Profs & Pints DC: The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Profs and Pints DC presents: “The Six Wives of Henry VIII,” with Amy Leonard, associate professor of history at Georgetown University and scholar of women during the early modern period.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://profsandpints.ticketleap.com/boleyn/ .]

“Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.”

This six-word rhyme is often all anyone knows or remembers about the six wives of Henry the Eighth. It’s also the starting point for the acclaimed hit musical Six, scheduled to be performed at Washington D.C.’s National Theatre from November 12th through December 1st.

But as the musical makes clear, these six women were more than just a footnote in Tudor history, and they deserve to be remembered for more than just how their lives ended.

Learn more about them at DC’s Penn Social with the help of Professor Amy Leonard, a scholar of women in Europe in the early modern period, when Henry VIII reigned. Having previously given fantastic Profs and Pints talks about subjects such as prostitution in premodern Europe and feminism and the French Revolution, she’s the perfect guide for this trip back through time to learn what it was like to married to a king who’d stop at nothing to ensure a male heir to his throne.

We’ll look at the history of 16th century-England through the eyes of the women Henry married: Catherine Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Katherine Parr. You’ll learn how these women were instrumental in solidifying the Tudor dynasty and both helped instigate and support the Protestant reformation. You’ll also learn the role they played in ushering in one of the most famous monarchs of early modern Europe, Elizabeth I.

Regardless of whether you have seen Six or even plan to do so, you’ll be glad you grabbed a ticket to hear Dr. Leonard discuss the history that the musical is based upon. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image background: Henry VIII in the style of Hans Holbein the Younger. Foreground, clockwise from upper left: Jane Seymour, Catherine Parr, Anne Boleyn, and Catherine of Aragon (artists unknown), Anne of Cleves and probably Catherine Howard (Holbein).