Salisbury was sent to the scaffold. The only crime of this old woman, who was already 71 years old and who, clinging to life, fought desperately in the hands of the executioner, was her origin: she belonged to the York dynasty, overthrown 55 years ago.
Shortly after the fall of Cromwell, an episode occurred that threw further light on the character of both Cranmer and the king. Cranmer was not just a careerist, ready to do anything for the sake of royal favor and the benefits associated with it, as Catholics portrayed him and some liberal historians of the 19th century were inclined to portray him much later. even less the Archbishop of Canterbury was a martyr of the faith, ready for any action in the name of the triumph of the Reformation, himself remaining pure and blameless in his motives (as Protestant authors preferred to portray Cranmer). The archbishop sincerely believed in the necessity and beneficence of Tudor despotism in both secular and spiritual matters, and willingly reaped the fruits that such a position brought to him personally. Cranmer. At the same time, Henry was by no means that one-line, primitive tyrant, which he can appear in many of his actions. He was most convinced of his chosenness, that the preservation and strengthening of the power of the crown was his first duty. Moreover, when he went against the interests of the state (even in his understanding) for the sake of satisfying a personal whim, didn’t he defend the highest principle in this case - the unlimited power of the monarch, the right to act contrary to the opinion of all other institutions and persons, subordinating them to his will?
The reprisal against Cromwell, as well as similar events that preceded it, especially the fall and execution of Anne Boleyn, immediately raised the question: how will this affect the unstable new church orthodoxy that this minister so promoted? In the hot July days of 1540, not far from the place where Cromwell's head rolled onto the chopping block, a commission of bishops continued to sit, clarifying the creeds of the state church. The execution of Cromwell forced most of the supporters of the preservation or even the development of church reform to defect to a more conservative faction, led by Bishop Gardiner. However, Cranmer (there was a 10 to 1 bet in London at the time that the Archbishop would soon follow Cromwell to the Tower and Tyburn) remained adamant. Two of his former associates, Heath and Sculp, who now prudently took Gardiner's side, during a break in the meeting of the commission, took Cranmer into the garden and urged him to submit to the opinion of the king, which clearly contradicted the views defended by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer objected that the king would never trust the bishops if he was convinced that they supported opinions that were not in accordance with the truth, only to earn his approval. Upon learning of this theological dispute, Henry unexpectedly took Cranmer's side. The views of the latter were approved.
Later, the pro-Catholic part of the Privy Council, including Norfolk, decided to take advantage of the fact that some sectarians assured that they were like-minded people of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Several Privy Councilors reported to the King that Cranmer was a heretic, and that although no one dared testify against the Archbishop because of his high rank, the situation would change as soon as he was sent to the Tower. Heinrich agreed. He ordered the arrest of Cranmer at a meeting of the Privy Council. Norfolk and his associates were already triumphant. But in vain. That same night, Henry secretly sent his favorite Anthony of Denmark to Cranmer. The archbishop was hastily lifted from his bed and taken to White Hall, where Henry informed him that he had agreed to his arrest and asked how he felt about this news. There was a lot of fanaticism in Cranmer. He performed the role of an instrument of royal arbitrariness zealously and with all his heart; but the archbishop managed to become an experienced courtier. In answer to the king's question, Cranmer expressed his loyal gratitude for this gracious warning. He added that he would go with satisfaction to the Tower in the hope of an impartial trial of his religious views, which was no doubt the King's intention.
O merciful Lord! Heinrich exclaimed in shock. - What a simplicity! So allow yourself to be thrown into prison so that every enemy of yours can have an advantage against you. But do you think that as soon as they put you in jail, three or four lying rascals will soon be found ready to testify against you and condemn you, although while you are free, they do not dare to open their mouths or show themselves in front of you. No, that's not the point, my lord, I respect you too much to let your enemies bring you down.
Henry gave Cranmer a ring, which the archbishop had to show at his arrest and demand that he be brought before the king (it was known that the ring was given as a sign of granting such a privilege).
Meanwhile, inspired by the king's consent, Cranmer's opponents did not even think of standing on ceremony with him. The scenes preceding the arrest of Cromwell were repeated in an even more insulting form. Arriving at the meeting of the Privy Council, the Archbishop of Canterbury found the doors of the meeting hall closed. For about an hour Cranmer sat in the corridor with the servants. Clerks came in and out of the council chamber, defiantly oblivious to the country's highest church dignitary. This scene was closely observed by the royal physician, Dr. Butts, whom Henry often used for such assignments. He hastened to inform the king of the humiliation to which the primate of the Anglican Church had been subjected. The king was indignant, but let events take their course.
Finally allowed into the meeting room, Cranmer was accused by his colleagues of heresy. The archbishop was informed that he was being sent to the Tower, but in response he showed the ring and demanded that he be allowed a meeting with the king. The ring had a magical effect. Cranmer's opponents rushed about, realizing that they had made an unforgivable mistake, not correctly guessing Henry's intentions. And the usually dexterous Lord Admiral Rossel, not without annoyance, remarked: after all, he always maintained that the king would agree to send Cranmer to the Tower only when charged with treason ...
The Privy Councilors went to the King, who scolded them for their misbehavior. Norfolk, who tried to get out, assured that they, denouncing Cranmer of heresy, simply wanted to give him the opportunity to defend himself from this accusation. After that, the king ordered the members of the privy council to shake hands with Cranmer and not try to cause him trouble, and ordered the archbishop to treat his colleagues to dinner. What did Heinrich achieve with all this? Perhaps he wanted to further aggravate relations between the members of the Privy Council? Or did he intend to destroy Cranmer, and then, as so often happened with the king, changed his mind? Or was he just having fun, baffling, humiliating and fearing his closest advisers?
Anne of Cleves was followed by Catherine Howard, the young niece of the Duke of Norfolk and cousin of Anne Boleyn. The new queen did not sit well with church reformers like Cranmer. Norfolk, having plundered the monastic lands, nevertheless considered it unnecessary and dangerous to further progress of the Reformation.
