The jousting accident that turned Henry VIII into a tyrant

[IndianaGreen]

Unfortunately, there is no forum in DU for history buffs, so I post this here:

The jousting accident that turned Henry VIII into a tyrant

Medical study uncovers turning point in king's life. Michael McCarthy reports

Saturday, 18 April 2009

Henry VIII became the tyrannical monster remembered by history because of a personality change following a serious jousting accident, according to a new historical documentary.

After the accident – just before he became estranged from the second of his six wives, Anne Boleyn – the king, once sporty and generous, became cruel, vicious and paranoid, his subjects began talking about him in a new way, and the turnover of his wives speeded up.

The accident occurred at a tournament at Greenwich Palace on 24 January 1536 when 44-year-old Henry, in full armour, was thrown from his horse, itself armoured, which then fell on top of him. He was unconscious for two hours and was thought at first to have been fatally injured.

But, although he recovered, the incident, which ended his jousting career, aggravated serious leg problems which plagued him for the rest of his life, and may well have caused an undetected brain injury which profoundly affected his personality, according to the History Channel documentary Inside the Body of Henry VIII. The programme focuses on the king's medical problems which grew worse in his later years, especially his ulcerated legs and his obesity: measurements of his armour show that, between his 20s and his 50s, the 6ft 1in monarch's waist grew from 32in to 52in, his chest expanded from 39in to 53in, and, by the time of his death in 1547 at the age of 56, he is likely to have weighed 28 stone.

Robert Hutchinson, a biographer of Henry; Catherine Hood, a doctor; and the historian Lucy Worsley, who is chief curator of Britain's Historic Royal Palaces, offer a picture of a sovereign eventually overwhelmed by health problems by the time of his death. His doctors recorded that he had badly ulcerated legs, was unable to walk, his eyesight was fading, and he was plagued by paranoia and melancholy.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-jousting-accident-that-turned-henry-viii-into-a-tyrant-1670421.html

[elleng]

1. Here's World History group:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=277

[IndianaGreen]

6. Hey, thanks!

Thanks for the link. I didn't know you guys even existed.

:-)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Fascinating!

This looks to be a very interesting program. I hope I can find it online. Thanks for the information!

[Bolo Boffin]

3. Very interesting

People also can change after such a close brush with losing it all. To have recovered from that kind of a blow and find out your wife miscarried your son would be stressful enough. To add the trauma of brain injury to that circumstance would certainly account for such a personality change.

[MADem]

4. Jesus, that's almost four hundred pounds!!!

Those poor baaasstids painting him were making him look SLIM!!!

[panader0]

5. This post reminde me of a movie called "The Madness of King George"

Have you seen it? It describes how the king gradually lost his bearings, perhaps from lead in the pewter he used or mercury that was used by hatters. An interesting movie about the king who reigned during the Revolutionary War.

[enlightenment]

7. Porphyria is another thought for poor George.

Sad case that, and followed by Prinny, too . . . yeesh.

[burning rain]

8. Word has it Rushbo had a jousting accident in the Dominican Republic.

However, some penicillin did the trick.

[Joe Chi Minh]

9. I wondered if it was after he'd been publicly "duffed up" in a wrestling match

by Francis I, the then King of France in the Field of the Cloth of Gold, some twenty odd years before. It certainly soured relations between the two countries soon after.

[rollingrock]

10. I believe King George Dubya suffered from a similar brain injury

when he fell off of his Segway.