#patents of nobility

[pincheasstronaut]

@patents-of-nobility , I’m glad you liked. Highly recommend Larry June

[afrotumble]

JAY ELECTRONICA | Act II: The Patents of Nobility --- FULL ALBUM w/ VISUALS

[thebenjiblackwoodexpress]

Delicate part.1

Description: As a young knight, Ser Gwayne Hightower journeys to King's Landing to take part in his first tourney. Eager to see his beloved sister Alicent and prove himself to his distant father, Gwayne finds himself enamoured by Alicent's friend.

Part 2

Writer's note: Elizabeth here. I thought I would try my hand at writing a story for the icon that is Gwayne Hightower. The reader/Y/N of the story will be on the asexual spectrum.

Warnings: Female reader/Y/N, but I won't be going into details about their appearance. Team Green sentiments. Positive sentiments towards Alicent (I can't help it, I love her).

The sun shone over King’s Landing, a gentle breeze carrying the scent of salt and spice from the port and markets of Fleabottom across the air, as a young knight rode towards the Red Keep. As the imposing structure of the Red Keep came into view, Ser Gwayne Hightower struggled to fully suppress the trepidation he felt as he approached the entrance and was hailed by two guards.

“Who goes there?”

Pushing his nervousness as a young knight of but ten and seven years aside, he schooled his expression into one conveying the confidence of a knight far beyond his years. Arriving at the King’s stronghold to compete in his first tournament against other knights, not just bannermen of the Hightowers from Oldtown, he attempted to conceal any signs of apprehension from his features.

“You may announce the arrival of Ser Gwayne Hightower, son of the Hand of the King, my good man, and do make haste about it. The journey has been long, and I would benefit from the illustrious hospitality of your King.” He addressed the guards before him, with not a small degree of arrogance, a smirk on his face.

Presenting his patent of nobility, illustrated with the green and black sigil of his House, with a flourish, he nodded respectfully towards the guards as they granted him admittance to the Red Keep. Riding forth with an air of confidence he did not fully feel, an illusion he was no stranger to assuming, he surveyed the vastness of the King’s stronghold. Meeting the gaze of any knight’s he encountered on his progress with a jaunty smirk and nod in their direction, he dismounted from his horse gracefully, before entrusting it to the care of a stable boy, ruffling the boy’s hair as he did so.

His first order of business was to locate his dear sister, who he had not seen for many months now, but who he sorely missed, living so far away from her as he did in his father’s seat in Oldtown.

Gwayne made his way through the Keep, familiar with the route to the courtyard where he expected to find his dear sister, knowing from her letters and his previous visits it to be the place she often sought repose from the pressures of Court. 

Striding along the balustrade overhanging the courtyard, he knew he was right when he heard the sweet sound of his sister's laughter, accompanied by that of another's. He promptly increased the pace of his strides in anticipation of their happy reunion after months apart. His Lord father's decision to take Alicent with him to King's Landing, leaving him to preside over their seat in Oldtown, had been a source of pain for them both. Two years her senior, Gwayne doted on his sister, even more so after the untimely death of their beloved mother when Alicent was but ten and twelve years old. Gwayne had always sought to compensate for the loss of their mother's loving presence with his attentive care and love towards his sister, something his own father was unwilling or unable to provide them with. Alicent had clung to him and wept when she was leaving High Tower and he was scarcely able to suppress his own emotions, as he tried to comfort her, promising to write to her everyday and to visit when he could.

Alicent had written to Gwayne immediately to inform him that the King was to hold a tourney, asking him to arrive at the Keep a few weeks before the event, so that they could extend their time together. Gwayne had sent his acquiescence to her request by raven the next day, rejoicing at the thought of reuniting with his beloved sister and escaping the suffocating halls of his ancestral home. In the absence of the warmth of his late mother's love and his sister's laugh, as he chased her through the halls, his home had the ominous feeling of being haunted by shadows of long past happiness. 

Hearing more laughter, he looked over the balustrade onto the courtyard below, expecting to call out in greeting to Alicent. He paused, however, when instead of Alicent, he saw another young lady standing in the middle of the courtyard by the white trunk of a tree. Her eyes were closed and she smiled as she counted down from ten, before opening them rapidly and looking about her.

"I'm coming to get you, Alicent!" 

He was arrested in his movements by the sight of her, struck by her pretty features. A smile grew on his own face as he watched their game continue. His heart was warmed to see that his sister had not been without friendship in King's Landing, and this warm feeling extended to the lady searching for his sister below. 

He quietly chuckled in amusement as he saw the girl search this way and that for Alicent, and he slowly made his descent to the courtyard, careful not to make too much noise, and alert her to his presence. 

Approaching the lady, who now searched for Alicent behind the trunk of the tree, with careful steps he bent his torso to lower his head next to hers and whisper conspiratorially near her ear.

"I do believe, my dear Lady, that my sister is to be found yonder, by that bushel." 

Surprised by his presence, the lady let out a high pitched shriek and stumbled back a step, tripping over a raised stump of the tree. 

His eyes widening in alarm, not having truly intended to frighten her, he swiftly reached his arm out to encircle her waist and prevent her from falling. Holding her hand in his free hand, he looked into her eyes with concern.

"Are you well, my Lady? I apologise for startling you."

A brief look of confusion passed over the lady's expression before she processed what had happened, and it was was replaced by a stern one. Holding onto his elbows to right herself, she responded with a chastising tone, promptly removing herself from his hold

"I don't know what you mean by sneaking up behind me, Ser."

