9 April 2015 A.D. PBS Re-airs “Inside the Court of Henry VIII” on 9 April 2015
9 April 2015 A.D. PBS Re-airs
“Inside the Court of Henry VIII” on 9 April 2015
Editors. “Inside the Court
of Henry VIII.” PBS-UNC. 8 Apr 2015. http://www.pbs.org/program/inside-court-henry-viii/. Accessed 8 Apr
2015.Inside the Court of Henry VIII
Inside the Court of Henry VIII re-airs Thursday, April 9, 2015.
Go inside the rivalry-ridden court of iconic English king, Henry
VIII.
Full Episode
January 1547: The
King of England's fetid 400-pound frame lies on his deathbed, his nation left
as rotten and broken as his body.
About the Program
Henry VIII is the
most iconic king of English history. Part medieval tyrant, part renaissance
prince, he ruled over his people as no king of England had ever done before. He
took a country salvaged by his father from the wreck of civil war and set over
it a single, sovereign ruler. By the end of his reign the power of the Tudor
dynasty was absolute — but at a terrible cost. Personally responsible for the
death of two of his own wives, along with many of his closest friends and
advisors, he is said to have ordered the execution of up to 72,000 Britons. His
reign will go down as one of the bloodiest in history.
Read more about the
program below.
A Closer Look at Inside the Court of Henry VIII
When young Henry came
to power in 1509 he was the regarded as the jewel of Europe — young, handsome,
vivacious — and learned. From the beginning he understood the need for grandeur
and pageantry in a way his father never had. Obsessed with the art of war he
was an expert jouster and spent vast amounts of money on tournaments, displays
and on increasing the size of his military retinue. Henry's court was the most
magnificent in Europe, and he was at its glittering center. The optimism of
those around him knew no bounds.
Yet by 1547, his
swollen 400-pound frame was putrid with ulcers and sores, and his country was
as broken as his body. The coffers of the nation had been bled dry, whilst
the very fabric of the nation had been torn apart in his quest for an heir and
his overthrow of the centuries-old religious certainties — the shackles of
Papal authority rejected for the foundation of a new English form of
Christianity. Decades of religious persecution and bloodshed would follow
his reign.
What went wrong? We
pull back the veil to expose the vicious rivalries, diabolical conspiracies and
the paranoia that characterized Henry VIII's court. Under Henry's reign a new
breed of man could gain power. The court was no longer only a place for nobles
as it once had been. Two men in particular, Thomas Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell,
a butcher's son and a blacksmith's, would rise to great heights. But as easily
as Henry could elevate a man — he could cut him down. Both rose to be Henry's
right hand man, and both died in ignominy, their monarch having turned lethally
against them.
In Inside
the Court of Henry VIII we journey back into this remarkable
story, visit the castles and palaces where Henry lived, examine the relics that
still survive — the carvings, engravings and symbols that each tell part of the
story of his remarkable court — and through expert interviews attempt to
understand the reign of this colossus of England's history — whose rule
transformed a nation, and the world.
Inside the Court of Henry VIII was produced by Public Broadcasting Service.
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