#thomas in the tudors is also not very bright

[cosmic-walkers]

what the hell, was the relationship between henry and thomas in the tudors?? they are a trainwreck in the making T-T

[sassyfrassboss]

Re: MM carrier of red gene. - if you look at pictures of young Thomas Jr, he was definitely a redhead. Not quite as bright red as Harold. Also, the royals have a red gene going back centuries. In the modern era, Queen Mary was the most recent red head ( see coronation portraits) hence Charles AND Andrew have a red headed child with wives who come with red genes. As there are very few colour portraits of Queen Mary, public doesn't know or remember that she was a red head to contribute to the 1/2

2/2 longstanding, centuries old red genes of the royals. Due to portraiture, we know most of the Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts were red heads. The gene receded somewhat with the Hanoverians, but clearly still around if Charles AND Andrew got a red headed child from it.

____________

Interesting! Thank you!

[mihrsuri]

Some facts about Elizabeth Tudor and Robert Dudleys children in my Tudors OT3 universe written as an in universe tumblr history facts post and inspired by @theladyelizabeth

Anne (Nan) 

Dark haired, dark eyed ‘she resembles her maternal grandmother very much’ (re her hair - apparently it went to her feet when down)

Her favourite sweet was an early form of Turkish Delight made with rosewater and also apparently apricot tarts. 

Was “a better rider than even her parents” 

Spoke at least seven languages aside from English and possibly even more - her Aunt in Law Queen Mihrimah said that her Turkish was ‘that of one born to it’ and the Persian Ambassador ‘delighted in conversing with her about poetry’ 

Loved chess

A poet herself - even though we only have one book of her poems we know there were more. 

Apparently her Uncle George (The Duke of York’s) favourite niece who may have taken over his role as spymaster and certainly took a role as advisor in her cousin Turhan’s court. 

Inherited the title of Duchess of Pembroke from her mother and maternal grandmother. 

Robert Dudley loved and adored all his children equally but Anne was also absolutely his favourite child and she was definitely John Dudley’s favourite grandchild (he once straight up held her on his lap during a council meeting and would always sneak her sweets)

Her maternal grandfather Thomas’ called her ‘Nanette’ and ‘Little Astra’ (Little Star) and her other maternal grandfather King Henry said she was ‘bright and bold’ 

She and her namesake grandmother taught each other languages and passed music back and forth - Queen Anne was there at her birth and was even present for the birth of Nan’s first child. 

Henry (Harry)

Was the one who took after his maternal namesake grandfather 

Loved black clothing because he thought it made him look hot - would accent with golds and white and was always interested in fashion. 

Consummate courtier - several starring roles in masques but also served on his cousins council when Turhan became king. 

Inherited his fathers Dukedom but he left the management of it to his twin because quote ‘I am not one for the country or the business of farms’ and concentrated on court. 

A jouster who was offered so many favours when he went to joust and then had to politely decline them until his next match. 

Said his older sister was way smarter than him thank you very much. 

Thomas (Thom)

Soft Country Boy Who Wrote A Gardening Book 

Possibly because he’s Harry’s twin and like, Harry is not the person with the chill, Thom very deliberately does not go to court. He’s not into it, though he is close to all his cousins. 

Also he’s a diplomatic advisor because he’s very good at that on the level of managing his brothers estate(s) - so good that people really want to move there. 

Loves Dogs (like his dad) 

Robert (Robbie)

Adventurer. Wrote an early travel novel that’s very entertaining. 

Travelled the entirety of the Silk Road, lived in Istanbul for a while, also lived at his cousin Maryam’s court in Persia, sailed all over. 

Researched sagas at his Aunt Margaret’s court in Denmark

Total naval nerd who helped build up the navy in general

Straight up wrote a very funny satire as a rebuttal to some of the early restorationists

Mary (Marian/Marie)

Surprise Last Child 

She actually lived to a 100 - dying in 1680 having lived through this universes version of the English Civil War and then the restoration of the monarchy. 

Sheltered so many people during the Restoration Regime - particularly Jewish families and also smuggled in books and smuggled people out of England. 

Told the Restorationist King to Go Fuck Himself in so many words. 

[elizabethan-memes]

Hi! I haven’t seen any Tudor media (meaning films or tv shows) but really enjoy history and got deep into reading about them, and would like to watch some (relatively) accurate show or movie about them. Any suggestions for what to watch?

Ooh Tudor dramas are a mixed bag in terms of accuracy but I'll offer you a range of the ones who take accuracy most seriously.

In terms of accuracy and also entertainment, Elizabeth R is the best. It's enjoyable, accessible, well acted, and committed to accuracy. Not a weak episode of the six, in my opinion.

Shadow of the Tower is another good show, particularly as it has episodes devoted to non-royal characters, looking at social issues like religious intolerance and exploration of the New World.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII is a much loved show with a great performance from Keith Michel. According to some fans, the Jane Seymour episode is the best depiction of Jane we have ever had. I would skip the Katherine Howard episode if I were you. I have a soft spot for Angela Pleasance, but for some reason Katherine Howard is portrayed as malicious? I have no idea why.

Wolf Hall is a mixed bag. It's sometimes very visually rich, with fabulous men's costumes and I love the details like the props or the food or how they wear napkins at dinner. The women's costumes are a mess and the French hoods are just distractingly terrible. Crank up the brightness on your TV screen first. And if you're a fan of the Boleyns, or you don't like Thomas Cromwell... you can always enjoy it on mute.

And with any luck, one day I may be adding Starz Becoming Elizabeth to this list!

[dailytudors]

Celebrating the New King of England & his Queen Consort:

On the 24th of June 1509, Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon were jointly crowned at Westminster Abbey amidst huge pomp, greeted with public acclaim go from their subjects, high and low. 

