clothcatanimation

[latristereina]

Catherine was one of the great queens consort of England. The outlines of her life are well documented in both scholarly and popular biographies. She was born in 1485, daughter of the powerful Spanish sovereigns Isabel of Castile and Fernando II of Aragon (b. 1452, r. Castile 1475–1504, r. Aragon 1479–1516). Her names reveal her blended cultural identity. She was christened Catalina, the Castilian version of the name of her grandmother, Catherine, the daughter of Constanza of Castile and John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster. In early childhood, she was betrothed to Arthur, the Prince of Wales, and afterwards in Castile she was called la princessa de Gales, and in England, the Princess of Wales. They were married in November 1501, but five months later she was a widow. Seven years later, she married his brother Henry, later King Henry VIII (b. 1491, r. 1509–47), and became Queen Catherine of Aragon. Catherine was fluent in Spanish, Latin, French, and English and was patron of humanist luminaries such as Erasmus, Juan Luis Vives, and Thomas More. She was one of Henry’s closest advisers on international diplomacy, she supervised a complex household at half a dozen royal courts, and she managed the operations of her reginal properties. She served as regent of England during a war with Scotland and was the mother of the queen regnant of England, Mary I (b. 1516, r. 1553–58). Her power diminished as it became apparent that she would not bear a son for Henry, but she remained faithful to him as his attentions turned to other women and when he ultimately sought a divorce to marry Anne Boleyn. In January 1536, at age fifty, she died nearly alone in a castle in Cambridgeshire and was buried in a simple tomb in Peterborough Cathedral.

To her English subjects she was Kateryne of Spayne, a foreign-born bride who brought to England her Castilian accent and entourage and seemingly exotic customs. For her symbol as queen, she adopted the pomegranate. This fruit, not native to England, is the “apple of Granada” and the symbol of the Muslim Nasrid kingdom of Granada, which had been recently conquered by her parents. For the members of her household, the pomegranate was a symbol of belonging, an affiliation with the queen, and a mark of social status. For Catherine, it was a memento of a childhood spent in a warmer climate eating figs and oranges and growing up in a society inhabited by Christians, Jews, and Muslims while witnessing the inquisition and expulsion of Jews. But a pomegranate was a doubly ironic choice, symbolizing fertility yet a poignant reminder of Persephone’s annual season in the underworld.

Catalina’s travels began shortly after her birth on 15 December 1485 at Alcalá de Henares. Since she was the fifth child and a girl, the political importance of her birth was not as momentous as that of her brother, Juan. Still, it was the Christmas season, and the family stayed at court and celebrated her birth with banquets and gift-giving. She was swaddled in Breton linen and dressed in green-and-white velvet dresses with gold lace for her baptism, and her maid, Elena de Carmona, was paid 11,100 maravedíes for her service (for comparison, the bishop of Palencia, who baptized Catalina, received 3,650 maravedíes). Fernando left soon after to wage war against the Nasrid leader of Granada while the family spent the winter of 1486 in the north. Isabel took the children to her birthplace, Madrigal, where the royal residences blended Romanesque, Gothic, and Mudéjar styles. They then moved on to Arévalo, a small town of tremendous symbolic importance. Steeped in the legends of ancient Iberians, the Visigoths, and the Christian victory at Las Navas de Tolosa during the Reconquest, it was also where her mother, Isabel of Portugal, was born. This gave the queen a moment to spend time with her mother, show off her new baby daughter, and use the occasion to show her children how to serve their parents personally. It was a brief sojourn, however. In the spring, Isabel went to the royal monastery of Guadalupe with all the children, but because they arrived during Lent, there were no royal entry festivities. After Easter, they turned southward to be closer to Fernando. On 11 June, they were in Córdoba to celebrate Fernando’s victory over Boabdil with a solemn procession in which Queen Isabel and infanta Isabel processed on foot from the Great Mosque-Cathedral to the parish church of Santiago. The chroniclers do not say exactly where Catalina would have been in all this, but at six months of age it is doubtful that she would have been active in the ceremonies. The queen then moved on to Illora, Granada, and Moclín, but again the chronicles are silent on the whereabouts of the young children until late June, when Isabel and the children stopped at Córdoba. She dropped off Juan, María, and Catalina at Jaén while she and Fernando went north to Santiago de Compostela. In late fall, the family was reunited in Salamanca and Ávila and spent the winter at Alcalá de Henares.

Tucked away in regional museums in Spain and England are fragments of Catherine’s life, the scattered bits of clothing and shoes that she wore or books she read, the tapestries and little stools that furnished her rooms, and the amulets and votives of saints that were part of her devotional life. These things were saved for centuries because they mattered to her and to those she held dear—the gifts she gave loved ones at New Year’s celebrations, the hooped skirts and gabled headpieces she wore, the jewelry that adorned her neck and fingers, and her shoes. Enameled miniatures worn close to the body were emotional links between Catherine and the people closest to her. Objects owned by Catherine or connected to her in some way can be found in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of London, and regional archives in the English hinterlands. But the work demands patience and persistence. Modern curatorial practices at, for example, the Victoria and Albert Museum group objects related to Catherine by function (World Ceramics), geography (British Galleries), or material (Textiles). This makes sense from a formal typological or iconographic standpoint, but in practice it erases Catherine from the history of British art. Yet her late medieval Spanish sensibility and taste had a profound influence on the Tudor style, from her chapines and her verdugados to a taste for exotic tooled-leather book covers and the demand for Spanish silks, Spanish embroidery, and jewelry. Catherine links them, even though the catalog does not specifically refer to them as relating to her. A connection to Catherine is made explicit only for a lavish wooden writing box and an intricately carved boxwood rosary, and only then because the arms of her second husband, Henry VIII, also decorate both the box and the rosary.

