Channel 4 - Henry VIII The Mind of a Tyrant (2009) Part 2 Warrior 1509 - 1525

Historian and broadcaster, Dr David Starkey, follows his acclaimed series Monarchy with this gripping portrait of England's best-known king. In 1509, Henry VIII's accession to the throne was greeted with wild rejoicing. Tall, athletic and handsome, he filled the nation with hope. Yet, by his death 38 years later, Henry VIII had earned the reputation of a tyrannical and ruthless monarch. Dr David Starkey reveals how this glamorous prince became the nation's most notorious tyrant. From the young man who became heir to the throne at the sudden death of his brother to his establishment of the Church of England and the bellicose quest to become a major player in Europe. The series reveals the truth of the King's relationships: the beautiful Anne Boleyn; the machiavellian Cardinal Wolsey; Thomas More, the lifelong friend he beheaded and, of course, the bloody cycle of marriage, divorce and execution. It tells of a ruthless King, infatuated with power, who released an orgy of iconoclasm and sadistic revenge on those who rebelled against him. This compelling series brings this fascinating monarch to vivid life, shows how he influence our very sense of identity and nationhood and tells one of the strangest and most dramatic stories in history.

Part 2: Warrior 1509 - 1525

Henry's father had won and defended the crown in battle. For Henry, this was the mark of true regal legitimacy and he was determined to emulate his father and win even greater glory. However, to wage war Henry had to free himself from the councillors he had inherited from his father and be his own man. Starkey traces Henry's quest to become a major player in Europe, his successes at the Battle of the Spurs and the Field of the Cloth of Gold and his eventual humiliation after the Battle of Pavia. Throughout these years, his relationship with the brilliant, Machiavellian Thomas Wolsey was central to his reign. But even Wolsey could not disguise the relative impotence of England and her monarchy compared to the great European powers. These foreign disappointments were mirrored by the gradual deterioration in Henry's marriage. If Henry had died, like so many, of the sweating sickness in 1525, he would have barely registered in history, his reign a feeble coda to the story of England's medieval monarchy. But events were about to take an extraordinary turn. Henry would remake himself, his throne and his kingdom - and all for love.

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