The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth, often shortened to Henry VIII, is a collaborative history play, written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, based on the life of Henry VIII. An alternative title, , is recorded in contemporary documents, with the title not appearing until the play's publication in the First Folio of 1623. Stylistic evidence indicates that individual scenes were written by either Shakespeare or his collaborator and successor, John Fletcher. It is also somewhat characteristic of the late romances in its structure. It is noted for having more stage directions than any of Shakespeare's other plays.
During a performance of Henry VIII at the Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon shot employed for special effects ignited the theatre's thatched roof and beams, burning the original Globe building to the ground.
Characters
Prologue/Epilogue Henry VIII – King of England Cardinal Wolsey – Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor; initially, Henry's chief adviser Queen Katherine – later divorced Anne Bullen – Katherine's maid of honour; later Queen Anne Duke of Buckingham – hates Wolsey, who charges him with treason Thomas Cranmer – Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Gardiner – close ally of Wolsey; King's secretary; later Bishop of Winchester Lord Chamberlain – historically, the play covers a period in which the position was held by both Somerset and Lord Sands, but the play presents the character as one consistent figureGordon McMullan (ed.) King Henry VIII (London: Arden, 2000), p. 205 Duke of Norfolk – Anne Bullen's grandfather; later Earl Marshal Duke of Suffolk – Henry's brother-in-law; later High Steward Earl of Surrey – Buckingham's son-in-law and Norfolk's son; also Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Cardinal Campeius – Papal legate sent to judge legitimacy of Henry's marriage to Katherine Lord Caputius – ambassador of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Katherine's nephew) Sir Thomas Cromwell – Wolsey's secretary and protégé; later secretary to the Privy Council Lord Sands – historically, was Lord Chamberlain during some of the period covered by the play Lord Abergavenny – Buckingham's son-in-law Lord Chancellor (Thomas More) – More replaces Wolsey, after which time he is never mentioned by name.John Margeson (ed.) King Henry VIII (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 63 Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden replaced More. Bishop of Lincoln Sir Thomas Lovell – Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Henry Guildford – Master of the Horse Sir Nicholas Vaux – Governor of Guînes Sir Anthony Denny – Groom of the Stool Dr. Butts – Henry's personal physician Griffith – Katherine's usher Garter King-of-Arms Buckingham's Surveyor – based on Charles Knyvett Brandon – an officer Serjeant-at-Arms Porter Old Lady – Bullen's chaperone Patience – Katherine's waiting woman Doorkeeper of the Council Chamber First Secretary – works for Wolsey Second Secretary – works for Wolsey First Scribe – at Katherine's trial Second Scribe – at Katherine's trial Crier Gardiner's Page Three Gentlemen Lord Chamberlain's Servant Porter's Man Messenger
At the Legatine Court Archbishop of Canterbury – predecessor of Thomas Cranmer (non-speaking role) Bishop of Ely (non-speaking role) Bishop of Rochester (non-speaking role) Bishop of Saint Asaph (non-speaking role)
At Bullen's coronation Marquis Dorset (non-speaking role) Bishop of London (non-speaking role) Lord Mayor of London – historically Sir Stephen Peacock (non-speaking role)
At Elizabeth's christening Infant Princess Elizabeth (non-speaking role) Marchioness Dorset – Elizabeth's godmother (non-speaking role) Duchess of Norfolk – Elizabeth's godmother (non-speaking role)
Synopsis The play opens with a Prologue (by a figure otherwise unidentified), who stresses that the audience will see a serious play, and appeals to the audience members: "The first and happiest hearers of the town," to "Be sad, as we would make ye."
Act I opens with a conversation between the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham and Lord Abergavenny. Their speeches express their mutual resentment over the ruthless power and overweening pride of Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey passes over the stage with his attendants, and expresses his own hostility toward Buckingham. Later Buckingham is arrested on treason charges—Wolsey's doing.
The play's second scene introduces King Henry VIII, and shows his reliance on Wolsey as his favourite. Queen Katherine enters to protest about Wolsey's abuse of the tax system for his own purposes; Wolsey defends himself, but when the King revokes the Cardinal's measures, Wolsey spreads a rumour that he himself is responsible for the King's action. Katherine also challenges the arrest of Buckingham, but Wolsey defends the arrest by producing the Duke's Surveyor, the primary accuser. After hearing the Surveyor, the King orders Buckingham's trial to occur.
At a banquet thrown by Wolsey, the King and his attendants enter in disguise as masquers. The King dances with Anne Bullen.
Two anonymous Gentlemen open Act II, one giving the other an account of Buckingham's treason trial. Buckingham himself enters in custody after his conviction, and makes his farewells to his followers and to the public. After his exit, the two Gentlemen talk about court gossip, especially Wolsey's hostility toward Katherine. The next scene shows Wolsey beginning to move against the Queen, while the nobles Norfolk and Suffolk look on critically. Wolsey introduces Cardinal Campeius and Gardiner to the King; Campeius has come to serve as a judge in the trial Wolsey is arranging for Katherine.