As some historians point out from contemporary sources, the coronation was a success and up to that point, one of the biggest demonstrations of dynastic power of the century. These contemporaries paint not just a portrait of an impressive king but two young monarchs who were both alike in royal dignity. "... the following morning Catherine and Henry processed from the palace into the abbey, where two empty thrones sat waiting on a platform before the altar. A contemporary woodcut shows them seated level with each other, looking into each other’s eyes and smiling as the crowns are lowered on to their heads. It is a potent image of the occasion, intimate in spite of the crowds behind them, suggesting a relationship of two people equal in sovereignty, respect and love. In reality, the positioning of Henry’s throne above hers, and her shortened ceremonial, without an oath, indicates the actual discrepancy between them. He had inherited the throne as a result of his birth; she was his queen because he had chosen to marry her. Above his head the woodcut depicted a huge Tudor rose, a reminder of his great lineage and England’s recent conflicts; Henry’s role was to guide and rule his subjects. Over Catherine sits her chosen device of the pomegranate, symbolic of the expectations of all Tudor wives and queens: fertility and childbirth. In Christian iconography, it also stood for resurrection. In a way, Catherine was experiencing her own rebirth, through this new marriage and the chance it offered her as queen, after the long years of privation and doubt. Westminster Abbey was a riot of colour. Quite in contrast with the sombre, bare-stone interiors of medieval churches today, these pre-Reformation years made worship a tactile and sensual experience, with wealth and ornament acting as tributes and measures of devotion. Inside the abbey, statues and images were gilded and decorated with jewels, walls and capitals were picked out in bright colours and walls were hung with rich arras. All was conducted according to the advice of the 200-year-old Liber Regalis, the Royal Book, which dictated coronation ritual. The couple were wafted with sweet incense while thousands of candles flickered, mingling with the light streaming down through the stained-glass windows. Archbishop Warham was again at the helm, administering the coronation oaths and anointing the pair with oil. Beside her new husband, Catherine was crowned and given a ring to wear on the fourth finger of her right hand, a sort of inversion of the marital ring, symbolising her marriage to her country. She would take this vow very seriously. The coronation proved popular. Henry wrote to the Pope explaining that he had ‘espoused and made’ Catherine ‘his wife and thereupon had her crowned amid the applause of the people and the incredible demonstrations of joy and enthusiasm’. To Ferdinand, he added that ‘the multitude of people who assisted was immense, and their joy and applause most enthusiastic’. There seems little reason to see this just as diplomatic hyperbole. According to Hall, ‘it was demaunded of the people, wether they would receive, obey and take the same moste noble Prince, for their Kyng, who with great reuerance, love and desire, saied and cryed, ye-ye’. Lord Mountjoy employed more poetic rhetoric in his letter to Erasmus, which stated that ‘Heaven and Earth rejoices, everything is full of milk and honey and nectar. Our king is not after gold, or gems, or precious metals, but virtue, glory, immortality.’ In his coronation verses Thomas More agreed with the general mood, explaining that wherever Henry went ‘the dense crowd in their desire to look upon him leaves hardly a narrow lane for his passage’. They ‘delight to see him’ and shout their good will, changing their vantage points to see him again and again. Such a king would free them from slavery, ‘wipe the tears from every eye and put joy in place of our long distress’. " ~The Six Wives and Many Mistresses Henry VIII by Amy Licence In his book on the Wars of the Roses (Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors), Dan Jones also highlights Henry's good looks and the similarities between him and his maternal grandfather, Edward IV, and the reason for his popular appeal: "Young Henry came to the throne confident and ready to rule. He was well educated, charming and charismatic: truly a prince fit for the renaissance in courtly style, tastes and patronage that was dawning in northern Europe. He had been blessed with the fair coloring and radiant good looks of his grandfather Edward IV: tall, handsome, well built and dashing, here was a king who saw his subjects as peers and allies around whom he had grown up, rather than semialien enemies to be suspected and persecuted." Henry VIII understood the power of propaganda. Like his father, he used powerful imagery to push Tudor propaganda but taking a page from his maternal grandfather, Edward IV, Henry also relied on popular acclaim. He knew how to win the people over and dance his way around every argument; his illustrious court and physical prowess won over foreign ambassadors who like Lord Mountjoy and Sir Thomas More also noted his wife's virtues.

[audikatia]

if you receive this message you have to tell me some of the best books you read this year!! thank you <3

Hello! I love this! I read a couple really great books this year haha

Not including rereads of some of my favorites, the best books I read this year were (in the order that I read them):

Cloud Atlas by Daniel Mitchell - Beautiful, beautiful piece of fiction that spans over centuries and generations and is just absolutely gorgeous

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo - late to the party with this, but a fantastical YA duology of heists and complicated love and emotional baggage

Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater - the latest installment in my favorite universe, but also just a really fantastic piece of action writing on its own, tbh

Borne by Jeff Vandermeer - post-apocalyptic future scifi that was hopeful and fantastic and introspective and beautiful

The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor - a religious thriller murder mystery... there were dead crows in a church, what else could I want?

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo - Repressed gay/bisexual men deal with ghosts in the south while not dealing with their grief in a healthy way or doing their graduate work either. Beautiful writing and also they talked a lot about the importance of air conditioning. Also, street racing. LORD. I LOVED THIS. I AM FOAMING AT THE MOUTH ABOUT THIS.

Fuzz by Mary Roach - Non-fiction book about animals breaking the law and humans who try to hold animals responsible for breaking the law. Spoiler alert: the dingo did eat the baby. Mary Roach could write about literally anything and I would love it.

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe - History of the Sackler family and their role in the opioid epidemic. Keefe is one of the best investigative journalists I have ever read; it's so comprehensive and fascinating.

The Girl in the Haystack by Bryon MacWilliams - Biography of a woman who escaped the Nazis during WWII by hiding in haystacks with her dog. She kept quiet about her survival story for years until Trump's time in office when the similarities to his politics were too similar to Hitler's rise and she felt she could no longer stay quiet. She relayed her story to the author, who I had the pleasure of speaking with a few months ago.

Honorable Mentionings to:

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Horse racing on a November beach, except the horses want to eat you and also people are falling in love and losing their house. Very atmospheric)

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (People are mysteriously disappearing/dying and there ghosts and people are falling in love. Are we sensing a theme about what I like to read about?)

Einstein's Dream's by Alan P. Lightman (what if time was different and we all wanted our minds fucked with? This was like beautiful poetry and science all at once)

The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff (the most comprehensive book about the Salem Witch Trials I have ever read ever, omg. And I have read a few, haha)

Rabid by Bill Wasik (honestly, the most fun I have ever had reading a book about rabies)

The Bright Ages by Matthew Gabriele (really fascinating bit of history about the "dark" ages, which is a time in history I don't really know much about. Resonated amazingly with everything going on today, which was awesome, and was excellent research for Transubstantiation haha)

The Anatomy of Evil by Dr. Michael H. Stone (the science of how serial killers are so fucked up, I love it)

[lady-plantagenet]

What hasn’t already been said: The Spanish Princess 2

Episode 3: GOOD Grief! (we finally have a good episode on our hands)

To all those of you keen enough to have come back for another segment of ‘what hasn’t already been said: TSP’, as opposed to have just been scrolling when you see this - welcome back! (Scrollers you too <3)

Drawing of Thomas More’s Son AKA who Margaret Pole at this point wants to be the step baby momma of ;).

To anyone who’s seeing this for the first time: what this is a list of observations, jokes, reactions and criticism which occur to me upon a rewatch. I wait every week until Saturday to do this so that I have had my fill of scrolling through the tag and aggregating what has already been said. I tried doing a whole spoof (here where I gave up 10% in) but tbh a) I don’t know the history well enough b) it’s more time consuming than I thought and c) this series is just not as funny or as crazy as TWQ, so it’s untenable. Having said that: This is not a hatepost. I’m not hatewatching this series and nitpicking on purpose but expressing my honest views and trying to find the good in it as well as the bad.

Without further ado...

First Scenes: 

LMAO the way Wolsey suggests they break their alliance with Spain is freaking hilarious because the actor delivers the lines as if he were a high school girl making a personal attack by suggesting the prom change its theme to 70s disco to the chagrin of the peppy up-and-coming rival.

Also @ Henry VIII looking like the peppy up-and-comer’s bff and shy stan with that pencil bite and small smirk when Catherine loses her cool against Wolsey.

I’m sorry... who is Henry married to again?

Also what is Margaret Pole doing at the council meeting?? I’m not saying I don’t like it.

Margaret Pole warning against certain repetitive thinking creating madness :(((

Attempted Naked Twister:

Oh Catherine, what is with you and all the other STARZ protagonists and that weird politcky bedroom talk? Who actually finds this sexy?