Seeing that she was unharmed by his fumble, and seeking to restore himself to her good opinion, he rallied himself.

With a charming grin, he elegantly bowed before her, one hand on his heart and the other taking hers confidently in his to plant a gentle kiss on it. 

"Please accept this Knight's humble apologies, my dear Lady. I had only meant to aid you in your game." 

He frowned slightly as the lady quickly withdrew her hand from his, fearing he had really offended her.

"Spoil it, more likely" Alicent laughed, emerging from behind the bushel Gwayne had indicated a moment ago. 

Pulling his eyes away from those of the beautiful lady before him to meet his sister's sally, Gwayne opened his arms out to her, "sister!"

Alicent needed no further invitation before she ran into his arms and he lifted her up, spinning her half a turn, before returning her to the ground and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Once again turning with what he hoped was a winning smile to the lady before them, Gwayne sought to invest as much charm as he could into his voice.

"I have yet to be introduced to your lovely friend, sister."

Looking up at him with her own stern look, Alicent playfully swiped at his shoulder.

"You have already made a mess of that, brother. You half frightened Lady Y/N to death when you rudely interrupted." 

With an exaggerated sigh, Gwayne responded to his sister's accusation.

"I know I am the basest of villains and I will put myself to the sword forthwith if the Lady Y/N will not forgive me my crime." He rejoined, solemnly, bending his head in mock dejection, even as he really did feel contrite to have frightend the young lady.

Slapping him on the back of the head, which had Gwayne holding his neck in mock pain, Alicent pressed her index finger to his chest and warned him.

"Y/N won't be charmed by your antics, Gwayne. I have warned her of them beforehand."

Smiling indulgently down at his sister before looking over at the lady Y/N once again, who he rejoiced to see smiling in amusement at the two siblings, he held his hand to his heart dramatically, as if her words were an arrow through it.

"You wound me sister. I was under the impression you had asked me here to be your champion at the upcoming tourney, precisely because I am the most charming of knights. I hadn't realised I needed to be good with the lance too. An unfortunate oversight. I had thought my charming smile would be enough to fend the other knights off."

The laughter of the ladies at his antics sounded like the delicate chime of bells to him, and he was elated to have entertained them both and, hopefully, returned himself to the good favour of the pretty lady before him. 

Meeting her gaze with his own, a softened expression on it, which communicated his contrition for having startled her, despite his jesting, his heart fluttered as she met his gaze with an amused smile.

"I'm afraid you are to meet a swift and brutal defeat, Ser, if your charm is the only weapon in your arsenal."

Laughing heartily at her wit, he winked in response.

"Fear not, sweet ladies, I have a few tricks up my sleeve, should my smile not be enough to blind the other knights. Although I am convinced that it will be."

As introductions were made, the three sat together underneath the russett foliage of the tree above them, exchanging recollections from their childhoods and talking excitedly of the plans they had to make the most of their time together before the tourney.

After an hour or so had passed of Gwayne delighting in amusing the ladies with his, admittedly, embellished tales of gallantry and heroism, his face fell slightly.

The sparkle in his eye diminishing, he turned to Alicent.

"With regret, my dear ladies, I have tarried too long in your sweet company and must present myself to my father."

Alicent looked commiseratingly at her brother, knowing as she did how little her Lord Father cared for his son's presence. 

"I'm sure father will be most pleased to see you. In any case, I certainly am." 

Looking up at his sister from his somewhat reclined position along the grass, in front of the two ladies, his expression softened and he squeezed her hand affectionately before jumping up. 

Bowing before the ladies respectfully, he wished them a good afternoon before turning on his heel in the direction of his father's apartments, little expecting a happy reunion. 

Otto Hightower's reception of his son was as cold as he had expected it to be but, mercifully, short. He had only expressed his expectation that his son would perform to the honour of their House at the upcoming tourney, and shown him his living quarters, which were along the hall from Alicent's.

At dinner, Gwayne and Alicent had only been able to exchange glances at one another in solidarity. He had sought her out in her own apartments afterwards to catch up on the events they had missed in each other's lives over the course of months of separation.

With a boyish timidity, Gwayne asked Alicent if he might join her in her activities the following day, outside of his own training schedule. Looking indulgently at her brother and taking his hand in hers, she responded in a light, jesting tone.

"Why on earth do you think I asked you here, if not to spend time with me, you fool?"

Smiling at her in earnest now, Gwayne playfully tapped his chin.

"As I said, sister, my charming smile and dashing manner will be your champions at the tourney." 

Gwayne allowed himself to fall backwards against the chaise he was sitting on as his sister playfully pushed him in the chest and rolled her eyes at him. 

Smirking at his sister, Gwayne posed his next question with a similarly jesting tone, which he hoped concealed his vested interest in her answer.

"And will your lovely friend be joining us?" He asked, a glint in his eye. 

Alicent swatted him on the shoulder.

"Y/N has been a good friend to me. The days have not been half so long or lonely since I met her. I do hope you two will be good friends. I’ve told her so much about you."

"Nothing good, I hope," he smirked. "I have a reputation as a shameless charmer to maintain."

"Be good, Gwayne. She won't fall for your charm."

Rising to bid Gwayne good night as she left the room, Alicent did not hear Gwayne murmur quietly, "we'll see about that."