Anne Bullen is shown conversing with the Old Lady who is her attendant. Anne expresses her sympathy at the Queen's troubles; but then the Lord Chamberlain enters to inform her that the King has made her Marchioness of Pembroke. Once the Lord Chamberlain leaves, the Old Lady jokes about Anne's sudden advancement in the King's favour.
A lavishly staged trial scene (Act II Scene 4) portrays Katherine's hearing before the King and his courtiers. Katherine reproaches Wolsey for his machinations against her, and refuses to stay for the proceedings. But the King defends Wolsey, and states that it was his own doubts about the legitimacy of their marriage that led to the trial. Campeius protests that the hearing cannot continue in the Queen's absence, and the King grudgingly adjourns the proceeding. (Act III) Wolsey and Campeius confront Katherine among her ladies-in-waiting; Katherine makes an emotional protest about her treatment.
Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain are shown (Act III Scene 2) plotting against Wolsey. A packet of Wolsey's letters to the Pope have been re-directed to the King; the letters show that Wolsey is playing a double game, opposing Henry's planned divorce from Katherine to the Pope while supporting it to the King. The King shows Wolsey his displeasure, and Wolsey for the first time realises that he has lost Henry's favour. The noblemen mock Wolsey, and the Cardinal sends his follower Cromwell away so that Cromwell will not be brought down in Wolsey's fall from grace.
The two Gentlemen return in Act IV to observe and comment upon the lavish procession for Anne Bullen's coronation as Queen, which passes over the stage in their presence. Afterward they are joined by a third Gentleman, who updates them on more court gossip – the rise of Thomas Cromwell in royal favour, and plots against Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. (Scene 2) Katherine is shown ill; is told of Wolsey's death; has a vision of dancing spirits. Caputius visits her. Katherine expresses her continuing loyalty to the King, despite the divorce, and wishes the new queen well.
Act V is the climax of the play. The King summons a nervous Cranmer to his presence and expresses his friendship, telling Cranmer that "Thy truth and thy integrity is rooted in us, thy friend" (Act V Scene 1). The King confirms this friendship with the gift of a ring. Later, as a result of a carefully hatched plot, Cranmer is accused of heresy in the King's Council and told that he is to be taken to the Tower as a prisoner; Cranmer defends himself vigorously and then shows the King's ring (Act V Scene 2). The King enters, declaring Cranmer to be a "good man", a title that few of the Council deserve. The plot has collapsed.
Queen Anne Bullen gives birth to a daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth. The King asks Cranmer to baptise and be a godfather to the child, "a suit you must not deny me". The Chamberlain, the Porter and his Man have difficulties controlling the enthusiastic crowds that attend the infant Elizabeth's christening. Cranmer delivers a peroration on the glories of the new-born princess's future reign, "Upon this land, a thousand thousand blessings" (Act V Scene 4). The King responds, "O lord Archbishop, thou hast made me now a man," and declares the day to be a holiday.
The Epilogue acknowledges that the play is unlikely to please everyone, but asks nonetheless for the audience's approval.
Sources As usual in his history plays, Shakespeare relied primarily on Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles to achieve his dramatic ends and to accommodate official sensitivities over the materials involved. Other material was sourced or adapted from the 1570 edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, for example Catherine of Aragon's plea to Henry before the Legatine Court.<ref>Schwartz-Leeper, Gavin, From Princes to Pages: The Literary Lives of Cardinal Wolsey, Tudor England’s 'Other King (2016), pp. 137–141 </ref> Shakespeare not only telescoped events that occurred over a span of two decades, but jumbled their actual order. The play implies, without stating it directly, that the treason charges against the Duke of Buckingham were false and trumped up; and it maintains a comparable ambiguity about other sensitive issues. The disgrace and beheading of Anne Boleyn (here spelled Bullen) is carefully avoided, and no indication of the succeeding four wives of Henry VIII can be found in the play.
Date Most modern scholars date Henry VIII to 1613, the year in which the Globe Theatre burned down during one of the play's earliest known performances. One contemporary report states that the play was new at the time of the fire, having "been acted not passing 2 or 3 times before".Gordon McMullan, ed. Henry VIII (London: Thomson, 2000), pp. 57–60.
Despite this evidence, there has been much debate about the date of the work. Nicholas Rowe in 1709 wrote that the play must date from after the death of Elizabeth in 1603 because its "E[u]logy upon Q. Elizabeth, and her Successor K. James, in the latter end of his Henry VIII, is a Proof of that Play's being written after the Accession of the latter of those two Princes to the Crown of England".Nicholas Rowe, "Some Account of the Life &c. of Mr. William Shakespear", 1709. Rowe was writing before the discovery of the document on the 1613 fire, which was first published by the 18th century scholar Thomas Tyrwhitt and seemed to confirm his view.