Behind the Throne
Getting to know Henry VIII
Henry VIII is one of the most famous monarchs - in his 38-year reign he married six times, broke with the Catholic Church, and ruled during one of the most politically tumultuous periods in England’s history.
When the 18-year-old Henry VIII ascended the throne of England in 1509, he was determined to epitomise the age as a Golden Renaissance Prince. His reign marked the shift from the medieval period to the early modern world, and the handsome, educated, and athletic Henry was devoted to new learning of the age, humanism, art, architecture, andstrengthening England’s national identity.
By the end of his reign however, Henry had strayed far from the promise his reign once held, a paranoid, brutal tyrant of immeasurable cruelty, who executed two wives, friends and counsellors, and violently reshaped the religious and political landscape of his realm.
In this article, I will be taking you to key places connected to Henry’s life – where it feels, in parts, that only time, rather than space, separates us from this larger-than-life King.
Henry the Lover - Kent
Kent has strong links to the early decades of Henry’s life and reign, when he was loved and admired throughout his realm. Ambassadors described Henry as “most excellent in his personal endowments, but... likewise so gifted and adorned with mental accomplishments of every soil that we believe him to have few equals in the world” and “A most invincible King, whose acquirements and qualities are so many and excellent that I consider him to excel all who ever wore a crown”.
Kent is also connected to Henry’s first two queens in particular - Katherine of Aragon (below) and Anne Boleyn. Anne’s tumultuous affair with Henry tends to eclipse the rest of his marriages, but it is Henry’s first marriage to Katherine which offers an insight into Henry as a young man.
It was a political and love match - the Spanish Katherine had been married to Henry’s older brother, Arthur, but after his death in 1502, Katherine had been left stranded in England, until the young Henry ascended the throne. One of Henry’s first acts after the death of his father, Henry VII in 1509, was to marry Katherine, the pair jointly crowned in Westminster Abbey (below). The young couple were devoted to each other, their marriage lasting almost two decades, more than any of his other wives put together.
Leeds Castle - Castle of Queens
If Kent is considered to be the loveliest county in England, then Leeds Castle is one of its Crown Jewels. Built around 1119 by Robert de Crevecoeur or Robert the broken hearted, Leeds Castle (below) was a Norman stronghold before becoming a royal palace for King Edward I and his Queen, Eleanor of Castile, in the 13th century.
Major improvements were made to the castle during the reign of Edward I. The Barbican, constructed during this time, is unique in that it is made up of three parts, each having its own entrance, drawbridge, gateway and portcullis. The medieval Keep, incorporating the Great Hall, is called the Gloriette, in honour of his queen. In fact during its lifetime, the castle was home to six queens – Eleanor, Isabella, Philippa of Hainhault (wife of Edward III), Joan of Navarre, Catherine de Valois and Katherine of Aragon.
When Henry inherited Leeds Castle as part of the royal portfolio, it was already steeped in romance. His great-grandmother, Catherine de Valois, widow of Henry V, had lived in the castle. When her husband died in 1422, Catherine fell in love with the handsome Clerk of her Wardrobe, Owen Tudor, and their clandestine 15th-century romance was concealed within its walls until it became public.
Katherine de Valois and Owen Tudor forged the Tudor dynasty, and therefore Leeds Castle held particular significance for Henry. When he and his queen, Katherine of Aragon, visited the castle, Katherine fell in love with it. This was all the encouragement a besotted Henry needed, and he spent six years and £1,300 (or £400,000 in today’s currency) on extensive renovations, redesigning and constructing the Maiden’s Tower, spending a fortune on building exquisite windows, fireplaces decorated with the royal coat of arms and Spanish motifs in honour of his queen, and a magnificent banqueting hall, with a sleek ebony wood floor and carved oak ceiling. It was a labour of love for his Queen, but only a few years later, Katherine’s “Sir Loyal Heart” had fallen in love with another.
Hever Castle
Of all the places which play a part in Henry’s story, Hever Castle in Kent, the family home of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, is deeply intertwined with Henry’s love life.
The magnificent, double-moated estate of Hever (above) was purchased by Anne’s great-grandfather Geoffrey Boleyn in 1462 and Anne and her siblings spent their formative years at Hever, until 1513, when she was sent to the court of Margaret of Austria in Mechelen, and then to the court of Francis I. Her time abroad in some of the most sophisticated courts of Europe made Anne (below) stand out, upon her return to the Tudor Court. She was exotic - highly educated, striking, alluring, quick-witted and intelligent - and Henry fell passionately in love (or lust, the jury is still out).
Hever was the backdrop to this momentous period in Anne’s life. As Henry’s pursuit became more serious and public, Hever became a refuge for Anne; an escape from the court, and from Henry himself, while Anne and her family tried to get a handle on the delicate situation. It was at Hever that Anne received all 17 love letters from Henry, proof of his undying love as it was well known Henry absolutely hated writing letters, and where she decided to turn the tables on her pursuer, she would not be his mistress, but she would settle for wife and Queen.
It has been painstakingly restored and preserved over the centuries, and to tour the wooden-panelled rooms (above) and dining hall the Boleyns knew so well, you can almost imagine Henry visiting Anne and her family, which he did on a number of occasions throughout their courtship.
