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2 | <!DOCTYPE Archive SYSTEM "http://greenstone.org/dtd/Archive/1.0/Archive.dtd">
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3 | <Archive>
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4 | <Section>
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5 | <Description>
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6 | <Metadata name="gsdlsourcefilename">import/englishhistory.net/tudor/henrydes.html</Metadata>
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9 | <Metadata name="FileSize">6608</Metadata>
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10 | <Metadata name="Source">henrydes.html</Metadata>
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11 | <Metadata name="SourceFile">henrydes.html</Metadata>
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12 | <Metadata name="Language">en</Metadata>
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13 | <Metadata name="Encoding">windows_1252</Metadata>
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14 | <Metadata name="Title">Primary Sources: A contemporary description of Henry VIII, 1515</Metadata>
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15 | <Metadata name="FileFormat">HTML</Metadata>
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16 | <Metadata name="URL">http://englishhistory.net/tudor/henrydes.html</Metadata>
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17 | <Metadata name="UTF8URL">http://englishhistory.net/tudor/henrydes.html</Metadata>
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18 | <Metadata name="dc.Subject">Tudor period|Others</Metadata>
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19 | <Metadata name="Identifier">HASH011b71775a26d74fef192962</Metadata>
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20 | <Metadata name="lastmodified">1398925756</Metadata>
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21 | <Metadata name="lastmodifieddate">20140501</Metadata>
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22 | <Metadata name="oailastmodified">1398926100</Metadata>
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23 | <Metadata name="oailastmodifieddate">20140501</Metadata>
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25 | <Metadata name="gsdlassocfile">1515.gif:image/gif:</Metadata>
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26 | </Description>
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27 | <Content>
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28 |
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29 | <div align="center">
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30 | <center>
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31 | <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="4" width="94%">
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32 | <tr>
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33 | <td valign="bottom" colspan="3">
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34 | <p align="center">&nbsp;<br>
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35 | <p align="center">
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36 | <img border="0" src="_httpdocimg_/1515.gif" alt="Primary Sources: 1515: A contemporary description of King Henry VIII" width="397" height="109"><p align="center">&nbsp;</td>
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37 | </tr>
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38 | <tr>
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39 | <td></td>
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40 | <td></td>
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41 | <td></td>
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42 | </tr>
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43 | <tr>
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44 | <td valign="top" width="48%" bgcolor="#FFFFE8"><font size="2">The accounts
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45 | at right were written by the Venetian ambassador to Henry's court.&nbsp;
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46 | They are among the most famous descriptions of Henry VIII and capture his
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47 | exuberance, vanity and wit.</font><p><font size="2">Henry VIII was born on
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48 | 28 June 1491, the second son of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.&nbsp;
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49 | He was originally destined to be archbishop of Canterbury, but his older
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50 | brother, Prince Arthur, died in 1502, shortly after marrying the Spanish
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51 | princess Katharine of Aragon.&nbsp; And so Henry became king of England at
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52 | the age of 18.</font></p>
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53 | <p><font size="2">He was strong, handsome, athletic and very intelligent.&nbsp;
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54 | The English people at first idolized him.&nbsp; His thirty-eight year
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55 | reign, however, disabused them of their early worship.&nbsp; Henry married
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56 | six times, executed two of his wives, was rumored to have poisoned one and
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57 | secretly ordered the death of another.&nbsp; He was increasingly mercurial
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58 | and tyrannical.&nbsp; He imprisoned or executed, or both, many of the
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59 | great nobles; he also executed several religious and intellectual leaders,
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60 | most famously Sir Thomas More.</font></p>
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61 | <p><font size="2">Much of the drama and confusion of Henry's reign was
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62 | caused by his pressing need for a male heir.&nbsp; His first marriage, to
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63 | his brother's widow, Katharine of Aragon, lasted over twenty years but
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64 | produced only a surviving daughter.&nbsp; In order to marry again, Henry
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65 | eventually rejected papal authority in England and named himself supreme
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66 | head of a new English church.&nbsp; This decision forever altered English
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67 | history; it also threw the English people into a social and religious