For the time being, Cranmer and his friends preferred to hide their plans: young Catherine gained influence over her elderly husband; in addition, she could give birth to a son, which would greatly strengthen her position at court.
In October 1541, the queen's enemies found a long-awaited excuse. One of the minor court servants, John Lascelles, on the basis of the testimony of his sister, who had previously served as a nanny to the old Duchess of Norfolk, reported to Cranmer that Catherine had been in connection with a certain Francis Dergham for a long time, and a certain Manox knew about a mole on the queen's body. The Reform Party - Cranmer, Chancellor Audley and the Duke of Hertford - hastened to notify the jealous husband. Cranmer gave the king a note ("not having the courage to verbally tell him about it"). The Council of State met. All the "guilty", including Manox and Dergem, were immediately captured and interrogated. The fact that the imaginary or real infidelity of the queen before marriage could not be compared with the previous "pure" life of Henry himself, no one dared to think. Cranmer visited a young woman, completely stunned by the misfortune that had fallen on her, who was not yet 20 years old. With a promise of royal "favor" Cranmer coaxed a confession out of Catherine, and in the meantime succeeded in extorting the necessary evidence from Dergem and Manox. Heinrich was shocked. He silently listened at the meeting of the council to the information obtained, and then suddenly began to shout. This cry of jealousy and malice sealed the fate of all the accused in advance.
Norfolk angrily informed the French ambassador, Marillac, that his niece was "engaged in prostitution while in association with seven or eight persons". With tears in his eyes, the old soldier spoke of the grief of the king.
In the meantime, another “guilty” was captured - Kelpeper, whom Catherine was going to marry before Heinrich paid attention to her, and to whom she, already becoming queen, wrote a very favorable letter. Dergem and Kelpeper were sentenced, as usual, to death. After the verdict was passed, cross-examinations continued for 10 days - they did not reveal anything new. Dergem asked for a "simple" beheading, but "the king found him undeserving of such a favor". A similar indulgence was, however, granted to Kelpeper. On December 10, both of them were executed.
Then they took on the queen. The Howards hurried to recoil from her. In a letter to Henry, Norfolk lamented that after "the heinous deeds of my two nieces" (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard), perhaps "His Majesty would be disgusted to hear anything about my family again." The duke further mentioned that the two "criminals" did not have any special kindred feelings for him, and asked for the preservation of royal favor, "without which I will never have the desire to live."
Obedient Parliament passed a special resolution blaming the Queen. She was transferred to the Tower. The execution took place on February 13, 1542. On the scaffold, Catherine admitted that, before she became queen, she loved Kelpeper, wanted to be his wife more than the mistress of the world, and mourned, causing his death. However, at the beginning, she mentioned that she "did no harm to the king". She was buried next to Anne Boleyn.
The last years of Henry were gloomy. All the previous life, they were twirled by favorites, he was not used to daily dealing with state affairs, he did not even sign papers, instead of this they applied a seal with the image of the royal signature. In the 1940s, England's foreign policy situation became complicated and there was neither Wolsey nor Cromwell who could confidently guide the ship of English diplomacy in the stormy waters of European politics.
In preparation for the impending war, the king changed his hobbies. Previously claiming the laurels of a poet, musician and composer, he was now engaged in drawing up military plans, fortification schemes and even technical improvements: Heinrich came up with a cart capable of grinding grain when moving. Royal ideas met with a chorus of enthusiastic praise from the British military leaders. The only exceptions were impudent foreign engineers - Italians and Portuguese, whom the offended inventor ordered to be expelled from the country.
At the same time, the king sincerely did not understand how people did not want to recognize him as an apostle of peace and justice. When meeting with the ambassador of Emperor Charles V, he said: “I have been on the throne for forty years now, and no one can say that I have ever acted insincerely or in an indirect way ... I have never broken my word. I have always loved the world. I'm just defending myself from the French. The French will not make peace unless Boulogne is returned to them, which I have won with honor and intend to keep. In speeches addressed to Parliament, the king now assumes the pose of a wise and merciful father of the fatherland, forgetting for a while about the thousands executed on his orders, about the counties devastated by the royal troops, and still very recent popular movements. The advisers tried to hide unpleasant news from Henry in order, as Gardiner put it, to "keep the peace of mind of the king." No one was guaranteed against outbursts of royal anger. Henry's new wife, Catherine Parr, almost ended up in the Tower for expressing religious views that the king did not like. Her resourcefulness saved her. Sensing danger in time, the queen assured her sick and irritable husband that everything she said had one purpose: to slightly entertain his majesty and hear his learned arguments on the issues that were discussed. Catherine deserved forgiveness just in time: soon Minister Wrightsley appeared with guards, who had a written order for the arrest of the queen. Heinrich, who changed his intentions, met his favorite with scolding: “Fool, brute, scoundrel, vile scoundrel!” The frightened Wriothesley disappeared.
Parliament passed a bill according to which Catholics were hanged and Lutherans were burned alive. Sometimes a Catholic and a Lutheran were tied with their backs to each other and thus erected on a fire. A law was issued commanding to report the sins of the queen, and also obliging all the girls, if the monarch chose them to be his wife, to report their faults. “I am acting on instructions from above,” Heinrich explained (however, no one turned to him with questions).
The situation escalated so quickly that there was reason to be confused even by people more subtle than the slow-witted Rayoteli. On July 16, 1546, the noblewoman Anna Askew was burnt in London for denying mass. At the same time, other heretics were sent to the stake (including Lascelles, the informer who killed Catherine Howard). And in August, Henry himself was already trying to convince the French king Francis I to jointly forbid the service of Mass, i.e. destroy Catholicism in both kingdoms. More arrests and executions followed. Now it was the turn of the Duke of Norfolk, who was overtaken by the increasing suspicion of the king. In vain from the Tower, he recalled his merits in the extermination of traitors, including Thomas Cromwell, who was also engaged in the destruction of all royal enemies and traitors. Norfolk's son, the Earl of Surrey, was beheaded on Tower Hill on January 19, 1547. The execution of Norfolk himself was scheduled for 28 January.
