# Henry VIII: Nice guy or psychopath? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-viii-nice-guy-or-psychopath/452488 "2008-06-10T21:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-viii-nice-guy-or-psychopath/452488/101 "2016-02-14T05:08:32Z")
[On the same day](http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/the-execution-of-thomas-cromwell/) he married Catherine Howard, Henry VIII had Cromwell executed ostensibly for treason under a bill of attainder but actually for arranging his marriage to Anne of Cleves whom he did not find pretty enough. That was one messed up king who was into executing people. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-viii-nice-guy-or-psychopath/452488/102 "2016-02-14T14:45:37Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > This is true and it damn near happened to his sixth wife Katharine Parr. She was able to get to him and convince him that she wasn’t lecturing him on religion but wanted to learn from him and distract him from his ulcerated leg. When the guards came upon them with Henry’s orders to arrest her, Henry told them to get lost. In C.J. Sansom’s “Shardlake” historical novel / thriller series, of which I’m a fan (am not contending that mysteries / thrillers are solid historical data) – the hero, Matthew Shardlake, comes to interact with Katharine Parr in her time as Henry’s sixth wife. Shardlake, employed by Katherine for various legal / political-intriguing work, comes to regard Katherine as virtually saintly (the sweet and gentle full-of-milk-of-human-kindness sort of saint, not the stroppy sort). This likely intensified by Shardlake’s getting something of a crush on the lady. The book in the series paralleling **Jim’s Son** ’s post (_Lamentation_) seemingly borrows, the abovementioned historical episode – KP’s “dodgy” religious writings, re which she’s desperately anxious about their getting to Henry (hence her employing Shardlake to track them down) have in fact already got to the king: his verdict being “meh, a bit silly, but not worth having Kate, whom I basically like, putting to death over”. > [@](#): > > I suppose the two who ended well were Richard Rich (calling him a snake is an insult to real snakes) Rich appears also in the “Shardlake” books – a bitter enemy of Shardlake, who is basically an honest and ethical guy embroiled against his will in political / court extreme nastiness; but at least once, briefly an ally with Shardlake, because of expediency. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-viii-nice-guy-or-psychopath/452488/103 "2016-02-22T07:08:13Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I’m not talking about an actual swap. I’m talking about a convenience everyone knows is false but respects anyway, because Henry puts together a ring of supporters for the young prince. Yes, but, when the child starts to look like Lord Stuart of Glastonbury, and ol’ Stu starts to act up, demanding his rights, WTF is the ring going to do then? ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-viii-nice-guy-or-psychopath/452488/104 "2017-09-01T20:50:44Z")
A nice man before he suffered a TBI along with a leg injury which gave him horrible migraines, and consistent pain for the rest of his life. He was unconscious for over an hour when he was knocked off the house, so it’s likely he suffered a moderate level of brain damage, which, as we know, can alter the personality. By all accounts, in the first twenty years or so of his reign he was considered among the most humanist of all Kings in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-viii-nice-guy-or-psychopath/452488/105 "2017-09-01T21:02:11Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > There is one piece of evidence that lends me to believe that Henry did have some bit of conscience. Henry’s last wife, Catherine Parr, was a hair’s breadth away from being put to death herself by her politico-religious enemies. An arrest warrant was actually handed down but she was given word ahead of time and managed get to the King before it (and she) was executed. She had the distinct advantage of being able to appeal to the King himself before being hauled off. And that made all the difference. Remember that neither Anne Boleyn nor Katherine Howard ever spoke to or saw the King following her arrest. Had they been able to leverage his real affection for them, or even appeal to his massive ego, they may well have succeeded in saving their respective necks as did Catherine Parr. They weren’t given that chance. This is something I have read actually. Henry was apparently a very sentimental man; and Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard were deliberately kept from him (by his men) as they probably would’ve avoided death with a direct appeal to his mercy. That’s why Katherine Howard broke free briefly of her captors and attempted to try to see Henry while he was in Mass. She knew seeing the King would save her life. Henry was a suspicious man his whole life. He was raised shuttered away from the public by his distant father after his brother died. He was afraid of what we now know as germs. There were still living people with an arguably better claim to the Throne than he when he ascended. He felt he was cursed by God. Cromwell was a very manipulative man, and the King was easily led to believe what Cromwell told him. If Cromwell told him something, it was likely to be true. Cromwell was like the Varys of England. Also one has to remember, he spent the first 15 or so years of his reign having Wolsey run the country for him. He was never properly trained to govern (as he was expected to enter religious life before Arthur died). So despite being an autocrat, he relied a lot on trusted men like Moore, Cromwell and so on. Basically, Henry VIII was Richard Nixon if Richard Nixon was a King. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-viii-nice-guy-or-psychopath/452488/106 "2017-09-02T03:22:04Z")
> [@Reddy\_Mercury](#): > > …when he was knocked off the house… Oh, the stories he could tell! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/henry-viii-nice-guy-or-psychopath/452488.md?page=5)