Henry can be felt everywhere at Hever, from his famous personal padlock, which he took with him wherever he travelled, and which now adorns the main door in the dining hall, to the impressive collection of Tudor portraits, second only to that of the National Portrait Gallery in London. And we can get a glimpse into Anne and Henry’s tumultuous romance - two prayer books (below) which belonged to Anne Boleyn, bearing her inscriptions and signature, and messages which she exchanged with the King. For better or worse, this love affair changed the course of English history.
Oxford & Cambridge
The medieval towns of Oxford and Cambridge are the scholarly bookends of Henry’s life, and he left an indelible mark on both.
Henry’s connections to Oxford were originally through his mentor and quasi father figure, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the man who shaped Henry into a Renaissance Prince. In 1524, Wolsey was concerned with his legacy, he wanted to found and build something that would remain long after him, and he poured his efforts (and money) into building a new College at Oxford, which would be called Cardinal College.
Wolsey’s grand vision would see a spectacular Gothic quadrangle (above), still the largest in Oxford five centuries later, but the centrepiece is the main hall (below) built by two of the greatest craftsmen of the time; Mason Thomas Redman and glazier James Nicholson.
It was unfinished, however, when Wolsey fell from power in 1529, and Henry took over the project and changed the focus of the College entirely - he abolished the study of canon law, and instead instituted chairs for Medicine, Civil Law, Greek, Theology, and Hebrew. It was a crucial and fundamental shift in emphasis for the University, away from its monastic beginnings and towards scholarly pursuits highly influenced by the Renaissance.
Henry also changed the name, from Cardinal’s College to King’s College. However, decades later in 1546 Henry renamed it once more, refounding it as Christ Church. Like Wolsey, Henry was determined to establish lasting memorials to himself, not just in Oxford but in Cambridge as well. He intended to create institutions that would support his vision for the Church of England, and these colleges would be where the future Protestant leaders would study.
Kings College in Cambridge (above) had been founded in 1441 by Henry VI, and both Henry’s grandmother, Margaret Beaufort, and his father, Henry VII, had funded parts of the college and in particular, the chapel. Henry continued that tradition, including funding the magnificent vaulting in the Chapel (below), glazing of the windows, as well as the magnificent screen and woodwork which bears his royal initials.
When Henry VIII died in 1547, the Chapel was recognised as one of Europe’s finest, late medieval buildings and ‘a work of kings’, and the college itself was a testament to Henry’s dedication.
York
York may well be one of England’s finest and most beautiful historic cities, with a millennia of history spanning empires, from the Romans, Saxons, and especially the Vikings, who came as invaders but stayed on in settlements, calling it Jorvik.
Encircled by ancient walls, the city’s Viking past shines, but there are Tudor remnants as well, tucked away within the labyrinth of medieval streets, and the city played a vital role in one of the most definitive moments in Henry’s reign. When Henry made the fateful decision to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn, the ripple effects saw not only the break with Rome, but a series of events which dramatically altered the course of his reign, and the lives of anyone who opposed him.
The pace of religious change was not taken well by the populace, who showed fierce resistance to Henry’s sweeping changes, culminating in a rebellion known as “The Pilgrimage of Grace”, which almost brought the Tudor dynasty to its knees. It ignited in the North, particularly in York and Lincolnshire, as people began to march against the leadership and policies of the King, and his right-hand man, Thomas Cromwell. While Henry eventually managed to quell the rebellion in 1537, it shook his belief that he was loved by his people, and Henry wanted to re establish himself as a divine prince who had ushered England into a new era.
In 1541, he made the unprecedented move of visiting the cities of the North for the first time in his entire reign, as part of his summer progress. It was a highly unprecedented move - his father, Henry VII had visited twice, in 1486 and 1487, to secure the region following the Wars of the Roses, and now, over 50 years later, his son knew that securing the north was vital to the continuation of the Tudor dynasty. Accompanied by a retinue of 4000-5000, brimming with courtiers, officials, musicians and servants as well as his much younger and fifth wife, Catherine Howard, Henry arrived in the north with a massive display of royal power.
Stops were planned at a number of key northern locations, including York, where part of the rebellion began, and the home of its leader, Robert Aske. The York progress however did not change the ageing, increasingly paranoid and unpredictable Henry in the eyes of the country, and while it was supposed to be a display of royal magnificence, the 1541 progress would be, and still is, remembered in ways that Henry VIII certainly would not have intended.
The story of Henry VIII remains enticing even after five centuries, and that story is not just told through the texts and reports which have survived, but within the walls of the estates he knew and loved, the towns and cities he visited. These locations weave together a tapestry of Henry’s life and character, beyond that of the tyrant, and illuminate other, more recondite elements of his life, from lover, and scholar to his wish to be admired as a Golden King.
Tudor England
In the Footsteps of Henry VIII
On this new 16-day tour led by Dr Lauren Mackay, a Tudor and Early Modern historian, step back into the world of 16th century England through Henry VIII’s life and reign, as we explore some of the most evocative parts of the English countryside, connected to some of the most important events of the period.
