"Incestuous" marriages of Henry VIII and Claudius: two relevant biblical passages
What Bible verses relate to the allegedly incestuous marriages of Henry VIII and Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet? Mainly two. These may seem contradictory, but examined carefully, make sense.
[Image: Mishneh Torah (Maimonides), Perugia, c. 1400 (Elie Kedouri, The Jewish World, 1979, p. 193). Illuminated Hebrew manuscript. National Library of Israel, Jerusalem. Photo is from replica at the Diaspora Museum, Tel Aviv. Fair use. Via Wikimedia.org.]
First, Arthur Tudor died without any children, so Deuteronomy 25:5-10 seems to apply:
Verse 5 explains: If a brother dies without children (especially a male child in Hebrew biblical culture), his widow should not marry a “stranger” outside the family; a surviving brother should take the brother’s widow as a wife. (This is called "levirate marriage.")
Verse 6: The first child she bears by this new marriage will be considered the child of the dead brother, to carry on his line and legacy. (Yes, very patriarchal.)
Verses 7-10: The surviving brother should be publicly shamed if he fails to do this duty in honor of his dead brother.
These verses serve not only to stress the importance of caring for widows, but also to honor the dead and to continue family patriarchal lines. In oral cultures, people can trace their ancestry many generations back; family lineage is very important. It also gave women in the culture the sense that after having been given in marriage to their husbands, their husband’s family had obligations to care for them if widowed.
It would seem that the Deuteronomy text applied to Henry VIII, since his brother and Catherine had no children.
But there was another Bible passage that Henry VIII thought applied to him:
Leviticus 18 lists many kinds of relationships that are too close in the family, where sexual relations are forbidden (in other words, "incestuous").
Verse 16 says (in the 1599 Geneva translation) not to “uncover” the “shame” (or nakedness) of any “kindred of his flesh” such as a brother’s wife.
This seems to apply more to a prohibition on adultery with a living brother’s wife, but Henry thought it could allow him a way out of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn.
The pope said no. (Dr. Shaina Trapedo noted in an excellent June 27 online lecture that Henry sent messengers to consult Jewish scholars in Venice, who also said no.)
So Deuteronomy 25:5-10 seems to apply to Henry VIII, as Catherine and his brother Arthur had had no children.
But for Claudius, it seems only Leviticus 18:16 applies. He had no obligation to help his sister-in-law Gertrude to conceive a son in the name of his brother: She already had a son, Prince Hamlet. And Claudius married her in part to make the crown come to him, not to his (murdered) brother’s son.
Henry VIII might have found ways to ensure that his brother’s widow was generously cared for.[1] And he might have married someone else for his first bride. But the time for such choices was before marrying Catherine, not after having a child with her.
Hamlet grieves and feels obligated to honor his dead father. Claudius wants the throne and his brother’s wife for himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTES:
[1] English law in Shakespeare's time never followed Deuteronomy 25:5-10 or claimed that when a brother died and left a widow, a surviving brother was obligated to marry the widow, and that the first child of such a union would be considered the child of the deceased brother. In that way, English law seemed to follow the prohibitions in Leviticus more than it followed the systems for caring for widows in Deuteronomy.
One the one hand, one might claim that, as soon as a society finds other ways to ensure that widows are cared for, there would be little need for Christian nations to follow Deuteronomy 25:5-10 and thereby to enforce such systems.
On the other hand, one might observe that (at least nominally) Christian nations often ignored the needs of the poor as they became more focused on profit, and as the church in the late middle ages became more corrupted by money and political power.
For more on the historical context of Henry VIII, his children and marriages, see my previous post with an excerpt from John Erskine Hankins' The Character of Hamlet (1941): https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/06/hamlet-and-incestuous-marriages-of.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POSTS IN THIS SERIES ON THE BIBLICALLY "INCESTUOUS" MARRIAGE OF CLAUDIUS AND GERTRUDE,
AND THE ALLEGEDLY INCESTUOUS MARRIAGE OF HENRY VIII TO HIS FIRS WIFE:
1. Hamlet and the Incestuous Marriages of Claudius and Henry VIII - via John Erskine Hankins - 28 June, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/06/hamlet-and-incestuous-marriages-of.html
2. "Incestuous" marriages of Henry VIII and Claudius: two relevant biblical passages - 30 June, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-bible-henry-viii-claudius-and.html
3. How Hamlet toyed with Elizabethan expectations: Incestuous marriage, adultery, right succession - 5 July, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/07/how-hamlet-toyed-with-elizabethan.html
4. Three challenges to teaching about incestuous marriage in Hamlet - 7 July, 2023
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/07/three-challenges-to-teaching-about.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.
