Famous for beheading two of hissix wives , Henry VIII remains one of the most infamous monarch in English history . Although pop culture often portrays him as an ill - tempered red-hot - header , a raw discipline suggests that he may in fact have had a more gentle nature , which became distorted following a series of mind injuries hold up during jousting contests .
study historical accounts of Henry ’s sovereignty , Yale research help Muhammad Qaiser Ikram and Fazle Hakim Saijad regain grounds that the magnificently rotund sovereign may not have always been the despot he subsequently became . For example , in 1529,Erasmusdescribed him as “ a man of gentle friendliness , and blue-blooded in debate , ” adding that “ he acts more like a familiar than a king . ”
However , further investigation of these accounts reveals strike out change in the king ’s behavior , which appear to co-occur with three major jousting accidents . The most serious of these occur in 1536 , when Henry was leave unconscious for two hours after he was unseated from his horse cavalry , which then fell on him .
Henry ’s weightiness is say to have ballooned after a branch injury prevented him from exercise . Georgios Kollidas / Shutterstock
consequently , Henry is reported to have become prone to tear of “ mal d’esprit , ” with one particularly severe instalment of depressive disorder occurring in 1541 , when he became despondent and lock himself in Hampton Court Palace for some metre .
He also appears to have meet from amnesia and an unfitness to control his temper , both of which are exemplified by an incident that occurred in 1546 , when he inexplicably ordered soldiers to imprison his wife Catherine Parr in the Tower of London , only to forget that he had done so the following day . When reminded of his actions , he is said to have flown into a fit of madness .
In sparkle of this grounds , the study authors close that it is “ altogether plausible , though perhaps not provable , that repeated traumatic brain injury led to changes in Henry ’s personality . ” report their finding afterward this week in theJournal of Clinical Neuroscience , the research worker also think over that harm to the male monarch ’s pituitary organ may have led tohypogonadism – a condition characterized by disrupted physiologic operation of the orchis .
They subsequently advise that , despite Henry ’s fabled promiscuousness , he may in fact have have from intimate disfunction following his injuries . While this claim is somewhat unmanageable to reassert , it would appear to be endorse up by proportionateness between Anne Boleyn and her sister - in - law , in which the then faggot kvetch of her husband ’s lack of art in the imperial sleeping room .
