1536day.year
King Henry VIII of England suffers an accident while jousting, leading to a brain injury that historians say may have influenced his later erratic behaviour and possible impotence.
King Henry VIII suffered a severe head injury during a jousting tournament, an event some historians link to his later authoritarian rule.
On January 24, 1536, King Henry VIII of England took part in a jousting match at Greenwich Palace and was struck hard in the head by his opponent's lance. The impact fractured his skull and lodged a splinter near his brain, causing a serious, potentially life-threatening wound. Contemporary accounts describe the king's prolonged pain, dizziness, and memory lapses following the accident. Some historians believe this injury precipitated significant personality changes, contributing to his increasingly erratic and harsh decisions in later years, including the execution of two more of his six wives. The tournament itself was a grand spectacle celebrating Henry's reign, making the accident all the more shocking to the Tudor court. This incident remains one of the most debated turning points in English royal history.
1536
King Henry VIII of England
jousting