- Theresa Earenfight, Catherine of Aragon. Infanta of Spain, Queen of England

[villanellebeing-gay-iskillingeve]

Villaneve Fanfic Master List 2

Another list of good fics to get us through the cold winter months until season four is on air. 

Albuquerque by oksana1: the antique selling au you didn’t know you needed but you should definitely read it. 

r/relationshipadvice by oksana1: a fun little short fic where [38f] worries about her [27f] roommate being an assassin. 

Common Creatures by coldmackeral: the way this fic is written is just....beautiful. No other way to put it. While it does deal with monsters, it still somehow manages to make it cute? Read it for yourself, but leave the lights on just in case. 

The Calligraphy of Lovers by Fixy: a soulmate au with writing on the skin. A one shot but a fun read. 

Stuck by Fixy: firefighter Eve, need I say more? 

My Favorite Mistake by silasfinch: which is a kinda sci-fi fic wherein Villanelle has a limited amount of time because she’s a mistake experiment. Eve falls for her anyways and they deal with the fallout. 

Nailed by daydreamingoutloud: featuring mechanic Villanelle. One shot. 

The One where Eve and Villanelle can’t stop texting each other: just gals being pals through text message. 

Choose Your Own Adventure: Eve’s Choice by allsorrowborne: this is a choose your own adventure fic and I can’t imagine the effort it took to actually make it work. Check it out, it’s something new and fun to play with. 

Win, lose, or draw by wasiandonuts: which is a political au that has lots of fun hurdles for both Eve and Villanelle. 

I Wanna touch on you( you see me in my room) by astankovas: this fic will not disappoint. Just the right balance of smutty and funny and oh Eve, get your shit together please. 

The Five Times Eve and Villanelle Resisted a Classic Trope (And the One Time They Didn’t) by Spayne: Another fun read, and it’s not too long either. Perfect for when in between cups of hot cocoa. 

For hire by almostfantasia: because who wouldn’t want to hire an escort to their ex-husbands wedding and fall in love with them, oops. 

A Saint’s Just a Sinner by killingsaray: featuring priest eve who doesn’t stay very holy for long cuz Villanelle gets involved ;)

Is This Seat Taken? by vxllanelle1: that has roleplay times for our two murder wives. Smutty and sweet. 

You’re so Golden by astankovas: an olympics AU with sports and smut and sappy times between our two leading ladies. 

[mariacallous]

Sunday 31 December 1665

(Lord’s day). All the morning in my chamber, writing fair the state of my Tangier accounts, and so dined at home. In the afternoon to the Duke of Albemarle and thence back again by water, and so to my chamber to finish the entry of my accounts and to think of the business I am next to do, which is the stating my thoughts and putting in order my collections about the business of pursers, to see where the fault of our present constitution relating to them lies and what to propose to mend it, and upon this late and with my head full of this business to bed. Thus ends this year, to my great joy, in this manner.

I have raised my estate from 1300l. in this year to 4400l.. I have got myself greater interest, I think, by my diligence, and my employments encreased by that of Treasurer for Tangier, and Surveyour of the Victualls.

It is true we have gone through great melancholy because of the great plague, and I put to great charges by it, by keeping my family long at Woolwich, and myself and another part of my family, my clerks, at my charge at Greenwich, and a mayde at London; but I hope the King will give us some satisfaction for that. But now the plague is abated almost to nothing, and I intending to get to London as fast as I can. My family, that is my wife and maids, having been there these two or three weeks. The Dutch war goes on very ill, by reason of lack of money; having none to hope for, all being put into disorder by a new Act that is made as an experiment to bring credit to the Exchequer, for goods and money to be advanced upon the credit of that Act. I have never lived so merrily (besides that I never got so much) as I have done this plague time, by my Lord Bruncker’s and Captain Cocke’s good company, and the acquaintance of Mrs. Knipp, Coleman and her husband, and Mr. Laneare, and great store of dancings we have had at my cost (which I was willing to indulge myself and wife) at my lodgings. The great evil of this year, and the only one indeed, is the fall of my Lord of Sandwich, whose mistake about the prizes hath undone him, I believe, as to interest at Court; though sent (for a little palliating it) Embassador into Spayne, which he is now fitting himself for. But the Duke of Albemarle goes with the Prince to sea this next year, and my Lord very meanly spoken of; and, indeed, his miscarriage about the prize goods is not to be excused, to suffer a company of rogues to go away with ten times as much as himself, and the blame of all to be deservedly laid upon him.1

My whole family hath been well all this while, and all my friends I know of, saving my aunt Bell, who is dead, and some children of my cozen Sarah’s, of the plague. But many of such as I know very well, dead; yet, to our great joy, the town fills apace, and shops begin to be open again. Pray God continue the plague’s decrease! for that keeps the Court away from the place of business, and so all goes to rack as to publick matters, they at this distance not thinking of it.

