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There's this one story I've heard about Anne of Cleaves that somehow manages to put Henry in an EVEN WORSE LIGHT than the "she wasn't pretty enough" story. Basically, when going to meet Anne for the very first time, Henry wanted to reenact a romantic English folk tale and dressed up like a peasant as a disguise and tried to sweep her off her feet. The German Anne had absolutely NOT heard these stories before, so when some strange man in rags starts trying to flirt with her, she rejects his advances HARD. Henry gets pissy, says she was never that pretty anyway, and divorces her
Not to mention that until that point, the only image Anne had of him was very likely an outdated court portrait from before Jane Seymour's death. So he not only sprung himself on her well before she expected to meet him, while in disguise... but he was at this point *enormously fat* with a leg wound that had never healed and stank to high heaven. Although, all things considered, I'd say Anne came out well ahead of any of her fellow queens. She not only survived her marriage, but in order to get her to agree to end it and *not* cause a huge stink with her family, he settled not just a large estate but an annual income that Edward would later have trouble paying on her. She lived long enough to see Mary crowned Queen, and died rich and single.
And then Anne and Henry became best friends, and she was the godmother to all of Henry's kids, and she actually even outlived Katherine Parr by a few years. She was referred to as "Henry's Sister" by anyone who knew the two of them.
Why do I get the feeling Henry VIII is what inspired Big Mom in One Piece? Once married and bore a kid, one of the partners is disposed of and the other partner picks a new interest to bone
The worst thing is... his father was actually an incredibly good and faithful husband. He was consider a quite cold king, and yet many ambassadors remarked on the tenderness he had towards his queen. He never took mistress, he slept in the same bedroom as his wife (both things which were extremely uncommon at the time) and though he did not like to spent much money he was always happy to finance all of his wife's many charities, and he let most of his court and arquitecture and entretaiment be arranged by her. When she died he was so distraught that he shut himself in a room for days and would not anyone to come see him, which was unusual for a king at the time, and quite unexpected from the almost machiavelian Henry vii. When forieng ambassadors came to ask him to marry some other woman his description of what he wanted was... that of his previous wife. He never remarried.
Henry VII did briefly consider marrying Catherine of Aragon in place of his surviving son because, with Isabella's death, Spain was no longer unified and thus a less important ally to marry into--that way, the future Henry VIII would be saved for a better alliance, and Henry VII wouldn't have to pay Ferdinand back Catherine's dowry. Ferdinand would have none of that, though, because he knew Henry was in ill-health and Catherine would probably wind up a childless Queen Dowager with her ability to re-enter the Marriage Market impaired. Catherine had another 6 years of marital limbo, often with financial problems, before marrying Henry VIII.
@@screamingalgae9380 Yeah I forgot to mention that, though from what I can remember it was less of an official proposal, and more of a getting the pope to say "Catherine was never really married to Arthur, so she can marry into Tudor still" which so happened to include him along with his son. As far as I am aware Henry vii wanted to keep her, when Spain was still a great impressive nation, after Isabella's death, Henry wanted either for Ferdinand to pay her dowry or to have Catherine out, with Ferdinand refusing to give to Henry's demands, leaving the poor girl in limbo as you said (he might have been a good husband....not so much of a father in law) Her father eventually made her an ambassador of Spain, which sort of kept Catherine in England until Henry viii was old enough to marry her, despite the advice of his father to not do so.
It’s probably sadly why we don’t remember him, he gets overshadowed by his son for his wives and grandchildren for their reigns and incredible stories Because he was such a good king, ending the war of the roses, faithful husband etc it’s why we don’t hear much about him which is a shame because his and his wife’s lives are just as interesting
A couple things worth noting: 1. The Pope at the time was living under Spanish occupation, which is probably why he wouldn't grant an annulment. 2. The mention that Henry got an "annulment" instead of "divorce" is _much appreciated._ The Church of England didn't recognize divorce until 2002. 3. It's really important that, despite the King being the head of the Church, the administration of the Church remained and still remains independent of the monarchy. Back when the Magna Carta was drafted, it was still an open question whether secular rulers could appoint Catholic bishops, and the Barons in 1215 were firmly against it. The rule against royal appointment of bishops is one of the three clauses in the Magna Carta that's still in effect, and it prevented the Church of England from ever becoming a weapon of political autocracy (cough- _Patriarchate of Moscow)_ even before it came into existence.
The Pope at the time was also the *prisoner* of Spain, having been captured after the Spanish sacked Rome. And when a Holy Roman Emperor has his figurative "hands" on you and says, "Don't let this guy get out of his marriage with my aunt," you listen.
It is also important to know the distinction between anullment and divorce because said distinction makes all the difference. Basically: a divorce is the cancellation of a marriage that had legal grounds, while the anullment is the cancellation of a marriage that had no legal ground (e.g. the marriage between an adult and a child or polygamy). However, both are the cancellations ex nunc, i.e. for the future and the marriage is considered to have been valid.
Here's one small extra sad thing about jane seymour. She was actually going to live after giving birth but people in court were so excited about a male heir they forced her into public life far before her recovery had finished and then she got sick and her weakened immune system couldn't fight back.
I was recently at Hampton Court in the room where the court folks were told about the birth of Edward and I thought about this long and hard. I hope she's at peace now.
I once saw a comment on an Oversimplified video that was something like 'Ironic that he worked so hard to get a son but his daughters were way more well known.'
Poor Katherine Howard. If Six succeeded in anything, it was shining a spotlight on her messed up situation. Edit: specifically her traumatic childhood guys. And let's be clear, Henry was being just as big a pervert as the rest with her. Treat the teen with some respect please.
@@sylvanas9329 For wanting to kill Henry? No. For being stupid about how to go about it? Yes. Anne Boelyn was innocent of what she was accused of, but Katherine Howard was guilty. The motive was understandable and forgivable. The means...not so much.
Well in her case she genuinely was having an affair with someone else, while with Anne Boleyn he was just looking for any excuse to get rid of her even if the justification for it was sketchy as hell.
@@zaleost But it's amazing how many people think he had like seven innocent women killed or something. If he killed a lot of any particular group it was his courtiers.
Anne of Cleves didn't fare so badly either. Once she WAS no longer his wife, Henry found that he really like her personality, and she became his "dear sister in all but name" i.e. one of the few actual friends he had.
The part I always found most fascinating about this time wasn't Henry 8 himself. It was ALWAYS his wives and two daughters. Like, Catherine of Aragon didn't recognize the divorce. She claimed that she was still married and was the true queen until she goddamn died.
Like I know she was rich and had servants and all that, but I feel bad for her nonetheless. She thought her life was SORTED, unquestionably so, and not only did she have the personal heartache of many stillbirths/miscarriages/baby dying shortly after birth, but then she went through this unthinkable upheaval where her husband just dismissed her in an era where divorce was illegal. Like it must have felt like she was in the upside down.
@@PheOfTheFae She had a hard seven years of widowhood before her marriage, too, with no liberty to either return to Spain or choose her path in England, since she was pretty much subject to the political interests of both Henry VII, father of Henry VIII, and her own father, Fernando of Aragon. (I had a whole bunch of cause-and-effect following this, but thank goodness for everyone here, I decided better not to blabber away!)
From what I understand, Anne Boleyn didn't even want to marry him, she just didn't want to be his mistress and was trying to avoid the situation. But when the King of England literally reworks the system so he can formally make you his wife, not to mention killing those who oppose him, you don't really have a choice. As the Anne Boleyn from Six says, "Like, what was I meant to do?"
There's a lot of poetry from the era, some I believe even being from Boleyn or those close to her, that quite explicitly portrays her as wanting nothing to do with Henry. I remember reading that she literally left court to get away from him and *he followed her.* Yikes.
@@coreDesignix oof. If that's the case then the book I read in middle school was horribly innacurate. in it, she would flirt with him and practically beg that he marry her. It read like a fanfic honestly.
@@growingsage Yeah, unfortunately her reputation became warped into her being a seductress who intentionally went after Henry. I think she made for a convenient target since no one could oppose the king, and they saw her as being at fault for being the reason the system got upheaved and they lost their beloved queen (rather than, you know, the guy that actually did all that but who was killing all his detractors).
@@Floweramon is that also why the witchcraft rumors got started? Because I definitely remember some accusations of her being a witch being thrown around
@@growingsage I believe so yeah, and then Henry latched onto it (as well as slander of her being an adulterer) to justify beheading her so he could save face after all the shit he did to make her his wife only getting another daughter out of it.
I appreciated that the show The Tudors literally had Henry throwing tantrums because that's what he was doing on the large scale, whether he did so or not in the day to day.
