500 years on, a fresh look at England's mightiest monarch
An exhibition that seeks to blow away the preconceptions surrounding arguably England's most important monarch was yesterday announced by the British Library to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne.
Its curator, the historian and broadcaster David Starkey, said the exhibition would go beyond most people's perceptions of Henry, which tended to focus on the wives, monasteries and murders.
"In this exhibition," Starkey said, "We don't get so obsessed by the tyranny, the horror, the blood - though don't fear, they're there in spades. We look at the sheer scale of the achievement. Henry is the man who really invents England."
The exhibition next April will include rarely displayed treasures drawn from the British Library's collections, including important documents, maps and books, and loans from other collections including portraits, tapestry, armour and jewellery. The aim is to build a fuller picture of Henry the man and Henry the monarch.
A key feature will be a 1513 portrait of the king, the earliest surviving painting in which he appears as a good-looking, fanciable youth rather than the fat, bearded monster he became. This is on loan from Denver in the US and goes on display for the first time in the UK.
"We are not simply presenting Henry as Ray Winstone, as the English Bluebeard - we are presenting Henry as the axial figure in English history," said Starkey. "Literally, our history revolves, rotates around Henry."
Starkey said there would be many delights. "One of the great wonders of the exhibition is Henry's handwriting, which you can see plastered over document and document. His hand looks like the man. It's big, it's square, it's heavy, it's massive." Often, Starkey added, it was not realised just how religious Henry was before he caused the schism with the Catholic church; exhibits would show that "the young Henry was the most traditional, reverential late medieval Catholic Christian. Full stop."
Elsewhere it will be shown how Henry turned from virtuous prince to monstrous tyrant, a man who killed more English notables than any other monarch, his victims including two wives, one cardinal, 20 peers, four prominent public servants, six close attendants and friends, three abbots and a fair few monastic house heads.
But Starkey said they were taking a new approach to the king. "This exhibition is not about reducing Henry to his wives. The marriages are important, obviously the dissolution of the first marriage and the establishment of the second is the axial event in English history, but this exhibition is about Henry the man. We take seriously the whole reign."..
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
Its curator, the historian and broadcaster David Starkey, said the exhibition would go beyond most people's perceptions of Henry, which tended to focus on the wives, monasteries and murders.
"In this exhibition," Starkey said, "We don't get so obsessed by the tyranny, the horror, the blood - though don't fear, they're there in spades. We look at the sheer scale of the achievement. Henry is the man who really invents England."
The exhibition next April will include rarely displayed treasures drawn from the British Library's collections, including important documents, maps and books, and loans from other collections including portraits, tapestry, armour and jewellery. The aim is to build a fuller picture of Henry the man and Henry the monarch.
A key feature will be a 1513 portrait of the king, the earliest surviving painting in which he appears as a good-looking, fanciable youth rather than the fat, bearded monster he became. This is on loan from Denver in the US and goes on display for the first time in the UK.
"We are not simply presenting Henry as Ray Winstone, as the English Bluebeard - we are presenting Henry as the axial figure in English history," said Starkey. "Literally, our history revolves, rotates around Henry."
Starkey said there would be many delights. "One of the great wonders of the exhibition is Henry's handwriting, which you can see plastered over document and document. His hand looks like the man. It's big, it's square, it's heavy, it's massive." Often, Starkey added, it was not realised just how religious Henry was before he caused the schism with the Catholic church; exhibits would show that "the young Henry was the most traditional, reverential late medieval Catholic Christian. Full stop."
Elsewhere it will be shown how Henry turned from virtuous prince to monstrous tyrant, a man who killed more English notables than any other monarch, his victims including two wives, one cardinal, 20 peers, four prominent public servants, six close attendants and friends, three abbots and a fair few monastic house heads.
But Starkey said they were taking a new approach to the king. "This exhibition is not about reducing Henry to his wives. The marriages are important, obviously the dissolution of the first marriage and the establishment of the second is the axial event in English history, but this exhibition is about Henry the man. We take seriously the whole reign."..