From Samuel Pepys’s diary, the last day of 1665, during the Great Plague of London

[youaremylittlesunshine]

Eve/Villanelle Fanfic Rec List

A very very long list of my favourite Eve & Villanelle multichapter fanfics that are still in progress.

Quid Pro Quo by Fixy (E) 

Divorces are sad and expensive and time consuming, so it helps when your solicitor isn’t all that bad.

Or!

A divorce au featuring ‘I fell asleep on my arms’ Eve and business attire Barbie

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21637660

Imagine Me And You (And Our Parents) by imunbreakabledude (E) 

“Eve, we are all adults here.”

“It’s hard to take that seriously when you have your hand in my pants.”

-

The chemistry between Eve and Villanelle is obvious and immediate, so it's awkward when they find out their parents are getting married.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22864576

Babysitting Grief by uncreativerabbit (M)

Set after the events of episode five. Eve is stunned when Konstantin approaches her outside a pub on a dreary London day, frantically offering her the world in return for a favour only she can do. Eve is reluctant until she realises that she is the only person in the world for the job. Struggling through both her emotions and Villanelle's, she learns about the why - why Villanelle is like she is, why she is drawn to her inexplicably, and why that bus moment actually happened

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24139228

The Long Way Home by Spayne (M) 

Villanelle is forced to take the long way home.

Eve thinks that perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24943183

Twisting Vines by Kai_ROz (E) 

“You can’t be serious, Bill.”

“I’m perfectly serious. She’s one of the biggest names in the business, a positive word from her would go a long way to getting this place back on the right track.”

“I don’t want or need anything from her.”

“If you say so. But I think you’re making a mistake.”

“So be it. There will be plenty of time for me to rub her stupid, smug review into her stupid, smug face.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24578872

Define Normal by Jean Genie (LetYourselfGo) (E)

How do Eve and Villanelle end up living a not-so-normal life together in a chateau in the south of France nine months after realizing that they can't walk away from one another? A lot of traveling, shopping, kissing, fucking, dancing, laughing, crying, coping, topping, bottoming, murdering, and some truly fabulous food and drink.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24889048

Specialities by villanellesgun (Teen And Up Audiences) 

Eve is an established Trauma Surgeon working at St. Thomas’ Hospital in Central London, England.

Villanelle is a second-year registrar and has transferred to St.Thomas due to an incident at another hospital.

Villanelle still hasn’t completely decided on her chosen specialty, despite the pressure from her peers and consultants, but there’s one thing she is sure of -- Eve.

And Villanelle always gets what she wants.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24766636

The Miseducation of Eve Polastri by Justanothergirl (M)

My own take on "What happens after the bridge scene."

Rating changes in Chapter 5.

Also, Villaneve is canon, y'all. Let's drink to that.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24717658

now we walk by behindthec (M)

“Stay until you hate me.” Post 3x08.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24498097

lost on you by charizona (E) 

“Eve,” Villanelle says. “I can’t stop thinking about you.” There’s a pause, then a breathless laugh. “So I waited a socially acceptable amount of time to call you.”

Eve fights a smile. “It’s been, like, five hours.”

“I am social,” Villanelle argues, “and I’m accepting it.”

OR

A very loose, very chaotic Mr. and Mrs. Smith AU.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24528724

are you bored yet? by crowdyke, Toucanna (M)

They stare at each other for a long time. Thirty seconds after the Season 3 finale, Eve and Villanelle answer the question "Where do we go from here?"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24597121

Albuquerque by oksana1 (Not rated) 

“Eve,” the woman enunciated the name like it was fine art, tongue slipping around each sound with care. She had a cheshire cat smile, and she was suddenly closer, too-close, elbows propped up on the counter, inches away from Eve’s face, “so you are Eve, and you sell artifacts.”

OR

Eve sells antiques in New Mexico. Villanelle is a collector with very specific tastes

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24671413

From The Same Star by almostafantasia (M)

In a world where your soulmate’s initials appear on your skin after you meet for the first time, Eve’s life gets turned upside down when the single letter ‘V’ appears on her abdomen on the same day that a senior MI6 official gets assassinated just down the road from where she works.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24544438

At The Cliff's Edge by filthy_nebula (M)

Eve is living in self imposed isolation along the coast. Oksana washes up one morning after a storm. Cue uneasy domesticity, secrets lives, and confessions in the rain à la Notebook (2004).

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19732525

The Heat of the Moment by imunbreakabledude (M)

Olympic boxer Oksana Astankova is looking to break into MMA.

Sought-after manager Eve Polastri is looking for a brand new fighter to coach from the ground up.

They'll beat the crap out of everyone in their way.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23262682

Death Wears McQueen by HenryMercury (E)

Reporting on Fashion Week isn't the investigative journalism Eve Polastri signed up for.

That is, until a runway assassination and a one night stand throw her into the path of Oksana Astankova—the unbearably hot new Editor of Villanelle Magazine.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24404530

Love at First Swipe by estvillanelle (M)

The tinder AU no one asked.

Eve's being catfished.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24451078

these mortifying ordeals by coldmackerel (M)

it only takes one summer to: retire, go on holiday, try fishing, get half-stabbed to death in the aftermath of a fallen global crime conglomerate, fake your death, get nostalgic for an ex, show up unannounced, get answers.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23364403

Two wrongs make a right by Vracs (E)

Just two morons on a mission to take down the bad guys and get in each other's pants.

