Although Henry's daughter, Elizabeth, is usually called the quintessential Renaissance monarch, it was only because of his influence that the flowering of English poetry and drama, in the guise of Spencer and Shakespeare, was possible under her authority. It is said that "Henry was the first English monarch to be educated under the influence of the Renaissance," because he was learned in the sciences and the humanities as well as in theology (Jokinen, 2006)
He was an accomplished player of many instruments and a composer" ("Henry VIII," History of the Monarchy: The Tudors, 2007). During their courtship, Anne Boleyn and Henry exchanged frequent letters, often in poetry (Jury, 2001)
"Central to the idea of the new Tudor court, as it had been to the earlier notion of a 'New Monarchy' in the sixteenth century, is the claim that the powerful, 'over mighty' barons of the fifteenth century were transformed in the sixteenth into court politicians and so denied the advantages of their local influence and power. This 'taming' of the great magnates and creation of courtier nobility formed both the basis of Henry's power and the foundation stone of the newly politicized court" (Walker, 1997)
This turn of events would leave Henry Fitzroy as the only identifiable heir to Henry VIII, and he would be plagued with internal dangers. For Henry, who was a devout catholic, his inability to produce a male heir with Catherine represented a sign from God that He was displeased with the marriage between them -- after all, she was his brother's widow (Bagley, 57-8)
Unfortunately, "Since he was the second son, and not expected to become king, we know little of his childhood until the death of his older brother Arthur, Prince of Wales." (Eakins 2005)
Yet for a time, antagonisms between the English and Spanish waned when Louis XII died and a new French king was crowned: King Francis I. Largely, this was because Henry and Wolsey recognized that any alliance with the French was likely to be an only temporary lull in the ongoing conflict between the two nations (MacCulloch, 165)
Thomas More wrote on the day of Henry's crowning, "This day is the end of our slavery, the fount of our liberty; the end of sadness and the beginning of joy." (Randell, 9)
Objectively, however, it cannot be denied that Henry was a decisive and powerful leader: "Whether the end is benign or evil, great leaders are those men and women who leave their personal stamp on history." (Schlesinger, 7)