He was saved by the illness of the king. At the bedside of the dying, the courtiers, barely hiding a sigh of relief, bargained over the government posts that they would take under the future nine-year-old King Edward VI. A few hours before the impending beheading of Norfolk, Henry died in Cranmer's arms.
And the turn came to Cranmer only a few years later ...
For two decades, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a zealous servant of Tudor tyranny, managed to get around the pitfalls that threatened his career and life. Every time, the people in whose hands the power was, preferred to use the services of Cranmer than to send him to the scaffold with another batch of those defeated in court and political intrigues. And Cranmer, who was by no means just an ambitious careerist or a dexterous chameleon (although he had a lot of both), willingly, if lamenting at times, sacrificed his patrons, friends and like-minded people to duty. And it was his duty to defend at any cost the principle that affirms royal supremacy in both secular and ecclesiastical affairs, the duty of subjects to unquestioningly obey the royal will. Cranmer equally blessed the execution of his patroness Anne Boleyn, and his benefactor Thomas Cromwell, and the reprisal against Catherine Howard, a protege of a faction hostile to him, and the imprisonment of his opponent Norfolk in the Tower. He also approved the execution of Lord Seymour, who tried to seize power under the young Edward VI, and Lord Protector Somerset, close to Cranmer, who sent Seymour to the chopping block in 1548 and himself in 1552 ascended the scaffold, defeated by Warwick, Duke of Northumberland. And the same Duke of Northumberland, when, after the death of Edward VI in 1553, he tried to enthrone the king's cousin Jane Gray and was defeated by the supporters of Mary Tudor (daughter of Henry VIII from his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon).
Cranmer authorized the execution of popular rebellion leaders, Catholic-minded priests, although their views were almost openly shared by many close to the throne, Lutheran and Calvinist pastors, who often preached just what the archbishop in his heart believed was truer than the views of the official state church, and in general, all those who in some way consciously or accidentally deviated from Anglican orthodoxy. From a shaky orthodoxy, constantly changing depending on the external and domestic political situation, and even more changeable royal moods and whims, instantly acquiring the form of parliamentary acts, decrees of the secret council and decisions of the episcopate, for the slightest violation of which the gallows or the executioner's ax threatened.
After the death of Edward VI, Cranmer received a fairly wide field for maneuver. The rights of pretenders to the throne were completely confused by the conflicting statutes adopted under Henry VIII and declaring either legal or illegal each of his daughters.
When Northumberland was defeated and laid his head on the chopping block, Cranmer tried to find a completely plausible - in the eyes of Mary Tudor - explanation for his close cooperation with the duke. It turns out that even before the death of Edward VI, he, Cranmer, tried in every possible way to divert the duke from the implementation of the illegal plan to enthrone Jane Gray, but he had to yield to the unanimous opinion of the royal lawyers who supported this plan, and, most importantly, to the will of the king himself, who had the right to cancel any laws. In fact, during the nine-day reign of Jane Gray (in July 1553), Cranmer was among the most active members of her privy council, sending a notice to Mary Tudor that she, as an illegitimate daughter, was deprived of the throne, and letters to the county authorities urging them to support the new queen. . All this, however, was done by other members of the privy council, who, however, managed to go over to the side of Mary Tudor as soon as they saw that power was on her side. After that, Cranmer signed a letter on behalf of the Privy Council to Northumberland, who was with troops in Cambridge, that he would be declared a traitor if he did not obey the legitimate Queen Mary.
As a result of this, however, belated transition to the camp of the victors, Cranmer not only remained at large for another 56 days, but continued to perform the functions of the Archbishop of Canterbury at the funeral of Edward VI. At the beginning of August 1553, he issued an order to convene a council, which was supposed to cancel all church reforms carried out under the late king.
At one time, apparently, Mary and her advisers had hesitations about what to do with Cranmer. It was not only and not so much that the queen hated Cranmer for his role in Henry's divorce from her mother and declaring her the most "illegitimate" daughter, but in the desire in the person of the archbishop to condemn Anglicanism. For his part, Cranmer, too, essentially rejected the possibility of any reconciliation, issuing a statement strongly condemning the Mass.
As a result, he was arrested, tried along with Jane Grey, Northumberland, and convicted of treason. It was even expected that, unlike the rest of the convicts, Cranmer would be subjected to a "qualified" execution. However, Mary, on the advice of Charles V, decided to prosecute Cranmer not for high treason, but for an even more terrible crime in her eyes - heresy. Cranmer did not seem to mind just such an accusation. In January 1554, during the Uat uprising, when the rebels occupied part of London, Cranmer, hardly sympathizing with the rebels, hoped for their victory, which alone could save him from a painful execution. Although the movement was suppressed, the government of Mary Tudor still felt fragile for some time. And in October 1554, a plan was revealed to kill 2,000 Spaniards who arrived with Mary's fiancé, Prince Philip (the future Spanish King Philip II).
As soon as the government had consolidated its position, it immediately turned its attention to Cranmer and other leaders of the Reformation, primarily Ridley and Latimer. A "learned" debate was organized at Oxford, where Cranmer and his like-minded people had to defend Protestantism from criticism from an entire army of Catholic prelates. The dispute, of course, was organized in such a way as to put the "heretics" to shame. The decision of the Oxford theologians was known in advance. A lot of time went into compliance with other formalities: the condemnation of Cranmer by representatives of the Roman throne, the hypocritical provision of 80 days for the victim to appeal to the pope, although the prisoner was not released from the prison cell, and other requirements of the procedure; Cranmer was, after all, an archbishop, confirmed in this rank even before the break with Rome.
Finally, Cranmer, at the behest of Rome, was stripped of his dignity. All necessary preparations have been completed. And then the unexpected happened: Cranmer, who had shown inflexibility for so long, suddenly capitulated. This was very bad news for Mary and her advisers, although they were afraid to admit it. Of course, the repentance of such a hardened great sinner was a great moral victory for the Catholic Church. But what about the planned burning of Cranmer as a lesson to other heretics? Burning a repentant apostate, moreover, a former archbishop, was not quite according to church rules. Mary and her chief adviser, Cardinal Paul, had to find new ways - having fully used Cranmer's repentance, to claim that it is insincere and therefore cannot save the heretic from the fire.