Honestly dude mades me kinda sad, seeing as how some sources say his behaviour radically changed after getting hit in the head and knocked out during a jousting match. Dude was brain damaged in a time with no effective medicine and in a position where no one could correct his behaviour and he spiraled into madness
I recall that its still somewhat disputed whether the jousting accident was exact cause behind his change in character, although its certainly agreed that around that time shortly before divorcing Catherine of Aragon he did undeniably flip to being a lot more aggressive/angry and it was following where did a lot of the more horrible things he's know for. Its also worth noting that he was was married to Catherine of Aragon for longer than the other 5 wives combined.
@@ovrair6340 Yep, you're both right. Henry had suffered severe brain damage and was in constant pain, to the point where his personality flipped. That's not to say he was a total angel before it, but before he was simply callous, and not a violent, paranoid lunatic that made subjects even just having a concern for the king's health a crime worthy of beheading. "Imagining the King's death" was what he called it. But, of course, since it was the 16th century, nobody connected the brain injury with the sudden, massive uptick in violent executions ordered by the king.
I can't believe no one thought of that joke before. I mean it fits soooo well! (I guess it's possible, even probable someone did, but it is catchy enough that i'd expect it to be requoted everywhere)
Actually, his reason for divorcing Anne of Cleves was much more complicated, and entirely his fault. That whole thing about her not looking like her portrait was an excuse. They were supposed to meet for the first time at a particular venue (I don't remember what it actually was) and due to some weird idea of how romantic first meetings should go that was making the rounds in the British Court at the time, rather than coming in formally as the King he was Henry dressed down to a level that could be considered slovenly, had a bunch of his "buddies" with him, and just randomly embraced her from behind and go in for a kiss rather than properly introducing himself. Not knowing who he was and the context behind his actions and being in a completely foreign country, Anne of Cleves thought she was being assaulted by some random guy and reacted accordingly by slapping him. His response was to get salty, say "I like her not", and get a divorce. The portrait excuse I'm guessing was used to save himself from humiliation by not having to explain the whole story. TLDR: He made an ass of himself on the first date, and got salty and blamed it on her.
At least Anne of Cleves lucked out those. As Six's Anna said "You can't imagine how tragic it is to be moved to a splendid palace in Richmond, with more money then I could ever spend in my entire life, with no man telling me how to spend it..."
I thought the annulment was more geopolitical than that, ie; it was a transparent marriage of two states, but then Anne's family lost much of their power back in Europe and/or became politically (NOT personally) opposed to England and English interests. Anne herself was still considered "the King's Sister," and kept her head and some English estates, so there obviously wasn't much beef at all there.
Anne of Cleves made out well. She was granted castles in England, a generous income, and was considered part of the Royal family, and actually had a friendship of sorts with Henry
I watched a video on this recently and the portrait that "didn't look like her" was painted straight on. Her other portraits were slightly profile and she had a largish nose that didn't show in the straight on one.
Yup. He blamed her for not looking like her portrait, but then didn’t punish the artist who made it? Also, other paintings of Anne depict her similarly to the painting that was supposedly inaccurate? Nah… Henry was just a liar and clearly had a preference for tiny boobies (yes, he complained that Anne’s boobs were big like a woman who just gave birth).
Divorced, beheaded and died Divorced, beheaded, survived. I’m Henry VIII I had six sorry wives Some might say I ruined their lives. Catherine of Aragon was one She failed to give me a son. I had to ask her for a divorce That broke her poor heart, of course. Young Anne Boleyn she was two Had a daughter, the best she could do. I said she flirted with some other man And off for the chop went dear Anne. Lovely Jane Seymour was three The love of a lifetime for me She gave me a son, little Prince Ed Then poor old Jane, went and dropped dead. Divorced, beheaded and died Divorced, beheaded, survived. I’m Henry VIII, I had six sorry wives Some might say I ruined their lives. Anne of Cleves came as four I fell for the portrait I saw Then laid eyes on her face and cried, ‘she’s a horse! I must have another divorce’. Catherine Howard was five A child of nineteen, so alive. She flirted with others, no way to behave The axe sent young Cath to her grave. Catherine Parr she was last By then all my best days were past I lay on my deathbed aged just fifty-five Lucky Catherine the last stayed alive. Divorced, beheaded and died Divorced, beheaded, survived. I’m Henry VIII, I had six sorry wives You could say I ruined their lives.
Well, from one perspective, you could say he also killed Catherine of Aragon and Jane. Catherine got sick because Henry forced her to move to an old, worn down and cold castle that hadn't been taken proper care of. With the harsh English weather, this was disasterous for her health. And Jane wouldn't have died if Henry hadn't gotten her pregnant, but I guess you could say that was both of their faults, plus the doctors who didn't understand female anatomy and never washed their hands.
Hi Blue! Hot suggestion, fresh off the press: Catherine Parr deserves her own video next! Her post-Henry life was actually kind of tragic: she spent her entire life up to that point taking care of her husbands' children through really harrowing circumstances, so after Henry, she remarried (her fourth husband) for love to a guy her royal stepkids were constantly fighting about (and without the monarch's consent), had her first bio kid, DIED shortly after from childbed sickness, and then her jerkbag playboy widower tried to kidnap her stepson and when that went pear-shaped, he SHOT EDWARD'S DOG. She was a true MVP, and people used and abused her goodwill so badly.
@@thedorkone1516 and the part where he constantly enter her bedchamber while she was in her nightgown. It is no surprise, that Elizabeth didn't want to marry.
@@missgiroud97 and why she was very strict in her treatment of her maids of honor. I remember seeing that a lot of sources would use this as an example of why Elizabeth was so "vain," that she couldn't stand to see prettier/younger women have fun, which didn't make as much sense as if she didn't want them to be taken advantage of by men like Thomas Seymour.
The shoutout to Six at the end made me smile. The second you mentioned Henry starting the Church of England, I got "everybody chill, it's totes God's will" in my head. It's a delight. Or... it's a tragedy sometimes (glances sorrowfully at "All You Wanna Do") but it's also clever, empowering, and lays some well-deserved burns on dear ol' Henry. As you can imagine from this comment, I'm not unfamiliar with Henry VIII and his wives-who-all-deserved-better. Still, I enjoyed this video a lot. Appreciate the acknowledgement that his wives are ultimately the reason we remember Henry to this day, and that memes aside, his actions had sucky consequences for a lot of people. (But also, that "lady killer" joke. I am disappointed I'd never thought of that one.)
History makes memes, but memes still need context. This was a great top view of Henry VIII's 'love' life. The yearly Valentine's episode are always fun.
(We totally skipped a good chunk of versus) Raising up the roof ‘til we hit the ceiling Get ready for the truth that will be revealing, Everbody knows that we used to be six WIVES, but now we’re ex-wives~
Wild thing is that my old school is called King Henry VIII.... because it was founded because of him in 1542. Our school houses were named after the four wives he didn't execute.
Hello Red and Blue! I hope you’ll be able to read this, because I owe you all my thanks for being the reason why I’ve chosen to pursue History as my field of study in the hopes of becoming a historian in the future. I’ve been watching your videos since I was in the 9th or 10th grade (all I know is that I’ve been your fan for a very long time 😂). Even though history has always been a major interest and passion of mine since I was young, your videos were what kept that interest and passion alive and thriving-and eventually led me to where I am today. I wish you both nothing but success and all the happiness the world has to offer. I’ll make sure to thank you again in two years’ time when I graduate 😄
The twisted thing about this is that they call Jane Seymour the only one he loved because she gave him exactly what he wanted. Not the person she was. Just what she gave him. And this could be explained by whatever screwed up illness was going on with Henry and the attitudes towards women back then in such a patriarchal society.
Of course, in those days. Women are important to bear a child. And you might say "ugh hurr durr patriarchy". Keep in mind that England was rivaling Japan with all the consistent wars they were having because they don't have a clear heir.
@@zurielschubert9410: It’s not the child-bearing that was the issue. It’s overall attitudes that were the issue. No one actually criticizes those days because women were child-bearers.
But than, again, even in his times his behaviour towards his wives was seen as despicable. Can you imagine reaching the point of shocking Medieval Europe with how little respect you gave your wife? A feat, in a sense.
True Owen Tudor was probably a noble welsh man and probably descendent from the one of welsh prince and married the widow queen which is a break to the tradition of young queen widow staying chaste and also John of Gaunt marrying his long term mistress and acknowleding his children from her but Henry can't emulate their love story
I really admire how responsibly you sought to handle the retelling of this often trivialised story, especially to focus the takeaway on the remarkable prescience of these women who were terribly treated and working under perilous circumstances.
