Amazing & Extraordinary Facts About Kings & Queens by Malcolm Day Page B
Authors: Malcolm Day
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Battle of Flodden he and 10,000 of his countrymen lost their lives in one of the biggest slaughters ever by the English foe.
FIRST SCOTCH WHISKY
The earliest reference to Scotch whisky comes from an entry in the Scottish Exchequer Rolls in 1495. Friar John Cor was granted malt with which to distil about 1500 bottles for the court of James IV, who was known to be fond of the drink. Until then Scotch had been monopolised by surgeon-barbers who used it for medicinal purposes when treating diseases.
Visionary Supremo
Why did Henry VIII not abandon his Supremacy once he had a son as heir?
P robably the most famous thing about Henry VIII is his six wives. We know that he had one after another principally to bear a son and heir to his Tudor throne, that he was even prepared to break with the Pope and form a whole new Church in order to see through this desire.
So the question arises, when his third wife Jane Seymour successfully delivered a healthy son, who would in time become Edward VI, why did Henry not make life easier for himself and abandon his policy of Royal Supremacy over the pope and return England to the Roman Catholic fold? The job was done, future of the Tudor dynasty secured.
Henry had engendered huge opposition within the Church, not least by dissolving the monasteries, a policy that provoked outrage everywhere and prompted the worst crisis of his reign, the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion of 1536.
PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE
When the king began his policy of monastic ‘reform’ that resulted in mass closure he cannot have expected the scale of the reaction from the clergy, whom he thought could easily be bought off with a pension. But for the monks the dissolution brought home just what the break with Rome meant. By the end, more than 800 monasteries and abbeys were destroyed or closed down.
A full-scale revolt started, led by monks and abbots. Their ranks quickly swelled to 30,000 as they took control of the north and marched south to Doncaster to meet Henry’s tiny army, by comparison, of 8000. The king faced the biggest challenge of his reign.
However, the monks were persuaded that their quarrel was not really with the king but with his advisors, especially chancellor Thomas Cromwell. When promised a pardon, most dispersed, probably not having the stomach for a fight anyway. The ringleaders, though, were arrested and some suffered dreadfully in the Tower for their pains.
The answer to why Henry did not abandon his Act of Supremacy can be seen in a contemporary painting by Hans Holbein, depicting the Tudor dynasty. Henry VIII stands with his wife Jane Seymour either side of a monument telling of the greatnesses of the Tudor kings. Behind it stands his father Henry VII and mother Elizabeth of York. On the face of the stone is inscribed verses in Latin, which translated ask the question: ‘Which is greater, the father or son?’ The answer given is that Henry Tudor ‘was great for ending the Wars of the Roses, but Henry VIII was greater, indeed the greatest, for while he was King true religion was restored and the power of Popes trodden underfoot.’
Although Henry had broken with Rome in the first place simply to gain a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, the king had become proud of his achievement in establishing his own Church, one which would stand for all time in memorial to him. Henry had done what no monarch before him had ever managed, though countless times they might have wished to be independent of the power wielded at Rome.
Just to ram home the point, a new English translation of the Bible displayed on its title page a representation of an elevated throne surrounded by ecclesiastic and lay figures. Seated on the throne is not Christ, who is a tiny figure hovering above, but a rather corpulent Henry VIII regally dispensing scripture.
What Henry did not foresee was that his creation would take on a life of its own, guided by others, with whom he and his successors might not necessarily agree. In so
FIRST SCOTCH WHISKY
The earliest reference to Scotch whisky comes from an entry in the Scottish Exchequer Rolls in 1495. Friar John Cor was granted malt with which to distil about 1500 bottles for the court of James IV, who was known to be fond of the drink. Until then Scotch had been monopolised by surgeon-barbers who used it for medicinal purposes when treating diseases.
Visionary Supremo
Why did Henry VIII not abandon his Supremacy once he had a son as heir?
P robably the most famous thing about Henry VIII is his six wives. We know that he had one after another principally to bear a son and heir to his Tudor throne, that he was even prepared to break with the Pope and form a whole new Church in order to see through this desire.
So the question arises, when his third wife Jane Seymour successfully delivered a healthy son, who would in time become Edward VI, why did Henry not make life easier for himself and abandon his policy of Royal Supremacy over the pope and return England to the Roman Catholic fold? The job was done, future of the Tudor dynasty secured.
Henry had engendered huge opposition within the Church, not least by dissolving the monasteries, a policy that provoked outrage everywhere and prompted the worst crisis of his reign, the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion of 1536.
PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE
When the king began his policy of monastic ‘reform’ that resulted in mass closure he cannot have expected the scale of the reaction from the clergy, whom he thought could easily be bought off with a pension. But for the monks the dissolution brought home just what the break with Rome meant. By the end, more than 800 monasteries and abbeys were destroyed or closed down.
A full-scale revolt started, led by monks and abbots. Their ranks quickly swelled to 30,000 as they took control of the north and marched south to Doncaster to meet Henry’s tiny army, by comparison, of 8000. The king faced the biggest challenge of his reign.
However, the monks were persuaded that their quarrel was not really with the king but with his advisors, especially chancellor Thomas Cromwell. When promised a pardon, most dispersed, probably not having the stomach for a fight anyway. The ringleaders, though, were arrested and some suffered dreadfully in the Tower for their pains.
The answer to why Henry did not abandon his Act of Supremacy can be seen in a contemporary painting by Hans Holbein, depicting the Tudor dynasty. Henry VIII stands with his wife Jane Seymour either side of a monument telling of the greatnesses of the Tudor kings. Behind it stands his father Henry VII and mother Elizabeth of York. On the face of the stone is inscribed verses in Latin, which translated ask the question: ‘Which is greater, the father or son?’ The answer given is that Henry Tudor ‘was great for ending the Wars of the Roses, but Henry VIII was greater, indeed the greatest, for while he was King true religion was restored and the power of Popes trodden underfoot.’
Although Henry had broken with Rome in the first place simply to gain a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, the king had become proud of his achievement in establishing his own Church, one which would stand for all time in memorial to him. Henry had done what no monarch before him had ever managed, though countless times they might have wished to be independent of the power wielded at Rome.
Just to ram home the point, a new English translation of the Bible displayed on its title page a representation of an elevated throne surrounded by ecclesiastic and lay figures. Seated on the throne is not Christ, who is a tiny figure hovering above, but a rather corpulent Henry VIII regally dispensing scripture.
What Henry did not foresee was that his creation would take on a life of its own, guided by others, with whom he and his successors might not necessarily agree. In so
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