#there's also the argument it was to besmirch his father's legacy | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fideidefenswhore · 5 months ago

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another thing, i disagree with the most popular take on the executions of empson and dudley in 1510, as being henry merely 'desperate to court popularity'/'conform to the popular will'....

henry was already popular by that year, for one, and while the sources of the time do suggest he listened to his subjects who advised the executions based on their experiences with those men, however...

while the desire to be (widely, and personally, but for intent of this argument, with focus on the former) loved was probably a defining trait for henry, it is clear this desire was not stronger than his convictions. were this the case, he would've abandoned the GM somewhere around the halfway mark, presumably, since that was when public opinion had settled rather against him for pursuing an annulment, and firmly on his wife's side.

so, tl;dr, i think he decided on the executions of empson and dudley not to 'appease the masses' or 'gain popularity', but because he genuinely believed they were guilty of treason.

#there's also the argument it was to besmirch his father's legacy #daddy issues aside. i think that could be argued for either way?#if he'd allowed their freedom it would suggest that all their actions had been endorsed by his father #and as much as he clearly wanted to overshadow his father's legacy (the later family portraits and inscriptions etc)#he probably knew his father's was always going to be tied into his.#so the suggestion that they were acting independently and secretly... not with royal assent...etc #is there in their arrests and subsquent executions #if they had been entirely following royal will then it is difficult to argue treason #although i believe the specific nature of the charges of conspiracy to overthrow the king #and it's not ever given any space to wonder if henry believed that. it's always presumed he didn't

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