When it comes to Jane Seymour, Lindsay Holiday summed it up nicely when talking about how Henry was buried with her when he died, because she was the one wife "who didn't live long enough to piss him off".
Honestly I started watching this channel because I had to get a summary of a midsummer nights dream. I am so glad I found this channel because I have learned so much from it.
Fun fact: he is the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts. In the same dining hall Harry Potter’s is based on, a man told a little girl stories of a fantastical world. The fireplace guard dog statues with elongated necks became cookies that make the little girl stretch taller. Her father, who was always late for everything, became the White Rabbit. And the portrait of the monarch who beheads those he dislikes…
@@petarpoljak6918 Well she was not cutting heads, though I guess it could be because her husband was more gentle and docile while she was more passionate and erratic
“brb I'm blaring "Haus of Holbein" from Six the Musical on the loudest speakers I own” This plus the mention of SIX at the end of the video makes me so happy! I’m seeing SIX in theaters later this year but I’ve listened to the soundtrack for ages previously and it’s awesome!
Fun fact! It's actually likely that Anne of Cleves DID look like her portrait, but Henry just said that (among other comments about her chest being too large and what have you) as an excuse to get rid of her, cuz he was embarrassed. He greeted her by surprise when she arrived in England, attempting to sweep her up in his arms and kiss her like a fairytale prince, but she didn't recognize him (cuz at this point he was older, gaining weight, etc. Not the young, handsome athlete he used to be) and she freaked out. Also I'm pretty sure she didn't want to "enjoy the honeymoon" so to speak. So yeah, he was embarrassed and neither found the other attractive without clothes on. But her face probably did look like her portrait, the painter was very well known for accurate portraits, and deceiving the king would've been more trouble than it's worth.
I watched a video on this recently and the portrait that "didn't look like her" was painted straight on. Her other portraits were slightly profile and she had a largish nose that didn't show in the straight on one.
Another point in your favor. The famous 'looks like a horse' line. Only shows up in secondary sources. It's not mentioned by anyone who was there. So could have been fabricated later on.
Significantly, there is no evidence that Henry blamed Holbein for painting a false portrait (as already mentioned, the most Holbein did was paint Anne at her most flattering angle). Indirectly, however, Holbein did have a setback because the disastrous marriage led to the execution of Thomas Cromwell, Holbein's most important patron.
Six was a great show. Great music and the best part? They got to showcase all of the wives as themselves without having to mention Hank the Horney by name.
Contrary to what Henry believed, it was not his son that secured his and the Tudor Legacy. It was his wives and daughters. THEY are what people remember him for.
I think about this a lot where most of the time the reason we remember kings is because they had interesting wives or daughters or mothers. Like Henry II, did you mean Eleanor of Aquitaine's second dickish husband? James I, did you mean Mary Queen of Scots son? George VI, do you mean Elizabeth's dad?
The Tudors had always been paranoid about their legitimacy as they were a junior branch of the Plantagenets. Their prominence in the Lancastrians had less to with the closeness of their relation to Henry VI through tge English royal bloodline than by Henry VII's father and uncle being Henry VI's half brothers on his mother's side. They were always afraid some other Plantagenet with a better bloodline claim to the throne would rebel and overthrow them.
@@mjbull5156 There were surviving Plantagenet's with better bloodline claims to the throne than them? I just assumed that Henry VII was the last person with a claim to the throne remaining after the War of the Roses killed everyone else. This is interesting to learn.
@@matthewmuir8884 There was a male cousin of Elizabeth of York that was locked up in the Tower and later executed. He was a Plantagenet. And, around 3 or 4 young men were saying they were Elizabeth of York's brother; who disappeared in strange conditions after the death of his father in 1483 and his uncle Richard III usurped the throne. Even when Henry VII was king for conquest; he had a relatively weak blood claim of his own; that's why he married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. So, it was plausible that a better claim can get him off the throne.
Thanks for focusing part of the discussion on the fact that these women were also partially responsible for the history Henry is often solely credited for. Good work
7:00 "... leaving our last Catherine to lead her best life." Which, unfortunately, was not that long. She married her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour, and died about a year later after giving birth to a daughter.
My Catholic school taught us about this because one of the officials who stood against Henry would become a saint. But the main thing was to show the many branches of Christianity and how some had good reasons like Martian Luther while others like Henry were selfish. My religion teacher was chill in telling us we should always look into what we believe where it be church or state. Good video blue!
@@masenguerra7835 You're welcome. I remember him because there was a play about him that I had to read in high school English class: _A Man For All Seasons._
I know Red only sings on the credits of her own videos, rather than Blue's, but it still feels like a missed opportunity that she didn't sing "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" here.
The reason the Pope would not grant Henry's Annulment was because Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was in the middle of a Pope Fight with said Pope, having sacked Rome, and Charles V was Catherine of Aragon's nephew. So any theological arguments he offered for refusal come with a grain of salt when "I don't want to anger the guy with a big army at my doorstep" is an equally compelling factor.
There’s *no way* I could have known about Henry VIII. I would’ve *lost my head* learning about him. He truly has a *heart of stone* . I need to *get down* on these lessons. *I don’t need your love* , I just want to learn about him
Blue! I know you hate talking about monarchies but this is by far my favorite video you've ever done! You gave a whole new angle into a very exhausted side of history and I loved your take on it. Please continue doing these!
The younger me could not wrap her head around the fact that Charles III would be head of the Church of England despite being an admitted adulterer. That was before it clicked in my head that the entire reason there is a Church of England is because of Henry VIII's serial adultery.
It makes perfect sense that Elizabeth I never married. A) her husband would have basically become de facto king and take all the power B) think of the examples of marriage she saw growing up. Her own mother executed in a jealous rage
I honestly think that a video per wife would be incredible Aragon was his wife for over 30 years, refused to stop calling herself queen, embaraserd Henry in court, and died after H had her sent to rotting castles with the hope her lungs would give out Bolynne was raised in France in the Protestant tradition, and is the entire reason we have the bible in English. She was a powerful and smart woman that refused the King's advances, but made the best of the situation when he wouldn't leave her alone. Seymore was perhaps H's one true love, and was a bastion of strength and Christian devotion to her husband. The only one to produce what H really wanted, her death was truly tragic Cleaves was brave and sassy. After H kissed her while disguised as a beggar when she first got to England, she had the portrait he claimed was unflattering hung in the main gallery for everyone to see. A wild woman Howard was 17-19 when a 55 year-old gangrenous H married her. A victim of SA twice before, the poor girl did her best by the king, but fell for a handsome man her own age. When H had her killed he also had her body Quicklimed, something abhorrent to her Catholic family Parr was a huge proponent of women's rights, and funded programs to educate and employ women. When H died she married her true love, and tragically died in childbirth while he cheated on her... All 6 were honestly incredible
You left out my favorite part! King Henry VIII was given the title of "Defender of the Faith" by the Catholic Church in 1521 for writing multiple anti-protestant (Anti-Lutheran specificlly) papers and keeping England Catholic. Then 13 years later in 1534 he formed a NEW protestant Church. The new Church is some hellish love-child of Lutheranism and Catholicism (probably because Henry still liked Catholicism and knew a LOT about Lutheranism) and despite this, since "Defender of the Faith" cannot be revoked, he retained the title for the rest of his life. So the dude who made a new Church in England which alienated the Catholic church so badly that five hundred hundred years of Catholic persecution were to follow was a Defender of the Faith. Also, fun fact, but King Henry VIII was also a music composer with about 20-30 songs and composition pieces attributed to him - so the dude could certainly serenade his way around the ladies.
"My names Catherine of Aragon, was married 24 years im a paragon" "I'm that Boleyn girl, I'm up next see, I broke England from the church, yeah I'm that sexy" "Jane Seymour, the only one he truly loved" "I've bin Anna of Cleeves" "Prick up your ears! I'm the Katherine who lost her head" "I'm the survivor Katherine Parr" Honestly Six the musical brainrot makes keeping track of all 6 fun and catchy
I got to visit the Met’s Tudor’s exhibit, and the most shocking bit of info is that famous portrait of Catherine of Aragon actually may not be Catherine. The info at the Met says that they now think it’s a portrait of Henry’s sister Mary!
Six was just playing on repeat in my head throughout all of this. I do appreciate Blue pointing out that yeah his rein was consequential but only because of the women in his life. Whether it was their own acts or just their existence causing Henry to go AWOOGA they were all the catalysts
Thanks for putting into words the thing about focusing on Big Guys and their Tonka Truck Wars as rewarding bad behavior. I've been trying to convey that for years and you managed it in a single sentence. A gift to humanity, as usual :)
Hans Holbein goes around the world Painting all of the beautiful girls From Spain, to France and Germany. The King chooses one, But which one will it be?
