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The reformation of Henry

22.08.08 Neill Denny

Next April is the 500th anniversary of the accession of the most colourful, contentious of English monarchs: Henry VIII. So divisive, absolutist and extraordinary was he that it is unlikely there will ever be a Henry IX. Like John and Edward, the name is too portentous for any Royal parent to saddle an heir apparent with it. But who was Henry, and how did he turn into a figure of such notoriety?

It's a question that David Starkey, our foremost Tudor historian, is addressing in a two-part biography of Henry. The first volume, Henry: Virtuous Prince, covering his youth and early kingship into the 1520s, comes out in October and is published by HarperPress. Starkey is overseeing two more major projects to mark the anniversary next April: an exhibition at the British Library of all things Henrician, and a four-part Channel 4 series. "Not only is he big and fat and round," says Starkey, "but he is a kind of axis around which English history turns."

Starkey contends that until very recently we have been living in a country essentially defined by Henry and the events of his reign: Protestant and separate from Europe. "Post-Treaty of Rome England is this great long march away from what Henry did. England is not sovereign, English law is subordinate to foreign law—Henry would be turning in his grave. But it has taken 500 years to undo what Henry did." 

Starkey has been studying Henry on and off since his doctoral dissertation in 1967 and has already written books on Henry's wives, his court and his daughter Elizabeth I. So why another book? What do we not know about this most famous king? "The intention is to say that Henry is a game of two halves—not that I'm a soccer fan—he's really two completely different people. There is the young Henry, handsome, good-looking, well-educated, musical, multilingual, a great athlete, desperately determined to be good. And then the great question is, what goes wrong? What changes?

"The young Henry's role model is Henry V. He wants to be a chivalric king, a great warrior. We're going to have a king who is a perfect chivalrous Christian king with King Arthur as his model on one hand and Henry V on the other. The first volume is about setting that figure up, laying the foundations for how that notion of monarchy is destined to fail."

Because we know Henry goes on to be a famous king, it's easy to regard his early life as a smooth progression to the throne. It was anything but, and the twin themes of his early life are insecurity and chance. His father Henry VII wins the throne in battle—and only really because a key noble changes his allegiance halfway through—and then has to defend it twice more by force of arms during his reign. The second of these occasions occurs when young Henry is six. His mother dashes to Eltham Palace, and the boy is smuggled first to the Tower and then Norfolk in preparation to flee the country.

And Henry is the second son, probably destined, ironically enough, for the church. It is on his older brother Arthur that all the care and attention is lavished. He is whisked away and brought up with his own household, while Henry has a radically different upbringing with his mother and sisters.  Arthur marries Katharine of Aragon four months before his death in April 1502, and although the marriage was almost certainly consummated, no child appeared. Had a boy been born, Henry would never have been king. Historical "what ifs?" are great fun: no Henry, no break with Rome; no war with Spain; and all of America today speaking Spanish. All perfectly possible.

Wider research
Starkey writes and talks at a pace and much of the book reads like strong, narrative fiction. "I try to write like a novel," he says. "Too many historians get lost in detail. The real difficulty is what the starting point is, and once I've got my starting point, 
I can make the book work."

Like Trollope, he says, he believes in sequential narrative. "I find it very much easier to make what follows fit with what has gone before than the other way round."

Starkey has gone back to Henry's household papers to research the book, and we meet at the British Library, where he has researchers scurrying around. What new material has he found? One is the huge gulf in the upbringing of Henry and Arthur. Another is the extraordinary "Mafia coup d'état" when Henry VII dies: the death is concealed for three days while factions plot literally around the corpse.

In other revelations, Henry is not allowed to joust by his father because he is too valuable; the coronation oath he swore in 1509 is not the one we have always believed; and Wolsey first finds favour with the new king by helping him break the straitjacket that Henry VII's old councillors place on the young monarch. 

So what's next for Starkey? "One of the things I want to do is a biography of Henry VII—he has been got so wrong," insists the historian.

"He emerges as the chartered accountant king whereas, in fact, 
he is this wild adventurer, a complete chancer."

Todays Picks Neill Denny Profile HarperPress David Starkey

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