Personal Monarchy

What shall we think of Henry VIII? However that question has been or may be answered, one reply is apparently impossible. Not even the most resolute believer in deterministic interpretations of history seems able to escape the spell of that magnificent figure; I know of no book on the age which does not allow the king a place somewhere at least near the centre of the stage. It is therefore self-evident that what one thinks of Henry VIII is an entirely fundamental part of what one thinks sixteenth century England; no one can arrive at a sensible view of that period without making for himself a convincingly real picture of the king.

At first glance, this might seem no difficult task. No king of England is more familiar to his countrymen; indeed, he is the only one whose portrait the vast majority would recognize on sight. They know one fact about quite a few other sovereigns. Charles I lost his head, Charles II had Nell Gwyn, George III went mad. Of Henry VIII they know two things: he made the Reformation, and he had six wives. Even if only the second fact is beyond dispute, there is something oddly adequate about this body of knowledge. Henry's fame rests on a striking personality, expressing itself in its technicolored private life, and on the almost perfect success of his sovereign policy. The king stamped himself on his age and country with all the vehemence of the true ruler; today he appears as the very embodiment of personal monarchy. Any study of Henry VIII is indeed a study in the nature of personal monarchy, but that concept is not precise. It means different things in different hands, and some error has arisen from the supposition that if Henry VIII was a true personal...