I think more people ought to know of Henry's likely brain damage. As we all know, he was a prolific jouster in his youth, and it's *known* that he was injured by a blow to the head during one. It can be hard to say if someone's behaviour changes for sure, especially from the Historical Record, but I understand that Henry was remarked upon as being *clearly* different after the accident. It explains a lot about how he spiralled into paranoia, delusion, and obesity.
Caligula similarly was actually a pretty good emperor until he got hit with an illness marked by some insane fevers, and after he recovered from is when he started doing things like declaring war on Neptune and suggesting his horse be made Consul.
There's a book series written by Alison Weir called six tudor queens which follows the lives of Henry's wives in more detail in case that is of interest. She is also a historican so they are well researched but written in the style of fiction. It's genuinely like reading game of thrones (a song of ice and fire), no surprise but with less dragons and the unfortunate but Fascinating reality that these are real people. There are also quite a few documentaries about them my personal favourite being six wives with Lucy Worsley. Just in case it's of interest for anyone I though I would share because obviously as history does tend to you could make a video about this in 1 minute or 1000 minutes and still there would be avenues to explore further. I've had a special interest in the tudors since I was 7 and it was my avenue into history as a whole as my interest has expanded. This video was really nice because I got to see something I'm interested in talked about by someone who is engaging and makes things fun. In a way it was like remembering how it felt to find out about it for the first time in school only... I mean OSP is better at teaching and engaging than my school was. So yea. Thank you for making this video fun.
You know there was recently a book in my local book exchange about the North Country rebellion against Henry VIII. Unfortunately I wasn't sure if my mom would approve, so I read parts of it and debated for a week about whether to take it. Unfortunately when I finally DID decide to take it, it was gone. Oh well. Maybe it'll show up again one day.
4:07 Quick correction: Martin Luther did not _choose_ mayhem; he originally wanted internal reform and pleaded for an end to the corruption in the Catholic Church and his pleas were met with hostility; he did not want to break away from the Catholic Church until he saw no other option.
Six the Musical was certainly a great way for me to get the general idea of who's who, so that whenever I hear of them somewhere else (such as here) I already have some background knowledge, which is really useful!
Henry VIII "Will I be remembered as the great, warrior king who invaded France, revolutionized English healthcare, and developed great parklands?" Blue: "Best I can do is 1 out of 3."
This was a fun video for Valentine's Day! I'm going to be watching Six in about a month so this has definitely added to the MASSIVE hype right now. Thanks :)
The funniest part is that Catherine of Aragon was engaged to Arthur and then Henry because her claim to the throne was stronger than their father Henry the VII (being twice descended from John Gaunt, son of Edward III as opposed to Henry VII’s only posthoc legitimization of John’s third wife out of wedlock). Henry was so pressed to have an heir that he disinherited Mary, arguably the strongest claimant to the throne in Tudor history lol.
One grim detail: Ferdinand and Isabella refused to let Catherine go to England until the imprisoned Yorkist claimant Edward, Earl of Warwick was gotten rid of.
Anne and Henry VIII were in correspondence for three years before he actually married her. We also have their love letters from this period, one of which has Henry thanking Anne for the cute toy boat she got him as a present, and signs it "H. seeks no other than A.B.", complete with a little doodled heart.
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-B
Did you forget to pin this?
They look really cool, but as someone said, I think you forgot to pin this.
man got on trending
Hey, if Henry's wives did so much (7:18) why not do a video on them?
So cool!
That mommy joke was simultaneously the crudest and funniest thing I could ever think of coming out of blue’s mouth
Ironically, the bluest that Blue's ever worked
I'm not sure I get it. Is he calling Henry a manchild?
@@benthomason3307 she showed the boss baby as a representation
@@benthomason3307 it's a double entendre
@@beeaggro2593 Oh, so the joke is about Henry trying to _make_ someone a mommy, right?
~Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced beheaded, survived. Henry VIII had six sorry wives some might say he ruined their lives~
Catherine of Aragon was one
@@ahumanistpotato She failed to give me a son
@@pinkcowqueen I had to ask her for a divorce
@@ahumanistpotato that broke her poor heart of course.
@@lourdeswhitener9713 Young Anne Boleyn, she was two
There's this one story I've heard about Anne of Cleaves that somehow manages to put Henry in an EVEN WORSE LIGHT than the "she wasn't pretty enough" story. Basically, when going to meet Anne for the very first time, Henry wanted to reenact a romantic English folk tale and dressed up like a peasant as a disguise and tried to sweep her off her feet. The German Anne had absolutely NOT heard these stories before, so when some strange man in rags starts trying to flirt with her, she rejects his advances HARD. Henry gets pissy, says she was never that pretty anyway, and divorces her
The version I heard was that Henry was in full plate armor.
Not to mention that until that point, the only image Anne had of him was very likely an outdated court portrait from before Jane Seymour's death. So he not only sprung himself on her well before she expected to meet him, while in disguise... but he was at this point *enormously fat* with a leg wound that had never healed and stank to high heaven.
Although, all things considered, I'd say Anne came out well ahead of any of her fellow queens. She not only survived her marriage, but in order to get her to agree to end it and *not* cause a huge stink with her family, he settled not just a large estate but an annual income that Edward would later have trouble paying on her. She lived long enough to see Mary crowned Queen, and died rich and single.
And then Anne and Henry became best friends, and she was the godmother to all of Henry's kids, and she actually even outlived Katherine Parr by a few years. She was referred to as "Henry's Sister" by anyone who knew the two of them.
Didn’t he also say she looked like a horse?
Anne of Cleves definitely made out best of all his wives
Pope: "YOU CANNOT DIVORCE YOUR WIFE!!! THAT'S AGAINST THE LAW OF GOD!!!"
Henry VIII: "I missed the part where that's my problem..."
Why do I get the feeling Henry VIII is what inspired Big Mom in One Piece?
Once married and bore a kid, one of the partners is disposed of and the other partner picks a new interest to bone
Henry VIII: "I CANNOT BREAK THE LAW! I AM THE LAW!"
“I’m the king, I can do what I want”
“WHAAAAAAA?”
More like: what? you and Woolsey said it was okay. No take backs.
Cringe and overused reference
The worst thing is... his father was actually an incredibly good and faithful husband. He was consider a quite cold king, and yet many ambassadors remarked on the tenderness he had towards his queen. He never took mistress, he slept in the same bedroom as his wife (both things which were extremely uncommon at the time) and though he did not like to spent much money he was always happy to finance all of his wife's many charities, and he let most of his court and arquitecture and entretaiment be arranged by her.
When she died he was so distraught that he shut himself in a room for days and would not anyone to come see him, which was unusual for a king at the time, and quite unexpected from the almost machiavelian Henry vii. When forieng ambassadors came to ask him to marry some other woman his description of what he wanted was... that of his previous wife. He never remarried.
Henry VII did briefly consider marrying Catherine of Aragon in place of his surviving son because, with Isabella's death, Spain was no longer unified and thus a less important ally to marry into--that way, the future Henry VIII would be saved for a better alliance, and Henry VII wouldn't have to pay Ferdinand back Catherine's dowry. Ferdinand would have none of that, though, because he knew Henry was in ill-health and Catherine would probably wind up a childless Queen Dowager with her ability to re-enter the Marriage Market impaired. Catherine had another 6 years of marital limbo, often with financial problems, before marrying Henry VIII.
@@screamingalgae9380 Yeah I forgot to mention that, though from what I can remember it was less of an official proposal, and more of a getting the pope to say "Catherine was never really married to Arthur, so she can marry into Tudor still" which so happened to include him along with his son. As far as I am aware Henry vii wanted to keep her, when Spain was still a great impressive nation, after Isabella's death, Henry wanted either for Ferdinand to pay her dowry or to have Catherine out, with Ferdinand refusing to give to Henry's demands, leaving the poor girl in limbo as you said (he might have been a good husband....not so much of a father in law)
Her father eventually made her an ambassador of Spain, which sort of kept Catherine in England until Henry viii was old enough to marry her, despite the advice of his father to not do so.
@@annettehernandez3985 Thanks for responding--I read Alison Weir's book about the Six Wives years ago, so I got some the details wrong.
@@screamingalgae9380 You are welcome!
It’s probably sadly why we don’t remember him, he gets overshadowed by his son for his wives and grandchildren for their reigns and incredible stories
Because he was such a good king, ending the war of the roses, faithful husband etc it’s why we don’t hear much about him which is a shame because his and his wife’s lives are just as interesting
A couple things worth noting:
1. The Pope at the time was living under Spanish occupation, which is probably why he wouldn't grant an annulment.
2. The mention that Henry got an "annulment" instead of "divorce" is _much appreciated._ The Church of England didn't recognize divorce until 2002.
3. It's really important that, despite the King being the head of the Church, the administration of the Church remained and still remains independent of the monarchy. Back when the Magna Carta was drafted, it was still an open question whether secular rulers could appoint Catholic bishops, and the Barons in 1215 were firmly against it. The rule against royal appointment of bishops is one of the three clauses in the Magna Carta that's still in effect, and it prevented the Church of England from ever becoming a weapon of political autocracy (cough- _Patriarchate of Moscow)_ even before it came into existence.
The Pope at the time was also the *prisoner* of Spain, having been captured after the Spanish sacked Rome. And when a Holy Roman Emperor has his figurative "hands" on you and says, "Don't let this guy get out of his marriage with my aunt," you listen.
It is also important to know the distinction between anullment and divorce because said distinction makes all the difference.
Basically: a divorce is the cancellation of a marriage that had legal grounds, while the anullment is the cancellation of a marriage that had no legal ground (e.g. the marriage between an adult and a child or polygamy). However, both are the cancellations ex nunc, i.e. for the future and the marriage is considered to have been valid.
Love the shade thrown at the Russian Orthodox church, very accurate lol
love ur channel! two faves interacting
Yeah, and I think that Henry used to be very chill with the Church.
Here's one small extra sad thing about jane seymour. She was actually going to live after giving birth but people in court were so excited about a male heir they forced her into public life far before her recovery had finished and then she got sick and her weakened immune system couldn't fight back.
I was recently at Hampton Court in the room where the court folks were told about the birth of Edward and I thought about this long and hard. I hope she's at peace now.
Aoh, that sucks, big time.
Like, god damn that's just wrong.
I once saw a comment on an Oversimplified video that was something like 'Ironic that he worked so hard to get a son but his daughters were way more well known.'
Even Lady Jane Grey is better known than little Edward... if only because Edward trying to meddle with the line of succession got her killed.
Heck, even poor queen Jane is better known than his son. And she reigned for a week.
What else is ironic is that Mary ruled for 1 year LESS than her younger brother Edward VI, before Elizabeth took over.
@@louisduarte8763 and Edison Lima both good points!
@@louisduarte8763
That’s not practically ironic, Mary was over 21 years older than Edward, and she was in ill health most of her life.
Poor Katherine Howard. If Six succeeded in anything, it was shining a spotlight on her messed up situation.
Edit: specifically her traumatic childhood guys. And let's be clear, Henry was being just as big a pervert as the rest with her. Treat the teen with some respect please.
She was plotting to overthrow Henry. Her lover/co-conspirator was executed as well.
@@Tolstoy111 Can you blame her though?
@@sylvanas9329 For wanting to kill Henry? No. For being stupid about how to go about it? Yes. Anne Boelyn was innocent of what she was accused of, but Katherine Howard was guilty. The motive was understandable and forgivable. The means...not so much.
Well in her case she genuinely was having an affair with someone else, while with Anne Boleyn he was just looking for any excuse to get rid of her even if the justification for it was sketchy as hell.
@@zaleost But it's amazing how many people think he had like seven innocent women killed or something. If he killed a lot of any particular group it was his courtiers.
Anne of Cleves didn't fare so badly either. Once she WAS no longer his wife, Henry found that he really like her personality, and she became his "dear sister in all but name" i.e. one of the few actual friends he had.
Indeed, I think he granted her the literal title of "Honorary Sister" and set her up in one of his ex-wive's estates.
That sounds pretty wholesome!
Poor girl, left with nothing but tons of money, a beautiful palace, and no husband to order her around! How did she ever cope...
honestly i think that raises a few questions about what she was like as a person...
The part I always found most fascinating about this time wasn't Henry 8 himself. It was ALWAYS his wives and two daughters. Like, Catherine of Aragon didn't recognize the divorce. She claimed that she was still married and was the true queen until she goddamn died.
Legendary honestly
And as far as the rest of Europe was concerned, she was
Like I know she was rich and had servants and all that, but I feel bad for her nonetheless. She thought her life was SORTED, unquestionably so, and not only did she have the personal heartache of many stillbirths/miscarriages/baby dying shortly after birth, but then she went through this unthinkable upheaval where her husband just dismissed her in an era where divorce was illegal. Like it must have felt like she was in the upside down.
@@PheOfTheFae She had a hard seven years of widowhood before her marriage, too, with no liberty to either return to Spain or choose her path in England, since she was pretty much subject to the political interests of both Henry VII, father of Henry VIII, and her own father, Fernando of Aragon.
(I had a whole bunch of cause-and-effect following this, but thank goodness for everyone here, I decided better not to blabber away!)
Because she was
From what I understand, Anne Boleyn didn't even want to marry him, she just didn't want to be his mistress and was trying to avoid the situation. But when the King of England literally reworks the system so he can formally make you his wife, not to mention killing those who oppose him, you don't really have a choice. As the Anne Boleyn from Six says, "Like, what was I meant to do?"
There's a lot of poetry from the era, some I believe even being from Boleyn or those close to her, that quite explicitly portrays her as wanting nothing to do with Henry. I remember reading that she literally left court to get away from him and *he followed her.* Yikes.
@@coreDesignix oof. If that's the case then the book I read in middle school was horribly innacurate. in it, she would flirt with him and practically beg that he marry her. It read like a fanfic honestly.
@@growingsage Yeah, unfortunately her reputation became warped into her being a seductress who intentionally went after Henry. I think she made for a convenient target since no one could oppose the king, and they saw her as being at fault for being the reason the system got upheaved and they lost their beloved queen (rather than, you know, the guy that actually did all that but who was killing all his detractors).
@@Floweramon is that also why the witchcraft rumors got started? Because I definitely remember some accusations of her being a witch being thrown around
@@growingsage I believe so yeah, and then Henry latched onto it (as well as slander of her being an adulterer) to justify beheading her so he could save face after all the shit he did to make her his wife only getting another daughter out of it.
"What's the difference between a monarch and a spoiled, bratty three-year-old throwing a tantrum?"
"There's a difference?"
"One has power."
"Which one?"
Toddlers have more self awareness
The toddler MIGHT grow out of it.
Body count.
I appreciated that the show The Tudors literally had Henry throwing tantrums because that's what he was doing on the large scale, whether he did so or not in the day to day.
The musical "Six" does a great job poking fun at Henry.
HECK YEAH!!! Fellow Six fan here haha 😂
“Don’t Lose Your Head” has my favorite Henry insult.
DIVORCED
BEHEADED
DIED
Never has there been a more glorious middle finger to Henry than Six.
Because they're ONE OF A KIND, NO CATEGORY...
@@amandahealey2216 TOOOOO MANY YEARS LOST IN HISTORY
Honestly dude mades me kinda sad, seeing as how some sources say his behaviour radically changed after getting hit in the head and knocked out during a jousting match. Dude was brain damaged in a time with no effective medicine and in a position where no one could correct his behaviour and he spiraled into madness
Well, that explains a lot
And the leg injury he got from that jousting accident never properly healed
I recall that its still somewhat disputed whether the jousting accident was exact cause behind his change in character, although its certainly agreed that around that time shortly before divorcing Catherine of Aragon he did undeniably flip to being a lot more aggressive/angry and it was following where did a lot of the more horrible things he's know for. Its also worth noting that he was was married to Catherine of Aragon for longer than the other 5 wives combined.
@@ovrair6340 Yep, you're both right. Henry had suffered severe brain damage and was in constant pain, to the point where his personality flipped. That's not to say he was a total angel before it, but before he was simply callous, and not a violent, paranoid lunatic that made subjects even just having a concern for the king's health a crime worthy of beheading. "Imagining the King's death" was what he called it. But, of course, since it was the 16th century, nobody connected the brain injury with the sudden, massive uptick in violent executions ordered by the king.
@@ms_scribbles mmmm explains a lot😅
Never did I think I'd hear Henry VIII referred to as a Lady Killer and now I can't stop laughing. OSP once more being the best as always!
Right he was literally a lady killer 😂😂😂😂
So literally that his escapades are infamous! 😂😂😂
Meh, it's alright
I can't believe no one thought of that joke before. I mean it fits soooo well! (I guess it's possible, even probable someone did, but it is catchy enough that i'd expect it to be requoted everywhere)
Actually, his reason for divorcing Anne of Cleves was much more complicated, and entirely his fault. That whole thing about her not looking like her portrait was an excuse. They were supposed to meet for the first time at a particular venue (I don't remember what it actually was) and due to some weird idea of how romantic first meetings should go that was making the rounds in the British Court at the time, rather than coming in formally as the King he was Henry dressed down to a level that could be considered slovenly, had a bunch of his "buddies" with him, and just randomly embraced her from behind and go in for a kiss rather than properly introducing himself. Not knowing who he was and the context behind his actions and being in a completely foreign country, Anne of Cleves thought she was being assaulted by some random guy and reacted accordingly by slapping him. His response was to get salty, say "I like her not", and get a divorce. The portrait excuse I'm guessing was used to save himself from humiliation by not having to explain the whole story.