No but seriously, it's a little story of give and take, hard and soft, until they finally meet somewhere in between.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24026908

Notting Hill by Wrongplaceperson (Teen And Up Audiences)

Eve Polastri is the owner of a quaint little bookstore in London.

Villanelle Astankova is a Hollywood superstar.

Villanelle lives in Beverly Hills. Eve lives in Notting Hill.

Their lives couldn't be more different

They meet when Villanelle visits Eve's bookstore one morning.

Will this meeting change their lives?

Notting Hill AU

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24647626

what we deserve by lisewrites (M)

“But I deserve to be kissed nicely. I want you to kiss me nicely Eve.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24717211

You, Me and The Twelve by HardSeltzer (Teen And Up Audiences)

Eve and Villanelle are competing CEOs fighting for the biggest deal. Who will come out on top? Or will they just end up on top of each other?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24361501

darkest minds by deletetheadjectives (M)

Almost two years after Rome, Eve is living a bitter life as a dish washer in London—the only job she could get without proper identification when Carolyn made sure Eve Polastri was dead to those who knew her.

Following a tip from an unexpected source, Eve learns of Villanelle’s location: working as a waitress in a diner in the Middle-of-Nowhere, USA.

And so Eve’s plans for revenge start to form…

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20825711

My Darling, I Am Yours (And You Are Mine) by Trufreak89 (M)

“Shh. It’s okay.” She tenderly tucks a strand of the woman’s hair behind her ear. “I’ve got you, Eve. I’m going to look after you… You’ll see.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18965383

She's (Not) Afraid by villanellessuit (M)

Villanelle sticks by her 'no dating rule' until a certain curly-haired woman makes her a coffee on her way to work one cold morning.

or

That one where Villanelle is a rich interior designer and Eve is the owner of an unsuccessful coffee shop.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24668410

and i like the way you kiss me (don’t know if i should) by taare (Teen And Up Audiences)

Having Eve this close again is intoxicating.

Eve, for her part, is looking directly at her, breathing hard, eyes wide open, closing the distance between them.

And then Eve’s lips are on hers, and her eyes are still open — Villanelle knows, because her eyes are open too — and she does not know what to make of this new sensation because how do you react when what you’ve been chasing for the better part of a year (and maybe your whole life?) finally catches up to you?

—

If Episode 3 had ended the way we all wanted it to.

I can't, I won't. by p28 (M)

POST 3x08. Sooooo not only do we get survive 3x08 but now we also have to survive until s4 so rip us clowns.

"I can't, I won't."

"Aren't you quite the romantic?"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24505006

Powerful Beyond Measure by Kai_ROz (E)

After their encounter on the bus, Villanelle knows she has the upper hand and wants to make her next move ...

OR

Villanelle is a chaotic idiot when it comes to Eve.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23925631

First Comes Marriage... by melvncholymvmi (M)

'"So," Hugo asked, grinning as wide as the Cheshire cat, "how's the sex?"

"I have had better." Villanelle responded with a shrug as she stared Eve down.

"Baby, you've never had it as good as me." Eve replied, grip on the crystal tumbler tightening.

"We will see."

Fuck, she hadn't meant that the way it came out. Or had she?'

OR

The Proposal AU where Villanelle's visa expired and Eve needs her to stay.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23685679

Say Something Before I Go Crazy Now by KillingVillanelle (Not rated)

"I was wondering if we could switch to weekly sessions?" Villanelle asks, biting her lip to contain a smirk.

"Why?"

"Well, with this movie and stuff. I'm worried it might stir up some stuff and you are so good at helping me. Only if you can fit it in your schedule."

"I can. Anything to help you," Eve says, not hiding the way her eyes traveled down to Villanelle's lips.

"Anything?"

Or the one where Eve is a very ethical and rule following therapist and Villanelle is her most challenging client to date.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22281589

Enemies With Disregard by yotoob (Not rated)

It's probably easier for them to not be in the same room, at least for a while.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19163476

Home by emdash90 (M)

The interior design slow-burn romcom AU literally no one asked for.

OR!

Newly single and (begrudgingly) ready to mingle, Eve trudges her way through the unspectacular world of online dating as she takes on an 8-week interior design reno with Konstantin's niece at the helm.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21538177

Oceans Brawl by emdash90 (M)

When time slinked forward, glacially, endlessly, and Eve had run out of ways to keep herself distracted, her attention diverted, her thoughts desperately anchored to anyone, anything else — there she was.

Waiting to bulldoze through the delicate balance of sanity she had managed to piece together, grain by grain, since Villanelle had set her world alight with a douse of gasoline and a match tossed carelessly over her shoulder.

or

Thrown in opposite directions in the aftermath of Rome, Eve and Villanelle find their own ways to cope with the fallout. But with the Twelve knocking on both of their doors, it's only a matter of time until these two are reunited — whether they like it or not.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20129578

Ghost of Murder's Past by Aerstes (M)

TAKES PLACE AFTER THE SEASON 2 FINALE SO SPOILERS BEWARE. Eve is recovering in the hospital. A familiar face begins to appear while she sleeps. I have no idea where this story is going...

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19021294

If she belonged to me by songforeverystory (M)

Post Season 2. Eve is recruited as Villanelle's handler. Neither are very happy about it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19860391

Now I Don't Feel Those Kinds of Things by saltandsunscreen (M)

“Do you two know each other?” Elena asks, passing Eve a fresh cup of coffee. “You and the new lawyer, I mean.”

