An overview of the final years of Henry VIII’s reign, and the religious politics and factions at court.
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Transcript of The Final Years of Henry VIII’s Reign:
Hello, and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast. I’m your host Heather Teysko. In the past few episodes, we’ve talked a lot about the life and rule of Henry VIII. There are lots of other topics I’d like to explore too. So I’d like to move on past Henry to the rule of his children. Before his son Edward is able to take the throne though, we need to finish up the final years of Henry’s life and discuss the politics that were making the court a very dangerous place for Henry’s final queen.
1543
Henry’s sixth and final wife was Catherine Parr. Catherine attracted Henry’s attention when she was still the wife of the elderly John Neville, Lord Latimer. He was actually her second husband as her first husband had also been older, and died around 1528.
In contrast to Katherine Howard, Catherine Parr was not a young girl, but was a well-educated and mature woman of just about 30. Her intellect was probably very attractive to Henry, who was by now becoming too old for the flirtatious games of young girls. Catherine’s husband was older and was very ill, and Henry began courting her even while her husband was still alive.
By March of 1543, Catherine’s husband had died and she was a wealthy widow, Catherine Parr was educated, but even more than that, she was pious and held radical, possibly Protestant viewpoints, and had to be very careful.
During the time that Henry was wooing Catherine, Bishop Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester was vigorously prosecuting heretics and Lutherans. They were the same to him, and began striking at Cranmer, who was still protected by the king. Gardiner made numerous attempts to arrest Cranmer, and read the court of the influence of heretics whom he believed were indoctrinating the king.
Henry never let anything happen to Crammer. So Gardiner began moving on to the more low hanging fruit, going after the members of the Privy Chamber. It was into this sea of religious politics where the stakes were life and death, that Catherine Parr was thrown when the king married her in July of 1543.
While many people portray Catherine Parr as little more than a nursemaid, by many contemporary accounts, they were actually very happy with each other, and up until the final months of Henry’s life, we’re on the move and very active.
Early on, Catherine had supported scholars and cultures at court. She welcomed learning and gave money from her own Privy Purse to students who were unable to afford their education. Outwardly, she was orthodox in her observances, yet privately, she held very radical beliefs, and the members of her inner circle were like-minded.
Many of the people in her inner circle had criticized Catholic bishops and her bedchamber became a haven for those with radical opinions. Though the queen spent many hours each day in quiet study and contemplation, she was becoming an enemy to the conservatives who are afraid that she was preaching radical beliefs to the king.
Catherine was kind and loving to the king’s children. His daughter, Mary was only four years younger than Catherine, so they quickly became friends. She encouraged Princess Elizabeth to come to court more often, and even young Prince Edward was allowed to visit from time to time.
Henry had always limited the time he spent at court for fear that his longed for son would catch an infection. All three children spent Christmas together at court in 1543, and things seem to be finally settling down into a nice rhythm for Henry and his family.
1544
In 1544, Henry went off to France again this time to invade Boulogne. Henry led the invasion himself. Despite his old jousting injury to his leg, keeping him in bed for over a week in February of 1544, he found new energy campaigning in France. A year later, when he was back at home, he mentioned that he felt much better at war in France than he did at home. His closest companion became his physician, Dr. William Butts, who was perhaps a closet Protestant, but was also a discreet and trustworthy confidant of Henry’s.
1545
Also in 1545, Henry was growing so weary that to avoid tiring him further with day-to-day business, a stamp with his signature was brought in to use. The stamp left an imprint of the royal signature, which was then colored in by people authorized to use it, members of the Privy Chamber, and witnesses were always required when the stamp was used as well.
1546
Early in 1546, Catherine used her influence to have Henry pay attention to the universities Oxford and Cambridge, which had been neglected during the Reformation. At Oxford he refounded Wolsey’s college and named at Christ Church. At Cambridge, he founded an endowed Trinity College, replacing three medieval colleges.
Also in 1546, Henry appointed Cranmer to head an ecclesiastical commission to look at the validity of some church ceremonies that Henry thought were superstitious and Papist. Among them were the ringing of the bells on All Souls’ Eve. But before the commission could really get started, Gardiner wrote a long letter to Henry protesting these changes, and Henry changed his mind.
As 1546 wore on, Henry was often sick in bed, and it became clear that he would not live until Edward had reached his majority and was old enough to rule. The factions began getting ready for a fight over who would have control over Prince Edward, and one target of the Conservatives became Queen Catherine. They have long suspected her of heresy, and while they also resented her influence over the king and Prince Edward, Gardiner was determined to purge the court of all heretics and was prepared to eliminate the queen if need be.
That spring, several events happened that played right into their hands. First, the Duke of Norfolk’s younger son protested the orthodox sermons preached by the Royal chaplains during Lent and openly criticized them, both in the queen’s chamber and elsewhere at court. In May, a court preacher named Dr. Edward Crome was arrested for heresy.
