34
votes
Did Henry VIII have his bedroom bricked up every night?
I can't find any academic source to support the story. Given the logistics involved, I reckon the amateur historians have it right. It's probably just one more of the stories concocted to make ...
- 77.4k
18
votes
Accepted
By what legal mechanism was Catherine Howard deprived of her title of Queen of England?
It is not clear that a deprivation of title actually took place. There was a formal reduction in Katherine's dignity when she was transferred to house imprisonment in Syon Abbey, but official papers ...
- 196
14
votes
What was the motivation for the Church of England to begin recording births, marriages and deaths in 1538?
The parish registers were introduced mainly because Thomas Cromwell had found that they were in common use in the rest of Europe and according to the sources cited by the related wikipedia article, ...
- 1,405
11
votes
Accepted
Why are there shields present on the sides of Henry VIII ships, did they serve any function or was it pure decoration?
The shields or pavises along the side of the ship are a pavisade which is
A protective barrier made up of shields bearing the arms of those on
board placed along a vessel's sides.
The Wikipedia ...
- 108k
7
votes
Accepted
How much knowledge of the past was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries?
It is difficult to say exactly how much was lost. We have some sources that enable us to say what manuscripts were held by some monasteries, for example the library at Peterborough, or that at Syon ...
- 77.4k
5
votes
Why was the swordsman of Calais chosen as Anne Boleyn's executioner?
The question breaks down into two parts: Why a swordsman instead of an axeman, and why the swordsman of Calais.
I now believe that the answer I posted earlier was only partially correct. This source ...
- 104k
5
votes
What benefit was there in executing Anne Boleyn instead of poisoning her and pretending she was ill?
Since you're asking about potential benefits, and considering that this sort of debate could not be ending with primary sources, let's check the issue:
Reasons for not putting on trial Anne Boleyn ...
- 6,474
5
votes
Accepted
How many people were executed during the reign of Henry VIII?
Looking into this if find two numbers are often repeated concerning this topic, a low estimate of 56,000 and a high range of 72,000 or more. These numbers appear across the web at various history ...
- 38.7k
4
votes
How accurate is Belloc's version of European economic history in The Servile State, with regards to the seizing of the monastic lands?
The main question I see which can be addressed here is did the monasteries control a third of the land within England at the time of Henry VIII?
The problem is that the answer to this is not directly ...
- 38.7k
4
votes
Why didn't Anne Boleyn consent to divorce?
I'm not sure if an answer from the community is forthcoming, so I'll take a stab at an answer based on newly-read information including comments to my original post. This answer comes comes with the ...
- 199
2
votes
Why didn't Anne Boleyn consent to divorce?
There are good answers to this already, but I've got some recently unearthed evidence in mind which is also relevant for this topic. Namely, it turns out that Henry specified the detail of the would-...
- 10.8k
1
vote
Why was the swordsman of Calais chosen as Anne Boleyn's executioner?
Cutting off a head in one blow is somewhat harder than it may sound; the main issues are that the vertebrae are hard bones and unless the executioner is skilled he could miss, hitting the head or back ...
- 37.8k
1
vote
Did Catherine Howard use some form of birth control?
At least one modern authority, historian Alison Weir, believes that Catherine Howard used birth control (her book, King Henry VIII, p. 446). What form that might be is hard to say, probably some "...
- 104k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible