From The Telegraph:
The year 1536 changed Henry VIII from a handsome, popular and athletic king to a corpulent tyrant who thought little of dispatching his many wives, a historian has claimed.
A new look at the life of one of England’s most famous monarchs argues that a series of calamitous events within the space of 12 months had an irreversible effect on his life.
Suzannah Lipscomb, a research curator at Hampton Court Palace and Oxford scholar, said the apparent betrayal by his wife, a dangerous fall from a horse and a religious rebellion all played their part in transforming Henry.
She said: “He did move from being the much f
Lipscomb is publishing a book on this topic, which seems promising.
Slightly off-topic but related: Anecdotally, some modern men begin their middle-aged crisis when they start losing their hair or go bald early. Henry appears to have become bald in the late 1520s-early ’30s. Any evidence that he was sensitive about this? (Other than wearing a hat or crown in portraits.) Are there surviving accounts that show the purchase of hair-restoring elixirs? He grew a beard in about 1520, allegedly to show his friendship for Francis I of France (also, it appears to have been the fashion), but a lot of modern men do this do when they start losing their primary hair.
Foose,
I have never thought of that before. (To think all those ruined lives could have been saved if Propecia had been available then! hehehe) Any theories of Henry’s psychology are fascinating to me, even though I see the pitfalls of “diagnosing the past.” My professors mentioned a number of theories about his physical woes and their effects, but I don’t think I have ever heard anything about his reaction to good old male-pattern baldness. Given everything else recorded about him, I can’t imagine he took it well!
PS. Thanks for your reply earlier to my question about the Julia Fox book!
Come on what about the executions before then ? It