A Research On Henry ?'s Representation Of Kingship

Henry ? was in the period of transition from the Late Medieval Ages to the early modern era.As a ruler,Henry ? was influenced by the late medieval knighthood and the Renaissance humanism.This influence was fully embodied in the image of the king.At the same time,with the deepening of the Renaissance,ideologists proposed new concepts of the monarchy's scope of authority,making the monarch of this period re-understand and redefine their own monarchy.The divorce case of Henry ?,the rupture with the papacy,the introduction and implementation of the Act of Supremacy,areall the processes of re-understanding and defining the kingship.This paper intended to deconstruct Henry ?'s representation to understand the British aristocratic culture in this period,which was a transition from chivalry to the humanism.The power of the monarchy was changed from the medieval paradigm to the early modern one.The representation of Henry ? resulted from the political disorders in late medieval England.Two reasons response to the disorder.On the one hand,the local nobility were too powerful to control,on the other hand,the lack of prince virtues and responsibility led to the disorder.So the early representation of Henry ? concentrated to show prince virtues and responsibility to nobles,which demonstrated an excellent method.However,these representations were destroyed by the King's Great Matter.Moreover,the conception of kingship was also developed with the process of the divorce.Henry ? proposed he was not only the king of England,but also the leader of English church,which well-known by Supremacy.The Supremacy caused division of English society,directly led to the riot in Northern England.How to persuade the subjects to accept the Supremacy,as well as demonstrate the threat of Roma papacy to the prosperity and steady of England,became the main content of representation in later Henry?'s reign.By deconstruct different representations of Henry VIII,this essay tries to analyze political languages delivered by these representations,as well as the development of conception of kingship.Chapter one interprets political conditions after Henry ? throned,as well as the representation of the king before the King's Great Matter.The reign of Henry ? is a reign between late medieval and early modern period,both traditional culture and humanism cast their influence to the conception of kingship.In early representation of Henry ?,we can see the factor of both chivalry and counsel.Then analyzing how these factors influenced the king's representation.Chapter two discussed the influence of the divorce to Henry ?'s conception of kingship,as well as the acceptance of Supremacy among subjects.Pursuit to the lineage of Tudor Dynasty,Henry ? announced the illegal of his first marriage with Catherine,though the Pope held an opposite position.The announcement directly led to the break with Roma.Henry ? insisted that he was the supremacy head of England,both in temporal and spiritual world.The Supremacy divided the England society.One group approved the supremacy,one group was not,and someone held a neutral attitude.The third chapter discussed how Henry ? employed textual and pageant ways to propaganda supremacy and anti-Catholic.After the Acts of Supremacy,Henry ? offered patronage to humanists publishing pamphlets,to persuade subject accept the supremacy.As one of the two basement of Supremacy,anti-Catholic not only discussed in the textual materials,but also performed in public pageant.In addition,the chapter takes drama into consideration,to analyze how supremacy was showed in a metaphor way.Chapter four analyzes the Supremacy in visual materials.The theme of visual materials in this period can be classified as supremacy,anti-Catholic and lineage of Tudor dynasty.By deconstructing these materials,showing how Henry? delivered the message of supremacy from these painting,and the arrangement of Tudor succession.Chapter five checked the effectiveness of the representation of Henry ?.By analyzing the subjects' memories,the community memory and the symbolization of supremacy,evaluating the effectiveness of Henry VIII's representation.In conclusion,the essay discussed Henry VIII's revolutionary innovation in representation.The king employed the method to answer the social changes and political crisis,on the condition that the power was not highly centralized.The way he represented his supremacy was adopted by the later Tudor and Stuart monarchs,the supremacy was symbolized.This chapter also discussed the shortage of Henry's representation,and the polarization evaluation towards the king.