Under interrogation, he revealed the names of his associates, among whom were several courtiers and a woman from Lincolnshire, Anne Askew. Anne was an open Protestant and had connections at court and knew some of the queen’s ladies. She was brought to the Tower and tortured on the rock in hopes that she could give evidence against the queen, but she maintained her silence. But Dr. Crome had named several members of the Privy Chamber and Gardiner had them all arrested.
Early in July, Henry was sick again and had a group of conservatives with him at Whitehall. One day Catherine angered Henry by apparently being too opinionated when they were debating a theological matter. When Catherine left, Henry grumbled that he didn’t like being lectured in his old age by his wife.
Gardiner took the opening to risk bringing up the idea that maybe the queen might be a heretic, and the king gave him permission to investigate further. Her books were examined. Her ladies were questioned, but they gave away nothing, so warrant for her arrest was issued for her to be questioned. By luck, the warrant fell from the pocket of a counselor’s gown and was found by a member of the queen’s household who took it to her. Horrified Catherine began screaming in panic, Henry heard her in his own apartments, and sent his physician to discover what was wrong. The queen told him and the physician urged her to go to the king and plead for forgiveness.
Catherine took his advice, and told Henry that “if she had ever dare dispute with one whom nature had so patently formed for superiority, it was only to divert him in his illness.” That pleased Henry who asked “Is that so sweetheart? If so, we are perfect friends again.”
The next day the king and queen were sitting together in the garden and the Lord Chancellor arrived with guards to arrest the queen. The king rose, berated him and began beating him around the head shouting at him. So Catherine Parr was safe, but Anne Askew was burned at Smithfield on July 16.
The collapse of the plot against the queen along with the return of Lord Hertford, a secret Protestant and the uncle of Prince Edward to court ended the witchhunt for heretics. The king’s health was failing, and he spent most of his time in his own lodgings or his garden. His temper was more volatile than ever, and his legs gave him an incredible amount of pain.
He refused to give in believing that he still had many years ahead of him, and he tried to lead as normal a life as possible. He had special chairs made to allow him to be carried, and by now he was so obese that there are reports that he was unable to go up or down stairs without being pulled by a mechanical device. Henry struggled to maintain control over the factions springing up to fight over the influence of Prince Edward, but he refused to confront the issue of his health, going along as if everything was just fine.
Henry started his normal hunting progress in late August, but stayed near home. By September the exertion have become too much for him, and he was forced to retire in Windsor and abandon the progress. In December, Henry was laid low again with a fever and nearly died. Then he rallied and he declared himself completely healed. But everybody could see that he would not last long.
The Seymours, the uncles of Prince Edward were rising in court, and everyone could see that they would be in power before too long. Henry was able to travel in late December and moved in stages by Escher, Wimbledon, Whitehall, and stayed at Greenwich for the last time on the 22nd of December. He was plainly very ill.
For example, in August, he had paid less than five pounds for sick rooms and comforts, and in December, the bill rose to 25 pounds. This included purchases of perfume to sweeten the chambers and his sheets.
On Christmas Eve, the queen and the king’s daughters left Whitehall on his orders to spend Christmas in Greenwich. Henry spent the festive season in total seclusion. He went over his will again.
January 1547
By January 1, he was fevered and had yet another relapse on January 19. Even his musicians had been dismissed, and his counselors took turns sitting with him throughout the long winter nights.
On January 26, he summoned Queen Catherine to his bed and said, “It is God’s will that we should part,” but then he was just too choked up to go on. On January 27, he saw his confessor and he received communion. The council knew that his death was near and ordered all of the ports closed. But no one had the courage to warn Henry that his death was near. Henry hated talk of death, but they wanted to give him time to prepare his soul.
So finally, one doctor told him that in man’s judgment, he was not like to live, and asked if he wanted to speak with any learned men. Henry replied that he might like to talk to Cranmer. But he would like to sleep a little first, and then as he felt better, he would let them know.
A messenger was sent off to get Cranmer, but by the time he arrived in the early morning hours of January 28, Henry was unable to speak. Cranmer asked him to give a sign that he died in the faith of Christ, and he wrung his hand in Cranmer’s as long as he could, and they took that for assent.
Shortly afterwards, Henry VIII died quietly. Later that day, Lord Hertford rode to the nine-year-old prince to pay homage to him as king.
Thanks for listening this week. Next time, I’ll talk about the short reign of Edward. The next decade or so will be a tumultuous time in English history with no strong leader like Henry to take control. It would take his daughter by Anne Boleyn in Princess Elizabeth to bring England to the full potential of the Renaissance. So we will spend a lot of time on her in future episodes as well.
If you have any show ideas, questions or comments, you can write them on the blog Englandcast.com. You can also find the Renaissance English History Podcast page on Facebook and write to me there. Talk to you next time!
[advertisement insert here: if you like this show, and you want to support me and my work, the best thing you can do (and it’s free!) is to leave us a rating on iTunes. It really helps others discover the podcast. Second best is to buy Tudor-themed gifts for all your loved ones at my shop, at TudorFair.com, like leggings with the Anne Boleyn portrait pattern on them, or boots with Elizabeth I portraits. Finally, you can also become a patron of this show for as little as $1/episode at Patreon.com/englandcast … And thank you!]