Hey friends, welcome to the Renaissance English History podcast.

This is the weekly highlight reel of videos that I have put out on YouTube.

So in case you don't know, you can go over to YouTube and watch all my videos.

The channel is History and Coffee, And you can just search for my name as well, Heather Tesco, History and Coffee.

And you will get it. And you can subscribe there. Thank you to the many people who already subscribe.

And then what I've started doing is weekly highlight reels of some of the videos that have

gone out on YouTube that would be of interest to the podcast listeners as well. So thanks for

listening. And you can also, like I said, go over and join me on YouTube history and copy and

search for Heather. And there I am. So let's get right into it. Today we are exploring a side of

Henry VIII we don't often see, that of the poet and the romantic songwriter, like John Mayer,

but with different lyrics. Born in 1491, Henry was the second son of Henry the 7th and

Elizabeth of York. He was never

meant to be king, of course. However, the unexpected death of his elder brother Arthur thrust

him into a role for which he had not been prepared. Young Henry was charismatic, athletic,

and keenly interested in arts and humanities. His parents had passionately immersed themselves in musical culture.

They maintained an extensive ensemble of musicians at their court. This group included minstrels

who were proficient in various instruments, ranging from bagpipes to trumpets to fiddles and

harps and horns. and the royal couple encouraged their

young son, Prince Henry, in his musical pursuits, they arranged a selection of tutors for him.

And in fact, Henry had been presented with a lute by his father in 1498 when he was just

seven years old.

Henry's early reign was marked by courtly love, jouse, and an abundance of music.

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