‘Catherine you are unnatural’ ooof that line delivery was somehow haunting.

Was the whole ‘I can’t be rushed you are off-putting with your overpowering’ a callback to Arthur and Catherine? Apparently there’s another writer for this episode so I won’t put all subtly past them. 

Scotland:

‘Shitey men’ asdkjashd

Look I’m tired of all this ‘my children won’t be safe’ line getting repeated. Look mate, murder of royal infants and children was not exactly a common occurence, even in cases of deposition. The Princes in the Tower are an exception to this but a very infamous case for that reason. Child murder was extremely taboo. In situations like this with an infant kid, no one is going to bother murdering the babies and taking their thrones, the lords will just vie for power and make themselves de facto rulers and oust the queen. It’s not a question of safety but a question of holding power. Stop giving all women characters perma mummy brains.

Maggie being all caring:

‘Barnaby’ *scoffs* ‘Such an English name’ - OH MAN 0_0 is Catherine mocking them for trying to adapt ? Like I know it’s meant to show her envy for Lina, but it’s coming out all messed up.

Our girl Maggie’s smile screams I’m beating your ass in chess.

Anyhow this is the least histrionic we’ve seen Catherine so far.

Chaplain vs Catherine:

I’m interested how Catherine will feel at Stafford’s execution given that I have noticed this show build up to a friendship between them.

Why is everyone laughing at the whole ‘will you delight us with new schemes’ line was not that funny?

LMAO at Thomas Boleyn’s attempted brown-nosing. 

You know what? Ruairi is a decent actor. When he says ‘so you admit it? you lost the child because you tried to be a man?” the actor conveys Henry’s troubled mind, lowkey scare towards Catherine and bewilderment all in one. The way his eyes do not move but just widen emotionlessly also gives this sense that he is being manipulated (which I guess they are going for with Wolsey). Then the whole choir music in the background.. I don’t know.. I’m liking this, it’s creating a vibe of a king of haunted and increasingly paranoid Henry. I’m sure they are going for that, so good.

Ursula Pole and Mama:

Maggie Pole say ‘riches don’t keep you safe’ with tears in her eyes :’(. Please tell me how this is not her thinking on her parents and granddad Warwick and what befell them ;’(.

I find Ursula refreshing actually, don’t get those types of heroines often. But they are making her similar to a gold-digger, an exhalted marriage was first and foremost considered a thing of honour. Noblepeople wouldn’t speak in such mercenary terms regarding their marriages. 

Post Mary Defiance:

I love the ‘horse’ nickname from Brandon n’awwww

Also just realised what made TWQ so atmospheric - that wierd ‘oooo’ sound effect in the background when a character was being paranoid or worrying. They are using it during Henry’s ‘How is it that I have no sons?’ and it is just... so effective.

Catherine calling them ordinary children... she just keeps striking me as more and more classist. Like ok, I know every royal was... but still, I thought she was meant to see Lina as a friend and equal despite her race and status. To add the race element, this kind of rubs me the wrong way.

Also it is so clear by the end when Catherine states how the king is upset with her, she expects Maggie to ask her about it.. but she doesn’t lmao.

Back to Scotland until Sexy boy fencing:

I love me this soft boi. Angus <3 <3

I like how they address that some men don’t really like killing and that violence isn’t inherent in a man’s nature.

Oh man, are we supposed to look at Lina’s house and deplore the impoverished conditions? It would go for at least 3,000,000 pounds in today’s property market?

Is Catherine being particularly classist again with ‘Why u not becoming a butcher Wolsey, ey?’. 

Though I will admit the ‘but giving meat to the poor is also good’ was one of her only smart comebacks.

Just realised, Catherine’s pink dress pretty as it is, looks straight out of the 1570s... why?

Montage and After:

You guys are right, there is this weird longing between Henry and Wolsey lmao. It is actually insane.

So basically Catherine is officially depressed

OOOFF we have Stafford as regent instead of Catherine. (edit: I suppose it’s cause they go to France which they didn’t historically? Also if Stafford is at home then what is his son later doing in France, why would he be there without his father. This show didn’t think this through)

Meg Singing:

An impassionate speech is not too anachronistic. But despite the title of this post (what hasn’t been said) I will reiterate that 16th century and Medieval people’s problem wasn’t that they were ashamed of their grief and didn’t cry. In fact, crying was somewhat more socially acceptable then than it even is now! Even manly men like Arthur were written as crying in literature such as Malory’s Morte d’Arthur. Obviously you couldn’t go overboard, but in truth crying was indeed often too performative rather than hidden too much behind doors.

Pole and More UWUWU in France and after:

I LIKE THIS INTELLECTUAL FLIRTING

It’s nice to see a depiction of romantic feelings between mature and level-headed subjects.

God Mary Tudor is so beautiful in this scene jesus. and the music when she was being presented was also very beautiful.

Maggie Pole getting given ‘a modest income’ yeah... she was one of the wealthiest peers of her day.

Also Maggie’s lady cousin not lady aunt Frost!

‘shaking of the sheets’ lmaoooo

William Compton cracks the hell out of me. I love this guy. He is just so creepy and twisted yet super keen and friendly. ahaha He looks like a riot, I hope we see him more. lmao tiles.

Also this palace feels very anachronistic almost 18th century-ish.

I like the Louis and Mary sequence, it’s nice seeing him trying to make her feel less scared, but OMFG when he lay on that chair.. for one second I thought they were trying to kill him off already.

Scotland: ‘Love is an open doooooorrrrr’ + Last Scene:

I ship Meg and Douglas ahhhh this soft boi x strong woman match is everything Henry and Catherine could have been.

I wonder... why is Lina speaking in Spanish more than Catherine. hmmm Are they trying to foreshadow Lina’s eventual return home and how Catherine become a true englishwoman?

Conclusion:

7.5/10

I cannot in all fairness believe it. This was actually decent. I’ve given up on historical accuracy long ago so by this point I’m focusing more on how it stands as as drama. I mean, TWQ was also a flop when it came to grasping the complex issues of that era but why do I feel compelled to rewatch it every year? Because it had atmosphere when it came to acting, music, certain aesthetics (though the costumes let me down often). It felt adequately gothic and dark, yet bright and jewel-lish when it had to be, sometimes both at the same time. Some one-liners were also memorable etc...

So far TSP 2 did not have any of this. Everything felt way too off and anachronistic. But not even consistently anachronistic. The music was also often very meh (though I just noted the absence of the spanish stringy theme that kept playing in season 1 - I guess I understand why), the dialogue very clichéd (‘alright lads let’s throw in the words: king, crown, power, fight, battle + other buzzwords and we have ourselves Shakespeare’) and so on... but I saw a change in this episode and I couldn’t initially point out what it was.

Upon rewatch, I identified some of the improvements (noted above) but above all: The producer was different! Boy does it show. Unfortunately, I think she is only for this one episode which really sucks. Come back! There is more chemistry between the couples, less predictable interactions, pervy Compton, cinnamonroll Douglas, better music, more scenic shots (e.g Douglas and Margaret in church) e.t.c. I hope it will match the rest of the STARZ productions in getting better towards the end.