Part 2 up

@liafiction @ambrosia-v-black @darknessinside11 @just-some-random-blogger

[memories-of-ancients]

Patent of Nobility issued by King Philip II of Spain to Pedro de Valenzuela of Baeza, March 6th, 1591

from The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

[themalhambird]

Thinking about how Jane Austen's six novels taken together (in writing order, not publication order) become an increasingly scathing criticism of social class, i.e:

Northanger Abbey: Individual members of the gentry (General Tilney, chiefly) come in for some criticism, but mostly on a personal level: General Tilney is a grasping, tyrannical father to be sure but we hear little (though we might easily infer) of what he is like as the resident landholder. The final crisis of the novel, General Tilney's refusal to sanction Henry and Catherine's marriage, is resolved by Eleanor's marriage to a Viscount.

Sense and Sensibility: The "correctness" and "elegance" of the fashionable members of society- the Dashwoods, Robert Ferras, Lady Middleton- are negatively contrasted to the warmness and frankness of Mrs Jennings- whose kind-heartedness makes her more attractive, in spite of her lower-class origins and perceived vulgarity, than Fanny, Lady Middleton or Mrs Ferras (snr).

Pride and Prejudice: The aristocratic Lady Catherine de Bourgh is an interfearing busy body whose title and money only excuse her officiousness and rudeness. Darcy's pride in his superior situation to the Bennets leads him to act wrongly with regard to Bingley and Jane. Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, in trade, are more respectable- certainly better parental figures- than the gentleman Mr Bennet (and Mrs Bennet too). At the same time - Darcy's strengths are displayed in his undertakings as the resident landholder of the Pemberly estates- he supports the poor, and his situation allows him to shield the more vulnerable when he his spurred to act (Georgiana, to a less successful extent Lydia). Wickham's circumstances - debt, etc- could easily be read as the consequences of his wanting to step out of his place- his desire to be the oldest, or at least the second, son of a Mr Darcy- rather than what he 'is'- the son of Mr. Darcy's steward

Mansfield Park: Hey. HEY. look at the shitshow of a baronetcy. Lady Bertram is functionally useless. Sir Thomas is such a bad father that his daughters marry idiots just to get away from him. Also, having money can't give you intelligence or a personality. Most of "fashionable society" are actually miserable and mercenary and also probably immoralistic. The Church is clouded by corruption and isn't actively benefiting the local parish the way it should. The whole thing is underpinned by slavery, and the hardworking Price Children are ultimatley more deserving than the flighty Bertram ones. THAT BEING SAID: the portrait of Mr. Price is hardly better than the one of Sir Thomas, and Mansfield Park does stabilise- indeed, begins grows stronger with the reformation of its heir, and the implication that Fanny and Edmund go on to have children of their own. There is less of a quarrel with establishment, and more of a quarrel with the people who fill it.

Emma: "Gentility is inherent one can sense it in a person-" no you can't lmao shut up. There is literally no inherent difference marking out a gentleman's daughter and a farmer's daughter. Emma's snobbery as to class leaves her, at various times, both isolated and into some *serious* missteps. Emma and Frank Churchill both have a tendency to treat others as playthings, as their money allows them to do so.

Persuasion: The peerage/nobility are patently ridiculous throw them out in favour of [relative] meritocracy and hard workers. Sure, the resident landowners are supposed to be of benefit to those beneath them but they're not, actually, they take all of the privileges and fulfil non of the responsibilities and are pretty much uniformly selfish and our heroine Casts Them Off.

[tansyuduri]

Merlin Loregasm Rewatch S1E2

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my rewatch of Merlin focusing on the lore. I am a giant nerd so pretty excited about this. Time for VALIANT!

So this brings up heraldry in the series. We see Arthur using Camelot heradlry, and other knights doing the same but during tourneys, we see Lots of different other patterned shields. So either people usually use the shield of their overlord in battle but their own in tourneys Or no knights of Camelot besides Arthur appear in tourneys. (I think Lancelot will make this a bit clearer when we get to it.) Either way either this is Valient's family crest, or he serves someone with a family crest. Either way it makes sense for why he murders this dude. As the shield is KINDA a dead giveaway to his identity. (And we know he is a knight or at least is acting as one and pulls it off better then Merlin's later first attempt at identity theft.) They obviously do not require patents of nobility at tourneys because Gwen, Arthur and Merlin pull off a fictional Knight later just fine.

I think he is likely a knight because ARMOR IS EXPENSIVE Y'ALL.

He also says he is from the Western Illes. Because the island of Mora And Ealdor this is the first place we hear about besides Camalot. Does he mean Ireland? I think he means Ireland? ALSO! are you used to my messed up grammar and punctuation yet? I have an LD in both. This is why I always need Betas for my fics despite creative writing being my thing. (I mean besides just wanting them to be better.) (This is an example of autistic oversharing. You are welcome! BACK TO MERLIN!)

So we only see this kinda sparing with Merlin in armor and holding a sword and shield once. (Usually he just holds a target for arthur) However, Merlin does get better with a sword somewhat as the series progresses so I think it likly continues. (Though perhaps a bit more nicely) It's interesting because Arthur has his pick of people to spar with, we see that later. Yet he says "Most Servants collapse after the first blow" So who is he sparing with? Has he been given manservants he didn't like before and just used this to make them quit? ANYHOO this was not as much lore so will not often comment on character dynamics but yesh.

Okay so I will spare you the talk of different armor parts. BUT this is really interesting compared to mentions of "Camalot forged steel"

See many Castles would have their own blacksmith and the one in the villager would be more for horseshoes, nails, and the like. Because armor and weapon making was A BIG DEAL

This implies Gwen's father was a HIGHLY SKILLED blacksmith who likely served the knights of Camalot. (He can't have been the only one because when he dies there is a period of time before Elyan comes and in Gwen's words Gets the forge running again.) But for a regular blacksmith to serve as an armor and weapon maker is a BIG DEAL that kinda knowledge was highly specialized! And yet Uther killed him easily.

