The Death of Henry VIII

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On 28 January 1547, King Henry VIII died at the age of 55. Just hours before his passing, his last will and testament had been read, stamped, and sealed. Historians have disagreed ever since about its authenticity and validity, and the circumstances of its creation, making Henry's will one of English history's most contested documents.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, first released in January 2022, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb offers her own illuminating interpretation of the aftermath of Henry VIII's death, the mystery of his will and how misplaced trust can undermine the best-laid plans of a powerful monarch.

Presented by Professor Susannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, audio editor Ella Blaxill and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Professor Suzanne Ellipscombe, and welcome to not just the Tudors from History Hit,
0:07.0	the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Berlin to the Aztecs,
0:11.0	from Holbein to the Huguenoes, from Shakespeare to
0:14.7	samurai. Relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage, and
0:20.1	witchcraft. Not in other words just the tutors, but most definitely also the tutors. King Henry VIII died on the 28th of January 1547. On the same date, 90 years to the day that his father, Henry the 7th, had been born in obscurity.
0:47.0	Henry the 8th was 55 years old. He was grossly overweight and disabled, plagued for a decade by a terrible
0:57.3	running saw in his leg that in the end had forced him into the Tudor equivalent of a
1:01.9	wheelchair and a stanner stairlift.
1:04.3	Following a jousting accident in 1536 this ulcer in his leg had never healed.
1:10.7	And modern physicians have suggested that Henry suffered from osteomyelitis or a chronic septic
1:17.4	infection of the femur. This produced intermittent feverish attacks caused by septic absorption or clotting of the blood as happens in deep vein thrombosis.
1:28.0	Untreated, or at least untreated by modern medicine, such clots can lead to a pulmonary embolism.
1:36.5	And it therefore may be this that finally killed Henry.
1:39.7	Although kidney disease and heart failure, perhaps together with the swollen legs that are characteristic
1:45.2	of a demer or dropsy, may also have been contributors.
1:50.2	At his death, he was Henry VIII, by grace of God, king of England, Ireland and France,
1:56.7	defender of the faith and of the Church of England on earth supreme head.
2:01.4	And that's it. At two o'clock in the morning on the 28th of January in
2:06.7	the year of our Lord 1547 in what was the 38th year of his reign. Henry took his last breath.
2:15.0	Some years ago I wrote a book called The King is Dead,
2:20.0	the Last Will and Testament of Henry the 8th.
2:23.0	In this episode of Not Just The Tudors,
	...

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