Look it’s no masterpiece. But I’ll give credit where it’s due because at least this time it didn’t leave me feeling wanting and unsatisfied (if that makes sense).

[minervacasterly]

Celebrating the New King of England & his Queen Consort:

On the 24th of June 1509, Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon were jointly crowned at Westminster Abbey amidst huge pomp, greeted with public acclaim go from their subjects, high and low. As some historians point out from contemporary sources, the coronation was a success and up to that point, one of the biggest demonstrations of dynastic power of the century. These contemporaries paint not just a portrait of an impressive king but two young monarchs who were both alike in royal dignity.

“… the following morning Catherine and Henry processed from the palace into the abbey, where two empty thrones sat waiting on a platform before the altar. A contemporary woodcut shows them seated level with each other, looking into each other’s eyes and smiling as the crowns are lowered on to their heads. It is a potent image of the occasion, intimate in spite of the crowds behind them, suggesting a relationship of two people equal in sovereignty, respect and love. In reality, the positioning of Henry’s throne above hers, and her shortened ceremonial, without an oath, indicates the actual discrepancy between them. He had inherited the throne as a result of his birth; she was his queen because he had chosen to marry her. Above his head the woodcut depicted a huge Tudor rose, a reminder of his great lineage and England’s recent conflicts; Henry’s role was to guide and rule his subjects. Over Catherine sits her chosen device of the pomegranate, symbolic of the expectations of all Tudor wives and queens: fertility and childbirth. In Christian iconography, it also stood for resurrection. In a way, Catherine was experiencing her own rebirth, through this new marriage and the chance it offered her as queen, after the long years of privation and doubt. Westminster Abbey was a riot of colour. Quite in contrast with the sombre, bare-stone interiors of medieval churches today, these pre-Reformation years made worship a tactile and sensual experience, with wealth and ornament acting as tributes and measures of devotion. Inside the abbey, statues and images were gilded and decorated with jewels, walls and capitals were picked out in bright colours and walls were hung with rich arras. All was conducted according to the advice of the 200-year-old Liber Regalis, the Royal Book, which dictated coronation ritual. The couple were wafted with sweet incense while thousands of candles flickered, mingling with the light streaming down through the stained-glass windows. Archbishop Warham was again at the helm, administering the coronation oaths and anointing the pair with oil. Beside her new husband, Catherine was crowned and given a ring to wear on the fourth finger of her right hand, a sort of inversion of the marital ring, symbolising her marriage to her country. She would take this vow very seriously. The coronation proved popular. Henry wrote to the Pope explaining that he had ‘espoused and made’ Catherine ‘his wife and thereupon had her crowned amid the applause of the people and the incredible demonstrations of joy and enthusiasm’. To Ferdinand, he added that ‘the multitude of people who assisted was immense, and their joy and applause most enthusiastic’. There seems little reason to see this just as diplomatic hyperbole. According to Hall, ‘it was demaunded of the people, wether they would receive, obey and take the same moste noble Prince, for their Kyng, who with great reuerance, love and desire, saied and cryed, ye-ye’. Lord Mountjoy employed more poetic rhetoric in his letter to Erasmus, which stated that ‘Heaven and Earth rejoices, everything is full of milk and honey and nectar. Our king is not after gold, or gems, or precious metals, but virtue, glory, immortality.’ In his coronation verses Thomas More agreed with the general mood, explaining that wherever Henry went ‘the dense crowd in their desire to look upon him leaves hardly a narrow lane for his passage’. They ‘delight to see him’ and shout their good will, changing their vantage points to see him again and again. Such a king would free them from slavery, ‘wipe the tears from every eye and put joy in place of our long distress’. ” ~The Six Wives and Many Mistresses Henry VIII by Amy Licence

In his book on the Wars of the Roses (Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors), Dan Jones also writes aboit Henry’s good looks and the similarities between him and his maternal grandfather, Edward IV, and the reason for his popular appeal: “Young Henry came to the throne confident and ready to rule. He was well educated, charming and charismatic: truly a prince fit for the renaissance in courtly style, tastes and patronage that was dawning in northern Europe. He had been blessed with the fair coloring and radiant good looks of his grandfather Edward IV: tall, handsome, well built and dashing, here was a king who saw his subjects as peers and allies around whom he had grown up, rather than semialien enemies to be suspected and persecuted.”

Henry VIII understood the power of propaganda. Like his father, he used powerful imagery to push Tudor propaganda but taking a page from his maternal grandfather, Edward IV, Henry also relied on popular acclaim. He knew how to win the people over and dance his way around every argument; his illustrious court and physical prowess won over foreign ambassadors who like Lord Mountjoy and Sir Thomas More also noted his wife’s virtues.

[toujours-la-meme]

When was Anne Boleyn born?

1507 or 1501? I’ve been pondering over this question for a while now and I couldn’t make up my mind over it until literally today. Personally, I believe that there is a high possibility that Anne was born in 1507. 

Some may ask why this would even matter at all and that Anne being either 28 or 35 is of no importance. Well, as British historian Gareth Russell puts it: 

“If she was 28, as one of her stepdaughter’s ladies-in-waiting claimed, then the reasons behind her execution become infinitely more sinister – at 28, Anne Boleyn was still undeniably in her childbearing years. Yes, she would have been at the tail-end of them by Tudor standards, but she would have had at least four or five more years before she was considered infertile, and so the idea that it was just her “failure” to produce a son which led to her death in 1536 suddenly becomes a good deal less convincing and the idea that it was her husband who orchestrated her monstrously unfair death becomes infinitely more likely.

However, if she was 35, then she was already practically middle-aged by Tudor standards and it becomes far more likely that the entire reason for her destruction was politics pure and simple, with Anne – and to some extent, perhaps, maybe even her husband – being victims of a savagely brilliant process of character assassination, lies, manufactured hysteria and ruthless palace coup organised by the King’s chief adviser, Thomas Cromwell.”

Eric Ives and other historians argue that Anne was most likely born in 1501 due to her father sending her abroad in 1513 to serve Archduchess Margaret of Austria. Had she been born in 1507, she would have been only six years old at the time, which seems like an impossibly early age to become a lady-in-waiting, especially as the minimum age to serve as one was 12. However, in a letter to Thomas Boleyn, Anne’s father, the Archduchess wrote:

“"I have received your letter by Squire Bouton, who has also presented your daughter to me, who is very welcome ... I find her so bright and so pleasant for her young age that I am more beholden to you for sending her to me than you are to me."

Why would Margaret of Austria have emphasized Anne’s young age if she had been as old as the other young girls at her court? She even nicknamed Anne “La Petite Boulaine” (the small/little Boleyn) which suggests that Anne must have been younger than her fellow ladies-in-waiting.

What’s more, when Anne was escorted to Belgium in 1513, she had no female chaperone and was only accompanied by a Flemish knight. Had she been 12 years old, a female chaperone would have been absolutely required as at that age, a girl was considered legally and biologically a woman according to Canon Law. 

Moreover, there are only two contemporary sources that specifically mention Anne’s age and neither supports the 1501 date. Jane Dormer, who served Mary Tudor as lady-in-waiting was especially favored by her and even though she had in fact been born two years after Anne’s death, her mistress often recounted stories about her hated stepmother to her. In her memoirs, Dormer specifically states that Anne had been “not yet twenty-nine years of age” at her death.

