The Queen’s birthday is not the only royal event today – Henry VIII celebrated his coronation exactly 507 years ago.
Famous for his six wives and decadent lifestyle, he also had several significant but little-known links to Nottingham.
Of course, we should not forget on this day Henry was succeeded by his 17 yr old son Henry VIII… pic.twitter.com/p2B4AqLe2U
— Paul Wiltshire (@EnglishTreasure) April 21, 2016
Nottinghamshire historian Paul Wiltshire said: “During Henry’s early years he loved celebrating and as a young man was greatly into pageants, introducing balls and festivals to the court.
“He introduced masked court balls to the court where people people disguised themselves and danced.
“One of the disguises that Henry VIII favoured was one of Robin Hood. This is important as it shows that when Henry VIII took the throne the legend of Robin Hood was well-known.”
Henry VIII, who reigned from 1509 to 1547, also visit
ed Nottingham with his first wife Catherine of Aragon to mourn her miscarriages.
It is alleged that Henry had several illegitimate children throughout his reign yet he acknowledged only one, Henry FitzRoy.
Mr Wiltshire said: “As Henry VIII reign progressed and he failed to produce a legitimate heir
Henry FitzRoy became increasingly important and he lined him up to succeed the throne.
“He showered him with titles including the Earl of Nottingham. There was no particular significance to Nottingham. Henry VIII just wanted to give him more status than the other nobles.
“Almost certainly Henry FitzRoy would have been the King of England but he died in his early teens.”
Henry VIII struggled to father a son to succeed him before eventually Edward VI arrived in 1537. He eventually succeeded Henry as king in 1547, in an ill-fated reign that lasted just six years.
Henry VIII’s links with Nottingham don’t end there, as according to local legend, oak trees which still stand on a nature reserve on the Ravensdale Estate, Mansfield, were coppiced to provide wood for Henry’s famously-doomed warship, the Mary Rose.
The ship famously sank in 1545 after being overburdened with equipment and stock and was rediscovered and eventually salvaged in 1982.
In 1547 Henry VIII placed national forests under the Court of Augmentations including Sherwood Forest. This meant that the forest belonged to the crown and people could be fined by the crown for hunting deer or felling trees in this area.
The Henry VIII Sherwood Forest boundary perambulation states:
‘and from thence it ascendeth up the River of Trent, near unto the Abbey or Mannour of Shelford. Soe that the said Abbey is without the Forrest, and from thence by the said water of Trent, where of ancient time it were wont to runne, thorough the meadows of Shelfoe Towne, on the South East part of the New Course now of Trent along, to the Mannour of Collwick, and there where the Trent was wont to run of old time, Soe that the Inclosure called Heylin is within the Forrest, and from thence by the said water of Trent, wherelsoe it antiently rann, downe unto Nottingham Bridge, alias Holl-beth Bridge, alias Hellibeth Bridge, where it began, soe endeth.’
