Head Case: Henry VIII Beheaded Wives Due to Head Injuries?

by Guest Sat Feb 13, 2016 4:24 am

England's King Henry VIII is best known for his erratic and sometimes violent behavior — he married six times and had two of his wives beheaded, for example — and now, researchers say the Tudor king's brutal ways may have stemmed from brain injuries he got during several sporting accidents. Henry VIII suffered a series ofhead injuries, potentially resulting in traumatic brain injury that may explain his boorish behavior, a new study said. In the study, the researchers analyzed historical documents for reports of the king's health Head Case: Henry VIII Beheaded Wives Due to Head Injuries? Icon1

and behavior, up to his death, at age 55

http://www.livescience.com/53662-king-henry-viii-head-injuries-behavior.html

It certainly not the first time that his injuries have raised questions over his mental health.
Though am interested to see more work has now been done.
A link to the actual paper is below:

Highlights

•The transformation of Henry VIII from an affable youth to a ruthless and tyrannical man has invited many often unsatisfactory explanations.
•Henry VIII suffered from recurrent head traumas during sporting activities, the worst episode of which was in 1536 when he was unconscious for 2 hrs.
•In time he suffered from amnesia, impulse control, sociopathy, depression, headaches, insomnias and possibly low testosterone.

Abstract

Henry VIII of England is one of the most controversial figures in European history. He was born on 28 June 1491 as the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York and became the heir to the English throne after his elder brother died prematurely. A contradictory picture of Henry’s character emerges from history: the young Henry was a vigorous, generous and intelligent king who saw early military and naval successes. In contrast, in his later years he became cruel, petty and tyrannical. His political paranoia and military misjudgements are in direct contrast to his earlier successes and promise. Several hypotheses have been put forward regarding his transformation from a renaissance king to a later medieval tyrant, including endocrinopathies, psychiatric illnesses and traumatic brain injury. In this paper we examine the historical evidence linking the change in Henry’s personality and health problems to traumatic brain injury. To our knowledge this is the first systematic neurological study of traumatic brain injury in Henry VIII.

http://www.jocn-journal.com/article/S0967-5868(15)00680-3/abstract?cc=y=

by Original Quill Sat Feb 13, 2016 6:25 pm

A fascinating new thesis. Of course, Henry VIII was also cursed by manipulative ministers, not least of which was Thomas Cromwell, principle secretary and first minister as of April, 1584. But they could have been playing with a post-concussion syndrome Henry, as well.

All his life Henry was beset with dynastic troubles. His father, Henry VII, was hardly even connected to the predecessor Plantagenet dynasty—and then only through the illegitimate pairing of John of Gaunt to Katherine Swynford. Henry VII was obsessed with grafting the Welsh Tudur line onto the English royal line. Against this backdrop, Henry VIII faced the disaster of undoing everything his father had worked for by, himself, being unable to produce a son.

Catherine of Aragon, on the threshold of menopause, was about to guarantee the demise of the Tudur dynasty. Henry’s only answer was a divorce, and a second marriage to a more productive female. The Roman Church opposed Henry, not least because Catherine’s nephew Charles was the Holy Roman Emperor. One can imagine Henry’s temper rising quite naturally as he was thwarted at every turn.

Of course, Queen Anne Boleyn only gave Henry another daughter, and under ancient Salic law women could not inherit the throne. Again, bad luck Henry! The English eventually found an exception in Matilda, daughter of Henry I, when the line was permitted to pass through her and onto Henry II. This created the precedent for both Mary and Elizabeth. But Mary and Elizabeth did not take the throne until after Henry VIII’s death, and the intervention of Edward VI, so he could not have foreseen the eventuality. For Henry, from his vantage, it was a son or nothing.

This might account for Henry’s crazy behavior as well. But I think you are on to something here. The dynastic difficulties of Henry VIII presented him with limited options, but it was how he reacted personally that defined him. Formation of the Church of England, in lieu of the Roman Church, was a quite logical response to the power of the Roman Church; but as life went on, the debacle surrounding the death of Queen Catherine Howard suggested Henry had lost it. If he was suffering from post-concussion syndrome it would account for a lot.

by eddie Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:33 pm

How is it only now, that his head injuries are coming to light?

by Guest Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:35 pm

eddie wrote:How is it only now, that his head injuries are coming to light?

Its been talked about before Eddie, its not new, just more research has gone into this

@Quill, some very interesting points

by Raggamuffin Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:58 pm

I thought the thread title meant that he had them beheaded because they had head injuries. rabbit

by Raggamuffin Sat Feb 13, 2016 7:59 pm

Henry also suffered from gout of course - that probably made him very bad tempered.

by Original Quill Sat Feb 13, 2016 8:10 pm

Raggamuffin wrote:Henry also suffered from gout of course - that probably made him very bad tempered.

No doubt he was in a bad mood by the time he died. Laughing

by HoratioTarr Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:00 pm

[quote="Raggamuffin"]Henry also suffered from gout of course - that probably made him very bad tempered. [/quote]

He suffered most from an ulcer on his leg that refused to heal. When you consider that his doctors poked and sliced and prodded it with unclean instruments, I'm not surprised.

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Head Case: Henry VIII Beheaded Wives Due to Head Injuries?