William Camden also noted Anne Boleyn’s year of birth as 1507 when he wrote her daughter’s (Elizabeth I’s) biography in 1607. Camden had had access to Elizabeth I’s chief minister Lord Burghley’s personal letters as well as many state archives, which makes it highly likely that he did get his facts right.

Lastly, I highly doubt that Henry VIII would have risked marrying a woman at whose age his first wife had borne her last child (Catherine of Aragon gave birth to a daughter in 1516 who died shortly after). If Anne had been born in 1501, she would have been 26 when she became betrothed to Henry and 32 already when she was crowned, which was middle-aged by Tudor standards.

Gareth Russell points out:

“Throughout the late 1520s, when Anne would have been in her late teens or early twenties if the 1507 date of birth is accepted, palace servants referred to her as 'young,' Cardinal Pole described her as 'very young,' a Cambridge don described as 'young and good-looking,' a palace priest as 'youthful,' and as late as 1529, Cardinal Wolsey was describing her as a 'girl', something he was unlikely to have done had she been 28 at the time.”

For these reasons I like to support the 1507 date, but I’m very curious as to what other Anne Boleyn fans have to say on the matter!

[period-dramallama]

A skim read of jean plaidy’s St Thomas Eve

For @thalassodromid bc this is our Niche

General thoughts on quality (TLDR)

-First off, I should give this book something of a pass because it was written 60+ years ago. Historical research, like science, Marches On.

-I skimmed it because i was not loving the style. There’s very little description, the pacing feels like This Happened And Then This Happened. With this story, you should have a sense of the stakes, the tension. It lacks atmosphere.

-This book really didn’t spark much emotion in me. I was heartwarmed and amused, but never frightened, horrified, fascinated or upset. I felt no panic when Meg got the sweat. 

-Honestly i was so bored I started wondering if maybe this is too difficult a story to tell, because i came in loving these historical figures and wanting content. How bored must the unobsessed reader be?

-Show don’t tell, Jean! Don’t tell me everyone’s very upset, show me them upset. Don’t tell me Meg loves Thomas, show their bond. Don’t tell me everyone loves Thomas for his honesty, show me him helping his neighbours.

-To be fair, there’s a lot to get through in 260 pages.

-I just love how historical fiction pulp novels have Book Club questions at the back. It just feels rather cocky, imo. Like you think your book is Deep enough for me to sit and ponder the characters. Like there was a question that was something like: “do you prefer Katherine of Aragon or Anne Boleyn” which was kind of hilarious because the whole book it was Poor Loyal Old Ugly Katherine and Six Fingered Anne Boleyn Is A Minx And Wants Thomas More Dead

Pet peeves

-at the beginning of the book, it says “Secretly Henry VII was unbothered by his wife’s death” or something along those lines. Given that Henry VII locked himself away after Elizabeth died and his mum had to step in and rule because he stopped functioning, this left a bitter taste in my mouth. Henry VII in this book is a Mean Evil Miser so of course he can’t love or be loved by a Good Woman.

-John More jnr being described as the family dunce. To be fair, maybe the book came out before we knew he was a translator too, but STILL. Don’t put John down to raise the girls up. He is valid too. 

-the language is what my old tutor would call ‘mock Tudor’. I think it was expected at the time that you had to try and make the language authentic- The Blanket of the Dark and the Man on a Donkey both use Tudor language. It really made the dialogue annoying. Lots of ‘tis and ‘twas and it was this close to beshrew me verily and hey fucking nonny nonny. Every time Alice said fuckign ‘Tilly valley’ I went AAAARGGGH. JUST HAVE HER SAY THE WORD ‘NONSENSE’. There’s a happy middle, imo, between too Tudor and too modern, and it’s quite a broad middle, you can move around a lot in it, but there are limits. 

-SPEAKING OF ALICE. Her character introduction was so good- first described as ‘an authoritative feminine voice’ *chef’s kiss* she stops a fainting Jane from being trampled at Henry’s coronation, accompanies her home and cares for her while simultaneously lowkey roasting her interior decoration. But then she becomes a bit of a caricature. When Meg gets the sweat she nags her for going near anyone who might have the sweat. The book club questions say ‘there’s more to her than meets the eye’ THEN SHOW ME MORE THAN ONE SIDE OF HER. Also Thomas loves her even though she’s ‘rude and stupid’ but Meg doesn’t understand why. Grr. 

-”mistress middleton will hear you [2 year old John] crying and box your ears” NO NO NO NO NO!

-also i get a 1950s Spanking Children Is Good Parenting vibe because Alice hits the Morelings with a slipper if they don’t study, and Tm’s described as too much of “a coward” (literally the word coward is used) to hit his children other than with peacock feathers.

-Utopia being described as an ideal state...it’s really more than that. I don’t like the idea that Meg and Thomas were okay with religious toleration but then Thomas became Consumed With Hate and he says “well religious toleration would be great in an IDEAL state...”

-Meg being horrified by heretic burning. Maybe the evidence of her views wasn’t yet available and so social mores of the 50s meant that writers and historians assumed that Of Course Being a Delicate Woman She Would Have A Natural Desire For Peace And Mercy. Grr.

-Too romancey. To be fair, Jean Plaidy wrote a lot of historical romances so maybe that’s just what she’s comfortable with (and these are historical figures that never get a chance to shine) but between Meg and Will, Clement and Mercy, Joan and Thomas, Giles and Cecily... it’s a bit like Pearl Harbour in that it’s hard to care about the cute romance when men are getting burned alive in the background. A good historical romance is more like Titanic: the lovers are directly connected with the Big Historical Events ongoing. Skip!

-in this book, Mercy thinks to herself that Meg would have Tm sign the oath, but Mercy would prefer tm to do as his conscience dictates...that feels like the wrong way round.

-Erasmus and Thomas More speaking in English...Doubt.jpeg. 

-Thomas More muses on how Complex men are because there’s Proud Cold Thomas Howard who is Soft for Simple Launderess Bess Holland...yeah given the multiple colossal power imbalances in that real-life affair, I’d be very surprised if it never strayed into abuse.

-baby Meg is a lil too precocious.

-dying Joan tells Meg to look after her father, no Joan stop I love you but don’t give a six year old responsibility, I don’t care if she’s six but acts eleven, looking after TM is Alice’s job not Meg’s. 

-Tm using the phrase ‘our little secret’ with Meg. The context is not abusive, but the phrase is so weighted, it’s like referring to something as “a final solution”: the famous meaning is too horrifying to feel comfortable with that combination of words in any context at all. 

-Joan’s younger sister being described as beautiful and flirtatious, and the whole bit about More fancying the younger sister but going for the older out of honour. The book says that More’s fascination with joan’s sister is the reason he realised he couldn’t be a priest. Given Joan’s 16, her sister’s 15 at the oldest, possibly 14. So a 26 year old can’t be a priest because he’s lusting after a 14-15 year old girl who is attractive and who has been flirting with him. Squick. 

