I'm Enery the Eighth, I am, I am



On this very day in fifteen hundred and nine

Henry the Eighth was crowned King, at a time

When England was still reeling from factions

Which had been warring since the reactions



From the usurping of Richard the Second ...

And the subsequent changes which beckoned

As the family and descendants of Edward the Third

Locked horns in a bitter power struggle to be heard



Creating a century of pretenders to the throne

Not fully resolved until the Tudors called it home

Starting with Henry the Seventh's marriage to a York

Which provided a continuity all of England bought ...



For she was the daughter of Edward the Fourth

Edward the Fifth's sister, and the niece of a York

... Richard the Third ... whose two years' reign

Was ill-begotten, for it took murder to attain ...



Held responsible for the deaths of Henry the Sixth

His brother Clarence, and Henry's son - Edward Fifth

Along with his two young nephews, also in line ...

And so Richard (it is said) also killed them, in time



Killed, himself, at Bosworth, by Henry of Richmond

Who then became the King of all of England ...

And, with Elizabeth of York, they begat Henry the Eighth

Who ruled England with an iron fist, lasting thirty-eight



During which time he cemented the Reformation

By creating an independent church in the nation

And enlarging the Royal Navy, making it invincible

Two of his greatest accomplishments, and that's not all



For, in spite of divorcing his first wife to marry her lady-in-waiting

And subsequently having her beheaded after charging her with cheating

She provided him with a daughter who'd be the first really great queen

The one who created the peace and tranquility of the Elizabethan scene



- Tristram



© Christopher W. Thomas

8:40pm Thurs. June 24th, 1999