Henry Viii Bites the Dust

Henry VIII Bites the Dust

The rule of Henry the Eighth was one of change in the areas of both the country and his marital status. However, his reign came to an abrupt end on January 28, 1547. His death did not come without a painful life, spent fighting illnesses and injuries. It was as if Henry could barely stay out of the path of trouble.

In order to come to a conclusion as to how he died, we must list his many different illnesses and injuries, and then finally we can come to a conclusion. The first of many began in "1513 at the age of 22 he suffered from a bout of smallpox. . . .at the age of 33 he suffered the first of recurring attacks of malaria. . . .at the age of 44 he badly injured his leg in a jousting accident." (Tudors, 1) As if this was not enough, there was more waiting for Henry. "Although the leg first appeared to have healed it reopened a few years later and became ulcerated. . . . a weight of about 180 to 200 pounds" quickly became ". . . a weight of about 300 to 320 pounds." (Tudors, 1) The ulcers soon spread to both legs, and he was rendered unable to exercise at all anymore. That, however, was not the end, as "He then suffered from insomnia, sore throats, and migraine headaches . . . with some mental decline in later life [exhibited] some paranoia, feelings of depression and loneliness and a terrible temper." (Tudors, 1) Finally, his feet became infected with gangrene, a disease where the body part literally gets eaten off your body by bacteria.

It is obvious that Henry had a life that was packed with illnesses and injuries. That still, however, begs the question, what killed him? Rumors say that he died of syphilis, but "no one has ever proved that the death of Henry VIII was due to syphilis." (Tudors, 1) In fact, none of his illnesses can be tracked to any version of a sickness related to syphilis.

To prove it to be so, let us look at the symptoms of syphilis. "People with primary syphilis will develop one or more sores. The sores resemble large round bug bites and are often hard and painless. They occur on the genitals or in or around the mouth somewhere between 10-90 days (average three weeks) after exposure. Even without treatment they heal without a scar within six weeks." (Web M.D., 1) "People with secondary syphilis experience a rosy "copper penny" rash typically on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. They may also experience moist warts in the groin, white patches on the inside of the mouth, swollen lymph glands, fever, and weight loss. Like primary syphilis, secondary syphilis will resolve without treatment." (Web M.D., 2) This comes to show, since none of these symptoms were reported as being manifested on his body, that unless he hid it Henry the Eighth could not have possibly had syphilis. Therefore, he could not have died from it. If we look at all his