British Kings "Bullet Book", Henry VIII, 1509 - 1547
BillJones
Posts: 33,486 ✭✭✭✭✭
Young Henry VIII, Two Pence
• Henry VIII is best known for his six wives and his quest to produce a male heir.
• Henry was well aware of British history. He knew about the problems Matilda (1135—1154) had had in her quest to become queen after the death of Henry I in 1135. The nobles of that day would not accept a woman as their leader and head of state. Henry VIII was concerned that the crown would pass from the Tudor family if he did not have a male heir.
• Henry’s first queen was Catherine of Aragon who had been married to his late brother, Arthur..
• Henry and Catherine were okay in their marriage (Henry had many mistresses and affairs) at first, but after Catherine was unable to bear him a son, Henry was concerned. He knew that previous female heirs to the crown had had great difficulty holding it.
• Henry’s wondering eye had set upon Anne Boleyn, and attractive and intelligent woman, who was one of the ladies of the court. Marrying her would be no easy task, however, because divorcing Catherine would require the approval of the Pope.
• At first the Pope seemed supportive of Henry’s position, but Catherine’s nephew, Charles V was the Holy Roman Emperor. Charles had far more influence over Pope Clement VII than Henry. A divorce or annulment was out of the question.
• After the Pope refused to grant Henry an annulment, Henry left the Catholic Church and started the Church of England.
• A side benefit to Henry’s abandonment of the Catholic Church was that it afforded him the opportunity to seize the church’s money and property.
• Henry married Anne Boleyn who was already pregnant with a child who would become Queen Elizabeth I.
• Anne was not able to bear Henry a son. He put her on trial, on trumped up charges, and had her executed for witchcraft.
• In the mean time Henry’s eye turned toward Jane Seymour, another lady of the court.
• Henry married Jane who produced the son Henry had wanted for so long. Post birth complications set in, however, and Jane died less than two weeks after giving birth. Jane would be Henry’s favorite wife, and he would be buried next to her when he died.
• The grief stricken king did not turn his eyes toward another possible queen for several years.
• Henry saw a portrait of Anne of Cleves and was smitten. He sent for her. Upon seeing her in the flesh, he declared that she had “the face of a horse.” He married her, but did not consummate the marriage. The marriage was annulled and Anne was allowed to live out her days as maiden lady of the court.
Old Henry VIII, Groat
• Henry’s next wife was Catherine Howard. By this time Henry was getting old and fat. Catherine was many years his junior and was probably not really ready to settle down. Word got to Henry that she had been unfaithful before and after they were married. He had her executed.
• Henry’s sixth and final wife was Catherine Parr. Catherine was both nursemaid to Henry and family reconciler. She was able to get Henry together with his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, who had been declared illegitimate because of Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
Comments
The portrait on the newer of those two coins (the older portrait) is simply excellent.
It took me a long time to find that coin. I didn't think they are that tough to find.
Nice older portrait coins of HVIII are very difficult.
Curiously Henry's fear of a female monarch was somewhat validated after Edward VI passed away and Queen Mary became queen. After Mary died Henry's fear was completely and unequivocally quashed with the ascension of Queen Elizabeth to the throne. Queen Elizabeth was undeniably one of the greatest and cleverest monarchs that Britain ever had. She vanquished her rivals, her foes etc and with her tacit approval early on of James VI of Scotland being heir apparent unified the British realm.
And the first Queen Elizabeth had some absolutely ruthless men as her top ministers.
Don't forget Lady Jane Gray who was queen for nine days ... and ended up beheaded awhile after she was ousted. No coins for her though.
There are fantasy coins for her, however, which don’t interest me. Lady Jane is waiting the wings to come on stage in this series.
Having studied what it took to stay power in those days, I don't have that much trouble with "ruthless" in many cases. To paraphrase Leo Durocher, in those days, “Nice guys finish dead.” They didn’t call it “medieval” for nothing.
@BillJones I was thinking of the Cecils, and after their service to both the Virgin Queen and James I, they stayed near the top of British society over the course of three and one-half centuries. Their family story waxed and waned, of course.
The final denouement of Mary, former Queen of Scots, possibly shows just how ruthless Elizabeth's ministers were. It is just possible that Elizabeth didn't wish her cousin executed, and Elizabeth's ministers finally presented her with a fait accompli.
I have no doubt that Mary Queen of Scots would have done in Elizabeth had the tables been turned. Her boyfriend, Bothwell, was a real piece of work. He and Mary probably got together to bomb Mary’s current husband right out of his bedroom. His body was found in the garden.
Love those royals!
What is the grade on the Halfgroat?
WNC Coins, LLC
1987-C Hendersonville Road
Asheville, NC 28803
wnccoins.com
Queen Mary was remarkably impressionable by malevolent people during her reign and even afterwards. Queen Elizabeth would have doffed off Mary much earlier had she been unfeeling in her opinion of Mary. Actually Queen Elizabeth was amazingly tolerant of Mary's many escapades during the latter's exile in England.
Queen Mary would be a good subject for a Masterpiece Theatre production - so much tragedy, the love affairs, the schemes etc. Such a work would make the "Victoria" series seem quite tame.
PCGS graded it AU-53. Using American standards, I think that it is a couple points better than that. It's got a lot of luster under what could easily pass as original surfaces if they are not, in fact original. I have admired this piece since the first I saw it. It must have sat in a number of collections for hundreds of years.
When my wife and I took a trip to England a couple of years ago, we had a couple guides who were really fabulous. They had had to pass tests on British history to qualify for their positions, and they wore little blue and white pins that signified their qualifications.
One of them was an Irishman, an Irish Catholic I surmised, who had that charming melodic accent. One morning he compared Henry VIII to “Crazy Hitler” and came to the conclusion that Henry was worse. The reason, of course, was that Henry drove the priests, monks and nuns out of their monasteries and abbeys, took their land and assets, and had the those who put up any resistance killed. From that gentleman’s perspective, Henry was worse than Hitler.
Was a show on tv of Mary, called "Reign". Canceled last year.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2710394/