OKAY time to nerd out a bit! This is quartering, an advanced heraldic tradition in which an individual for some reason or another wanted to show MORE than one coat of arms they were entitled to. You guys should look all this up, its fascinating! But onward!

Okay yeah remember what I said about Gwens family likely descending back to the Roman times? It's still possible but if Arab knight equivalents can get to Camelot then her family could totally have come from northern Africa for other reasons. Also I like the dude in Mauve having an Anglo-Saxon Helm and the due behind him having one from the 1100s I love Merlin's stew of things from all over history.

Okay this is perhaps just Uther being an ass. Because I'm sorry if you are not the king of Mercia I refuse to belive you are the king of Ireland. (Albion is not united yet.)

Perhaps its mostly knights of Camalot here with some exeptions? I mean if we are creative with the dude CLEARLY of the middle east we can say somehow became a noble of camalot. It would explain a few things. Did Valiant come from Ireland (Sorry I mean The Western Illes) originally then somehow for reasons we will not question also moved to Camalot? (Unlikely as Uther asks him to stay later.) There are also very few people here so likley perliminary tournaments were held? I mean we do see in Lancelot people come from all over to try to be knights of Camalot. so THEORETICLY Uther might be being honest here?

Okay this guys helm is the same as the Arab dude we saw before I think he just took his outher coat off. BUT And some of this gear is very European. So Camalot somehow has an Arab noble family that fights in ancestral gear when they can OR he got repairs along the long journey to Camalot in local styles. Take your pick!)

(You know because I can't be normal and just say they throw this in for visual appeal.)

Something to note! This would normally be the job for a Squire. A Squire was also usually the step before knighthood but in the Merlin world they do not seem to exist!

[shirk-ethic]

In his season on the French Revolution Mike Duncan lays out a pretty broad volley against Marxist historiography, which aligns with my understanding of broad critiques of that theoretical framework, as well as its applicability to the French Revolution. Basically that Marxian historiography looks attractive in the big picture and then loses in the details. Pretty familiar stuff.

I find his comment on this interesting - it's one of the first things that Duncan brings up in the first episode. While I'm sympathetic to the critique of Marxist historiography, which I would not necessarily describe as consistent in quality (much of it inheriting certain problems from theoretical antecedents, specifically a kind of morally inverted or modified Whig historiography and a reliance on stageism), the specific things that Duncan flags as problems for the Marxist narrative are the following:

Portions of the nobility were involved in early proto-capitalist development.

There were bourgeois defenders of aristocratic and noble privilege, primarily because they either had just bought into that privilege, or were attempting to do so.

But I think this only presents an issue if you assume that classes and all their members have to act unilaterally and cannot possibly have divergent or conflictual interests. Which just seems like a silly assumption we have no reason to make, nor to consider a fundamental tenet of a materialist or Marxist lens on historical events. Like, sure, the idea that the French Revolution is the inauguration of capitalism or brought in a political order automatically befitting a new economic order is patently false for a variety of reasons - but what we do see is constitutive parts of capitalism and liberalism appearing within a floundering social order. These constitutive elements were often introduced by feudal institutions (Louis XIV's centralization of political power and the variety of attempted but neutered reforms on law and finance by Louis XV and XVI's ministers), only for those new systems to benefit a class of people that wasn't actually responsible for making them. If Marxist teleology is wrong (and I think it is!), that doesn't actually mean that a materialist history, or a historiography based on class struggle, is wrong.

There's actually a pretty interesting Marx passage on this exact topic, in the section on primitive accumulation:

The industrial capitalists, these new potentates...their conquest of social power appears as the result of a victorious struggle both against seigniorial power, with its revolting prerogatives, and against the regime of the guilds, with the fetters it placed on the free development of production and the free exploitation of man by man. But the knights of industry only supplanted the knights of the sword by exploiting events not of their own making.

(Emphasis mine - when Marx says “appears” or “presents itself as,” it is usually quite notable.)

I remember I once said that liberalism is the political order and worldview birthed by a "nascent capitalism" and somebody disputed this because "liberalism predated capitalism" - which I think misses the use of the term nascent, how a lot of the constitutive elements of what we will come to refer to as capitalism were emerging within older social forms, and it is those emergent new political and economic relationships that encouraged the formation of new blocs of ideas. Like, Weber's argument about the relationship between the moral ideas of Protestantism and early capitalist development isn't unmade by highlighting how Catholic states and social formations were engaged in early capitalist enterprise. This point raises interesting and challenging questions that need to be further elaborated on, but to say that kind of detail disproves the analysis is to kind of misapprehend its object.

To some extent I think this is a problem with overemphasizing discrete moments and periods in history as "revolutions" rather than prolonged processes of social transformation, which Marxists definitely do. I dunno, maybe this is because I don't take "worldview Marxism" especially seriously, but I find it an odd critique.

[power-chords]

History is full of things that lift other things. In ancient Greece, and China, and Hungary, there were systems of weights and pulleys and platforms designed to bring nobility–or their meals–to new heights.

And somewhere below were draft animals, or even people, tasked with turning wheels to bring these early elevators up and down. One man in France spent the year of 1743 inside a chimney, ever in wait of a bell which would ring when he was required to hoist King Louis XV on a “flying chair,” just so the king wouldn’t have to walk up a single flight of stairs.