First, Arthur Tudor died without any children, so Deuteronomy 25:5-10 seems to apply:
Verse 5 explains: If a brother dies without children (especially a male child in Hebrew biblical culture), his widow should not marry a “stranger” outside the family; a surviving brother should take the brother’s widow as a wife. (This is called "levirate marriage.")
Verse 6: The first child she bears by this new marriage will be considered the child of the dead brother, to carry on his line and legacy. (Yes, very patriarchal.)
Verses 7-10: The surviving brother should be publicly shamed if he fails to do this duty in honor of his dead brother.
These verses serve not only to stress the importance of caring for widows, but also to honor the dead and to continue family patriarchal lines. In oral cultures, people can trace their ancestry many generations back; family lineage is very important. It also gave women in the culture the sense that after having been given in marriage to their husbands, their husband’s family had obligations to care for them if widowed.
It would seem that the Deuteronomy text applied to Henry VIII, since his brother and Catherine had no children.
But there was another Bible passage that Henry VIII thought applied to him:
Leviticus 18 lists many kinds of relationships that are too close in the family, where sexual relations are forbidden (in other words, "incestuous").
Verse 16 says (in the 1599 Geneva translation) not to “uncover” the “shame” (or nakedness) of any “kindred of his flesh” such as a brother’s wife.
This seems to apply more to a prohibition on adultery with a living brother’s wife, but Henry thought it could allow him a way out of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn.
The pope said no. (Dr. Shaina Trapedo noted in an excellent June 27 online lecture that Henry sent messengers to consult Jewish scholars in Venice, who also said no.)
So Deuteronomy 25:5-10 seems to apply to Henry VIII, as Catherine and his brother Arthur had had no children.
But for Claudius, it seems only Leviticus 18:16 applies. He had no obligation to help his sister-in-law Gertrude to conceive a son in the name of his brother: She already had a son, Prince Hamlet. And Claudius married her in part to make the crown come to him, not to his (murdered) brother’s son.
Henry VIII might have found ways to ensure that his brother’s widow was generously cared for.[1] And he might have married someone else for his first bride. But the time for such choices was before marrying Catherine, not after having a child with her.
Hamlet grieves and feels obligated to honor his dead father. Claudius wants the throne and his brother’s wife for himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTES:
[1] English law in Shakespeare's time never followed Deuteronomy 25:5-10 or claimed that when a brother died and left a widow, a surviving brother was obligated to marry the widow, and that the first child of such a union would be considered the child of the deceased brother. In that way, English law seemed to follow the prohibitions in Leviticus more than it followed the systems for caring for widows in Deuteronomy.
One the one hand, one might claim that, as soon as a society finds other ways to ensure that widows are cared for, there would be little need for Christian nations to follow Deuteronomy 25:5-10 and thereby to enforce such systems.
On the other hand, one might observe that (at least nominally) Christian nations often ignored the needs of the poor as they became more focused on profit, and as the church in the late middle ages became more corrupted by money and political power.
For more on the historical context of Henry VIII, his children and marriages, see my previous post with an excerpt from John Erskine Hankins' The Character of Hamlet (1941): https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/06/hamlet-and-incestuous-marriages-of.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POSTS IN THIS SERIES ON THE BIBLICALLY "INCESTUOUS" MARRIAGE OF CLAUDIUS AND GERTRUDE,
AND THE ALLEGEDLY INCESTUOUS MARRIAGE OF HENRY VIII TO HIS FIRS WIFE:
1. Hamlet and the Incestuous Marriages of Claudius and Henry VIII - via John Erskine Hankins - 28 June, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/06/hamlet-and-incestuous-marriages-of.html
2. "Incestuous" marriages of Henry VIII and Claudius: two relevant biblical passages - 30 June, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-bible-henry-viii-claudius-and.html
3. How Hamlet toyed with Elizabethan expectations: Incestuous marriage, adultery, right succession - 5 July, 2022
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/07/how-hamlet-toyed-with-elizabethan.html
4. Three challenges to teaching about incestuous marriage in Hamlet - 7 July, 2023
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2022/07/three-challenges-to-teaching-about.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.
Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):
https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html
I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider subscribing.
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