why, honestly would any 1 go through six wives just to get a baby boy, he didn't even get. it sounds dumb. really. he was fat, ugly and very rude. who on earth would marry that. please tell me. im lovin it. wow baby
What you have to understand was that Henry had to cement his position as King. There were many other factions and people who would jump at the chance to overthrow him.
Unfortunately, we all have to die someday. He had to have a male heir, to carry on his line and stop the country descending into civil war and anarchy. He did actually have a male heir, Arthur-but he was weak and sickly and died when he was around 11.
Fat-yes, even corpulent at the end of his reign, but ugly, no-in the early years he was quite attractive, and a keen sportsman to boot. Rude-fairly, but not really when you compare him to other kings of the time.
Who would want to marry him? Almost every woman, in the early years (before he became corpulent and really quite foul), he was A CATCH! Think about it-becoming a Royal, and your children (hopefully) becoming kings!
i take it we are talking of Henry VIII i have not heard of Auther, as the heir of Henry VIII his brother was Arthur the first one to marry Katherine of Aragon.
But as King of England, that was his one and only true appeal. the Fact that a woman could become the most powerfulist woman in all England that is it Power and Power was everything in tudor times. thats why Anne Boleyn saught him, her ambition, that is why Jane Seymour was married to him and Katherine Howard was married to Anne of Cleves was a political Protestant match and Katherine Parr was most likely married to Henry for comfort to the old fart as he got older.
but six wives for a son yes, it had to be done, the tudor claim to the throne of England was highly contensous, technically Henry VII won it by right of battle and held it by Marrying Elizabeth of York not to end the war but to secure his eirs as she was the rightful Queen of England.
Wasn't Arthur Henry VIII's brother? I thought that he died and that that was why Henry came to the throne. Then he married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon (on the basis that the marriage hadn't been consumated).
He did get an heir. He got Edward from Jane Seymour, his 3rd wife. She died shortly after giving birth and Edward, the sickly baby did become King after Henry. He died though, at 15 or 16, leaving Lady Jane Grey (his Protector's niece), who ruled for 9 days. His Catholic sister Mary (Bloody Mary) then became queen.
Henry went through so many wives because he had a driving need to have a male heir. There had never been a female on the throne in her own right before, and the thought virtually terrified him.
My cellmates are killers, they make me do push-ups in drag...
Edward VI was not a sick and weak baby. Indeed he was a vigourous chap for most of his reign until the TB struck. It is also clear that towards the end of his reign he was very much starting to rule in his own right and it is quite possible that the succession of Jane Grey was his idea rather than Dudley's.
Originally posted by Menaxi: He didnt marry 6 times for a son. He had a son with his 3rd wife but still married 3 more times after her.
Precisely. Henry married Anne of Cleves at the urging of Thomas Cromwell for diplomatic reasons to forge an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire to offset France. However the non-consummation of the marriage led to Cromwell's downfall and execution. He married Catherine Howard at the urging of the Duke of Norfolk (her close relative) who wanted to roll back Protestantism after the Pilgrimage of Grace (the biggest rebellion during the Tudor period). Catherine Howard's adultery led to Norfolk's fall from grace and his imprisonment in the Tower and he was only saved from execution by Henry's death.
He probably married Catherine Parr more out of a desire to provide a stepmother for his two underage children, Elizabeth & Edward, than from any carnal desire himself. In this too, he was frustrated as Catherine almost immediately remarried Thomas Seymour (who probably sexually molested Elizabeth) after Henry's death but died in childbirth only a year after Henry himself (Anne of Cleves outlasted Henry the longest living until 1557, only a year before Elizabeth came to the throne, and dying at Hever Castle in Kent, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn).
Henry annulled his marriage with Anne of Cleves on the grounds of non-consummation (which we have no reason to doubt) and he probably did not have sex in any meaningful sense (because of his growing physical incapacity and his possible impotence) with either of his last two wives so that, in that sense, although he was formally married six times he only slept with three of his wives.
I have read different versions of edward, one, he died as a sickly baby, and like pitate kate says when he was in his teens.
henry all thought along he was cursed,and thought he was being punished for marrying his brothers widow, he was obsessed with having sons,he married katherine Parr, not for sons, as he had given up by then, but cause he wanted a wife in his later years to look after him. the powers that be even tried to turn henry against her, as she was a secret catholic, deep-down henry was aware of the fact, but by this time he didnt care, he just wanted comfort and to be looked after. He never did sleep with Ann of cleves (the flanders mare) as she was repulsive to him, so she wouldnt divorce either, so had the marriage annulled instead.
henry VIII had a rare disease that caused him to gain weight quickly. It also meant that his already paranoid temperament dveloped into paranoid schizophrenia. It was unfortunate that he was never groomed to be the king in the first place. He believed it was his duty to carry on the title of king in his blood. He got rid of so many wives because he was desperate to fill his self prophesy. It was unfortunate that he developed the mental disorder. He was a good king. His indecisiveness is seen when he was planning to kill one of his wives. A copy of the death warrant just happened to turn up in her bedroom, at which point she ran to his bedchambers and told him what a "mere woman" she was compared to "his highnesses majesty and competence in all matters of religion"
ZJ which queen anne of KAtherine? that was a trate in both his daughters as well. showed indicisivness, Mary never signed the death warrent for her sister. and Elizabeth had indicisions over both the Duke of Norfolk and Mary Queen of Scots exectutions.
I think it was catherine. She had strong religious veiws that could have been classed as heresy. I dont think his daughters inherited it. Neither really showed signs of paranoid schizophrenia, despite being indecisive. I think that was a by product of them being female monarchs, and having to defeat negative opinions of thier ability to rule. Besides, Elizabeths main reason for not killing Mary Stuart sooner was she was afraid it would invite usurpers to execute her - she didnt want to set an example to catholics.
In the end her hand was forced and some theories that Elizabeth never wanted to kill maryt, but she had signed the death warrent and retracted it many time so when she signed it the last time, it was sealed and sent, in hours. Aparently to the Queens annoyance at the hast when she tried to recall it.
It was just an excuse for Philip. Ever since marraig negotiations failed, he was looking for a full proof reason. He was getting fed up with Drake and walsingham. Plus Elizabeth wouldnt do anything about the privateers, and kept interfering in the netherlands. That had to be her biggest mistake. I know it was another protestant country, and she couldnt risk France getting it, but she wasnt subtle in her efforts to control what went on there.
