Henry VIII - Psychopath?

[Sardondi]

Ordinarily I detest historical revisionism,
particularly when it is popular history (meaning not well-loved, but so dumbed down and academically soft that it is picked up by web-equivalent of a newspaper and network tv);

particularly particularly when the "study" it is based on is related to social sciences;

particularly particularly particularly when the so-called scientific findings are based on the false objectivity of a scale, which is itself inherently subjective;

particularly particularly particularly particularly when the would-be reviser social scientist is a hipster doofus who would make Cosmo Kramer look like a paragon of scientific decorum and academic discipline. 

But the whole point behind bothering to look at revisionist popular history by a social scientist who looks like a hipster doofus is that it's, well, fun. Look, I know I should hate cotton candy and stay away from it because it's a nutritionally worthless hunk of spun sugar which does nothing but spike your blood sugar, damage your pancreas and liver, wreck your body's ability to produce insulin and rot your teeth. But I sure do love it.

I was looking at one of my favorite websites, Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog, http://www.strangehistory.net/, and I saw a link to a story about an author of a book who says Henry VIII was a psychopath. The author, a Professor of psychology at Oxford (I think) took that  old saying of slackers everywhere that only psychopaths can make it to the top, and dressed it up in some scientific rags by devising a scale of psychopathy which he applied to such significant historical personalities as Henry VIII, Charles Darwin and, *ahem*, Freddie Mercury. He looked at traits shared by psychopaths (Machiavellian self-interest, persuasiveness, physical fearlessness, emotional detachment, rebelliousness, feelings of alienation, carefree spontaneity, and coolness under pressure) and assigned a numerical amount to each.

This is where I have problem with his method. On the surface it looks all scientific and certain because it deals with numbers. But they're SWAG* numbers, not actual mathematical calculations. So in the end it's still someone's opinion. But it's fun. And I tend to agree. I'd like to see how Henry acted before his 1536 jousting injury, when he was seriously hurt, including being unconscious for two hours. Brain trauma can significantly affect personality, but turn someone into a psychopath? Meh. But if you combine a very high intelligence with over-the-top narcissism, plus being flattered and catered to your whole life and having been told from birth how special you are, and then given literal unlimited earthly power - well, that's pretty much a recipe for an arrogant asshole at a minimum. See what you think. If you can get past the oh-so-hip Professor.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/henry-viii-modern-day-psychopath-234910932.html#8nFqBfC


Professor Kevin Dutton
PhD - (Professional Hipster Doofus)


In truth the author of the website I saw this link at, Dr. Beachcombing (his nom de web), had examined the possibility of Hank Ocho being a head case many months ago himself (http://www.strangehistory.net/2013/02/05/henry-viii-and-killing/). His site is marvelous. Plus he's most certainly not a hipster doofus. His site is just chock-full of odd history which is at least academically defensible if not actually worthy of real historians. It truly is a wonderful site which covers a lot of the stuff C2C does plus all kinds of historical events, and looks at them from the perspective of what kind of historical evidence there is for whatever is being discussed. One day it might be examining the 18th-19th-century practice in the Manchester, England area of village tough-guys taking turns kicking each other in the shins with specially made clogs with metal soles and/or hobnails; and then the next he's looking at historical accounts of invisibility or levitation. Or maybe it's botched beheadings in executions throughout history, or evidence of European contact with China several hundred years before Marco Polo, or records of Sasquatch in Anglo-Saxon England and the like. It's glorious historical trivia - my absolute favorite time waster.


* "SWAG" - Scientific Wild Ass Guess

[Yorkshire pud]

Yeah...psychopath.. One wife is understandable (novelty value of having sex on a plate-no not really), carrying on collecting (albeit on a very temporary basis) them with abandon; then making a stick about not being a Catholic and wanting his own bloody church makes him in my book not all together of this world and fit to live in polite company. However...was he more a psychopath than anyone else? He just had the power to do something about it.  Oh, and he died of malaria.

[bluth co.]

Thanks for turning me on to this website, although you still scare me Sardondi.

[Sardondi]

Thanks for turning me on to this website, although you still scare me Sardondi.

Scary? I'm indeed sorry to hear it. Was it the psychopath part?

[West of the Rockies]

Yeah...psychopath.. One wife is understandable (novelty value of having sex on a plate-no not really), carrying on collecting (albeit on a very temporary basis) them with abandon; then making a stick about not being a Catholic and wanting his own bloody church makes him in my book not all together of this world and fit to live in polite company. However...was he more a psychopath than anyone else? He just had the power to do something about it.  Oh, and he died of malaria.

Yeah, I've always regarded fat old Henry as one of the world's biggest bastards.  Oh, I know "The Tudors" have made it known that he was once young and athletic and composed music, but I just picture that portrait of him in his wide stance glowering at the artist.  Yes, his later years were apparently marked by pain and misery.  Too bad, so sad.

[3OctaveFart]

Great site. I now have it bookmarked.