semper-exdem:

I have an opinion on the study of unpopular historical figures, particularly Henry VIII, on this site that might be … unwelcome but it’s been bugging me so here we go. 

If you’re presented with evidence that is contrary to a perception you have of this person and your first reaction is, “I don’t care, he’s still a dick,” that confuses me. No one is arguing that Henry is not, overall, a terrible person. Believe me, that’s the general consensus with every modern historian. No biography of Henry’s ends each chapter with, “But remember, he was still an asshole!” because we know. David Starkey, a man who has dedicated much of his academic career to understanding Henry VIII has fully said that this king is probably roasting in Hell. But what this evidence presents is that there are layers to Henry, layers that are stripped away by common myths and misconceptions. Our idea of Henry VIII causes us to inflate the importance of rather meaningless parts of his life (such as when he wrote, “this book is mine” as a child in one of his books – people took that as some early evidence of him being possessive and terrible when, in reality, his mother Elizabeth of York did the same thing and for god sake’s so did I when I was a kid and probably so did many of you and you just don’t want to admit it) while ignoring evidence that contradicts these myths. It prevents us from examining the positive parts of his reign and the financial care he took for those closest to him – yes, even his former mistresses. All of this must be studied in conjuncture with his more unforgivable acts, his ruthless treatment of those who’d displeased him, his eventual nose-dive into tyranny. Because otherwise, it’s a skewed examination. 

So if your knee-jerk reaction is to say “I don’t care, he’s still a dick” to arguments and evidence that add complexity to Henry VIII then you don’t actually care as much about the study of history as you claim you do. You only care about being proved right no matter the evidence, and that is not how you study history. 

#henry viii #but this goes for every single historical figure ever not just the unpopular ones #and im aware that a lot of history posts here are shitposts and thats fine #i love a good shitpost #but there are some like this that are in earnest #and those bug me