Those unhappy women who had the misfortune to be the
consorts of Bluff King Hal have been generally drawn by historians from the personal or domestic perspective, as isolated phenomena that attracted the desire of a lascivious despot. This view, as the late Martin Hume pointed out in The Wives of Henry VIII., a new edition of which comes from Messrs. Nash and Grayson (12s. 6d.) is superficial. Henry VIII. was not a stern reformer, but a bold and brilliant adventurer, the plaything of his passions and a toy of destiny. Also, he personified the intractable spirit of the English, determined to be under the rule of no Pope or Priest. Viewed thus, his wives, instead of being the mere darlings of his hours of dalliance, become embodied as heralds of the power of Rome, bulwarks of the Catholic nobility, spies for Spain.
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