TLDR: He made an ass of himself on the first date, and got salty and blamed it on her.
At least Anne of Cleves lucked out those. As Six's Anna said "You can't imagine how tragic it is to be moved to a splendid palace in Richmond, with more money then I could ever spend in my entire life, with no man telling me how to spend it..."
I thought the annulment was more geopolitical than that, ie; it was a transparent marriage of two states, but then Anne's family lost much of their power back in Europe and/or became politically (NOT personally) opposed to England and English interests. Anne herself was still considered "the King's Sister," and kept her head and some English estates, so there obviously wasn't much beef at all there.
Anne of Cleves made out well. She was granted castles in England, a generous income, and was considered part of the Royal family, and actually had a friendship of sorts with Henry
I watched a video on this recently and the portrait that "didn't look like her" was painted straight on. Her other portraits were slightly profile and she had a largish nose that didn't show in the straight on one.
Yup. He blamed her for not looking like her portrait, but then didn’t punish the artist who made it? Also, other paintings of Anne depict her similarly to the painting that was supposedly inaccurate? Nah… Henry was just a liar and clearly had a preference for tiny boobies (yes, he complained that Anne’s boobs were big like a woman who just gave birth).
Divorced, beheaded and died
Divorced, beheaded, survived.
I’m Henry VIII I had six sorry wives
Some might say I ruined their lives.
Catherine of Aragon was one
She failed to give me a son.
I had to ask her for a divorce
That broke her poor heart, of course.
Young Anne Boleyn she was two
Had a daughter, the best she could do.
I said she flirted with some other man
And off for the chop went dear Anne.
Lovely Jane Seymour was three
The love of a lifetime for me
She gave me a son, little Prince Ed
Then poor old Jane, went and dropped dead.
Divorced, beheaded and died
Divorced, beheaded, survived.
I’m Henry VIII, I had six sorry wives
Some might say I ruined their lives.
Anne of Cleves came as four
I fell for the portrait I saw
Then laid eyes on her face and cried, ‘she’s a horse!
I must have another divorce’.
Catherine Howard was five
A child of nineteen, so alive.
She flirted with others, no way to behave
The axe sent young Cath to her grave.
Catherine Parr she was last
By then all my best days were past
I lay on my deathbed aged just fifty-five
Lucky Catherine the last stayed alive.
Divorced, beheaded and died
Divorced, beheaded, survived.
I’m Henry VIII, I had six sorry wives
You could say I ruined their lives.
I love horrible histories
OK. That's a new kind of low
I see you also had a childhood
@@silentnight6810 that show is always fun. I got this disc in cereal that had a different song about him but it’s nowhere on the Internet 😅
Yes exactly
Ah yes, Henry VIII, giving the term "Lady Killer" an entirely new subtext.
And he only technically killed two of them directly...
Well, from one perspective, you could say he also killed Catherine of Aragon and Jane. Catherine got sick because Henry forced her to move to an old, worn down and cold castle that hadn't been taken proper care of. With the harsh English weather, this was disasterous for her health. And Jane wouldn't have died if Henry hadn't gotten her pregnant, but I guess you could say that was both of their faults, plus the doctors who didn't understand female anatomy and never washed their hands.
I'd argue he strips away whatever subtext it had.
Hi Blue! Hot suggestion, fresh off the press: Catherine Parr deserves her own video next! Her post-Henry life was actually kind of tragic: she spent her entire life up to that point taking care of her husbands' children through really harrowing circumstances, so after Henry, she remarried (her fourth husband) for love to a guy her royal stepkids were constantly fighting about (and without the monarch's consent), had her first bio kid, DIED shortly after from childbed sickness, and then her jerkbag playboy widower tried to kidnap her stepson and when that went pear-shaped, he SHOT EDWARD'S DOG. She was a true MVP, and people used and abused her goodwill so badly.
Don't forget the bit where he kept trying to marry her 13 year old step daughter both before he married her and after she died.
@@thedorkone1516 and the part where he constantly enter her bedchamber while she was in her nightgown.
It is no surprise, that Elizabeth didn't want to marry.
@@missgiroud97 and why she was very strict in her treatment of her maids of honor. I remember seeing that a lot of sources would use this as an example of why Elizabeth was so "vain," that she couldn't stand to see prettier/younger women have fun, which didn't make as much sense as if she didn't want them to be taken advantage of by men like Thomas Seymour.
Ah yes, King Henry the VIII. The man who wanted a divorce so bad that he created an entire new sect of the church.
That all but worshiped _him,_ nonetheless. For all his flaws, false humility wasn't one of them.
The shoutout to Six at the end made me smile. The second you mentioned Henry starting the Church of England, I got "everybody chill, it's totes God's will" in my head. It's a delight. Or... it's a tragedy sometimes (glances sorrowfully at "All You Wanna Do") but it's also clever, empowering, and lays some well-deserved burns on dear ol' Henry.
As you can imagine from this comment, I'm not unfamiliar with Henry VIII and his wives-who-all-deserved-better. Still, I enjoyed this video a lot. Appreciate the acknowledgement that his wives are ultimately the reason we remember Henry to this day, and that memes aside, his actions had sucky consequences for a lot of people. (But also, that "lady killer" joke. I am disappointed I'd never thought of that one.)
History makes memes, but memes still need context. This was a great top view of Henry VIII's 'love' life. The yearly Valentine's episode are always fun.
The Is go after the V. VIII is 8. IIIV isn't actually a thing in Roman numerals.
@@elijahpadilla5083 Thanks, I fixed it
After this video i could br convinced that Henry VIII was the sole inspiration for the Curasder Kings series.
OH HELL YEAH, LET'S GO!!! SIX SQUAD ACTIVATE!!!!!!
Divorced
Beheaded
Died
Divorced
Beheaded
Survived
And tonight we are....LIIIIIIIIVE!!!!
@@ShiraishiHolmes39 WELCOME TO THE SHOW TO THE HISTOR-REMIX
SWITCHING UP THE FLOW AS WE ADD THE PREFIX
EVERYBODY KNOWS WE USED TO BE SIX WIVES
(We totally skipped a good chunk of versus)
Raising up the roof ‘til we hit the ceiling
Get ready for the truth that will be revealing,
Everbody knows that we used to be six WIVES, but now we’re ex-wives~
Wild thing is that my old school is called King Henry VIII.... because it was founded because of him in 1542. Our school houses were named after the four wives he didn't execute.
Dark.
can’t believe they made six the musical in real life
Hello Red and Blue! I hope you’ll be able to read this, because I owe you all my thanks for being the reason why I’ve chosen to pursue History as my field of study in the hopes of becoming a historian in the future.
I’ve been watching your videos since I was in the 9th or 10th grade (all I know is that I’ve been your fan for a very long time 😂). Even though history has always been a major interest and passion of mine since I was young, your videos were what kept that interest and passion alive and thriving-and eventually led me to where I am today.
I wish you both nothing but success and all the happiness the world has to offer. I’ll make sure to thank you again in two years’ time when I graduate 😄
Blue: "England's most notorious lady killer, Henry the Eighth."
Jack the Ripper: "Am I a joke to you?"
The twisted thing about this is that they call Jane Seymour the only one he loved because she gave him exactly what he wanted.
Not the person she was. Just what she gave him. And this could be explained by whatever screwed up illness was going on with Henry and the attitudes towards women back then in such a patriarchal society.
Of course, in those days. Women are important to bear a child. And you might say "ugh hurr durr patriarchy". Keep in mind that England was rivaling Japan with all the consistent wars they were having because they don't have a clear heir.
@@zurielschubert9410: It’s not the child-bearing that was the issue. It’s overall attitudes that were the issue. No one actually criticizes those days because women were child-bearers.
@@zurielschubert9410 Are you for real?
But than, again, even in his times his behaviour towards his wives was seen as despicable.
Can you imagine reaching the point of shocking Medieval Europe with how little respect you gave your wife?
A feat, in a sense.
She gave him what he wanted but she also died before he could turn on her.
2:12 the sentence "with great frustration comes great irresponsibility" popped in my head and I feel this is relevant.
0:34 "Big boy kings and their tonka truck wars"
The romance stories of Owen Tudor, John of Gaunt, and several other ancestors inspired him but he didn't come close to emulating them.