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68 | upheaval which superficially ended during Queen Elizabeth I's reign.</font></p>
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69 | <p><font size="2">As king, Henry was as efficient as his father, though
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70 | far more of a spendthrift.&nbsp; He effectively controlled Parliament and
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71 | chose brilliant advisers (first Wolsey, then Cromwell.)&nbsp; His foreign
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72 | policy was largely inconsequential, driven by his desire to interfere in
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73 | continental affairs.&nbsp; He remains one of the most famous and
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74 | influential kings in English history.</font></p>
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75 | <p>&nbsp;</p>
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76 | <p>&nbsp;</p>
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77 | <p>&nbsp;</td>
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78 | <td width="4%"></td>
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79 | <td valign="top" width="48%">
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80 | <p>After dinner, we were taken to the King [Henry VIII], who embraced
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81 | us, without ceremony, and conversed for a very long while very familiarly,
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82 | on various topics, in good Latin and in French, which he speaks very well
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83 | indeed, and he then dismissed us, and we were brought back here to London....
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84 | <br>His Majesty is the handsomest potentate I ever set eyes on; above the
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85 | usual height, with an extremely fine calf to his leg, his complexion very
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86 | fair and bright, with auburn hair combed straight and short, in the French
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87 | fashion, his throat being rather long and thick.&nbsp; He was born on the
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88 | 28th of June, 1491, so he will enter his twenty-fifth year the month after
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89 | next.&nbsp; He speaks French, English, and Latin, and a little Italian,
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90 | plays well on the lute and harpsichord, sings from book at sight, draws
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91 | the bow with greater strength&nbsp; than any man in England, and jousts
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92 | marvelously.&nbsp; Believe me, he is in every respect a most accomplished
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93 | Prince; and I, who have now seen all the sovereigns in Christendom, and
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94 | last of all these two of France and England in such great state, might
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95 | well rest content. </p>
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96 | <p>[And later that year....] His Majesty came into our arbor, and addressing
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97 | me in French, said: 'Talk with me awhile!&nbsp; The King of France, is
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98 | he as tall as I am?'&nbsp; I told him there was but little difference.&nbsp;
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99 | He continued, 'Is he as stout?'&nbsp; I said he was not; and he then inquired,
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100 | 'What sort of legs has he?'&nbsp; I replied 'Spare.'&nbsp; Whereupon he
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101 | opened the front of his doublet, and placing his hand on his thigh, said
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102 | 'Look here! and I have also a good calf to my leg.'&nbsp; He then told
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103 | me that he was very fond of this King of France, and that for the sake
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104 | of seeing him, he went over there in person, and that on more than three
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105 | occasions he was very near him with his army, but that he never would allow
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106 | himself to be seen, and always retreated, which his Majesty attributed
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107 | to deference for King Louis, who did not choose an engagement to take place;
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108 | and he here commenced discussing in detail all the events of that war,
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109 | and then took his departure....
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110 | <br>After dinner, his Majesty and many others armed themselves <i>cap-a-pie</i>,
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111 | and he chose us to see him joust, running upwards of thirty courses, in
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112 | one of which he capsized his opponent (who is the finest jouster in the
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113 | whole kingdom), horse and all.&nbsp; He then took off his helmet, and came
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114 | under the windows where we were, and talked and laughed with us to our
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115 | very great honor, and to the surprise of all beholders.
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116 | <br>&nbsp;<p align="center">
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117 | <font size=-1><a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=1&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fprimary.html">to
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118 | Primary Sources</a></font></td>
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119 | </tr>
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120 | </table>
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121 | </center>
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122 | </div>
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123 |
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128 | </Content>
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129 | </Section>
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130 | </Archive>
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