For a second, Eve imagines telling her everything. Saying, remember that night Niko left last year, and I thought we were really one? Well, I went out, got drunk, met her, and we fuc--

Eve can’t even make her pretend-self confess it all to Elena, not under the stark fluorescent lighting of their office. She can’t come up with a good lie, either -- a whole two seconds after seeing Villanelle again, her brain is still busy numbly cataloguing her every too-fast breath and rushed heartbeat. “Uh, I’m pretty sure we ran into each other at a conference, once?”

“Oh.” Elena pauses. “I wish I had her jacket. Her outfit is amazing.”

Eve’s smile would probably be a little less fake if she could entirely convince herself that she’s also thinking about Villanelle’s clothes, and not what’s underneath them.

But she and Niko are trying, right? So she smiles harder.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19113304

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

Those times when a marriage was proposed between Philip of Spain and Elizabeth Tudor...

Thereupon he began to speak to me of the marriage of the prince of Spain with this bastard whom they call Princess; but, seeing my looks, he said no more than two words, and without my saying anything he made answer that he supposed your Majesty would not listen to it out of consideration for the Princess your cousin.

Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys to Charles V, reporting his conversation with Thomas Cromwell. 7 March, 1535. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol8/pp124-149

Commission to Stephen bp. of Winchester and Thomas bp. of Westminster to treat with plenipotentiaries of Charles V., for marriages (1) between the said Emperor and Lady Mary, the King's daughter, (2) between Prince Edward, the King's only son, and Lady Mary, daughter of the said Emperor, and (3) between Prince Philip, the Emperor's only son, and Lady Elizabeth, the King's daughter.

23 October, 1545. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol20/no2/pp286-300

The King perceives by your sundry letters your proceedings on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday (fn. n5); and, as for your desire to know his full determination and be thoroughly instructed how to proceed by degrees with the Admiral of France and his colleagues, his Majesty has willed us to signify that "if he had made his platform he durst, for the opinion he hath of your discretions, wisdom and long experience, commit the building thereupon unto you, as to men of trust;" but, as the ground upon which he is to draw must first be had, he cannot prescribe as you desire, and prays you to follow your first instruction and learn what the French offer. Meanwhile you may fish out what is to be had of the Emperor in the matter of the treaty, "which his Majesty calleth the ground for him to draw his plat upon," and therefore prays you to be diligent therein. As Skipper thought it reasonable that in the new treaty Boulloyn should come into the defence as well as Calais "(Mary ! he said it not to be charged withal again)" his Majesty may be the straiter laced toward France; but until the Emperor has shown himself the King sees no cause to relent to any arbitrament. As to the sequestration of Boulloyn which the French vaunt themselves to hope for by means of the Protestants it was before your departure my lord of Winchester, moved by the Commissaries of the Protestants here and misliked by every man so that you may be sure the King means it not, nor to do one jot more by means of the Protestants than of the Emperor, and not so much if the Emperor go through friendly with him. He prays you not to forget his aid due there and that the good towns and states of the Low Countries may be obliged to the performance of the treaty, which is a thing that tends to their benefit. We send you herewith a commission to treat upon the marriages, and, as written before, that of my lord Prince is to be most "advanced and if the Emperor's lips water (as that fox (fn. n6) said) at my Lady Mary to advance that also as well as the other." We look hourly to hear from you.

"You must also, if there be any practice in hand for marriage with the Prince of Spayn and France, set forth the marriage of my Lady Elizabeth." 

Signed by Russell, Hertford, Browne and Paget. 

The Privy Council to Gardiner and Thirlby. Wyndesour, 10 November, 1545.  http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol20/no2/pp349-365

Thanks for his discretion in the conference signified by his letters of the 23rd. He shall give ear alone to Sturmius or any other making like overtures; which overtures are not to be declared to my lord of Winchester or to his colleagues until the King shall so command. Considering the crafty devices of France to make profit, now at the King's hand and now at the Emperor's, he shall tell Sturmius that, upon consideration, albeit he is addict to peace and would rather have it by their mediation than otherwise, he dare not advertise the King of the overtures until they have better considered them; for, having been privy to the King's secret affairs, he has known the French king to pretend "fair weather" when he meant nothing less (and here, using a great conjuration for secrecy, he may instance the letters (fn. n2) sent hither written, as Skipper said, out of France for avoiding what pacts they listed upon pretence of the Bp. of Rome's authority), and therefore it were expedient to prove whether they can induce the French king, during this treaty of a league defensive between their masters and France, to forbear treating any marriage with the Emperor and suspend the talk for Myllayn and Piemont until that league is concluded and some way taken in this matter of peace. Thus, he shall say, they shall both decipher the French king's meaning towards them and encourage him (Paget) to write to the King. Bulloyn, he shall say, by which he supposes that Bullonoys is also understood, is no occasion for the King to forbear so great sums of money as are due and have been spent in this war; if, besides, the French king would give Ardre, a dog hole which serves only to expend treasure and cause contention, and the rest of the county of Guysnes, there would be more hope of success in this conference. In this way Paget may assay whether they will utter larger offers and decipher what assurance they can give. If, for answer to the above touching the French king's forbearing to treat of the marriage, they require the semblable touching the treaty which they mentioned between the Emperor and Lady Mary, and the Prince of Spain and Lady Elizabeth, Paget may say, as of himself, in confidence, that if they obtain the French king's written promise therein, he will move the King to do the like touching those marriages.

