Portrait of Henry VIII
Henry VIII powerless?
It might seem like a paradox when referring to a man who went down in history for having six wives (https://www.pilloledistoria.it/8382/storia-moderna/le-6-mogli-di-enrico-viii-in-un-film-tv-con-video) and an impressive number of lovers , yet it seems that this despotic and fickle king of England suffered, at least for a certain period of time, from problems in the intimate sphere .
To write it, black on white, is Anna Bolena , her second much talked about consort of the sovereign, sent by him to the gallows in 1536:in fact, in some letters, the woman affirms, without the possibility of misunderstanding, that she has a husband who often leaves her unsatisfied in the nuptial bed.
Scholars agree on the reasons for impotence:it would have depended on brain trauma that Henry VIII would have obtained during his assiduous participation in the medieval jousting, tournaments on horseback or on foot, governed by a ceremonial and by very specific rules, which were always his favorite pastime of him.
These were competitions not free from a certain danger, in which the monarch often suffered accidents, with ruinous falls and blows to the head of considerable entity; according to some, this would explain the abrupt change in personality of Henry VIII, who from a careful and moderate king, turned into a ruthless tyrant capable of sending two of his wives to death.
Impotence in particular, would have been due to damage to the pituitary gland and a consequent decrease in the normal production of sex hormones.