To think that Henry VIII was an abusive physco

[Iwanttoslowdown]

And should be taught in school as such.

One of mine is being taught about this tosser in Secondary school history and I was appalled that it was treated with such blasé that he literally was an abuser.

So I had to retell the story not as someone to be revered or remembered well, but that this abuser killed some of his wives including the mother of his daughter Elizabeth I, had serial mistresses, gorged his way through Court like some oversized pimple set to burst and generally Gould not be taught as a good person.

Take them to see Six to balance things out (and it's fab!)

Yes of course he was.

Being 'royalty' is not a healthy thing to be.

Doesn't everyone know this? I'm not from UK and he was famous for killing his wives.

@Mamaneedsadrink I think when the topic, or any history topic is taught really and you hear something fairly shocking, there’s a thought process of ‘well those were the times.’ But bumping off your wives like that, or even trying to annul a marriage after 20 years was not normal. The royal family have never been ‘normal’ 😂

latetothefisting · Today 09:07

How can you believe he invented protestantism? Have you not heard of Martin Luther?

Luther took much of his material from Jan Hus, who was murdered in Bohemia, about a century before.

www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-Hus

And anyway, every religion is made up.

I was definitely never taught he was a good person! By all accounts he seemed pretty awful and it's well known how he treated his wives (I mean, killing some of them etc...)

The thing I was fascinated by as a child was accounts of the smell of his ulcerous leg.

So? Can't a fun interesting discussion about a prick from a few hundred years ago take place?

I'd say it depends on the age and sensibilities of the children. Any kids I know quite enjoy a bit of gore (aged between 9-15), but, admittedly, within the parameters of TV shows.

Oh come on.

Oh wow, look at you correcting spelling on the internet. Not all heroes wear capes eh. Keep up the stellar work.

I agree with you. I don’t remember being explicitly told that he was a tyrant or an abuser. You do work it out if interested in history I guess.

I read somewhere that Henry VIII also had syphilis, which is what he eventually died of. (His doctors didn’t even dare to tell him that he was dying, though, as he’d made it treason to even talk about the King’s death.)

This helps to explain his serious decline in later years and possibly some of the changes in his behaviour as well. Although I also think the jousting accident played a part.

Psycho is a very fitting description of the way he became IMO, so YANBU.

So? Can't a fun interesting discussion about a prick from a few hundred years ago take place?

I agree this is fun and interesting @TheyreOnlyNoodlesMichael. It beats the usual mundane and made up crap posted on AIBU 😄
I think ‘Historical AIBU’ should have it’s own section!

Suffragettes are one group amongst many who have been defined as 'terrorists' by people/governments who do not want to give away power or allow change.

The state is not always right and the protestor is not always wrong.

All life was pretty hideous, don't show your ignorance by just focussing on Royalty!

Monarchs, Tsar's, Caesars, Popes, Presidents.............all have examples of Tyranny, madness, Psychopathy amongst their number. They also have positive representation, more so than the awful ones I'd suggest.

Divorced
Beheaded
Died
Divorced
Beheaded
Survived

No historical figure will live up to the standards of every future time and place. Death and killing were a much bigger part of life in the Tudor period. Murder rates in rural England at that time were similar to the worst murder rates in modern inner-city America.

Torture and execution by means such as being burnt at the stake or being hanged, drawn and quartered were commonplace - it's unlikely many people did not see an execution or two fairly regularly.

Witchcraft was a common belief. Witches were executed on "evidence" that was basically rumour and spite.

Historical figures need to be judged by their time.

(I agree Henry VIII was a right cunt by the way.)

Nobody said that, you have just invented it.
Historic Kings are pretty much universally "bad people". They have to make terrible decisions, & are essentially there to prop up the system of primogeniture & inherited wealth for noble families.

The PP mentioned - quite correctly - that Henry's personality underwent a marked change due to a head injury sustained in a jousting accident.

It happened in 1536, & is well documented.
He was unconscious for an hour, & all concerned thought he was a goner.
Courtiers were rushing round in a panic - treason to speculate on the King's death, but all needed to be ready to announce the successor if Henry didn't come round.

Many accounts survive of the previous sunny (but still often terrifying) disposition of the beloved young "King Hal" becoming increasingly mercurial, & eventually paranoid, suspicious & hate-fuelled & cruel.

The jousting accident didn't physically disable him - that came later, from an incurable leg ulcer that put paid to his athleticism & sporting lifestyle.

How about Elizabeth I?

carefulcalculator · Today 10:58

Suffragettes are one group amongst many who have been defined as 'terrorists' by people/governments who do not want to give away power or allow change.

Whilst I agree with the aims of the Suffragettes, I think that a bombing campaign, carried out to effect political change is the very definition of terrorism. In Dundee, five postmen were seriously injured by a phosphorus bomb.

None were paid, whilst they were too infirm to work.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette_bombing_and_arson_campaign

Classification as terrorism
During the campaign, the WSPU described its own bombing and arson attacks as terrorism, with suffragettes declaring themselves to be "terrorists" in 1913.

I never knew that!

Admirable, but a tyrant just like the rest.

They had to be - eat, or get eaten.

The version my kids have heard in school make him seem like the bonkers, vicious, wife murder he was. With some allowance made for the fact he probably was crazy because he was told he was chosen by god to rule and had syphilis

Oh there's always an excuse for these men even ones who died 500 years ago