Over 450 years after his reign, Henry VIII is still the most famous and recognizable King of England, but it’s for all the wrong reasons. Though well regarded by contemporaries as a learned King and one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne, he is best remembered today for his gluttony and multiple marriages, particularly the gruesome way in which he was widowed on more than one occasion. Naturally, that was the focus of the popular *ShowTime* drama series centered around his life, *The Tudors*.
Henry VIII will probably continue to be best known for beheading some of his wives, most notably Anne Boleyn, so it is somewhat fitting that his most decisive act came as a result of a marital mishap. Sharply at odds with the Catholic Church over his attempt to dissolve his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII ultimately broke with the Church and established the Church of England, which forever altered both the religious history of England and the social hierarchy of the nation and its empire.
In Mary, Queen of Scots’ case, she was a second cousin once removed of England’s Queen Elizabeth I, which made her a rival for the throne. Mary was the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister, and her Catholicism made Mary the true and rightful Queen of England in the eyes of many Catholics and the Vatican. These facts, coupled with the realization that several English Catholics (especially rebels active in the Rising of the North movement) supported Mary, ardently made Elizabeth I uneasy. In 1587, Mary was executed for her involvement in conspiracies to assassinate Elizabeth. Elizabeth is said to have had deep misgivings about executing a fellow sovereign and thereby setting a pernicious precedent. Nor could Elizabeth forget that her own mother, Anne Boleyn (though only a Queen consort), had also been executed.
England was often faced with the claims of competing Kings and Queens, but the major exception to that rule came in the 11 years between 1649 and 1660, when England was a republic. Following the disastrous reign of King Charles I and the civil wars that led to his execution, Parliament and the army ruled England. England’s republican experiment started out as a work of collaboration and compromise; lords, army officers and members of Parliament (MPs) worked together to find a political settlement that did not include the despised royal House of Stuart. Nonetheless, religious and political division made collective rule unworkable, and ultimately, one man emerged from the chaos to rule the country.
Louis XVI is one of the most famous Kings of France, but for reasons he would have much rather avoided. Coming of age in the wake of the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and his father, Louis XV, Louis XVI initially intended to be one of France’s most enlightened Kings. Instead, he was destined to be the only French King ever executed. Indeed, it is his death and his role in fomenting the French Revolution (along with his infamous Queen, Marie Antoinette) that continue to play the central role in Louis XVI’s legacy. The abrupt demise of Louis XVI and his reign capped a tumultuous but important historical period for both France and the rest of the world. It was Louis XVI’s wish to reform France in the mold of the Enlightenment and his failure to push those reforms against a reluctant aristocracy that emboldened and spurred those who would rebel against him.
Since her death, Marie Antoinette has been the subject of sharp historical debate over whether she was actually a catalyst in the French Revolution or simply an insignificant scapegoat who was unfairly made a target. At the same time, the one thing everybody associates with Antoinette is the phrase “Let them eat cake”, a spoiled and ignorant comment supposedly made in response to being informed that the peasants had no bread. She remains a pop culture fixture across the West.
The Executions of British and French Royalty
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About Author | Charles River Editors is an independent publisher of thousands of ebooks on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBookstore & provider of original content for third parties. |
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Author | Charles River Editors |
Format | Ebook |
Language | English |
Pages | 130 |
Publication Date | 11-24-2023 |
Publisher | Charles River Editors |
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