How did King Henry 8th get syphilis?

Question

How did King Henry 8th get syphilis?

Answer 1

Most historians believe that Henry VIII never had syphilis. His chronic leg ulcers were probably the result of diabetes, poor circulation and bacterial infection. The reasoning is that syphilis and treatments were well known in the 1500's, so some mention would have been made in his extensive medical history if he had suffered from the disease.

Answer 2

Well there is only ONE way, and it is not from a toilet seat.

Answer 3

Probably a filthy prostitute.

Answer 4

Having s*x

Answer 5

It is not a given that he even had syphilis.  His body was last exhumed in 1812, before today's sophisiticated medical tests were available.

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/13... makes a good case that his ailments were due to diabetes and stroke.

Answer 6

He caught it from a prostitute in a brothel long before his wedding to Katharine of Aragon.

Answer 7

Centuries ago we didn't have any kind of Health or Sexual Education(even if we had...)and people were not aware of VDs being so infectious and transmissible.

But wasn't King Henry VIII devoted to his own lust?

In his late age he couldn't walk anymore,was overweight and he had sores in his legs that wouldn't heal,that could be an indication that he had Diabetes.

Besides many patients an late stages of Syphilis infection develop Nervous System damage,specially in the Brain.There's no record in history that he was going insane(not that I know...)

Answer 8

Probably from one of the dozens of women he boffed during his lifetime.  As much as he got around, it would be unusual if he DIDN'T catch "the French disease", as they referred to it then.

Answer 9

Henry VIII's ulcer appeared in 1528.  Syphilis came to Europe from the new world, no earlier than 1493.  He could have contracted syphilis from a woman named Jane Popyngcourt, the mistress of the French Duc de Longueville, who supposedly led an "evil life," invoking Henry's curiosity and attraction.  Generally Henry preferred women of a higher virtue for his mistresses, despite what Showcase's "The Tudor's" may say.  The show reversed the names of Henry's  sisters and it was Mary, not Margaret, who married the Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon.  The two men did "carouse" with many women, and It is not impossible for him to have acquired syphilis.

     The first well-recorded European outbreak of what is now known as syphilis occurred in 1494 when it broke out among French troops besieging Naples.  The French may have caught it via Spanish mercenaries serving King Charles of France in that siege.  From this centre, the disease swept across Europe. As Jared Diamond describes it, "when syphilis was first definitely recorded in Europe in 1495, its pustules often covered the body from the head to the knees, caused flesh to fall from people's faces, and led to death within a few months." In addition, the disease was more frequently fatal than it is today. Diamond concludes that "by 1546, the disease had evolved into the disease with the symptoms so well known to us today." [see wikipedia "Syphilis"]  

     This means that Henry would have encountered the disease in it's more virulent, deadly form.  Mercury was also an established "cure" (I won't say how) in Henry's time, and none of Henry's medical records point to such an action.  J.J. Scarisbrick, a biograper of Henry's, believed that the ulcers were varicose in nature, and the constant application of leeches cause the leg to be thrombosed.   A more recent theory by Sir Arthur McNally in his book, "Henry VIII, a Difficult Patient," provides that Henry's ulcer was caused by osteomyelitis, dating back to a jousting injury.  The disease would produce the hideous pus-ridden sores, but would explain the intermittent nature of the ulcers.

Answer 10

He waz caught l*****g railings m8 he gt a dose of thrush 1st tho...

Answer 11

From all his fooling around with women.

Answer 12

Actually is still in debate of whatever he died from. It sounds more like a Diabetes problem to me, especially that wound in his leg that would not heal. But it could have been anything,  16 century medicine was no better than when it was in the Middle Ages, so he was doom anyway

Answer 13

The same way anyone gets it, from someone infected with the disease.

Answer 14

From having too many sexual affairs with numerous of court ladies both married and single, and he married six times before his death.

Syphilis is a curable sexually transmitted disease caused by the Treponema pallidum spirochete. The route of transmission of syphilis is almost always by sexual contact. King Henry VIII died because there were originally no effective treatments for syphilis.