These elevators were dangerous. Ropes would snap, and then anything getting raised or lowered would plummet to the ground. Fall one story and you break your leg–fall two stories you break your neck. And this fear of falling kept building heights low. People only wanted to ascend as high as they could walk. The tallest buildings at the time were churches and lighthouses–buildings made up primarily of empty space.

And then came Elisha Otis.

Elisha Otis did not invent the elevator. He invented the elevator brake. He gave demonstrations where he would stand on a platform elevated three stories in the air, and have his son cut the rope with sword. And the crowd would gasp as Otis did not plummet to the ground, but remained suspended in the air.

The Otis Elevator Company received a patent for the elevator brake in 1913. Buildings haven’t been the same since.

[fideidefenswhore]

ngl thomas boleyn wanting elizabeth to get his lands got me. i wish people gave him a chance and didn't act like he was some monster. so why didn't elizabeth get them? and is it true henry "seized" hever once thomas' mom was dead? shouldn't that have gone to mary?

It got me, as well.

I'm of two minds on his reputation, however, as far as that goes...I don't think he deserves to be villainized to the extent he has been (he was human, and protective and proud of his family, and cared for them, as several details of evidence suggest, such as Anne's letter from 1513 which he kept 'perfectly preserved'), but also, I do like...get it? He was a flawed man, he was not above throwing his weight around when he felt challenged or disrespected, and his lack of support for his literal daughter when she was widowed (until his other daughter and the King intervened to pressurize him to provide more financial support) cannot be defended.

Also while I do love Mackay's biography and believe it was illuminating, my take was that the apologism went too far. While Boleyn did not sit on the actual jury which condemned two of his children, he did sit upon the one which condemned the lower-ranking men of 'adultery with the Queen'. This was his choice, as much as the narrative of "refuse the King at your own peril" (or, indignatio princips mors est, iyw) remains strong, more often (until it came to issues of supremacy), one refused the King at the loss of their own status, favour, preferment, perhaps wealth and land.

Tl;dr "Thomas Boleyn did not have a choice" gives me the same feeling of when "AB, JS, KH, KP" (sometimes even COA and Anne of Cleves...weirdly) "didn't have a choice in marrying Henry VIII" is said. I'm wary of minimizing the agency and choice of, particularly, those of the highest echelons of society, esp. when we're dealing with an era where victims of brutality of comparatively little agency (Mark Smeaton, etc.) also numbered significantly. The Tudor nobility had more access to choice than most people of their time.

As far as Hever, I don't believe it was seized after the death of Margaret Butler, it does seem to have gone to Mary, although I don't really have a firm grasp on the details (like, my understanding was that it was granted to Anne of Cleves, so...?):

"With no heir, Thomas' properties reverted to the Crown, including his earldoms. Prior to his death, it seemed that Thomas had begun to reconcile with his only living daughter, Mary. Within weeks [of the death of Thomas Boleyn], Thomas' daughter Mary Stafford and her husband [...] received much of Boleyn's property portfolio, including Hever and Rochford Hall." Among the Wolves of Court: The Untold Story of Thomas and George Boleyn, Lauren Mackay

The official Hever Castle website, however, states that James Boleyn inherited Hever and sold it to the crown in 1540 (which would explain how it could be granted to Anne of Cleves, I suppose, although it seems like there's a gap here...perhaps Mary sold it to her uncle, who then sold it to the crown?)

It was specifically Thomas Boleyn's lands in Essex he had wanted to grant to his granddaughter ('begun' to reconcile is maybe key here, he had, for one, not really been supportive of Mary since she was widowed in 1528, and only was when pressurized to do so, & usual precedent would suggest they should have gone to Henry Carey, but then, Elizabeth had not been reinstated into the succesion by the time he made this will, which was probably a factor in his decision, there was no guarantee she'd be entitled to any lands after the King's death in that context); and I haven't had much luck in finding out if they were ever granted to Elizabeth once she reached her majority. The only mention of her ever even holding any property in Essex (while 'Lady Elizabeth') I managed to find was dated during Edward VI's reign and refers to an exchange, not an inheritance:

"In the reissued patent letters of April 1551, Elizabeth lost her Northamptonshire holdings of Apethorpe, Wadehowe, Woodnewton, Tansor, and Yarwell, which as noted earlier had formed something resembling a local concentration of properties. In exchange, she acquired the nearly inaccessible manors of Norton Bawson in Devon and Bysleigh in Gloucestershire, along with some small manors in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Essex." From Heads of Household to Heads of State. The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558. by J.L. McIntosh.

[queenmarytudor]

Mary I's Fight For The Throne

16th July - Mary is optimistic

Lord Wentworth arrives at Framlingham "to avoid the appearance of breaking his pledge, clad in splendid armour", 1 along with other men including Sir Richard Cavendish.

Mary is told Sir John Williams has proclaimed her queen in Oxfordshire 2, and when she learns of Edward Hastings and Edmund Peckham's rebellion sends scouts back with rewards, "so that when they had returned they could let their own people know that their efforts and their loyalty expanded with such resolution and eagerness for their sovereign were very welcome to her Highness; that she was now protected by forces of ample strength and took sure hope, God willing, for a future victory, but that the enemy was too near for her to use their forces or assistance." 3

Mary also receives a letter from the Mayor of Thetford requesting aid from rebels, presumably Northumberland's men. She tells them in a similar optimistic tone that "the expectation is that the pride of the enemy shall in such short space be abated, that they of Thetford may be out of all doubt of their conceived fear." 4

Meanwhile...

