Gernot Bonkat: King Henry VIII and Syphilis
Gernot Bonkat, CEO at ALTA URO – Medical Center for Urology, shared a post on LinkedIn about a paper by Franco Chevalier et al. published in JAMA:
“When disease changed the course of world history: King Henry VIII and syphilis
Today’s JAMA review on the global resurgence of syphilis reminded me of one of the most extraordinary intersections between medicine and history.
Congratulations to Franco Chevalier, MD, MPH, and colleagues on this excellent and timely work highlighting a disease that continues to challenge us globally.
Few realize how Treponema pallidum may have changed Europe more profoundly than any war or treaty.
King Henry VIII (1491–1547) — the powerful Tudor monarch — almost certainly suffered from syphilis.
Medical historians point to overwhelming evidence
- painful, foul-smelling leg ulcers
- premature physical and mental decline
- numerous stillbirths and miscarriages among his wives
- and, as medical historian Gerhard Venzmer noted: ‘Seldom has a disease so decisively influenced the course of world history as the syphilis of Henry VIII.’
The consequences were monumental:
When his first wife Catherine of Aragon bore him six children — five lost in infancy — Henry sought to annul the marriage. Pope Clement VII refused.
Enraged, Henry broke with Rome, seized church property, executed dissenters, and founded the Church of England — changing the religious landscape of Europe forever.
His later marriages — Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr — brought more tragedy and death.
By his death at 56, likely from sepsis, his only son had died young.
None of his children produced heirs:
- Edward VI (1537–1553) became king at just nine and died at fifteen.
- Mary I (1516–1558) — known as ‘Bloody Mary’ for her persecution of Protestants — married Philip II of Spain but remained childless.
- Elizabeth I (1533–1603), the ‘Virgin Queen,’ never married.
- Thus, the House of Tudor ended in the third generation.
The lesson:
Diseases don’t just affect individuals — they can redirect the fate of nations.
And as the new JAMA review shows, syphilis is again challenging us today — not politically, but medically and socially.”
Title: Syphilis
Authors: Franco J. Chevalier, Oliver Bacon, Kelly A. Johnson
Read the full article.
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