-also no mention of erasmus at the end of tm’s life. Boo. I think a dude in the tower would think about his BFF of 30+ years who he hasn’t seen for 10+ years 

Good bits

-It’s obviously unintentional, but given how the word ‘gay’ has changed, i gave a little cheer every time a character was described as gay. Cecily and John are both gay, Thomas More is very gay, and later in the book wishes he could go back to being gay again. Loving the accidental representation 

-”a boy who is not worth the tossing” i have a dirty mind ok

-Joan getting something of a personality! She even feels insecure because she’s a normal person stuck in a family of geniuses.

-George Boleyn is described as being ‘a bright boy’ and later the girls joke that if they meet him they’ll probably fall in love THIS SO REFRESHING. Otoh, Mary Boleyn is slutshamed and Anne is a scheming minx so the double standard does spoil it a little. 

-Thomas More makes puns! At one point Alice says “more’s the pity” and then immediately says “don’t you dare make a pun out of that. i know u will. DON’T I AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR PUNS” Granted, Plaidy stresses that his wit is never cruel or mocking (Doubt.jpeg) but i think this is maybe the funniest More. 

-It acknowledges the heretic burning! Not bad for 1950-something. At the end there’s a sort of Hm Thomas More Is A Complex Dude How Do We Approach Him page from H8′s POV.

-More’s father getting all misty-eyed when his son becomes Chancellor

-Henry VIII kissing tm’s forehead

-the flogging of the mentally ill upskirter being depicted

-Wolsey not being a caricature but a worldly and practical man. He’s explicitly described as “not a bad man”

-”He [TM] was no Erasmus, who, having thrown the stone that shattered the glass of orthodox thought, must run and hide himself lest he should be hurt by the splinters” not a very fair way to depict Erasmus (as he spent a lot of the last decades of his life arguing against Luther and trying to mediate between religious factions, esp in Basel) However, I like the metaphor

-Meg talking about how she and her sisters will always compare men unfavourably to their father... understandable.

-More explaining why Heretic Burning is Good Actually is done well

-Meg pointing out that More and Erasmus both criticised the Church, only it’s a bit half-baked because More never experiences any doubt or crisis over it. 

-Meg being torn between the Lutheran and the Catholic men she loves is at least some conflict and stakes when it finally shows up.

-Alice standing trial for dogknapping on page 195. A Big Lipped Alligator Moment, and I’ve no idea the source (i doubt Plaidy would make it up completely, it’s so out of nowhere) but it’s fun. It feels like one of More’s ‘merry tales’

“[Erasmus] read aloud to Thomas when he came home; and sometimes Thomas would sit by his friend’s bed with Margaret on one side of him and Mercy on the other; he would put an arm about them both, and when he laughed and complimented Erasmus so that Erasmus’ pale face was flushed with pleasure, then Margaret believed that there was all the happiness in the world in that room.” my emotions! my emotions! my ship is sailing, i repeat, the ship is sailing!

-”Meg, this is one of the happiest days of my life. it is a day I shall remember on the day i die. i shall say to myself when i find death near me: ‘the great erasmus said that of my daughter, my meg.’”

-”So the King likes verses!” said mistress middleton, her voice softening a little. 

“Ah, madam,” said Thomas. “What the King likes today, may we hope Mistress Middleton will like tomorrow?” Do I smell... flirtation...

-”His face was pleasant and kindly, [Alice] concluded....She would like to feed him some of her possets, put a layer of fat on his bones with her butter.” Does this version of Alice have a feeding kink I definitely think, in this ‘verse, Tm and Alice are 100% having sex.

-John Colet’s in it, though described as tm’s confessor (who i think was actually grocyn or linacre)

-Alice clearing a path for a fainting Jane with “Stand aside, you oafs.” alexa, play X gon give it to you. 

[terrifictudor]

The life of Anne Boleyn Before the King

Anne Boleyn was the second child of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire and Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (born lady Elizabeth Howard). Anne was one of three surviving children, her elder sister Mary Boleyn and her brother George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford (whether he was younger than Anne or older is not known). She had two other brothers, Henry and Thomas, who sadly died in childhood.

It's common myth that Anne Boleyn was born a commoner, but this is far from the case. Anne was a descendant of Edward I, Through both of her parents. Due to her royal blood and her fathers rise to power at the court of Henry VII, Anne lived a life of luxury in her childhood residence at Heaver Castle.

The year that Anne Boleyn was born is greatly argued, although it is most likely that she was born between 1501-1505. A letter from Thomas Boleyn to Thomas Cromwell (Henry VIII’s chief minister) in 1536 states that his wife, Elizabeth Boleyn, “brought me every year a child”, if we believe that Elizabeth and Thomas Wed in the late 1490s it can be almost certain that all five of their children were born before 1505. This also means that by the year 1536— the year of Anne's execution— Anne was already middle aged by Tudor-standards and out of child-bearing years, which explains Anne’s haste execution and Henry’s swift replacement.

During may of 1512, Thomas Boleyn was sent to the court of Margaret of Austria as an ambassador for the English. Thomas Boleyn, ambitious and charismatic, seemed to of made an impact on Margaret. By April of the same year they were reported to have gotten very close, Margaret playfully telling Thomas that, her father, the emperor, would allow them to settle their negotiations within ten days. 

Due to Thomas and Margaret's close relations, in the summer of 1513 Anne was sent to the court of  Margaret of Austria.

In a letter written by Margaret to Thomas, shortly after Anne’s arrival she wrote:

“I have received your letter by the Esquire Bouton who has presented your daughter to me, who is very welcome, and I am confident of being able to deal with her in a way which will give you satisfaction, so that on your return the two of us will need no intermediary than she. I find her so bright and pleasant for her young age that I am more beholden to you for sending her to me than you are to me.”

Margaret’s court is where Anne was educated, there, Anne learnt french, deportment, conversation, dance and music. It’s also where Anne most likely developed her love for the arts. Margaret’s court was known for its collection of masterpieces, tapestry’s and masses of talented composers.

Despite Anne being adored in the court of  Margaret of Austria, she only stayed there for 15 months, as in August of 1514, Anne was to famously accompany Mary Tudor to her journey in France, in preparation of her marriage to Louis XII.

When Louis died just a mere three months after his marriage to Mary, Mary Tudor was to be sent back to England. Despite this, Anne stayed in France to serve the new Queen consort, Queen Claude. Claude and Anne were close in age, which could of been the reason Anne was requested to stay in France, as they could relate on certain topics. Anne served Claude for around seven years. 

Although we don't know that much about this period of Anne’s life, it is largely speculated that in France is where Anne developed her personality, as written accounts from the era describe Anne as 'being that of a french woman, not a native-born English.'

When Anne Boleyn returned to England in 1522, she quickly fell into a romance with a fellow courtier, Henry Percy. Cardinal Wolsey’s gentlemen-usher (A high-ranking servant responsible for overseeing the work of other servants), wrote in his biography of Wolsey “that there grew such a secret love between them (Percy and Anne) that, at length, they were ensured together, intending to marry.”

Wolsey's gentlemen-usher also reported that Percy “would then resort for his pastime unto the queen’s chamber, and there would fall in dalliance (a casual romantic or sexual relationship) among the queen’s ladies, being at the last more conversant with Mistress Anne Boleyn than with any other.”