Henry VIII. to Paget. 29 November, 1545. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol20/no2/pp426-456

After conclusion of this "esclarisshment," if there appear likelihood of the Admiral of France coming thither, Gardiner shall devise some pretence for remaining there, the better to learn their proceedings; and before the Admiral's arrival, as soon as his coming is certain, Gardiner shall, as of himself, propone eftsoons to Skepperus or other the overture for marriage between the Prince of Spain and Lady Elizabeth, dissuading the bestowing of that Prince upon the daughter of France, for "the deformity of the person" and other considerations.

The Privy Council to Gardiner, Thirlby and Carne. 26 December, 1545. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol20/no2/pp518-547

Your Majesty will send me orders if I am to move in this, and if you have a copy of the will it would be advisable to see it again, as also the marriage treaty, and although as I have written to your Majesty it is very early yet to talk about marriage the confusion and ineptitude of these people in all their affairs make it necessary for us to be the more circumspect, so as not to miss the opportunities which are presented to us, and particularly in the matter of marriage. For this and other reasons (if there be no objection) it will be well to send me a copy of the (marriage) treaty, which, though it may not be very necessary, will at least serve to post me up as to what would be touched upon, although a new treaty would be different from the last.

Count de Feria to Philip II. London, 21 November, 1558. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol1/pp1-6

We must begin by getting her into talk about your Majesty, and run down the idea of her marrying an Englishman, and thus to hold herself less than her sister, who would never marry a subject. We must tell her that one of the reasons the Queen now in heaven, disliked her was her fear that if she died your Majesty would marry her (Elizabeth) ; and then place before her how badly it would look for her to marry one of these men whilst there are such great princes whom she might marry. After that we can take those whom she might marry here and pick them to pieces one by one, which will not require much rhetoric, for there is not a man amongst them worth anything, counting the married ones and all. We can then remind her of the claims of the Queen Dauphine (Mary Queen of Scots) and the need for her (Elizabeth's) being allied with your Majesty or with someone belonging to you and so on, to the other reasons we can allege against her marriage here. When she is dissuaded, if she inclines to your Majesty it will be necessary for you to send me orders whether I am to carry it any further or throw cold water on it and set up the Archduke Ferdinand, because I do not see what other person we can propose to whom she would agree.

Count de Feria to Philip II. London, 14 December, 1558. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol1/pp7-21

Many great difficulties present themselves and it is difficult for me to reconcile my conscience to it as I am obliged to reside in my other dominions and consequently could not be much in England, which apparently is what they fear, and also because the Queen has not been sound on religion, and it would not look well for me to marry her unless she were a Catholic. Besides this such a marriage would appear like entering upon a perpetual war with France, seeing the claims that the queen of Scots has to the English crown. The urgent need for my presence in Spain, which is greater than I can say here, and the heavy expense I should be put to in England by reason of the costly entertainment necessary to the people there, together with the fact that my treasury is so utterly exhausted as to be unable to meet the most necessary ordinary expenditure, much less new and onerous charges : bearing in mind these and many other difficulties no less grave which I need not set forth I nevertheless cannot lose sight of the enormous importance of such a match to Christianity and the preservation of religion which has been restored in England by the help of God. Seeing also the importance that the country should not fall back into its former errors which would cause to our own neighbouring dominions serious dangers and difficulties, I have decided to place on one side all other considerations which might be urged against it and am resolved to render this service to God, and offer to marry the queen of England, and will use every possible effort to carry this through if it can be done on the conditions that will be explained to you.

The first and most important is that you should satisfy yourself that the Queen will profess the same religion as I do, which is the same that I shall ever hold, and that she will persevere in the same and maintain and uphold it in the country, and with this end will do all that may appear necessary to me. She will have to obtain secret absolution from the Pope and the necessary dispensation so that when I marry her she will be a Catholic, which she has not hitherto been. In this way it will be evident and manifest that I am serving the Lord in marrying her and that she has been converted by my act.

You will however not propose any conditions until you see how the Queen is disposed towards the matter itself, and mark well that you must commence to broach the subject with the Queen alone as she has already opened the door to such an approach. In my marriage treaty with the late Queen it was stipulated that my Netherlands dominions should pass to any issue of the marriage, but as this condition would be very prejudicial to my son (Carlos) it must not be again consented to. Nothing has been said to the Pope nor is it desirable until the Queen's consent has been obtained.

Philip II to Count de Feria. Brussels, 10 January, 1559. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol1/pp21-26

[intothewideopenspaces]

Community and Calling

For me, community and calling are very much tied up with each other. Over the last month or so, as my journey of discernment has taken a step forwards, community seems to be both the means and the end to which I discern my calling. In the years since I first felt a calling - though I was unsure what this was to - there was always an interest in intentional community running alongside my journey of discernment. From exploring new monastic expressions of community with a small group and my developing interest in traditional monasticism, right through to my involvement with the LGBT+ community of which I am part, community is something which I have kept returning to, something which I have felt drawn to.