True Owen Tudor was probably a noble welsh man and probably descendent from the one of welsh prince and married the widow queen which is a break to the tradition of young queen widow staying chaste and also John of Gaunt marrying his long term mistress and acknowleding his children from her but Henry can't emulate their love story
I really admire how responsibly you sought to handle the retelling of this often trivialised story, especially to focus the takeaway on the remarkable prescience of these women who were terribly treated and working under perilous circumstances.
When it comes to Jane Seymour, Lindsay Holiday summed it up nicely when talking about how Henry was buried with her when he died, because she was the one wife "who didn't live long enough to piss him off".
Honestly I started watching this channel because I had to get a summary of a midsummer nights dream. I am so glad I found this channel because I have learned so much from it.
Fun fact: he is the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts. In the same dining hall Harry Potter’s is based on, a man told a little girl stories of a fantastical world. The fireplace guard dog statues with elongated necks became cookies that make the little girl stretch taller. Her father, who was always late for everything, became the White Rabbit. And the portrait of the monarch who beheads those he dislikes…
I heard he also inspired the tale of Blue beard. (more on the wives killing side of the thing though)
You know that make TOO MUCH sense 😂
I heard somewhere that Queen Victoria was the inspiration for the Queen of Hearts and Prince Albert as the king of Hearts?
@@petarpoljak6918 Well she was not cutting heads, though I guess it could be because her husband was more gentle and docile while she was more passionate and erratic
“brb I'm blaring "Haus of Holbein" from Six the Musical on the loudest speakers I own”
This plus the mention of SIX at the end of the video makes me so happy! I’m seeing SIX in theaters later this year but I’ve listened to the soundtrack for ages previously and it’s awesome!
Fun fact! It's actually likely that Anne of Cleves DID look like her portrait, but Henry just said that (among other comments about her chest being too large and what have you) as an excuse to get rid of her, cuz he was embarrassed. He greeted her by surprise when she arrived in England, attempting to sweep her up in his arms and kiss her like a fairytale prince, but she didn't recognize him (cuz at this point he was older, gaining weight, etc. Not the young, handsome athlete he used to be) and she freaked out. Also I'm pretty sure she didn't want to "enjoy the honeymoon" so to speak. So yeah, he was embarrassed and neither found the other attractive without clothes on. But her face probably did look like her portrait, the painter was very well known for accurate portraits, and deceiving the king would've been more trouble than it's worth.
Good for holvein to escape to England before the king axed him because of Henry's immaturity
I watched a video on this recently and the portrait that "didn't look like her" was painted straight on. Her other portraits were slightly profile and she had a largish nose that didn't show in the straight on one.
Another point in your favor. The famous 'looks like a horse' line. Only shows up in secondary sources. It's not mentioned by anyone who was there. So could have been fabricated later on.
Significantly, there is no evidence that Henry blamed Holbein for painting a false portrait (as already mentioned, the most Holbein did was paint Anne at her most flattering angle). Indirectly, however, Holbein did have a setback because the disastrous marriage led to the execution of Thomas Cromwell, Holbein's most important patron.
Six was a great show. Great music and the best part? They got to showcase all of the wives as themselves without having to mention Hank the Horney by name.
I mean they do mention him by name several times, he just never shows up in person
I just was listening to the Six musical! Happy to hear some history from Blue!
"Till death do us part" -Henry VIII
"Even if I have to kill you."
Contrary to what Henry believed, it was not his son that secured his and the Tudor Legacy.
It was his wives and daughters. THEY are what people remember him for.
It's the greatest karma we could have asked for.
@@emmarichardson965 Karma's a relaxing thought 😌
I think about this a lot where most of the time the reason we remember kings is because they had interesting wives or daughters or mothers. Like Henry II, did you mean Eleanor of Aquitaine's second dickish husband? James I, did you mean Mary Queen of Scots son? George VI, do you mean Elizabeth's dad?
Anne Boleyn is a great cautionary tale about how sometimes the biggest curse is getting what you want.
@7:25 Another reason these ladies stick in our minds is that they have a catchy song from the horrible histories show, AND have their own musical too!
Honestly after Six: the musical, I was wondering if you were going to do Henry, and I am so glad you did! Have a good day Blue!
6:29 "There was a religious strategy to this...... I don't care" is my new favorite sentence
Time for CHAOS! This is a trainwreck. I love Blue’s explanation of how History and memes are different
Its ironic, Henry VIII’s attempts to secure the line of succession ended up causing many of the succession problems of his children
The Tudors had always been paranoid about their legitimacy as they were a junior branch of the Plantagenets. Their prominence in the Lancastrians had less to with the closeness of their relation to Henry VI through tge English royal bloodline than by Henry VII's father and uncle being Henry VI's half brothers on his mother's side. They were always afraid some other Plantagenet with a better bloodline claim to the throne would rebel and overthrow them.
@@mjbull5156 There were surviving Plantagenet's with better bloodline claims to the throne than them? I just assumed that Henry VII was the last person with a claim to the throne remaining after the War of the Roses killed everyone else. This is interesting to learn.
@@matthewmuir8884 There was a male cousin of Elizabeth of York that was locked up in the Tower and later executed. He was a Plantagenet.
And, around 3 or 4 young men were saying they were Elizabeth of York's brother; who disappeared in strange conditions after the death of his father in 1483 and his uncle Richard III usurped the throne.
Even when Henry VII was king for conquest; he had a relatively weak blood claim of his own; that's why he married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. So, it was plausible that a better claim can get him off the throne.
“And then I, like, died!”
“Wait, didn’t you actually die?”
“Yeah. It was so extra.”
Thanks for focusing part of the discussion on the fact that these women were also partially responsible for the history Henry is often solely credited for. Good work
"the king got a wonderful, awful idea"
The king: "I'm the king, dum dum. I can do whatever I want"
The man who managed to make Christmas with the family both less complicated and more complicated...
Well, have you seen The Lion in Winter (the most quotable movie ever)?
His predecessors were not that good at Christmases, either.
7:00 "... leaving our last Catherine to lead her best life." Which, unfortunately, was not that long. She married her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour, and died about a year later after giving birth to a daughter.
The fact that this gets uploaded as i get ready to go see Six the musical live- ty OSP!!
I wish I could go to Six, I must content myself with bootlegs for now
@@luthientinuviel3883 ah, that is how it be sometimes
My Catholic school taught us about this because one of the officials who stood against Henry would become a saint. But the main thing was to show the many branches of Christianity and how some had good reasons like Martian Luther while others like Henry were selfish. My religion teacher was chill in telling us we should always look into what we believe where it be church or state.
Good video blue!
Let me guess: was the saint named Thomas More?
@@matthewmuir8884 that’s it thank you! It’s been such a long time I forgot the saints name.
@@masenguerra7835 You're welcome. I remember him because there was a play about him that I had to read in high school English class: _A Man For All Seasons._
I know Red only sings on the credits of her own videos, rather than Blue's, but it still feels like a missed opportunity that she didn't sing "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" here.
The reason the Pope would not grant Henry's Annulment was because Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was in the middle of a Pope Fight with said Pope, having sacked Rome, and Charles V was Catherine of Aragon's nephew. So any theological arguments he offered for refusal come with a grain of salt when "I don't want to anger the guy with a big army at my doorstep" is an equally compelling factor.
Right--at times, Popes handed out Royal annulments like Halloween candy, so religious scruples weren't really a factor.
Henry VII: "I need an annulment!"
Pope: "Dude, your wife's nephew has an army sacking my house, now REALLY is not the time!"
There’s *no way* I could have known about Henry VIII. I would’ve *lost my head* learning about him. He truly has a *heart of stone* . I need to *get down* on these lessons. *I don’t need your love* , I just want to learn about him
I guess *all you wanna do* is make puns, isn’t it?
"Rude." at 6:20 got me. Perfectly placed
Blue! I know you hate talking about monarchies but this is by far my favorite video you've ever done! You gave a whole new angle into a very exhausted side of history and I loved your take on it. Please continue doing these!
"Those traits were only matched by his impulsiveness, arrogance, and self obsession"
Sun Wukong "You called?"
The younger me could not wrap her head around the fact that Charles III would be head of the Church of England despite being an admitted adulterer. That was before it clicked in my head that the entire reason there is a Church of England is because of Henry VIII's serial adultery.
It makes perfect sense that Elizabeth I never married. A) her husband would have basically become de facto king and take all the power B) think of the examples of marriage she saw growing up. Her own mother executed in a jealous rage
2:46 I've never seen this image of Henry VIII, but with the GIGANTIC eyes, it looks like a renaissance drawing of a couple of Disney characters.
