When the king's knightly armor fails to save him
"The Meeting of Henry VIII with Anne Boleyn." Artist: Daniel Maclise (1836). Private collection, USA
"What could be more dangerous than a knight's tournament? Only its consequences..."
And so Tom found himself in a vast, luxurious chamber; the door closed behind him; his retinue stood in line behind him. Tom raised his head, looked up, and saw, at some distance in front of him, a corpulent man in a reclining position, with a broad, flabby, stern face. He was dressed in rich, but worn, and in places even threadbare clothing. One of his legs, all bandaged and swollen like a log, rested on a pillow.
"The Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain
And so Tom found himself in a vast, luxurious chamber; the door closed behind him; his retinue stood in line behind him. Tom raised his head, looked up, and saw, at some distance in front of him, a corpulent man in a reclining position, with a broad, flabby, stern face. He was dressed in rich, but worn, and in places even threadbare clothing. One of his legs, all bandaged and swollen like a log, rested on a pillow.
"The Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain
Of stories knightly tournaments. The reign of Henry VIII, the second Tudor king of England, was not only one of the longest in history, but also well-documented. In particular, the events of his personal life are well known, and were so turbulent that they would have sufficed for three average men of the time. He managed to manage six wives, executing two, divorcing one, and abandoning another, declaring their marriage invalid. The following rhyme helped English schoolchildren memorize all these complex episodes of history:
Divorced, executed, died.
Divorced, executed, survived.
Divorced, executed, survived.
Having decided to become a true autocrat, he broke with Rome, broke with the Pope, who disapproved of divorce, and, like his father, decisively executed both immediate enemies and friends he had come to regard as enemies. When the king was sixteen, he was described as a talented horseman and knight, and was popular among his confidants for his easy manners. At fifty, he was described as looking older than his age... as easily angered and suffering from severe depression. It's clear that absolute power corrupts a person completely, but in this case, the contrast with the king's behavior and appearance is particularly striking.
It's clear that the prince, born on June 28, 1491, was very spoiled, but it couldn't have been otherwise. And, by the way, what royal child of that time wasn't spoiled? What's important is that he grew up far from being an ignorant man mired in drunkenness and debauchery, but a well-educated individual. He spoke Latin, French, and Spanish, and was well versed in mathematics, astronomy, heraldry, and even music. Like many Renaissance figures, he loved poetry and painting, was interested in medicine, and devoted much attention to the modern technology of the time. His knowledge, however, did not turn him away from religion. All his contemporaries who wrote about him noted his piety.
Anne Boleyn. Portrait by an unknown artist, c. 1533–1536. National Portrait Gallery, London
The young prince eventually grew into a tall, handsome, athletic young man who was also an avid hunter, a lover of athletic competitions, and also loved tennis.
So, the Venetian envoy informed his government, the young king was the most handsome monarch he had ever seen. He was above average height, had slender, beautifully shaped legs, very fair skin, reddish-brown hair, and a round face so beautiful it would have suited a woman. He also had a long, strong neck!
And all this was most likely true, since the measurements of his knightly armor at that time were as follows: 81 cm at the waist and 99 cm at the chest, with a height of about 183 cm and a weight of approximately 95 kg. The king suffered virtually no illnesses, except perhaps a mild case of malaria, and he also fortunately avoided the "English sweat," which ravaged England in 1517-1518 and 1528-1529, when Henry VIII was even forced to leave London. And if you consider how many Englishmen died then, including residents of London and people in Henry's entourage (even Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting at the time, contracted the disease, but survived).
So he “reigned” quite peacefully, although he had already divorced his wife and married Anne Boleyn, until the king turned 44 years old, that is, until 1536. True, the king began to eat and drink a lot, and, accordingly, gain weight.
He is said to have had a particular fondness for meat, baked goods, and wine. However, while a womanizer and glutton, he had not yet become the terrifying maniac and suspicious despot described by those who knew him in his final years.
Then, in 1536, during another tournament in Greenwich, the king lost his grip on his horse and fell to the ground, causing his armored horse to fall on top of him. The king remained unconscious for two hours, and his legs were severely injured. Anne Boleyn was so frightened, so fearful for the king's life, that she miscarried. Ultimately, she was executed on charges of adultery.
"Portrait of Jane Seymour, Queen of England" by the German artist Hans Holbein the Younger (1498–1543). The painting was created around 1536 and is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
However, the king's health deteriorated sharply after this fall. Although the fractures and wounds healed, festering ulcers developed on his legs. Doctors treated them by cauterizing them with a hot iron. It is quite possible that the non-healing leg ulcers were caused by diabetes, but it is currently impossible to prove that Henry had it.
The king also suffered a head injury, believed to have damaged his frontal lobes, which are responsible for self-control and the reception of signals from the outside world. Incidentally, in 1524, the king also suffered a spear blow—fortunately a blunt one—over his right eye during a tournament because he forgot to lower his helmet visor before a fight. Afterward, he began suffering from frequent migraines, and then, on top of that, an entire armored horse fell on him…
The courtiers saw that all was clearly not well with the king, but they couldn't even think of impeaching him, as being accused of treason and facing the scaffold for even talking about the king's person was a piece of cake. Henry himself was simply obsessed with the idea of having a son and heir. Moreover, it's more than likely that by this time, due to all the misfortunes that had befallen him, he began to suffer from potency problems. Because of this, he was in a constant state of nervous agitation and was desperate to prove his virility. Even when Jane Seymour gave birth to his son, he didn't calm down. On the other hand, even though he was ill and mentally unstable, Henry lived for another 11 years, and during this time he was busy with royal affairs, ruling England, pursuing an active foreign policy, and... despite doctors' orders, he ate a great deal.
There are reports that the king ate up to 13 dishes daily, consisting of lamb, chicken, beef, venison, rabbit, and various birds, such as pheasant and swan. He also drank 10 pints (1 pint = 0,57 liters) of ale daily, and when ale was unavailable, he drank wine. However, all 13 dishes may have been merely part of his menu and prepared à la carte, with him eating only a portion of them.
Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife after Jane Seymour. Hans Holbein the Younger. Louvre
Even so, meals at the royal palace followed one another, so that by the age of fifty, the king weighed 177 kilograms and moved with great difficulty! His waist, judging by surviving armor from the Metropolitan Museum in New York, had grown from 81 cm at age 20 to 132 cm. The ulcers began to smell terribly, so that the king's approach could be detected by the scent, even without hearing his footsteps. So when he married Catherine Parr in 1543, he needed her more as a nurse than as a wife, and she alone could calm Henry when he was overcome by fits of rage. Four years later, he finally died, exhausted by cauterization of the ulcers, fever, and his own gluttony.
Catherine Parr. Circa 1545. Portrait by an unknown artist. National Portrait Gallery, London
So it's clear that even monarchs, in their perfect knightly armor, sometimes had a very, very hard time. Henry II was ill for 11 days after being wounded at a tournament and died of brain inflammation caused by the wound. Henry lived for 11 years after falling from his horse, but those were years of almost continuous suffering, not to mention the suffering he brought to others during that time due to his depressive nature. So, armor is armor, but the human factor is still a factor for participants in knightly tournaments, just like the possibility of fatal accidents...
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