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of the sad story of his famous second wife Anne Boleyn - who unwisely failed to provide him any such heirs. Henry was simply a bad dude. Learning about it even in latter years I have often been more and more shocked by details of misery he caused to others that was clearly over and above ay of the actual grave necessities of being an absolute monarch.

Many examples could bolster the sense that the reality of his cruelty exceeded even the reputation of it, but one story will probably suffice to illustrate it with grizzly detail. Mark Smeaton, a simple musician in his court who Henry had shown kindness and friendship toward, was one of the men that was framed for adultery with his second wife. He was probably chosen because Thomas Cromwell knew that most of the men that Anne Boleyn even spoke to were nobles, excepting one short conversation with Mark (in which she said she couldn't continue because he was an inferior person). He said to her, yes, that was enough, fare well. But to get someone to torture, there needed to be a commoner, and Mark was the VERY unlucky man.

He made the additional mistake of wriging to ask him for mercy after receiving his death sentence of beheading. As a child with barely two digits to my age, the block horrified me, as it does most of us still. But it was actually a comparatively merciful form of death at that time (it is speculated, of course), reserved for the nobility. But to show gratuitous contempt for this individual, Henry answered not only would he refuse to commute Smeaton's death sentence, that he also didn't even deserve the mercy of a quick stroke of the ax in the first place.

So because he showed the ridiculous imprudence of asking for no death at all, Smeaton got the full treatment - drawing and quartering, while those accepting their fate (and provided an accusation against Anne) got the quicker royal treatment. This hostile act - cruelty carried out with a seemingly delicious sense of irony - went beyond, in my opinion, the obvious need to actually protect his throne against any threat, real or perceived. Because far from securing either his safety or his legacy, Henry's answer to Smeaton's last request was actually contrary to any such practical purpose, for as a result, having no more fear that things could get worse, he was set free to rescind his confession (admitting adultery with the Queen of a dictator would probably be confessed to for no other reason than avoiding death or pain).

Thus Smeaton was sole among

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