The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracies, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant [Hardcover]

Robert Hutchinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 20, 2005

After 35 years in power, Henry VIII was a bloated, hideously obese, black-humoured old man, rarely seen in public. He had striven all his life to ensure the survival of his dynasty by siring legitimate sons, yet his only male heir was eight-year-old Prince Edward. It was increasingly obvious that when Henry died, real power in England would be exercised by a regent. The prospect of that prize spurred the rival court factions into deadly conflict. Robert Hutchinson spent several years in original archival research. He advances a genuinely new theory of Henry's medical history and the cause of his death; he has unearthed some fabulous eyewitness material and papers from death warrants, confessions and even love letters between Katherine Parr and the Lord High Admiral.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The idea of looking in depth at the 1540s is terrific... genuinely original... fresh and interesting.” (Sunday Times (London) )

“Hutchinson tells the horrible story admirably and compellingly” (The Guardian )

“This book gives you an unsparing close-up of the savagery beneath the luxurious surface of court life.” (Daily Mail (London) Critic's Choice )

“A medical mystery.” (The Guardian (London) )

About the Author

Robert Hutchinson was defence correspondent for the Press Association 1976-83 before moving to Jane's Information Group to launch JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY. He is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a contributing author to THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (September 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060837330
• ISBN-13: 978-0060837334
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,211,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British > King Henry VIII

More About the Author

Robert Hutchinson was Defence Correspondent for the UK national news agency, the Press Association in Fleet Street from 1978-83 before moving to Jane's Information Group to launch Jane's Defence Weekly and becoming Publishing Director, responsible for books, magazines, journals and digital titles. From 1997-2008, he was chairman of the media side of the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee, the unique British system that protects national security in the reporting of military or intelligence issues.
He is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, an associate tutor in church archaeology at the University of Sussex, and an expert in the arcaheology of the Reformation. He was appointed OBE in the 2008 New Year's Honours list.
A keen historian and archaeologist, Hutchinson believes that Britain's history provides stories of more drama and passion than could ever be made up for any television or film screenplay. He uses as much original documents as possible in researching his highly-acclaimed books because 'it's good to read the character's own words written at the time'.
He writes a strong narrative, with additional information on people, places and events, provided in the endnotes, so that any questions the reader might have can be quickly answered. 'The narrative is stand alone - it's up to the reader to decide whether to pause in the story to discover extra information'

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Henry the Horrible, September 25, 2006

By 

P. B. Sharp (NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last Days of Henry VIII : Conspiracies, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant (Hardcover)

If you're a Tudor buff, you'll love this book even though it portrays Henry VIII as a monster. Hutchinson believes that Henry was responsible for some 150,000 deaths. Towards the end of his life he was so viciously unpredictable his courtiers must have been in constant fear that they would go next to the block. His severe illness pushed him over the brink of any sense of fair play or decency. He was always a tyrant, however.

What was Henry's illness? There's been 400 years of speculation.

Hutchinson believes along with others including the surgeon Clifford Brewer's "The Death of Kings" (available at Amazon)that Henry did not have syphilis, but varicose ulcers on his legs. Both legs. Syphilis was treated in those days with mercury, and since hundreds of potions Henry was given by his doctors are recorded, mercury would most certainly have been administered. Also, none of Henry's wives or children showed any sign of congenital syphilis. Anyway, when the ulcers healed over,infections resulted underneath the skin, and very likely spread into the bones. The king's physical sufferings played a large role in shaping his behavior towards the end of his life.

Here is one Hutchinson's descriptions of Henry's awful disease: "He is the personification of geriatric decay. One can almost smell the the putrid stench of the rank pus oozing from his ulcers, staining the bandages on his swollen legs. Chapuys [the Spanish ambassador] labelled them 'the worst legs in the world.'"

Henry weighed, according to Hutchinson, 28 stone or 392 pounds. His waist was 54 inches around. Many suits of Henry's armor survive, so his physical proportions are easy to calculate. His gluttony contributed to his health problems, so his obesity and his ulcers did him in at age 55, and just before his death he lost the power of speech, finally sinking into a uremic coma.

