How Bizarre Health & Medicine

Explaining Henry VIII’s erratic behavior

Too many hits to the head may explain English monarch’s violent personality

Henry VIII

SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS  Scholars have debated for decades why Henry VIII acted the way he did. Head hits might be to blame.

Royal Collection/Wikimedia Commons

By Laura Sanders

- More than 2 years ago

Hard knocks from jousting, hawking and horseback riding may have left Henry VIII with traumatic brain injuries that muddled his thinking.