Tudor History with Claire Ridgway23 Juli

Did Christina of Denmark REALLY Say "If I Had Two Heads..."?

Did Christina of Denmark really tell Henry VIII, "If I had two heads, one would be at His Majesty's disposal"?

It's one of the most famous quotations associated with Henry VIII's search for a fourth wife. Christina, the young widowed Duchess of Milan, was considered as a possible bride for the Tudor king in 1538, and the story goes that she responded to Henry's interest with this wonderfully cutting remark.

But did she actually say it?

This question came up in the comments on my recent video about Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves, when someone claimed that the famous quotation first appeared in Martin Hume's 1905 book, The Wives of Henry VIII.

I knew I'd seen it earlier than that, so I went down a historical rabbit hole to see just how far back I could trace it.

In this video, I follow the quotation through nineteenth-century histories to a fascinating seventeenth-century account by German artist and art historian Joachim von Sandrart, who had actually seen Hans Holbein the Younger's famous portrait of Christina in England.

But Sandrart's version isn't quite the quotation we know today.

I also look at the contemporary diplomatic evidence surrounding Henry's proposed marriage to Christina, including what Thomas Wriothesley reported about Christina's attitude towards the match, and a wonderfully dry comment made by Christina's aunt, Mary of Hungary, about Henry VIII's treatment of his wives.

So, did Christina of Denmark really make the famous "two heads" remark? Or are we looking at a story that developed long after the events of 1538?

Join me as I follow the evidence and try to find out.

The National Gallery's current scholarly catalogue likewise describes the two-heads story as apocryphal and identifies Sandrart as the first known source for it.

Sources include: Joachim von Sandrart, Teutsche Academie (1675) Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII Calendar of State Papers, Spain Henry William Herbert, Memoirs of Henry VIII of England (1856) The Herald and Genealogist (1863) Martin Hume, The Wives of Henry VIII (1905) Retha M. Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves Susan Foister, National Gallery catalogue entry for Holbein's Christina of Denmark

National Gallery: Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(1008)

Did Catherine Howard REALLY Confess? I Went Back to the Evidence

Did Catherine Howard really confess that she intended to have sex with Thomas Culpeper? I've seen this claim repeated in books and online, and something about it has been bothering me. So, while resea...

17 Sep 2min

Actually, Henry VIII DID Divorce His Wives...

You've probably heard the famous rhyme about Henry VIII's six wives:"Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived."But mention it online, and you tend to get someone saying, "Actually, Henry...

7 Sep 4min

Anne Boleyn Was Queen for 3 Years - What Did She Actually Do?

We spend so much time talking about Anne Boleyn's extraordinary rise and her dramatic fall that we often skip over the bit in between, but what was Anne actually like as Queen of England?Anne was Henr...

24 Aug 34min

Who Would Marry Henry VIII? The Search for Wife No. 4

Who would agree to become Henry VIII's fourth wife?By late 1537, Henry VIII was back on the marriage market. Catherine of Aragon had been banished, Anne Boleyn had been executed, and Jane Seymour had ...

14 Aug 18min

Did Mary of Guise Use Anne Boleyn's Words to Refuse Henry VIII's Proposal?

One of the most famous quotations attributed to Mary of Guise is her alleged reply to Henry VIII's proposal of marriage:"I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck."It's a wonderful story, cl...

6 Aug 9min

Was Henry VIII really catfished by Anne of Cleves?

It's one of the most famous stories surrounding Henry VIII's fourth marriage. Hans Holbein the Younger was supposedly sent to Cleves to paint Anne's portrait, produced an image that made her look far ...

29 Juli 26min

Why Couldn't Henry VIII "Do It" With Anne of Cleves?

Did Henry VIII Have Erectile Dysfunction? The Anne of Cleves Bedroom MysteryDid Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves ever actually "do it"?Henry claimed that his marriage to Anne was never consummated becaus...

21 Juli 28min