In 1529, when Henry was 38 years of age, the secretary to the Venetian ambassador, Hironimo Moriano, declared that “never in his days had he seen any– he will not say sovereign, the number of whom is small but– man handsomer, more elegant, more well-proportioned than this King, who is pink and white and fair, tall, agile, well-formed and graceful in all his movements and gestures. Chooses to believe that nature, in producing this prince, did her utmost to create a perfect model of manly beauty in these times.”
What is it with Henry VIII and Venetian admirers? Did they just ship all the bear-chasers in the Republic to England or what?
I don’t think this is a genuine question, but it’s a fairly rude thing to add to an edit I very much enjoyed making, and a quote that it took me hours of research to find.
Secondly, since “bear” and “bear-chaser” are slang that is belongs to the gay community, maybe think on whether it’s appropriate for you to be using (unless you’re a gay man…?)
Thirdly, there’s no reason to doubt the Venetian ambassadorial reports just on the basis that they’re favorable– they had no reason to lie, these reports weren’t going directly to Henry or anything:
“These quotations are not inspired by loyalty, but are candid expressions of admiration from men that were not English subjects. The Venetian reports were for the Council only, and were never meant to see the light. There is no question of mere flattery. The dealings of Venice with other countries made it necessary that the Council should be intimately acquainted with the inner personality of the Sovereign.”
If you want to disbelieve anything favorable any contemporaries have ever said about Henry VIII because you, personally, don’t like him (one assumes, from #henrat) then that is your business, and you’re perfectly free to make as many posts about that as you want– I would appreciate you, in the future, not adding to mine unless you intend to be respectful.
It is really wild to me how some people in history fandom choose to express their (perfectly understandable) distaste for Henry VIII by always insinuating that he was intensely ugly (which is always tied to his later weight, #classy) and unlikable at all times and any favorable reports of him are ridiculous or doubtful.
It makes me wonder if any of them have actually met a powerful man who abuses their power in real life or had to deal with someone like that in close proximity. Like believe it or not, handsome, charming, likable men do terrible things and get people on their side! If anything, that emphasizes how difficult it would have been (in this case) or is (in contemporary cases) to be on the wrong side of such a person.
Originally I had a lot I wanted to say to build off this– maybe I will someday– but since I literally cannot make a single goddamn post quoting an ambassador that said he was handsome (or any post implying he ever was– which he must have been if we judge on comments by his contemporaries) without getting a snarky comment from someone; I’m just going to leave it at quoting Leo Tolstoy:
“What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness.”
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