Jane writes to Justices of the Peace: "Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well. Albeit that our estate in this imperial Crown whereof we be actually and really possessed, as may appear by our procIamaction, wherein our title is published, is not or can be any wise doubtful to all such our good and faithful subjects, as, setting blind affection apart, do in reason and wisdom consider the very foundation and ground of our tytle, with the great commodities thereby coming thorough God's providence to the preservation of our common weale and policy, yet for that we understand the Ladye Marye doth not cease by Ietters in her name, provoked thereto by her adherents enemies of this realm, to publish and notify slandorously to divers of our subjects, matter derogatory to our title and dignity royal, with the slanders of certain of our nobility and council. We have thought meet to admonish and exhort you, as our true and faithful subjects, to remain fast in your obedience and duty to the imperial Crown of this realm, wheerof we have justly the possession, and not to be removed any ways from your duty by slanderous reports, or of Ietters dispersed abroad, either by the said Lady Marye, or by her adherents, for truly like as the nobility of realm, our Council, our prelates, our judges, and learned men, and others, good, wise, godly, and natural subjects, do remain fast and surely in their allegiance towards us, ready to adventure their lives, lands, and goods, for our defence, so can a great number of the same nobility, council, and judges truly testify to all the world in saving of their conscience, how carefully and earnestly the late king of famous memory, our dear cousin king Edward the sixth, from time to time motioned and provoked them partly by persuasions, partly commandments, to have such respect to his succession, if god should call him to his mercy without issue, as might be the preservation of the crown in the whole undefiled English blood. And therefore of his own mere motion, both by grant of his Ietters patents, and by declaration of his will, established the successors as it is declared by our proclamation. And for the testimony hereof to the satisfaction of such as shall conceive any doubt herein, we understand that certain of our nobility have written to you at this present in some part to admonish you of your duties, and to testify their knowledge of the truth of our title and right. Wherefore we leave to proceed further therein being assured in the goodness of god that your hearts shall be confirmed to owe your duty to us your Sovereign Lady, who mean to preserve this Crown of England in the royal blood, and out of the dominion of strangers and papists, with the defence of all you our good subjects, your lives, lands, and goods, in our peace, against the invasions and violences of all foreign or inward enemies and rebels. Given under our Signet at o' Tower of London, the xvi'' day of July, in the first year of our Reign." 5

Jane shuts the Tower of London gates, and orders the keys sent to her. 6

Bishop Ridley preaches a second sermon against Mary on the streets of London. 7

In Cambridge, Bishop Edwin Sandys preaches against Mary, using a chalice and missal "which Sir George Howard with certain of the Guard had taken that night in M. Huddlestone's house where lady Mary had been a little before, and there had Mass." 8

Following the burning of Sawston Hall, the Earl of Warwick and George Howard argue. Fighting breaks out amongst their camp, and George Howard leaves for Mary "with 50 of the King's best horses." 9

Sources:

1. Vita Mariae Angliae Reginae of Robert Wingfield

2. Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary

3. Vita Mariae Angliae Reginae of Robert Wingfield

4. Acts of Privy Council, Vol. 4

5. The Loseley manuscripts

6. Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary

7. Spanish State Papers, 22nd July 1553

8. The Acts and Monuments, John Foxe

9. Spanish State Papers, 20th July 1553

[wishesofeternity]

"...Elizabeth Woodville had a particular advantage where both she and other members of her family held land. Horrox asserts that "Elizabeth Woodville's possession of the duchy of Lancaster lands in [Hertfordshire] had resulted in a marked Woodville presence here by the end of Edward IV's reign", and reasons that by 1475, strengthened by marriage with several important families, "the queen's interest in East Anglia was regarded as the main instrument of royal authority there". This "interest" was not solely the queen's, because many of the individuals connected to her were also connected to the court in some other way:   "It is more accurate to see the East Anglian affinity as a court connection rather than a narrowly Woodville one."  

...The priorities of landholding are evident in Elizabeth Woodville's most complicated marriage manoeuver. In 1466 the queen married her son Thomas Grey to Anne Holland, the only heir of the duchess of Exeter, who had been granted a sizeable estate in her own name in 1464. In 1469, letters patent placed the queen herself fourth in line to these lands, behind Anne Holland, the latter's heirs, and any other heirs of the duchess' body -- these last two steps being at this point wholly hypothetical. But in 1472 the duchess divorced her long-absent husband and not long after married Thomas Saintleger. The couple were childless when Anne Holland died, also childless, in 1474, meaning the queen now stood to inherit the estate directly. Elizabeth immediately remarried Thomas Grey to yet another heiress, Cecily Bonville. The next year, however, the duchess bore a daughter, Anne Saintleger, who was still alive when the duchess herself died in January 1476 (at which point a separate provision of the 1469 patent gave the queen £60 per year from the duchess' fee-farms). This left the queen without access to the estate until 1483, when she paid the king 5000 marks (£3333 13s. 4d.) for the marriage of Thomas Grey's son to Anne Saintleger, an arrangement which needed to be shored up by act of Parliament*. It is not difficult to see why Elizabeth coveted this inheritance, of which poor timing in the end deprived her. Many of the 33 properties lay in eleven counties where she as yet had no exclusive holdings, especially in the West Country, including two hundreds in Devon and two in Somerset, and several others lay strategically near her own manors. Surely it is plausible that the queen desired more than the potential income. Land meant influence, a fact which informed the behaviour of the fifteenth-century nobility in no small measure.

