As mentioned,suppose he got struck down by lightning during the annulment and survived that,would he take it as a message that God is displeased with him and try to abandon the annulment altogether?Will he go even further and abdicate to someone?Will his subjects actually abandon him?I think this is highly unlikely,but not totally impossible seeing how another monarch nearly got struck by lightning and emerged a changed man afterwards.
WI:Henry VIII got struck down by lightning during his annulment process....and survived?
- Thread starter Avrorrange
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Brain signals are transmitted by electrical signals and signaling themselves can lead to synapse alteration. Controlled signaling leads to memory formation (and psychologists consider memories alone or memories plus genetics make a personality...) while uncontrolled signaling leads to unpredictable outcomes.
Your suggestion won't get his subjects to abandon him. He didn't start the English Reformation yet and there is still time to make up with Katherine.
It's not a whole lot different than my idea if he starts trying to look for a son-in-law to act as consort and advisor to Mary, although in this case it might be too late for Wosley.
Your suggestion won't get his subjects to abandon him. He didn't start the English Reformation yet and there is still time to make up with Katherine.
It's not a whole lot different than my idea if he starts trying to look for a son-in-law to act as consort and advisor to Mary, although in this case it might be too late for Wosley.
He would likely take it as a divine warning and back off the annulment. He wouldn't have to worry about looking foolish since most people would agree with his assessment. There were plenty of examples in the Old Testament where God had to correct a wayward king.
He's going to suffer a LOT of physical damage from a lightning strike and will likely suffer brain damage as well. This is when during the course of the annulment, you didn't give a date. Given this, it would not be unlikely that a regency council would be formed while he recovered - which in the 16th century is going to take quite a bit of time. Katherine will return to court during this time and will be involved with the regency council. This is liable to run into Katherine's death and by the time Henry is in any condition to actually rule alone again, he will be different person.
Those opposed to the annulment will see it as an act of judgment by God. Those who support it will be forced to the sidelines until Henry is fully recovered. If Katherine dies before this happens, he may or may not go on to Anne - if she hasn't gone and married someone else.
As for the reformation: it depends on the regency council. Without a date for this occurrence, it's hard to give a realistic assessment of your query.
Those opposed to the annulment will see it as an act of judgment by God. Those who support it will be forced to the sidelines until Henry is fully recovered. If Katherine dies before this happens, he may or may not go on to Anne - if she hasn't gone and married someone else.
As for the reformation: it depends on the regency council. Without a date for this occurrence, it's hard to give a realistic assessment of your query.
But he will have to try and make up with the Church somehow,right?At the very least,he needs to demonstrate that he's 'changed' for good,otherwise potential enemies will just use this as an example of him being cursed by God to attack him.
So what would be the differences between occurrence during the early,middle or latter stages of the annulment process?
If I had to guess, dear old Henners would certainly suffer significant physical damage. Personally I think that the idea of him developing his limp earlier than OTL, though the actual damage done would be nigh on impossible to predict. If he survives relatively unscathed, or is narrowly missed by the lightening if that would be considered OK, then in all likelihood the annulment is cancelled and Catherine of Aragon remains queen. From their it really depends on how much Henry wants to take a new bride.
Assassination is often uttered in the same breath as Catherine of Aragon, and it would certainly be an option for the king in later life, but prior to injuring himself jousting he was considered a fairly even-tempered king.
Assassination is often uttered in the same breath as Catherine of Aragon, and it would certainly be an option for the king in later life, but prior to injuring himself jousting he was considered a fairly even-tempered king.
Wouldn't he be afraid that next time God will finish the job? I would have imagined that he would have tried to live a more pious life if he survived.
WITHOUT KNOWING WHEN IT HAPPENED, THIS FIRST QUESTION CANNOT BE ANSWERED. How much damage he did to his relationship with the Holy Mother Church depends entirely upon when it happened. Take the position that he first began his pursuit of Anne Boleyn late 1525, first applied for an annulment in 1527, and lost control of it in 1529 (when Campeggio adjourned it and Katherine took the position she would get no justice in England); by 1532 the Submission of the Clergy is completed in May, Anne becomes Marquess of Pembroke, goes to France with Henry in November, gives in at last and becomes pregnant, he weds her in Jan 1533, but it's not until spring that Cranmer pronounces the annulment granted and the marriage to Anne valid.
It's quite possible that Henry VIII will see a lightning strike as a 'hurry-up' call; that God was reminding him of the frailty of human life and that he's wasted too much time getting out of an unholy situation. He was the master of seeing what he liked, not what others thought.
That's why I said he might see it as a 'hurry up and get out of this unholy situation' (marriage to Katherine); he was the master of seeing things HIS way.
But that's not what the OP said. The OP said he took it as a message he's on the wrong path, not a message to hurry up. Depending on which parts of the brain are effected by electricity, I can see it going either way, but we narrowed it down to one possibility.
No, not what OP posited. He said:
He asked a question. We've not narrowed it down, we're still debating. And with Henry always thinking Henry is right, there is every possibility that he'll take it as reminder of his mortality rather than the judgment of God.
But a lot of what ifs could be answered if the OP tells us the date this lightning strike happens. How far along in his commitment to Anne is this occurring?
No need to narrow ir down.You just need to debate what might happen if it happened in different days like you already did.