I honestly think that a video per wife would be incredible
Aragon was his wife for over 30 years, refused to stop calling herself queen, embaraserd Henry in court, and died after H had her sent to rotting castles with the hope her lungs would give out
Bolynne was raised in France in the Protestant tradition, and is the entire reason we have the bible in English. She was a powerful and smart woman that refused the King's advances, but made the best of the situation when he wouldn't leave her alone.
Seymore was perhaps H's one true love, and was a bastion of strength and Christian devotion to her husband. The only one to produce what H really wanted, her death was truly tragic
Cleaves was brave and sassy. After H kissed her while disguised as a beggar when she first got to England, she had the portrait he claimed was unflattering hung in the main gallery for everyone to see. A wild woman
Howard was 17-19 when a 55 year-old gangrenous H married her. A victim of SA twice before, the poor girl did her best by the king, but fell for a handsome man her own age. When H had her killed he also had her body Quicklimed, something abhorrent to her Catholic family
Parr was a huge proponent of women's rights, and funded programs to educate and employ women. When H died she married her true love, and tragically died in childbirth while he cheated on her...
All 6 were honestly incredible
You left out my favorite part! King Henry VIII was given the title of "Defender of the Faith" by the Catholic Church in 1521 for writing multiple anti-protestant (Anti-Lutheran specificlly) papers and keeping England Catholic. Then 13 years later in 1534 he formed a NEW protestant Church. The new Church is some hellish love-child of Lutheranism and Catholicism (probably because Henry still liked Catholicism and knew a LOT about Lutheranism) and despite this, since "Defender of the Faith" cannot be revoked, he retained the title for the rest of his life.
So the dude who made a new Church in England which alienated the Catholic church so badly that five hundred hundred years of Catholic persecution were to follow was a Defender of the Faith.
Also, fun fact, but King Henry VIII was also a music composer with about 20-30 songs and composition pieces attributed to him - so the dude could certainly serenade his way around the ladies.
"My names Catherine of Aragon, was married 24 years im a paragon"
"I'm that Boleyn girl, I'm up next see, I broke England from the church, yeah I'm that sexy"
"Jane Seymour, the only one he truly loved"
"I've bin Anna of Cleeves"
"Prick up your ears! I'm the Katherine who lost her head"
"I'm the survivor Katherine Parr"
Honestly Six the musical brainrot makes keeping track of all 6 fun and catchy
New hijinks, let's go! It's already a great one, good job blue!
blue comes out and decides to continue ace peoples grand tradition of making the horniest jokes in the room for no fucking reason
YESSS JUST WHEN I STARTED GETTING BACK INTO MY SIX ERA *starts blasting all you wanna do*
I got to visit the Met’s Tudor’s exhibit, and the most shocking bit of info is that famous portrait of Catherine of Aragon actually may not be Catherine. The info at the Met says that they now think it’s a portrait of Henry’s sister Mary!
Six was just playing on repeat in my head throughout all of this. I do appreciate Blue pointing out that yeah his rein was consequential but only because of the women in his life. Whether it was their own acts or just their existence causing Henry to go AWOOGA they were all the catalysts
"Divorced, beheaded, died! Divorced, beheaded, survived!" -Loud Kiddington, Hysteria.
Thanks for putting into words the thing about focusing on Big Guys and their Tonka Truck Wars as rewarding bad behavior. I've been trying to convey that for years and you managed it in a single sentence. A gift to humanity, as usual :)
Haus of Holbein? I see I have found a man of great taste. *proceeds to also blast it from speakers and sings along*
Hans Holbein goes around the world
Painting all of the beautiful girls
From Spain, to France and Germany.
The King chooses one,
But which one will it be?
I think more people ought to know of Henry's likely brain damage. As we all know, he was a prolific jouster in his youth, and it's *known* that he was injured by a blow to the head during one. It can be hard to say if someone's behaviour changes for sure, especially from the Historical Record, but I understand that Henry was remarked upon as being *clearly* different after the accident. It explains a lot about how he spiralled into paranoia, delusion, and obesity.
Caligula similarly was actually a pretty good emperor until he got hit with an illness marked by some insane fevers, and after he recovered from is when he started doing things like declaring war on Neptune and suggesting his horse be made Consul.
I'm so glad you covered this, I was fascinated by this story ever since watching Six
Knowledge of Six the musicial made this video even better for me. Along with videos that go more into the lives of the queens
8:00 - That is a pretty good way to describe Six 👌, also really happy you like it! 😆
honestly this is a better and more nuanced education of Henry VIII than any of the 5 times we get taught this in the UK
There's a book series written by Alison Weir called six tudor queens which follows the lives of Henry's wives in more detail in case that is of interest. She is also a historican so they are well researched but written in the style of fiction. It's genuinely like reading game of thrones (a song of ice and fire), no surprise but with less dragons and the unfortunate but Fascinating reality that these are real people. There are also quite a few documentaries about them my personal favourite being six wives with Lucy Worsley. Just in case it's of interest for anyone I though I would share because obviously as history does tend to you could make a video about this in 1 minute or 1000 minutes and still there would be avenues to explore further.
I've had a special interest in the tudors since I was 7 and it was my avenue into history as a whole as my interest has expanded. This video was really nice because I got to see something I'm interested in talked about by someone who is engaging and makes things fun. In a way it was like remembering how it felt to find out about it for the first time in school only... I mean OSP is better at teaching and engaging than my school was. So yea. Thank you for making this video fun.
You know there was recently a book in my local book exchange about the North Country rebellion against Henry VIII. Unfortunately I wasn't sure if my mom would approve, so I read parts of it and debated for a week about whether to take it. Unfortunately when I finally DID decide to take it, it was gone. Oh well. Maybe it'll show up again one day.
Love Allison Weir!! She was my first into the the Tudors as well. She has several fictional novels as well.
4:07 Quick correction: Martin Luther did not _choose_ mayhem; he originally wanted internal reform and pleaded for an end to the corruption in the Catholic Church and his pleas were met with hostility; he did not want to break away from the Catholic Church until he saw no other option.
Normally I would be slightly ticked off after hearing a joke like that, but I must admit...
well played. It made me laugh.
Anakin is something of a lady killer himself...
"You're the king, dumb dumb. You can do whatever you want"
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"
**statements moments before disaster**
Six the Musical was certainly a great way for me to get the general idea of who's who, so that whenever I hear of them somewhere else (such as here) I already have some background knowledge, which is really useful!
Henry VIII "Will I be remembered as the great, warrior king who invaded France, revolutionized English healthcare, and developed great parklands?"
Blue: "Best I can do is 1 out of 3."
Honestly, I think Henry’s shenanigans might have been a big factor in his daughters going “NOPE” at the idea of marriage.
That title tho’ 😂
This was a fun video for Valentine's Day! I'm going to be watching Six in about a month so this has definitely added to the MASSIVE hype right now. Thanks :)
Blue: ... four years later Henry died, leaving pur last Catherine to lead her best life
Me: Well...
“england’s most notorious lady killer” *jack the ripper has entered the chat*
Plot twist: Jack the Ripper was an undead Henry all along--
The funniest part is that Catherine of Aragon was engaged to Arthur and then Henry because her claim to the throne was stronger than their father Henry the VII (being twice descended from John Gaunt, son of Edward III as opposed to Henry VII’s only posthoc legitimization of John’s third wife out of wedlock). Henry was so pressed to have an heir that he disinherited Mary, arguably the strongest claimant to the throne in Tudor history lol.
One grim detail: Ferdinand and Isabella refused to let Catherine go to England until the imprisoned Yorkist claimant Edward, Earl of Warwick was gotten rid of.
Blue: *[Makes THAT joke at the end of the video]*
Me: "Huh... I must be either a toddler or a monarch then."
Anne and Henry VIII were in correspondence for three years before he actually married her. We also have their love letters from this period, one of which has Henry thanking Anne for the cute toy boat she got him as a present, and signs it "H. seeks no other than A.B.", complete with a little doodled heart.
And in conclusion, this is why SIX is the best historical musical ever made. Thanks for coming to my tedtalk, I'll be here all week.
I dunno. To me, SIX is more of a concert than a musical.
@@ms_scribbles Fair enough, but is literally called "SIX: The Musical", so that's why I'm referring to it as one.
I was NOT expecting a 'mommy' joke from Blue.
Between this and Oversimplified's Henry VIII I am living for the roasting of this mad lad.
I love Oversimplified. A lot of the jokes from that video were going through my mind as I watched this one.
As a brit who learnt this all in school. This was a good summary, also the pun was good.
And tonight, Overly Sarcastic Productions, we are....
LIIIIIIIIIIVE!