This paper examines Henry VIII’s ownership and reading of Marko Marulić’s Evangelistarium. In order to explain the context in which the Evangelistarium entered the Royal Library, the first part of the paper provides an overview of the transformation that Henry’s library underwent in the late 1520s and early 1530s, when royal agents and scholars searched for evidence to justify Henry’s growing doubts about his marriage to Katherine of Aragón. The second part of the paper focuses on Henry’s marginalia in his personal copy of the Evangelistarium, one of the most heavily-annotated books to survive from Henry’s library, and demonstrates that an examination of the King’s marginal comments provide important insights into his theological concerns and the development of his thinking concerning his marriage, papal authority and his relationship with god.
Abstract: Clarke, A. Henry VIII and Marko Marulić’s Evangelistarium. // Colloquia Maruliana 20(2011), 167-174.