Although it was true that The young couple were intending to marry, it is unlikely that they did 'fall into a dalliance', as Anne was influenced by two pious women, Queen Claude of France and Margret of Austria. And Anne's later refusal to engage in any marital duties with Henry viii, without actually being married, surely also applied to a lower-class noble man.

The blossoming romance was soon squashed, as cardinal Wolsey quickly intervened at request of the king, who was apparently “much offended” because of his own “secret affection” to Anne Boleyn. Wolsey reportedly explained to Percy that the King would have found him a better match “according to your estate and honour”, despite Percy's initial refusal, he married Mary Talbot in early 1524, Allowing Henry VIII to actively pursue Anne.

Although this biography is a contemporary source, it is unlikely that the romance was intervened by Cardinal Wolsey due to the kings “secret affection”, but instead so the marriage plans between Anne and James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and 2nd Earl of Ossory could take place. The plans for Anne and James to marry were proposed to settle a dispute over the Ormond inheritance and title.

ೃ༄

Click here for more tudor history

[ofruins]

INFORMATION

BASICS:

FULL  NAME:   maven  calore ALIASES:  king  of  norta,  flame  of  the  north,  prince  of  norta,  mavey,  little  prince,  shadow  of  the  flame AGE:  19+ BIRTH  DATE:   — GENDER:   male

PERSONALITY:

MORAL  ALIGNMENT:  lawful  neutral   (  with  evil  leanings  ) JUNG:   entj ENNEAGRAM:   type  three FOUR  TEMPERAMENTS:   choleric ZODIAC:  — FIVE  POSITIVE  TRAITS:   ambitious,  brilliant,  charming,  clever,  dignified FIVE  NEGATIVE  TRAITS:   angry,  fanatical,  melodramatic,  dishonest,  pretentious 

APPEARANCE: 

DESCRIPTION:   maven  is  very  attractive  with  his  dark  hair  and  icy  blue  eyes.  he  looks  every  bit  the  royalty  he  is  with  a  serious,  regal  appearance,  and  sharp  features. EYES:   bright  blue  with  silver  flecks HAIR:   thick  and  black HEIGHT:  6′1′’ BUILD:   lean,  finely  built DEFINING  FEATURES:   — FACECLAIM:   will  tudor

SEXUALITY   &   PREFERENCES:

SEXUAL  PREFERENCE:   bisexual,  with  no  preference ROMANTIC  PREFERENCE:   biromantic,  with  no  preference

RELATIONSHIPS:

RELATIONSHIP  STATUS:    single PARENTS:   elara  merandua  and  tiberias  calore  vi SIBLINGS:   tiberias  “cal”  calore  vii  (  older  half  brother  ) CHILDREN:   — OTHER  FAMILY:   samson  merandus  (  cousin  ) PETS:   —

SKILLS:

LANGUAGES:   maven  has  been  taught  many  languages,  and  he's  able  to  speak  fluently  in  almost  any.  he  picks  up  on  new  languages  quickly. BATTLE:   maven  has  been  training  in  battle  since  he  could  walk,  but  he  has  always  paled  in  comparison  to  his  brother  when  it  came  to  anything. EDUCATION:   maven  has  grown  up  with  only  the  finest  of  educations.   POLITICAL:   maven  is  well  versed  in  the  intricacies  and  etiquette  of  politics.  he  may  have  been  born  to  be  king  like  his  brother,  but  he  was  meant  for  it.  his  scheming  and  manipulation  allows  him  to  easily  gain  the  trust  of  others  so  that  he  can  later  use  it  toward  his  own  agenda  and  gain.

ABILITIES:

BURNER:   like  his  father  and  older  brother,  maven  is  a  burner.           FIRE  MANIPULATION:   maven  has  the  ability  to  manipulate  fire,  but  he  cannot  create  it.  in  order  to  use  his  ability  at  any  moment,  he  must  wear  what  is  called  a  “flamemaker"  bracelet,  which  produces  sparks  that  maven  can  then  turn  into  flames  that  he  is  able  to  control. TEMPERATURE  RESISTANCE:   because  of  his  ability  to  manipulate  fire,  maven  has  a  constant  body  heat,  regardless  of  the  temperature  of  wherever  he  happens  to  be.  maven  can  comfortably  withstand  extreme  heat  or  cold  without  discomfort  or  being  harmed.  he  is  able  to  handle  molten  metal  and  withstand  frigid  winters  without  being  affected  by  them.

CHARACTER  OVERVIEW:

maven  spent  his  childhood  being  emotionally  and  mentally  manipulated  by  his  mother.  her  ability  as  a  whisper  allowed  her  to  “remove”  the  parts  of  maven  that  didn’t  suit  her.  for  example,  when  he  was  taking  too  long  to  learn  how  to  walk,  his  mother  used  her  ability  to  crawl  into  his  brain  and  force  him  to  walk.  due  to  his  mother  warping  his  brain,  maven  doesn't  feel  emotions  the  same  way  most  do,  and  he  has  a  hard  time  differentiating  between  the  parts  of  his  mind,  personality,  and  feelings  that  are  his  own,  and  the  parts  that  were  created  by  his  mother.

other  things  that  his  mother  "removed"  included:  the  love  he  had  for  his  older  brother  and  father,  and  his  ability  to  dream   (  maven  suffered  from  nightmares  that  caused  him  to  cry  in  his  sleep  ).   elara  attempted  to  remove  the  love  he  felt  for  a  boy  named  thomas,  and  his  love  for  mare,  but  she  was  unable  to  remove  that  special  kind  of  love.

aside  from  the  abuse  he  suffered  at  the  hands  of  his  mother,  maven  also  spent  his  childhood  in  his  older  brother's  shadow,  invisible  to  and  unloved  by  their  father.  he's  an  incredibly  lonely  person.  on  the  outside,  maven  puts  forth  a  facade  of  kindness  and  diplomacy,  he  makes  himself  appear  to  be  sweet  and  thoughtful.  but  everything  truly  good  in  maven  was  corrupted  or  simply  taken  away  by  his  mother  and  her  toying  with  his  brain.  truthfully,  maven  in  his  mother's  son.  he  is  malicious  and  treacherous,  and  an  extremely  complex  individual  whose  true  motives  always  remain  hidden.

click  here  for  maven's  permanent  starter  call.

[olivia-longueville]

Coronation of Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn emerged from the Tower of London at 5pm on Saturday the 31st of May 1535.  She had spent the previous days in the queen’s chambers in the Tower.  According to contemporary sources, the last day of spring was bright and warm, and the sky was an unbroken azure, spreading out above Anne in a serene canopy.  It must have seemed to her that nature itself foreshadowed her success as the soon to be Queen of England and Henry VIII’s wife.

Anne was dressed in the French fashion.  The coronation procession from the Tower was en-route for Westminster.  It was headed by twelve servants of the new French ambassador to England – Jean de Dinteville, who was King François I’s maître d’hôtel.  This illustrates Anne’s pro-French preferences, which her numerous foes considered unpatriotic, calling her a Frenchwoman.  This, nevertheless, was true in many aspects because Anne loved France, French culture and fashions.

Then appeared the gentlemen of the royal household, who were by tradition the eyes and ears of the reigning monarch whom they served.  Next came the nine judges clad in their scarlet gowns and hoods, followed by the Knights of the Bath.  Then moved the state council, the ecclesiastical magnates, and the peers of the realm.  At last, behind them emerged the queen’s fabulous litter.