It was for this reason that I joined the Way2Community, a ministry experience scheme where I have been exploring my vocation in more depth and from more experience, but also, importantly, a community of people on a similar journey to my own, committed to each other and supporting each other as we live, work, and pray together. The support and care of community is visibly lived out as we discern side by side, each our own path for the future, but for now, our paths converge. I am reminded of a verse from the song Alone Together, by Paul Brain, on Northumbria Community's CD of the same name:

Though I cannot live out what God's planned for you

As our lives converge let us take the same path

Encouragement be in our hearts, on our lips

As we seek to serve the King

I have been particularly aware of this communality over the last month as my vocation has begun to unfold more. This was particularly as a result of the essay I wrote as part of the discernment process, which I decided to title, 'What would monasticism be for me?'. This was following on from my previous essay, 'What is a priest?', as I felt that since I have been discerning between priesthood and monasticism, doing a roughly equivalent essay on monasticism would be valuable - and it was! I decided to make it a more personal reflection than my priesthood essay had been, focusing on Benedictine monasticism and exploring the aspects of it which particularly draw me, the things which I have questions about, and the reasons that I came to believe that monasticism may be what I am called to.

As I was writing the essay, I noticed that I was much more excited about the possibility of monasticism than priesthood, and as I learnt more about a monastic community which I will be doing a two week placement with soon, I realised that many of the things I had questions about were being answered - pretty much leaving me just with all the things that attract me to Benedictine monasticism, and very little that doesn’t. I also reflected that monasticism fits more comfortably and authentically into my experiences of calling across the years than priesthood. And so as I made the terrifying yet exhilarating admission that, 'I think I am called to be a monk, and I think I want to be a monk', I was surrounded by the community, encouraging me, helping me articulate my discernment, and trying to assure me that wanting to be a monk isn’t *that* ridiculous. I still have lots of discernment to do, lots of things to experience and test out, but I feel (a little bit) confident in saying that my vocation is to monasticism.

Throughout all this, community life continues, in all its times of busyness and its times of quietness. Easter came and went complete with new experiences as well as familiar ones. We went to the Chrism Mass at Truro Cathedral (a first for me), and joined in with Falmouth and Penryn Churches Together's walk of witness on Good Friday before going to services in our respective parishes. On Easter Sunday, we went to Truro Cathedral's Easter Vigil (also a first for me and rather higher, and earlier, than I am used to, though I did sincerely enjoy it!), again before going to services in our respective parishes.

More recently, we had a busy few days with various opportunities. Last Saturday, the Way2Community was invited to lead opening worship for diocesan synod, though we couldn’t stick around for long after the opening worship as we had various other commitments. The next day, I was preaching again, this being the third time I have preached. It was Vocations Sunday, so I enjoyed the challenge of relating my experience of vocation and discernment to the very different context of the congregation's experiences of vocation and discernment. Then on the Monday, we were leading a service in one of the local care homes with a couple of others from Falmouth and Penryn Churches Together. Only one resident came along, since it was such lovely weather and most of the regulars had gone out for the day, but the service felt very peaceful and worthwhile. After that, in the afternoon, I headed up to the university campus where I have just begun my placement with the chaplaincy team.

And so we as a community continue to walk our paths as they converge and as we discern and experience and pray. There’s a painting which I found some weeks ago, called Forest Path by Val Spayne, which I used to pray with one night, which particularly reflects to me this journeying. It shows the two paths converging into one, which as it gets further and further away, becomes less clear as to where it goes, which way it will turn, but the path for now is marked out clearly.

[latristereina]

When Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536) moved to England in 1501 to marry her first husband, the Tudor prince Arthur (1486–1502), she brought shoes. Lots of shoes. Her shoemakers, Diego de Madrid and Diego de Valencia, had started to make her shoes when she was two years old and continued to do so until she left for England at the age of sixteen. That year, 1501, they were very busy men. The detailed accounts of Gonzalo de Baeza, Queen Isabel’s treasurer (continuous from Catherine’s birth in 1485 to Isabel’s death in 1504) note that the royal shoemakers crafted fifty-one pairs of soft leather buskins (borçeguies), short boots that came up over her ankles, and sixty-eight pairs of black leather slip- pers (servillas; also spelled xervillas). It is likely that her baggage also included cork-soled platform mules known as chapines, probably covered in velvet and intricate embroidery such as those made for her in 1497: “twelve pairs of chapines from Valencia for the infantas [María and Catherine], six of them one hand high and the other six three fingers high, at 175 [maravedís] each, some of them more, totaling 1,990 [maravedís]”. These chapines were a regal variant of shoes that were a staple of Mediterranean societies, sturdy and very handy to keep skirts from dragging through the muck of medieval streets.

The first glimpses of chapines can be found in sixteenth-century drawings, watercolors, and costume books. Given that fashion is the product of observation, does the fact that feet and shoes are not depicted mean that shoes were not considered fashion? It would be decades after Catherine before women’s shoes stepped forward as part of the fashionable attire of a stylish woman.