Not all of the queen's lands necessarily came by direct grants. Elizabeth Woodville bought the Fitzlewis manors in Essex, worth 1000 marks (£667 6s. 8d.) per year, from Richard duke of Gloucester, though by 1482 she had sold them. Nor were all the queen's properties exclusively hers; joint arrangements had their advantages. Even shared profits and rents might handily supplement the queen's income, especially where the holdings were extensive. A single demise and quitclaim in 1476 from William Huse gave Elizabeth Woodville, with ten others, a share of 65 properties, among which were several towns and 14 hundreds in Sussex, and knights' fees from ten others. The benefits would not be solely financial. The Huse transfer included the town of Seaford and the hundred of Poynings, which most likely encompassed the queen's own manor of Endlewick in Sussex, the hundred of Grinstead around her manor of East Grinstead, and the manors of Dysworth and Seagrave near her town of Godmanchester in Leicestershire. Such overlaps could serve to build up a local affinity, especially in the case of the Huse transfer, which also involved the queen's brother and son. In addition, the shared properties gave her a foothold in areas where she had no land of her own, such as Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Shropshire.

The queen might also enter into temporary arrangements, such as custodies. The attainted Tresham lands were granted jointly to Elizabeth Woodville, the bishop of Salisbury (Richard Beauchamp) and William Dudley, dean of the chapel of the household, in 1475, along with a smaller set of manors of the earl of Wiltshire. These were to be held during the minority of the earl's heir, who did not come of age until at least 1487; this enhancement of the queen's presence in Northamptonshire thus lasted to the end of the reign. The same year Elizabeth obtained a seven-year share of five manors and one entire hundred in Oxfordshire. Finally, while the queen received her dower lands only for life, obviously to prevent Crown land from being alienated, her interest in shared properties often included her "heirs and assigns", potentially providing her with bargaining chips in land or marriage deals, or to provide for extended family. The Exeter lands would have fallen into this category.

The queen might influence internal matters on her properties ... But her relationship with her tenants was probably quite distant most of the time. A potential exception of some consequence was the act of 1482 which granted Elizabeth Woodville "the wardships and marriages of the heirs of her tenants of so much of the Duchy of Lancaster as she [held] to her own use". Although this sweeping legislation was repealed by Richard III and not revived, it indicates that for the queen to have control not only over her properties, but over their inhabitants, was not unthinkable.

Derek Neal, “The Queen’s Grace: English Queenship 1464-1503″

*This wasn't just for the marriage of her grandson but was also meant to provide manors and lands from the Duchy of Exeter to her second son Richard Gray.

[une-sanz-pluis]

A Complaint for My Lady of Gloucester and Holland

As if in recognition of the contextual irony of this reference to Humphrey, whose affections were fixed elsewhere, the poem turns immediately to identify the villain of the story […] This "myrmade," a figure traditionally associated with sexuality and pride, is patently a reference to Eleanor Cobham, whose alliance with Humphrey had already become a public scandal. In resorting to the convenient fiction of witchcraft, Lydgate exonerated his patron for his inconstancy. Thus it was no self-indulgent luxuria which had occasioned the Duke's shameful marital mores, but witches who had worked to "bowe and tenclyne [bend and turn], / The prynces hert ageynst al right" (ll.53-4), disturbing his "noblesse," his nobility, making his heart "double," or fickle, in his loving (ll.55-6). Eleanor, a "fals Circe" (l.57), had bewitched him, sugaring the "galle" of that inappropriate liaison (l.60). Her potions had turned Humphrey "agaynst al lawe/ Frome his promesse … (ll.69-70), in a line echoing Jacqueline's letters of complaint. Significantly, the poem points to the consequences of this enchantment, "wher thorough his name and fame are lorne [/os/]" (l.73). Against this sorceress the Solitarye calls for vengeance: "… whoo supplaunte the, of equytee,/ By processe shal supplaunted be" (ll.62-3). —C. Marie Harker, “The Two Duchesses of Gloucester and the Rhetoric of the Feminine”, Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, 30.1 (n.b. the authorship of the poem is debated, it is sometimes attributed to John Lydgate).

Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1873), Mermaid | Henry Fuseli (c. 1788), Prince Arthur and the Fairy Queen | Luis Ricardo Falero (1878), Vision of Faust

[josefavomjaaga]

Hi! Can I ask you some silly questions? (it's very long so I'm sorry in advance🥲):

I just started reading about the Napoleonic era, and one thing bothers me is how did the marshals, or generals, or whoever under Napoleon's court, got their titles. Every books I read they just said "...and he was made the Duke of [insert land]" and move on. I'm aware that they earned it through military achievements, but is there any specific requirements to be met here? Why some got even Prince titles and did they have any distinctions from Dukes? Also, did they have to do anything with the land they got their titles from?

Thank you for the question! I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge but I cannot stress enough that this knowledge will not go far. I’m not a historian, and when it comes to the details of politics and administration, it does not take long for me to be out of my depths. But maybe somebody else can add more information. Because I think the question is rather interesting, with Napoleon installing a new aristocracy so soon after the Revolution had taken care to abolish the old.

In general, the new nobility received their titles the same way the old nobility had: it was granted by the monarch, in Napoleon’s case through an imperial decree. So, the main requirement if you wanted a nobility title was to be in Napoleon’s good graces, or to be friends with somebody who was and could put in a good word for you. The marshals, generals, politicians, surgeons, bankers and whoever else was added to the bunch all received their »lettres patentes«, basically their certificate that stated they now were a duke, count or baron, and that was that.

The ranking, from highest to lowest, was: prince – duke – count – baron – chevalier.