Several times, under the pressure of the Spanish prelates who besieged him, Cranmer signed various "renunciations" of Protestantism, either admitting his sins, or partially retracting confessions already made. Doomed to death, the old man at that time was no longer afraid of the fire, was not guided only by fear for his life. He was ready to die a Protestant, as his like-minded associates Latimer and Ridley had fearlessly done. But he was ready to die as a Catholic, just not to go to hell. Having compiled and signed numerous copies of his next, most decisive repentance, Cranmer, on the night before his execution, compiled two versions of his dying speech - Catholic and Protestant. So it remained unclear why already on the chopping block he preferred the latter option. Moreover, he found the strength in himself to stick his right hand, which had written numerous renunciations, into the fire. Protestants greatly admired this courage on the scaffold, while somewhat discouraged Catholic authors explained that Cranmer did nothing heroic: after all, this hand would have been burned in a few minutes anyway.
When the fire went out, some unburned parts of the corpse were found. Cranmer's enemies claimed that it was the heart of a heretic, which did not take fire because of its burden with vices ...
Wives of Henry VIII December 21st, 2016
Hello dear.
In the history of any country there is a ruler whom literally everyone has heard of. At the same time, the vast majority of people, accustomed to thinking in blocks, know just a little about such a historical figure, and God forbid that the truthful information, and not an element like "Marie Antoinette's brioches."
Now, if you ask people what they heard about the English King Henry 8, then many will remember that he was a polygamist, and someone will add that it was because of his wives that he took Foggy Albion from the hands of the Roman Curia to Protestantism. This is partly true (although not because of the numerous marriages, of course. Everything is deeper and more serious). It’s hard to deny the truth and female influence here :-)
But Henry VIII is a much more interesting figure (like all Tudors in general). And we can say that this bright and strong sovereign was until the end of his life "the cuckoo did not move out completely." There will be time and desire - read about his life. Well, today we will focus on more prosaic things - remember these same wives, and what they were like :-)
One of the many films about him...
Henry went down in history as the husband of 6 different wives. And they were really very, very different. They say that English schoolchildren are still learning not to confuse these queens with the help of the mnemonic phrase "divorced - executed - died, divorced - executed - survived." Comfortable:-)))
So, for the first time he married having just taken the throne in 1509. Henry at that time was a noble and kind young man, and therefore he committed an act that he could well not commit - he married the widow of his older brother Catherine of Aragon.
"Catholic Kings"
It was like this ... In general, Henry should not have taken the throne, because he had an older brother, whose name was Arthur. Their father, the reigning King Henry VII, picked up Arthur, as it seemed to him - a brilliant party - the youngest daughter of the unifiers of Spain, often also called the "Catholic kings" Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, Catherine. The marriage was generally strategic and beneficial to England. The girl was 16, the groom was 15. They managed to play the wedding, but they didn’t spend the wedding night. Arthur suddenly died of some infectious disease. Catherine remained at the British court as an innocent widow.
Despite the fact that she was 5 years older than him, Heinrich decided to marry. Either because of a sense of duty, or out of pity, or maybe love was involved there too.
Arthur Tudor
However, it should be noted that the life of the spouses did not immediately work out. They were too different. Cheerful and not shunning wine and women's society Heinrich and a devout Catholic Catherine. She seemed to have taken the worst traits from her parents - the religious fanaticism of her mother and the stinginess of her father. Especially there were problems with the earnestness of faith. In fasting and prayers, the young woman brought herself to fainting from hunger, which had a very bad effect on her health. She gave birth to 8 children, and only 1 boy, but of all of them only one child survived - Maria (the future Queen Mary the Bloody). Having suffered without an heir and having finally cooled down to his wife, Henry tried to get rid of her - but it was not there. Neither persuasion, nor attempts at bribery, nor threats worked. Then the king approached the matter legally. His jurists explained that marrying the widow of marriage is incest, and therefore the marriage is void. It happened in 1529, after 20 years of marriage.
Catherine of Aragon
This interpretation was not liked by Pope Clement VII, who did not give permission for a divorce, and in the end it became the starting point for the final displacement of Catholicism from England.
Clement VII in the world of Giulio de' Medici
Henry VIII by that time was enjoying the company of 3 mistresses at once - the Boleyn sisters (Anne and Mary), as well as Elizabeth Blount. The latter even bore him a son in 1525, whom the king subsequently granted the title of Duke of Richmond and Somerset. But he was a bastard, and the king needed a legitimate heir.
Late coat of arms of the Boleyn family
The divorce of the king and the whole situation of this trinity was best used by the youngest of the Boleyn sisters - Anna. At the time of her passion for the king, she was 32 years old. This lady did not have a very beautiful appearance, but she was quite popular. Everyone noted the sophistication of her attire, pleasant voice, ease of dancing, fluency in French, good performance on the lute and other musical instruments, energy and cheerfulness. And most importantly, she was quite smart and cunning. Having played hard-to-reach in front of the king and rejecting at first all his courtship, she completely turned his head. She became the wife of Henry in January 1533, was crowned on June 1, 1533, and in September of the same year gave birth to his daughter Elizabeth (the future famous "virgin queen") instead of the son expected by the king. Subsequent pregnancies ended unsuccessfully. And the marriage quickly fell apart. King simply...executed his wife in May 1536, accusing her of 2 treason against the state and marriage at once.To all appearances, this is absolutely unreasonable.But the king was carried away by a new woman, and did not want a new divorce process.
Ann Bolein
A week after the execution of the wife of Henry VIII. whose mental health has already begun to falter marries the object of his passion - the former maid of honor of Anne Boleyn named Jane Seymour. It was Jane, even though she had been queen for a little over a year, who was able to give birth to the king's rightful heir - the son of Edward, who, albeit not for long, but ruled under the name of Edward VI. Jane herself died 2 weeks after the birth of her son - from puerperal fever.
