jeanniemh wrote:
Count me in as another "Tudor-phile." I found the DM article interesting, but I found the comments to the article hilarious...especially the one from the lady who claims to be descended from Jane Seymour. Hello???
Maybe she's descended from someone in that family, but from Jane herself? Uhmmmmmm...no.
I'd like to think had she given him a living male heir history would have been different, but who knows?
I think it would have been.  Henry would have had a much harder time justifying divorce in his own mind, let alone his religious advisors. With his odd combination of deep religious and superstitious convictions, he managed to convince himself that his lack of a male heir was a sign from God that He was not pleased with Henry's marriage to Katherine of Aragon, and that Anne Boleyn (and her subsequent pregnancy) were further signs that, not only had he married the wrong woman, but that England should turn its back on Rome and establish its own Church -- with the King as its head. 

I doubt any of this would have happened had there been a male heir.  His passion for Anne and her unwillingness to be anything but Queen might have led him to have Katherine meet some sort of "unfortunate accident," or to look for some grounds to have her executed, but I don't think he would have gone so far as to drive a stake between England and the Roman Catholic Church.  JMHO. 




Edited 1 time by princesspeach Mar 19 11 11:14 AM.