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devices with ropes and pulleys to get him in and out of his fifteen sq. ft. bed and onto his horse. HorsES to be exact. His steed needed constant refreshment to stave off death via exhaustion, and he actually tried to commute such death sentences, at least in his beloved animals (animals like his horses and dogs being lovable in that certain unquestioning way that never provokes hostility or insecurity. He needed a long string of successive horses to get him to the coast of the English Channel declared war with King Francis I later in his reign.

His obesity (and how it must have unpleasantly augmented the pain of a troublesome abscess on his much bragged of calf muscle) have often made it clear to me that Henry must have had some obvious ways that to make his own life much better if he had chosen to focus on them directly, and how very strange that someone with his own issues and problems to resolve would pursue such lengths to carry out vengeance on others. However clear the failings of Renaissance physicians, they did understand the basic 'food in equals fat' equation, so he could have done SOMETHING about his weight, especially in order to get rid of what would have most likely been the indignity and inconvenience of the 'hoisting' machine, not to mention the whole process, but he didn't seem to ever worry about it too much. This seeming contradiction has therefore made me over the years wonder more or less sophisticated versions of the following question: why would a man that had such obvious ways to improve his own life, and therefore to be able to enjoy the myriad delights he purchased with his power as King, instead focus on such studied cruelty and hostility toward others?

One possibility is that his failings never really occurred to him because he was humored by those around him, knowing that their lives depended on an ability to do so. So rather than ever get the idea that he was a pudgy, eyebrow-lacking potato head, more common were statements like the famous observation that he was 'the handsomest Prince in Christendom.' And maybe his advisers did occasionally say things to suggest he deal his weight problem. They might have said 'your majesty, maybe it would be good to do something about getting rid of that machine for... And his head would be off before he was even able to give constructive criticism, even meaning it to benefit his beloved ruler.

There are various possibilities such as this that enabled him to pursue all the various desires of a

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