"The Last Days of Henry VIII" goes into great detail about the state of England towards the end of Henry's life, but my interests lie in character portrayal. Edward VI, Henry's only son, is described as a boy of unattractive "prissiness". The stupidity of Kathryn Howard, Henry's fifth wife, in cuckolding the king right under his nose, is discussed. Anne of Cleves emerges as "no fool, behind her pock-marked face". Interestingly, Anne and Henry's daughter, Mary, became fast friends. They died at the same age, 42, one year apart. The Duke of Norfolk emerges as a coward and hypocrite. The power behind the throne towards the end of Henry's life was Sir Anthony Denny, a man I had never heard of. Sir Anthony was Chief Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and controlled all access to the monarch and managed all of Henry's finances.The power behind the throne.All of these character studies, along with many more, are what interest me the most in the book.

There's an especiially interesting plate in the book, in black and white, of Mary, painted in 1536 by Holbein when Mary was twenty years old. Mary looks like a woman of forty, her face shadowed with fatigue, her thin lips rigid and uncompromising. Facing the page of Mary is the superb portait of Elizabeth when she was 13. It's very odd, but Mary and ELizabeth facing eachother, look astoundingly alike even though Elizabeth is fresh-faced and young.In real life, the sisters did not resemble eachother and yet these two portraits, side by side, are food for thought. It's a bit eerie!

The tangled web of conspiracies and heresies and treason are brought forth in the book to great effect, including character studies and influence of the clergymen Cranmer and Gardiner. Henry VIII was responsible for many burnings at the stake of people from all walks of life. As his illness became more incapacitating, the more ruthless Henry became so that in the end, he died a lonely old man with no friends. And horribly, it was rumored that Henry's immense coffin burst a seam and issued forth a stream of corrupted matter. A dog was caught trying to lap up the blood, like the dogs who lapped up the blood of Ahab. The story may be apocryphal, of course, but maybe not.

To get a real gut feeling for the times of Henry VIII "The Last Days" is recommended.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written synopsis of Henry VIII's last days, December 22, 2005

By 

cyberpiglet "cyberpiglet" (Coudersport, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracies, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant (Hardcover)

I found Hutchinson's Last Days of Henry VIII to be well written and very readable. Anyone looking for a general overview of this part of Henry's life should be well pleased with the book. The depiction of Henry's dealings with his inner circle and of his funeral are perhaps the most detailed that I have read anywhere. I did feel, however, that the book failed to achieve five stars in that it didn't examine in any depth Henry's relationship with his surviving children - all of whom went on to rule England in their own right. It would have added much value to the book if the author had spent some time discussing how Henry's gargantuan personality shaped those of the rulers who came after him.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not your average 16th century monarch., February 3, 2006

By 

The Historian "History is my business." (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracies, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant (Hardcover)

I commenced this book with the view that perhaps Henry VIII was no worse than your average black-hearted monarch of the Middle Ages; that view went up in smoke in the first 50 pages of this fascinating book. Hutchinson has researched well for this book and the bibliography is full of reference to primary documents and quotes at length from them.

In some ways Henry was no worse than some of his scheming, ruthless and murderous Councilors and Government officials, but he bested them all with his acutely developed sense of low cunning, deviousness and intelligence. The book offers a brilliant cross section of the personalities and the dynamics of the rulers and some of the would-be rulers during the last years of Henry's reign.

Henry was a very sick man for the last few years of his life and in great pain and this made him a very dangerous person to be around with his power of life and death over his subjects. His natural qualities of selfishness, ruthlessness and cruelty became even more pronounced as he sunk deeper into pain and ill health and edged towards death.

Hutchinson gives a very good analysis of the effects in England of Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the consequences, some fatal, for his subjects as they tried to deal with the aftermath. The author gives a sad and heart breaking account of some of his executed victims, some are in their teens, some are poor and they all have no hope of a fair trial or hearing under Henry's despotic rule. This book is well worth reading, if only to see how far human rights have advanced; in some countries anyway!