Jan 14, 2011
The Desperation of King Henry the VIII
For more than a thousand years the art of alchemy captivated many noble spirits and was believed in by millions.
~ from Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
England’s King Henry VIII (1491–1547) died 463 years ago this month but still deserves our attention, for even antiquity can ring familiar to a modern ear – none more so than King Henry. He ascended the throne in 1509 at the tender age of 17 and was, compared to his contemporaries, a rather enlightened tyrant for though he ordered the deaths of many people innocent of no crime but angering him, he"never took a life with his own hand," (Bowle, 15) so that’s something in his favor. Yet, in many important respects he was exactly alike his fellow rulers (both then and now) as shown by his insatiable desire for tax revenue and his numerous interventions into the economic activity of his subjects.
Click here to read the rest.
~ from Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
England’s King Henry VIII (1491–1547) died 463 years ago this month but still deserves our attention, for even antiquity can ring familiar to a modern ear – none more so than King Henry. He ascended the throne in 1509 at the tender age of 17 and was, compared to his contemporaries, a rather enlightened tyrant for though he ordered the deaths of many people innocent of no crime but angering him, he"never took a life with his own hand," (Bowle, 15) so that’s something in his favor. Yet, in many important respects he was exactly alike his fellow rulers (both then and now) as shown by his insatiable desire for tax revenue and his numerous interventions into the economic activity of his subjects.
Click here to read the rest.