How Powerful was Henry VIII?

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

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4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2021

⏱️ 56 minutes

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Summary

Was Henry VIII as all-powerful and tyrannical as we have come to believe? Is the scheming of Thomas Cromwell portrayed in Wolf Hall close to the truth? What were the roles of the clergy, or parliament, or the land-owning gentry, in supporting or influencing the sweeping changes that rocked England during the period?

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor George Bernard. He has been picking apart the conventional view of Tudor society, the work of influential past historians, and the roles of a Machiavellian monarch, the church and individuals, to ask where did the power really lie? And did they really have a choice?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	George Bernard is one of the most important historians working on the tutors today.
0:15.8	Emeritus professor of Early Modern History at the University of Southampton, and a
0:20.0	leave for him, Emeritus Fellow, he is the author as G.W. Bernard of such thought-provoking
0:26.0	and meticulously researched books as the King's Reformation, Henry VIII and the Remaking
0:31.7	of the English Church, or Ambulin Fatal Attractions.
0:36.5	His latest book is called Who Ruled Tudor England, and it's a fundamentally important
0:42.2	guide to the dynamics of Tudor power.
0:44.8	It asks where did power really lie?
0:47.7	And it also crucially examines the question by thinking about the scholars who have shaped
0:52.8	our perception of how Tudor England was governed, because it's been a much contested field.
1:00.3	Like everything George writes, it is both brilliant and competitive, provocative and important,
1:07.1	and I decided to speak to him about it for today's episode of Not Just the Tudors.
1:19.1	George, it's a great pleasure to welcome you to Not Just the Tudors, and I'm delighted
1:24.2	to talk about this important new book of yours.
1:28.8	And one of the interesting things is that you start by reflecting on the historians of
1:34.7	Tudor government.
1:35.7	Why did you decide to start there?
1:38.4	Because I think that adds a very interesting dimension to our understanding and our study,
1:45.5	and I was in that sense fortunate that I did get to know several historians rather
1:51.8	well, and so I had access in some cases to their papers in other times I talked to them.
1:59.9	And it just struck me that this is a dimension which is valuable.
2:04.6	I cite EH Car, the historian of the Soviet Union, who in the series of lectures walked his
	...

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