I understand that at least some of the higher titles did come with some requirements. The family had to have a »majorat«, a set of properties, usually a castle, real estate and a certain amount of values, that had to be passed on in its entirety to the next title holder. As the marshals usually did not have the required amount of wealth, many castles and much money actually came from Napoleon.

In general, the titles »Duc de Frioul«, »Duc de Montebello« etc. were honorary titles, i.e., really only names. They did not give their owners any special rights in the city or region they were named after – except in some cases for the princes.

Berthier, prince de Neuchâtel (also prince de Wagram)

Bernadotte, prince de Ponte Corvo

Talleyrand, prince de Benevent

Unlike in the domains of the former HRE, in France the term »prince« could designate the sovereign head of a country (in the HRE, »Herzog«, = duke was the lowest title for a sovereign, with prince merely designating somebody who belonged to a ruling house, afaik). So, the princes above actually owned a (usually rather small but technically to some degree independent) principality in the places they were named after, that they could administer, give laws in etc.

I’m not sure if it was the same for the later princely titles:

Davout, prince d’Eckmühl

Masséna, prince d’Essling

Ney, prince de la Moskowa

As the places they are named after did not belong to Napoleon’s empire, I presume their principalities were formed elsewhere. In a similar way Napoleon in early 1810 briefly planned to scrap together a »principality of Raab« for his stepson Eugène that surely would not have been in Hungary.

And then there’s Lannes, who is always special 😊. I understand he actually was gifted with a principality in Poland, but somehow never bothered to go through the stupid paperwork to also receive the title of »prince de Sievers«.

In addition, there are also the imperial princes (members of the imperial family) and the grand dignitaries of the empire who also held a – non-hereditary! – title of prince while they were in office. But I’ll leave those aside. I find this all complicated enough.

Back to the marshals: Originally, only two of them were princes, Berthier and Bernadotte. As to the duke titles, they fall in two categories: some are named after a specific military feat of the title holder, and some are just generic.

Davout: Duc d’Auerstädt (needs no explanation, I guess)

Kellermann: Duc de Valmy (battle of Valmy 1792)

Lannes: Duc de Montebello (battle of Montebello 1800)

Lefebvre: Duc de Dantzig (siege of Danzig in 1807)

Masséna: Duc de Rivoli (battle of Rivoli 1796)

Ney: Duc d’Elchingen (battle of Elchingen 1805)

You could add to that number Marmont’s title of Duc de Raguse, because while Marmont did not win any specific battle, he resided in that city and governed the region, so it did have something to do with him.

Whereas, to my knowledge, most other marshals had no particular relation to the place they were named after. I’m not sure how the names were assigned to the newly declared dukes, maybe Napoleon just opened an Atlas or dropped a pencil onto a map. In the case of Soult (Duc de Dalmatie), that duke never as much as set a foot into Dalmatia. And he was highly disappointed not to have been named »Duc d’Austerlitz« or at least »Duc de Pratzen«, after his corps had contributed so much to the victory there.

Speaking of disappointments: Masséna in turn wanted to be named »Duc de Zurich«, as he rightfully saw that battle as his greatest military feat. But it seems Napoleon only handed out titles for battles that had some relation to him. When Masséna won Zurich, Napoleon unfortunately had been in Egypt, so … sorry, André.

That’s all I can come up with as of now – if you have more questions, please ask away! If I cannot answer, I’m pretty sure the marshalate fandom can. 😊

Thanks once more!

[impossibleprincess35]

REPUTATION | 2. "endgame"

[Excerpt:]

Rising from their seats to address the arrivals to the room, Officer Obi-Wan Kenobi and his contemporaries stood respectfully as the Mandalorian party entered the room. He straightened his tie and waited patiently as he spotted the Ambassador, Davu Golec, a familiar face from his follow-up visits to Sundari to ensure that Satine had been off to a stable start with her rule, and then finally, he felt his heart skip a beat when he saw her.

Tall and blonde with the most ethereal blue eyes, the Duchess of Mandalore, Satine Kryze, stepped into the room and instantly, his mouth went dry and his pulse quickened. She entered like a bomb going off in a room, as he could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. She made him nervous. She always had. He suspected now that if she was still making him nervous after sixteen years, she always would, and a part of him liked that. Not many people had that effect on him, but she did.

As she was escorted to her seat beside Ambassador Golec, Obi-Wan breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t seen him yet. He feared that he probably had a stupid, dumb-struck look on his face, and as the room waited for her to sit before they returned to their own seats, he realized he had thought too soon because she looked right at him as she sat gracefully.

Oh fuck, he thought.

She was still the most gorgeous woman he’d ever laid eyes on, and gorgeous with an ease that not many women had. All she had to do was look at him. No pretenses, no foreplay, no games. If she wanted him, she knew he was already hers, and so Satine didn’t even have to try.

For a moment, he felt as though he had swallowed his own tongue.

Then he felt his colleague beside him nudge him as the rest of the room had returned to their seats and he was still standing, silently, with his eyes fixated on her. And everyone else’s eyes were fixated on him. 

Satine Kryze gave him a little smirk and then quickly plastered her face with that generic smile of diplomacy and grace that most foreign dignitaries and rulers wore. But he had seen the smirk, a relic from another time, when she had been wild and a little bit hard to handle. That was the Satine that he had fallen in love with, and he had suspected that she still existed under layers of formal titles, patents of nobility, conservative couture outfits, and traditional customs.

I’ve got to know if she does, he thought, as he returned to his seat.

--

Track #2 (chapter 3) is up.

WOO.