Jane Seymour
It would be necessary for the king to stop - but no, despite his advanced age for those years, he set off in a new search for a wife. And found. He decided to intermarry with the Duke of Cleves (northwestern Germany) Johann III the Peaceful and betrothed his eldest daughter Anna. But it all turned out crooked. He did not see Anna, so he ordered her portrait - they brought him and he fell in love with the portrait. When the girl was brought to London, the king was disappointed and very much. She did not match the portrait. And it didn't match. Therefore, after six months of marriage, the king offered her a divorce, paid a generous allowance and the unofficial title of "beloved sister of the king." She continued to live in England.
Anna Klevskaya
I don’t know why Henry wanted to marry again, but he made an extremely strange choice. A certain 20-year-old former maid of honor and cousin of Anne Boleyn named Catherine Howard was a cheerful and peculiar lady. Right and left cuckolding her husband, and having at least 2 official lovers, including cheating on Henry with the king's personal page, she ended her life on the chopping block. For 2 years the king tolerated her, but on February 13, 1542, she ascended the scaffold. Because fire is no joke.
Catherine Howard
We can say that the king was lucky only in his last marriage. Despite the 20-year age difference, his last wife, Catherine Parr, tried to create conditions for a normal family life for him. She loved his children and himself, tried to extinguish his fits of rage and manifest mental illness. This marriage was her 3rd and she was twice a widow. Despite the fact that for 4 years of marriage, she was several times, as they say, on the verge of death, but honestly pulled the marital strap. It was under her, an ardent Protestant, that England lost the chance to return to the Catholic lodge. And it was Catherine Parr who buried the king. Henry VIII. January 28, 1547, at two o'clock in the morning, Henry VIII died at the age of 55 from gluttony.
Catherine Parr
Interestingly, Parr married for the fourth time - to Thomas Seymour, brother of Jane Seymour. thus for those times this woman is unique - after all, 4 marriages.
Here is such a story with the spouses of the loving King Henry VIII. I hope you were interested.
Have a nice time of the day.
Greenwich
London
2. Anne Boleyn
3. Jane Seymour
4. Anna Klevskaya
5. Catherine Howard
6. Catherine Parr
daughters: Mary I and Elizabeth I
early years
Having led the religious reformation in the country, in 1534 being proclaimed the head of the Anglican Church, in 1536 and 1539 he carried out a large-scale secularization of the monastic lands. Since the monasteries were the main suppliers of industrial crops - in particular, hemp, which is essential for sailing - one could expect that the transfer of their lands to private hands would adversely affect the condition of the English fleet. To prevent this from happening, Henry issued a decree ahead of time (in 1533) requiring each farmer to sow a quarter acre of hemp for every 6 acres of cultivated area. Thus, the monasteries lost their main economic advantage, and the alienation of their possessions did not harm the economy.
The first victims of the church reform were those who refused to accept the Act of Supremacy, who were equated with traitors to the state. The most famous of those executed during this period were John Fisher (1469-1535; Bishop of Rochester, in the past - the confessor of Henry's grandmother Margaret Beaufort) and Thomas More (1478-1535; famous humanist writer, in 1529-1532 - Lord Chancellor of England ).
Later years
In the second half of his reign, King Henry turned to the most cruel and tyrannical forms of government. The number of executed political opponents of the king increased. One of his first victims was Edmund de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, who was executed back in 1513. The last of the significant figures executed by King Henry was the son of the Duke of Norfolk, the outstanding English poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who died in January 1547, a few days before the death of the king. According to Holinshed, the number of people executed during the reign of King Henry reached 72,000 people.
Death
The Palace of Whitehall where King Henry VIII died.
In the last years of his life, Henry began to suffer from obesity (his waist size grew to 54 inches / 137 cm), so the king could only move with the help of special mechanisms. By the end of his life, Heinrich's body was covered with painful tumors. It is possible that he suffered from gout. Obesity and other health problems may have resulted from an accident in 1536 in which he injured his leg. Perhaps an infection got into the wound, and in addition, due to the accident, the leg wound that he received earlier reopened and worsened. The wound was problematic to the point that Heinrich's doctors considered it intractable, some even arguing that the king could not be cured at all. Heinrich's wound tormented him for the rest of his life. Some time after the injury, the wound began to fester, thus preventing Heinrich from maintaining his usual level of physical activity, preventing him from exercising daily, which he previously did. It is believed that the wound he received in an accident caused a change in his shaky character. The king began to show tyrannical traits and became increasingly depressed. At the same time, Henry VIII changed his eating style and began to consume mainly large amounts of fatty red meat, reducing the amount of vegetables in his diet. It is believed that these factors provoked the early death of the king. Death overtook the king at the age of 55, on January 28, 1547 at the Palace of Whitehall (it was supposed that his father's 90th birthday party would be held there, at which the king was going to attend). The last words of the king were: “Monks! Monks! Monks! .
Wives of Henry VIII
Henry VIII was married six times. The fate of his spouse is memorized by English schoolchildren using the mnemonic phrase "divorced - executed - died - divorced - executed - survived." From the first three marriages he had 10 children, of whom only three survived - the eldest daughter Maria from the first marriage, the youngest daughter Elizabeth from the second, and son Edward from the third. All of them subsequently ruled. Henry's last three marriages were childless.
- Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). Daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. She was married to Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII. Having been widowed (), she remained in England, expecting either a planned or a frustrated marriage with Henry. Henry VIII married Catherine immediately after his accession to the throne in 1509. The first years of marriage were happy, but all the children of the young spouses were either born dead or died in infancy. The only surviving child was Mary (1516-1558).
- Anne Boleyn (c. 1507 - 1536). For a long time she was Henry's unapproachable lover, refusing to become his mistress. After Cardinal Wolsey could not resolve the issue of Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Anna hired theologians who proved that the king is the lord of both the state and the church, and is responsible only to God, and not to the Pope in Rome (this was the beginning of the detachment of the English churches from Rome and the establishment of the Anglican Church). She became the wife of Henry in January 1533, was crowned on June 1, 1533, and in September of the same year gave birth to his daughter Elizabeth, instead of the son expected by the king. Subsequent pregnancies ended unsuccessfully. Soon Anna lost her husband's love, was accused of adultery and beheaded in the Tower in May 1536.
