HENRY - CALLED THE EIGHTH I tend to feel sorry for the King we list as Henry Number Eight. The artists - or, perhaps we had best call them the cartoonists they must have been maligning the King and always “doing him” at meal time. He is depicted as a fat, uncouth brute of a man passionately hacking a side of venison, at least a thigh thereof, with his sole weapon being his hunting knife.
Neither the the King, nor his hired hands who had hacked the beast into chunks they could handled as they held them in and just above the leaping flames of a huge bonfire to cook them. They were really butchers being chefs. None of them – King or valet- had luxuries such as knives, forks, spoons and other such gadgets we now consider to be essential. Everything was “finger-lickin' good” be it the much-lauded venison or plain old pasturing cow.
Henry VIII deserves better treatment than he has had in the past. His actions, which changed the entire face of the empire and to those portions which have come down to us as as a part of our heritage as well. Many still vilify Henry as a scamp and they prove it by attending diligently to any doubts they have about all aspects of his life. Most concerned his choice brides and of his manner of making such choices.
Aside from all the hoop-la- anyone who, undertook to remove the Roman Catholic Church from the empire and to supplant it with his own English version, had to be a man to be reckoned with in all matters.
To gain a new appreciation of the abilities of Henry VIII,consider the enormity of that which he accomplished - for reasons good or bad by someone's estimate. The Roman Catholic monastery establishments of the continent had become rich and lived a life of luxury, acquired possessions such as land, at flocks, vineyards, possession of art works and built lavish new quarters for themselves. Some members felt is to be wrong
and decided to migrate across the channel and to built new homes dedicated to poverty and true worship. By the time Henry came to power the English equaled or exceeded the wealth and corruption of the worst of the old continental locations.
Henry acted quickly and indecisively. Every thing he did was completed between the years of 1536 and 1540. In just four years he totally changed the religious nature of the area and placed in its stead a church system of his own devising - an English church. Gone forever - after just four years of action - were the ornate monastic houses, churches, cathedrals, palaces and other sites - largely seen as ruins today.
Just four years? Think not so much what Henry did, but the way in which he did it.
Andee McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 8-15-06 [c485wds]
