Thursday, April 23, 2009

Jousting Accident of Henry VIII turned him into a different man?

There's a great article in the Independent claiming that the jousting accident that caused Henry so much pain in his leg for the rest of his life, was also an incident that turned his entire personality around. According to the History Channel documentary, "Inside the body of Henry VIII", Henry might have also suffered from a brain injury when he fell.

"'We posit that his jousting accident of 1536 provides the explanation for his personality change from sporty, promising, generous young prince, to cruel, paranoid and vicious tyrant," Lucy Worsley [historian and chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces] says. "From that date the turnover of the wives really speeds up, and people begin to talk about him in quite a new and negative way. "After the accident he was unconscious for two hours; even five minutes of unconsciousness is considered to be a major trauma today." Henry may have suffered a brain injury, Dr Worsley says. "Damage to the frontal lobe of the brain can perfectly well result in personality change.'"

To read more:
The jousting incident that turned Henry VIII into a tyrant

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