- Jane Seymour (c. 1508 - 1537). She was a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn. Heinrich married her a week after the execution of his previous wife. She soon died of childbed fever. Mother of Henry's only son, Edward VI. In honor of the birth of the prince, the cannons in the Tower fired two thousand volleys.
- Anna of Cleves (1515-1557). Daughter of Johann III of Cleves, sister of the reigning Duke of Cleves. Marriage with her was one of the ways to seal the alliance of Henry, Francis I and the German Protestant princes. As a prerequisite for marriage, Heinrich wished to see a portrait of the bride, for which Hans Holbein Jr. was sent to Kleve. Heinrich liked the portrait, the engagement took place in absentia. But the bride who arrived in England (unlike her portrait) categorically did not like Henry. Although the marriage was concluded in January 1540, Henry immediately began to look for a way to get rid of his unloved wife. As a result, already in June 1540, the marriage was annulled; the reason was the pre-existing engagement of Anna with the Duke of Lorraine. In addition, Heinrich stated that the actual marriage relationship between him and Anna did not work out. Anna remained in England as "the king's sister" and survived both Henry and all his other wives. This marriage was arranged by Thomas Cromwell, for which he lost his head.
- Catherine Howard (1521-1542). Niece of the powerful Duke of Norfolk, cousin of Anne Boleyn. Henry married her in July 1540 out of passionate love. It soon became clear that Catherine had a lover before marriage (Francis Derem) and was cheating on Henry with Thomas Culpeper. The guilty were executed, after which, on February 13, 1542, the queen herself ascended the scaffold.
- Catherine Parr (c. 1512 - 1548). By the time of her marriage to Henry (), she had already been widowed twice. She was a staunch Protestant and did a lot for Heinrich's new turn to Protestantism. After Henry's death, she married Thomas Seymour, brother of Jane Seymour.
On coins
In 2009, the Royal Mint released a £5 coin to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne.
Known for his numerous marriages, Henry VIII, King of England (1491-1547), was nevertheless a very enlightened ruler for his time, so professional historians tend to view him as a reformer and polygamist.
In the pantheon of British monarchs, Henry (ruled from 1509 to 1547) represents the Tudor royal family. The youngest son of the first of the Tudors, Henry VII, this king in his first marriage was content with his wife, Catherine of Aragon, who had passed to him from his older brother Arthur.
Arthur was unable to conduct the affairs of the state, was bedridden and practically did not touch his wife.
Therefore, when in 1502 he died of a fever, between the courts of England and Spain, with the greatest permission of Pope Julius II, an agreement was concluded on the second marriage of the Spanish princess. Thus began the history of the marriages of Henry 8, in which wives succeeded one another.
Enlightened mind, selfish disposition
Unlike his brother, Heinrich 8 had excellent health and excellent physique., was known in England as a wonderful rider and accurately shot from a bow. Therefore, his coronation aroused joyful hopes in the royal environment.
Heinrich was the exact opposite of his melancholy and sickly father.. And therefore, from the very beginning of his reign, the capital of England became a place where noisy balls, funny masquerades and numerous tournaments replaced each other at court.
Despite exorbitant expenses, Henry 8 was loved by the public. He had a free and enlightened mind, spoke Spanish, Italian, French and Latin, and from musical instruments he adored the lute.
Unfortunately, like any other king, he was vicious and despotic, and his selfishness and selfishness knew no bounds.
However, in the performance of his royal affairs, Henry was lazy, and all the time entrusted their execution to favorites.
The first lessons of political games
The new British king received his first political baptism in 1513, when the German emperor Maximilian and his daughter Margarita involved the troops of England in a conflict with France. Henry 8 invaded the enemy's possessions, followed by the siege of Teruan-ni.
Meanwhile, the German troops, united in one effort with the fighting units of England, won a victory at Gingat, and Henry 8 took possession of Tournai. However, the very next year of hostilities, his German ally, conspiring with Ferdinand of Spain, betrayed the British king and signed peace with Louis XII.
The unbalanced and impulsive king of England fell into anger, but he immediately initiated the Anglo-French negotiations, passing off his sister Mary as the monarch of France.
After such a visual lesson, Henry 8 perfectly mastered the very essence of politics, and since then treachery has become the hallmark of this king.
Contrary to Christian morality. Ann Bolein
Henry used the same methods in theology. In 1522, the pope received a pamphlet he had written in which the reformers were criticized. However, soon the king “changed his shoes”: for 20 years of marriage, Catherine did not give birth to his heir, several illegitimate children of Henry 8 could not claim the throne, and by that time, the maid of honor of Catherine, Anna Boleyn, became the subject of the king’s passion.
Contrary to the norms of Christian morality, without the permission of the pope, Henry divorced, at the same time declaring himself the head of the British Church.
He initiated the adoption by Parliament of a number of resolutions, according to which England severed its connection with the Roman Church.
Having entered the rights of the head of the Church of Britain, Henry 8 appoints Thomas Cranmer to the post of Archbishop of Canterbury (1533). Already a few months later, grateful for his appointment, Cranmer announces that the marriage union of the king is no longer valid.
It took just a few days for the loving and full of vitality Henry 8 to crown Anne Boleyn, adding to her list, which from now on will include more and more new wives.
Official Rome tried to object to such blasphemy. However, the perfidious Heinrich, in spite of such discontent, announced that his first marriage was not legally valid, and not only deprived his legitimate daughter Maria of all rights to the throne, but also imprisoned him in a monastery.
Repression and new political games
Understandably, many in England disapproved of such actions. However, Henry 8 undertook unprecedented repressions against the opposition, which resulted in the subordination of the English clergy to the mores of the king.