With her chapines, Catherine brought something fresh and novel to the Tudor court. She brought Spanishness, and with it a wider cultural horizon that encompassed more than just dozens of pairs of shoes. Her arrival signified England’s arrival on an international stage. More broadly speaking, Catherine’s shoes reveal the “capacity of clothing to organize ideas about cultural change.” They can be used to document the transmittal of a culture of style from her home in Spain at Medina del Campo, through her shoemakers in Valencia and Madrid, and the Muslim culture of Granada that was the source of many of the design elements, and ultimately to her new home at the Tudor court in London. The events celebrating her marriage—the allegorical masques and plays, the highly structured processions through London that marked one’s status, family, and affinity relationships—were the culmination of her transformation from infanta Catalina to Ladie Kateryne of Spayne. English kings sometimes married French-born women, but there had not been a Spanish-born queen of England since Eleanor of Castile (1241–90) married Edward I (1239–1307). By 1501, Spain commanded not just the Iberian peninsula but also the Habsburg domains in Central Europe and the Americas. Catherine’s shoes, hats, hooped skirts, and her hair—in fact, her entire wardrobe—was a visual presentation of her foreignness. It marked the move of the Tudor dynasty from a small insular English realm to one far more broadly European in outlook and ambition.

The visual elements of her style signified foreignness, an exotic southern sensibility that startled, even shocked, the English. Her attire attracted comment almost immediately. The English who attended the festivities celebrating Catherine’s arrival in England noted her “attire after the manor of Spain”:

And aftir theim rode the Princes upon a great mule richely trapped aftir the manour of Spayne, the Duke of Yorke on her right hand and the Legate of Rome on her left hande. She was in riche apparell on her body aftir the manour of her contre, and upon her hed a litill hatte fashounyd like a cardinalles hatte of a praty brede with a lase of golde at this hatt to steye hit, her heere hanging down abowt her shulders, which is faire aburne, and in maner of a coyfe betwene her hede and her hatt of a carnacion colour, and that was fastenyd from the myddis of her hed upwards so as men might weell se all her heere from the myddill parte of her hed downward.

There is no mention of shoes, but the anonymous author commented on just about everything else: the other Spanish ladies in the procession (four from England and four from Spain) also had their hair down, wore a red hat like a cardinal’s hat “as the Princes hade.” But they wore black gowns, with black “kerchiers” on their heads “like unto the fachion of a religious woman aftir the maner of Spayne.”

Sadly, there are no detailed descriptions of the many shoes in her wardrobe and few records of gifts given by Catherine until she married Henry in 1509. But Ruth Matilda Anderson, María M. Carrión, María del Cristo González Marrero, and Elizabeth Semmelhack provide vital clues to just what those shoes might have looked like in the early modern period.

First Catherine would don brightly colored, perhaps embroidered, hose made from Holland linen. In the privacy of her chamber, Catherine had two options: a sandal, perhaps the flat-soled cork the Muslims in Spain called an aqraq, or lightweight slippers (servillas) made of fine leather with a very thin sole and closed backs that could be worn inside a chapín. In more public places she would have worn borçeguies [soft leather buskins]. These calf-high or knee- high boots of cloth or leather fit close to the leg, were wide at the heel and narrow at the toes, and were made in a myriad of colors and sometimes adorned with bands of color. The finest quality buskins were made of cordovan leather (named for the Spanish city Córdoba, the etymological source of the English words “cordovan” and “cordwainer,” the term for a shoemaker), but sheepskin was often used too. Made with turnsole construction (put together inside out and turned right-side-out when finished), they could be soled with goatskin, lined with cloth or fur, and could have a modest platform sole.

The chapín was by far the most distinctive and complex shoe. These thick-soled platform shoes were the status footwear of discriminating women of all ages. The basic style is a shoe that was worn over a slipper out of doors. Most Spanish chapines were closer to an overshoe with an inset strap, made for navigating dirty streets and visible, not hidden under skirts. Chapines were ubiquitous and thus unremarkable; so commonplace that they were essentially unmarked by rank or status. The manufacture calls for five layers of cork fragments pegged together with sharp-pointed pieces of cane, wider at the sides, narrow toward the ends, with a rise at the heel. The bits of cork were then covered with leather, frequently goatskin, with an outer sole that was flat and oval. The vamp sections would be interlined, lined with canvas or goatskin, finished along the upper edge with overhand stitching, with pierced holes for lacing up the shoe. Finally, the chapín was decorated with stamped or stitched patterns, gilt trim, and incised tooling in a Hispano-Muslim style with animal or floral designs.

The wide variety of cork-soled footwear spanned gender and rank, but chapines worn by elite women were distinctive. They were excessively high, gilded, jewel-studded, and often embellished with a metal ring around the base of the shoe, as much for durability as for panache. Each pair of these costly chapines could consume as much as half of yard of richly colored velvet or silk to cover the leather, as well as a dizzying array of embellishment options: hand-painted designs, several ounces of silver-gilt ornaments, gold thread, brocade, filigree, and semi-precious stones. It is not the height of the sole but the opulence of many chapines—embellished with embroidery and studded with gems—that moves the fashion off the street and into the royal court. Catherine’s sister Juana was said to have had more than seventy pairs, thirty-seven of which came from shoemakers in Valencia, a city famed for the manufacture of gilt leather. The Spanish passion for chapines crossed the border to Portugal only when another sister, Isabel, before leaving Spain in 1490 to marry King Afonso of Portugal, tucked into her baggage two pairs of chapines embroidered with gold thread that cost more than three-quarters of the price of a team of mules.

- Theresa Earenfight, The Shoes of an Infanta: Bringing the Sensuous, Not Sensible, “Spanish Style” of Catherine of Aragon to Tudor England