A couple of years ago I did an online course on Henry VIII. I've always been interested in The Tudor period but never had the opportunity to study it in any great detail.
The course worked as a forum between the students and the tutor with set topics each week which developed and evolved. There were also set essays which had to be submitted periodically and were marked as you went along.
Anyway, initially most of us doing the course seemed to start out with the "traditional" idea that Henry was a complete bastard. That impression though did change somewhat as through the course we debated and discussed his reign and the changes that he implemented.
Although the course didn't concentrate on his six wives and many mistresses, obviously they did crop up from time to time and I found many of my pre-conceived views had changed by the end.
I'm not saying that Henry VIII was an angel, far from it - he was a tough character who often took a hard line approach and yes, many of his actions in hindsight were cruel, selfish and appallingly violent. However they have to be viewed in the political and social climate of the time which was radically different to how we see things today.
Regarding his wives and mistresses he does seem to have been attracted to strong women who would have stood out in any era. Sadly his overwhelming obsession with producing a "legitimate" male heir led to the demise of his first two wives and pretty miserable upbringings for his daughters Mary and Elizabeth.
All of his wives were amazingly strong women in their own right. Katherine of Aragon reigned in his absence and defeated the Scots; Anne Boleyn inspired him to religious reform; Jane Seymour stood up to him over the Pilgrimage of Grace; Anne of Cleves used him for her own ends to escape her abusive family and did quite well for herself; Katherine Howard survived a neglectful upbringing but was far from the stupid flighty girl she at first appears and Katherine Parr united his family, encouraged him to restore Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession and was the first queen to have literature published in her own name.
Henry ruled in an era where the political, religious and social environment was shifting throughout Europe. It was a complex and challenging time and he reacted to it using the intelligence and tools available to him as he went along.
Hindsight is a marvellous thing and we can't really judge him or his actions on the standards of today, it all has to be viewed in context.
Not everything he did was detrimental and among his achievements were the founding of National Identity, freedom from Rome, the development of the British Navy, the translation of the Bible into English and the promotion of parliament.
Was he a nice bloke ? - probably not; was he a good husband? - definitely not; but was he a strong and effective monarch ? - yes in many ways he was.
I just don't think you can sum him up simply as "a bastard" any more than you can describe his wives as pious, whore, submissive, ugly, flighty and a carer.