One of the results of such "purges" was Cromwell's actions against the opposition from among the monastic orders. Acting on Henry's behalf, he insisted that English monks took a new oath- recognizing the supremacy of the king as the head of the national church and at the same time refusing to obey Rome.
As expected, the monastic orders began to resist, their leaders were hanged, and as a result, a document appeared on the transfer of their property to the jurisdiction of the state (1536).
Moreover, it was about a fairly solid share of the property that was previously owned by 376 monasteries, and now passed into the possession of Henry 8.
The execution of adulterous Anna. Marry Jane Seymour
However, on the love front, the aging monarch of England has seen significant changes. Anne Boleyn did not manage to stay on the throne for a long time.
Moreover, the reason for this was frivolous behavior, incompatible with the status of the wife of Henry 8. Almost immediately, as soon as the wedding was played, The new queen has attracted young fans. This did not escape the attention of the suspicious Heinrich, who, in turn, remained less and less attached to his half, and then completely carried away by the new woman.
Now all the attention of the first person in England was attracted by the beauty Jane Seymour. And Anna's indiscretion at the tournament in May 1536 was the last straw of Henry 8's patience (or maybe this was the reason he was looking for a final break).
The king's wife, who was sitting in the royal box, dropped her handkerchief, and the handsome courtier Norris, passing by, picked it up from the ground, and did this so imprudently that this act caught the eye of her husband.
Enraged, Henry the very next day authorized the arrests of his wife, her brother Lord Rochester, and several suitors of Anna, who were suspected of committing adultery with her.
All this was presented as a secret plan to overthrow the king, as well as behavior incompatible with the name of the queen.
As a result of torture and interrogation, in particular, the musician Smitton (he amused the queen by playing the lute, Henry's favorite instrument), testimonies compromising Anna were obtained. At the meeting of the commission of inquiry on May 17, twenty peers gathered, who found her guilty and decided to put her to death.
Three days later the sentence was carried out, and the resilient Henry 8 married Jane Seymour the very next day. According to contemporaries, she remained in the memory of a quiet, meek, submissive girl who needed the crown the least of all in her life.
The happiness of the king was short-lived, already 15 months later England said goodbye to Jane, who died, having managed, however, to give birth to Henry's crown son, Edward.
Reformation. Anna Klevskaya
Now the king began to understand that, having declared himself the first ecclesiastic of England, he must reform the church doctrine. The year 1536 marked a turning point for the British system of Catholicism..
Two years later, Henry 8 carried out the alienation in favor of the state of property previously owned by large monasteries. Money poured into the treasury in a wide river, and the king at their expense strengthened the fleet and the land army.
In addition, the borders of England and Ireland were fortified with harbors and fortresses.
So, having started the reformation of the church, Henry thus laid a solid foundation for the future power of England.
The reforms were so severe that during the last 17 years of the king's stay on the throne, his courtiers executed, burned or rotted in the prisons of order 70 thousand recalcitrant church ministers.
At the same time, the despot began to think about a fourth marriage. The list, which included his wives, was replenished with Anna, the daughter of the Duke of Cleves (the signing of the marriage treaty took place in 1539).
However, having previously known her only from a portrait, Henry 8 was disappointed in his choice: the new Anna turned out to be a "Flemish mare". He was married to her on January 6, 1540, and already on July 9 a divorce followed: they say that the bride did not get him a virgin.
Heinrich's next passion was not executed, they were given good maintenance and awarded the estate.
Katherine Gotward and Catherine Parr
And the resilient Henry 8 was already in love again by that time: Catherine Gotward became another candidate for his wife. Despite the 30-year age difference, the king married her as soon as 3 weeks had passed since the divorce from Anna number two.
Alas, this time Henry's wife (fifth in a row) turned out to be very frivolous behavior.
The evidence of betrayal presented to him was so distressing that the monarch sobbed right during the meeting of the council assembled on this occasion.
The traitor was beheaded in February 1542, and a year and a half later ... England learned about the new marriage of her monarch. This time, the object of his interest was the 30-year-old widow Catherine Parr.
It was for Henry a safe haven in which one could safely meet old age. Unfortunately, the new way of life did not work for him, and he died of obesity, unable to walk on his own.
C The reign of Henry the Eighth, the second Tudor king, was one of the longest and most well-documented in the history of England. Everyone knows the events of his personal life, which would be more than enough for three men, and not for one: six wives, two of whom he executed, divorced one, and abandoned the other, declaring the marriage invalid. A brief biography of some of his wives could fit into one line:
Divorced, Beheaded, Died; Divorced, executed, died
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. Divorced, executed, survived..
Further, confusion with children, who is illegitimate, who is not. In order to gain freedom of personal life, he broke with the pope, who did not approve of divorces, and the evil Pinocchio became the head of the church himself, simultaneously executing everyone who did not have time to adapt.
Despite the fact that the TV series "The Tudors" and also the movie "The Other Boleyn Girl" depict King Henry as a muscular, handsome brunette, in fact, of course, he was not one. Or was?
At the age of sixteen, they wrote about him: "A talented rider and knight, he is popular among his entourage for ease of handling." When Henry the Eighth turned fifty, it was said of him: "Aged before his age ... he is often quick-tempered, easily falls into anger and succumbs more and more to black depression as the years pass."
It is interesting to trace the changes in the appearance of the king, which reflected not only the natural course of time, but also the events that happened to him.
So, on June 28, 1491, King Henry the Seventh and his wife Elizabeth York had a second son, who was named after his father.
I think it was an angel with golden curls and bright eyes. True, the child was extremely spoiled, he even had his own whipping boy, who was punished for the hooliganism of the little prince.
Prince Henry grew up to be a well-educated and well-read man, fluent in French and Latin and Spanish, well-versed in mathematics, heraldry, astronomy and music, and interested in science and medicine. He was a true man of the Renaissance - he loved art, poetry, painting, and at the same time, he was sincerely devout.
Importantly, academic knowledge did not prevent him from becoming a tall, handsome, well-built athlete and passionate hunter; By the way, I loved ... tennis. However, the lack of discipline in education, the unbridled character, the unwillingness to study what is not interesting, traits excusable for the second son of the king, later brought him and England many problems during his reign.
The Venetian envoy wrote of the young prince that he was the most handsome of the monarchs he had taken away, above average height, with slender and finely shaped legs, very fair skin, with bright, reddish-brown hair, cut short in the French fashion; the round face was so beautiful that it would suit a woman; his neck was long and strong.
The fact that the prince was well built is also confirmed by the dimensions of his youthful armor: 32 inches in the waist and 39 inches in the chest (81 cm and 99 cm). His height was and remained 6 feet 1 inch, which is about 183 cm, if I am not mistaken, with a weight of 95 kg. He also had good health: in his youth, he only had a mild case of smallpox, but periodically suffered, also in a mild form, from malaria, which was common in Europe at that time (there were many swamps drained now).
Portrait of 18-year-old Henry (where, in my opinion, for some reason he looks terribly like his great-uncle, Richard III).
And this is the young Prince Hal through the eyes of a contemporary artist.
Armor of young Henry (left) and armor of Henry in his 40s (right)
Henry in 1521 (aged 30)
Portrait of Henry aged 34-36 Age 36-38
In the eyes of his subjects, the young king, who ascended the throne after his miserly father, who sent to the chopping block or into exile the last of his relatives who survived after the battle of Bosworth, who had not convened parliament for ten whole years, was the personification of a new beautiful hero. "If the lion knew his strength, hardly anyone would be able to cope with him," Thomas More wrote about him.
His reign proceeded more or less smoothly until the king reached the age of 44.
Heinrich at the age of 40: the prime of life
By this time, the king had already divorced Catherine of Aragon and married the clever Anna Boleyn, but the turbulent events did not particularly affect his health: until 1536 he had no problems with him, except for a gradual increase in weight. Judging by the very detailed ordinance drawn up by him personally regarding the royal table, the king had, as they say, a brutal appetite for meat, pastries and wine. Hence the fullness that is already present in the portrait at the age of 40, which is not present in the portrait of 30-year-old Henry (see above). Yes, the king was a womanizer and a glutton, but he has not yet become Bluebeard and a tyrant.
What happened in January 1536 at the tournament at Greenwich? The already rather obese Heinrich could not resist in the saddle and collapsed in armor from the horse, which also wore armor. The horse then fell on top of him. The king was unconscious for two hours, his legs were crushed and, most likely, suffered from several fractures. His health was rightfully feared so much that Queen Anne had a miscarriage: unfortunately, it was a boy. As if that weren't enough, the king's illegitimate son, the young Duke of Richmond, soon died, and Anne was soon accused of adultery.
Fractures and other wounds healed at first, but soon the king began to be tormented not only by headaches, but also by chronic, extensive, wet, purulent ulcers on his legs. From the pain he could not speak and was silent for ten days in a row, suppressing a torn scream. Doctors unsuccessfully tried to heal these ulcers by piercing them with a red-hot iron, or excising them, not letting them drag on, in order to "help the infection come out with pus." Also, most likely, the king had suffered from diabetes for a long time by this time (hence the incurability of ulcers). Is it any wonder that physical suffering, coupled with the consequences of a head injury, completely changed the character of the monarch?
Now researchers claim that as a result of an injury at a tournament in 1536, Henry the Eighth suffered damage to the frontal lobes of the brain responsible for self-control, perception of signals from the external environment, social and sexual behavior. In 1524, when he was 33 years old, he also suffered a minor injury when he forgot to lower his visor and the tip of an opponent's spear hit him hard over the right eye. This gave him recurring severe migraines. But in those days they did not know how to treat brain injuries, as well as diabetes.
The surrounding people knew about the state of health of the king, but everyone who dared to open their mouths was accused of treason and sent to the scaffold. Heinrich could issue an order in the morning, cancel it by lunchtime, and then be furious when he learns that it has already been carried out.
From that moment began a new, dark stage of the reign.
The most passionate desire of the king at this point was to obtain an heir to continue the Tudor dynasty. Combined with the serious psychological changes that occurred to him after 1536, this desire resulted in a series of impulsive and cruel acts for which Henry is famous to this day. It is more than likely that the king suffered by that time and a lack of potency. Even the actual fulfillment of his dream with the birth of a son from Jane Seymour, Edward, could not change anything.
Heinrich is about 49 years old
Henry VIII and the guilds of barbers and surgeons (the king was very interested in medicine, and these guilds were created under his patronage). The king is 49 years old on the canvas.
Detail of a 1545 portrait showing Henry, Edward and - posthumously - Jane Seymour.
And this is the whole portrait, left and right - the two daughters of the king.
Despite his morbid condition, his spirit was stronger than his body, and Heinrich lived for another eleven years. Ignoring the prohibitions of doctors, he traveled a lot, continuing an active foreign policy, hunted and ... ate much more. The creators of the History Channel documentary recreated his diet based on surviving sources: the king consumed up to 13 meals a day, consisting mainly of lamb, chicken, beef, venison, rabbit meat and a variety of feathered birds like pheasant and swan, he could drink 10 pints (1 pint \u003d 0.57 l) of ale a day, as well as wine. Although, on the other hand, it is also possible that it was only the king's menu offered to him by the chefs, and by no means what he actually ate. But...
With the impossibility of the former mobility, he quickly gained weight and by the age of fifty weighed ... 177 kilograms! Judging again by the armor, his waist from 81 cm in girth at the age of 20 grew to 132 cm at the age of about 50 years. By the end of his life, he could barely walk on his own. The ulcers on his legs only worsened, and they gave off such a strong smell that he announced the approach of the king long before he entered the room. Catherine Parr, whom he married in 1543, was for him more nurse than wife, only she could calm the monarch's fits of rage. He died in 1547, exhausted by attacks of fever and another cauterization of ulcers.
In fact, judging by the armor of the end of his reign, the width of the king's torso was almost equal to his height!
All the variety of existing portraits of Henry the Eighth is posted on this wonderful resource:
And here in English you can watch the documentary "Inside the Body of Henry the Eighth"