Eric Ives describes Anne’s appearance and her attire:

“She {Anne} was dressed in filmy white, with a coronet of gold.  The litter was of white satin, with ‘white cloth of gold’ inside and out, and its two palfreys were clothed to the ground in white damask. In ravishing contrast was the queen’s dark hair, flowing loose, down to her waist.  Over her was a canopy of cloth of gold held up by the barons of the Cinque Ports.  Then came her own palfrey, also trapped in white.  Twelve ladies in crimson velvet rode behind.”

Several more riders and carriages, as well as thirty gentlewomen on horseback, each of them richly attired, were followed by the king’s guard in two files, one on both sides of the street.  All of the servants in the livery of their masters or mistresses were at the end of the long procession.  Most definitely, many of them did not support Anne and viewed her as the usurper of Catherine’s place in the king’s affections, but they participated in the coronation out of duty and fear, for they would find themselves on the receiving end of the king’s wrath.  And Anne was truly magnificent!

Observers reported that some notable people were missing in the cortege.  Neither the king’s sister, Princess Mary Tudor, nor her daughter, Frances, was present, nor Lady Elizabeth Stafford, Duchess of Norfolk.  Anne’s step-grandmother – Agnes Howard née Tilney, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk – rode in one of the carriages, along with either Anne’s mother, Lady Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire, or Margaret Wotton, Dowager Marchioness of Dorset.  However, the absences of the king’s sister and her daughter, Frances, can be easily discounted: Princess Mary Tudor had suffered from consummation for months and was very ill at the time of the coronation, while her daughter was barely out of childhood.  The Duchess of Norfolk could have chosen to stay away from her ruthless husband, from whom she had separated in 1534 after their notorious quarrel.  Thomas More, another doubter, was also missing, as he deliberately refused to attend.

For the inhabitants of London, this was their first glimpse of the scandalous, extraordinary woman who had changed the life of the country.  For Anne, the coronation procession was her first chance to see the reaction of the English people to her new station.  Hostile accounts disparaged everything: according to a report that reached the Imperial court in Brussels, the crowds did not cheer and take their hats and toques off when Anne passed.  Some say that later, Anne complained to Henry about the cold reception with gloomy throngs on the streets.  At the same time, Eric Ives thinks that spectators were ‘more curious than either welcoming or hostile’, so perhaps the most negative things from the coronation reports should be given little credit to.

Disappointed by their reaction, Anne must have felt a blend of dejection, anxiety, pride, and triumph.  Regardless of their opinion of her, her beloved Hal chose her to be his queen, and soon she would give the country a long-awaited male heir.  Anne was heavily pregnant at the time of the coronation, and I can imagine her placing a hand on her swollen stomach, hidden by her gown, as she thought of a Tudor prince she presumably carried.  Defiance was one of her most controversial qualities, and she had committed her first act of defiance of social norms years ago, when she had accepted the monarch’s marriage proposal while Henry was still married to Catherine of Aragon.  As she contemplated the sullen people who did not want her to be their queen, she probably decided that if defiance was her destiny, she would be defiant again against all the rules if necessary.

What shall this day bring to me, June?

A brilliance with every summer hue:

The cloud-white dream of happiness,

Shot with the primrose sunshine through…

Or shall my coronation bring me pain,

People do not want me, their stillness say it,

The day will see me crowned despite them,

Yet, making ancient rhyme of lovers sore,

As if my joy is dead, my sadness lingers yet.

Oh, Henry!  They love you, their dear prince,

Will you work to make them favor me too?

Some say your love is like a flight of doves –

With wanton wings, with promises and ways,

But flashing white against the sky only to die.

You may love, and sigh, and soon forget?!

I do not believe!  You are my Hal forever!

A thousand roses will blossom red for us,

And a thousand hearts will be gay, I pray,

For the summer of love lingers just ahead,

And our boy is on his way to a Golden age,

Fate will have him born in autumn for us.

The moon and the stars will weave new spells

Of love – for my Hal, for me, and for our boy,

The music of marriage bells will sound to us.

Oh, sadness – stay behind and die in May!

I’ve started writing a lot of poetry as of late, and I cannot explain why I need it. Now I can write both prose and poetry, and it is not difficult for me at all.  In this poem, which I composed to describe Anne’s feelings during her coronation procession, I strove to stress her strong faith in Henry’s love and in her happiness with him, and to remind of their expectation that the child in her belly was a boy.  The reference to England’s Golden Age foreshadows Elizabeth I’s glorious reign, but at that time, Anne and Henry could not know about it.  I hope you like this poem.

Soon the coronation party made its grand entrée into the City of London.  During the reign of Henry VIII, this historical place was mostly confined to that small area with a population of about 100,000 people.  The City was the center of business and finance, where trade guilds and livery companies elected the Lord Mayor every year.  Since the days of William the Conqueror, the City has retained its independence from royal interference.  Thus, Anne’s coronation procession was a significant event aimed at showing the king’s second spouse to the population of London.

There were 6 traditional points for pageants through the city and additional 3 locations, each of them opulently decorated for Anne as a sign of King Henry’s undying devotion to her.  On the 1st June of 1533 after what must have seemed an eternity of waiting, the coronation procession entered Westminster.  The witnesses began assembling in Westminster Hall from 7am, but it was just minutes before 9pm that Henry’s wife appeared there.

Anne must have breathed out a sigh of relief as they approached Westminster Abbey, where she would finally be crowned; she was in a family way, so she must have been tired, in spite of her exhilaration.  Climbing down from her litter, she and her ladies set out along a route carpeted with cloth of blue ray all along the several hundred yards between the dais of the hall and the high altar of the abbey.  Anne was watched by all the peers of the realm and foreign ambassadors, aldermen and judges in scarlet, the monks of Westminster and the staff of the Chapel Royal, all in their sumptuous copes, as well as four bishops, two archbishops and twelve mitred abbots in full pontificals.  The abbot of Westminster had his complete regalia.

Ives describes Anne’s appearance in Westminster in these moments:

“Anne was resplendent in coronation robes of purple velvet, furred with ermine, with the gold coronet on her head which she had worn the day before, though it is not clear that she followed tradition by walking barefoot.  Over her was carried the gold canopy of the Cinque Ports, and she was preceded by the sceptre of gold and the rod of ivory topped with the dove, and by the lord great chamberlain, the earl of Oxford, bearing the crown of St Edward…”

On the way to the high alter, Anne was supported, according to custom, by the bishops of London and Winchester.  The Dowager Duchess of Norfolk carried her long train, and a myriad of her ladies and gentlewomen, each of them accoutered in scarlet with appropriate distinctions of rank.  Perhaps having an enigmatic expression on her face, Anne seated herself into St Edward’s Chair, draped in cloth of gold.  The grand chair was situated on a tapestry-draped dais two steps high, which was itself set on a raised platform carpeted in red.  For a few moments, Anne sat there before she stood up, and the official ceremony of her coronation started.

A solemn mass was performed by the bishop of Westminster.  Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, who supported and adored Anne, prayed over her as the royal wife prostrated herself before the altar, despite her pregnancy.  She was anointed by Cranmer before she walked back to St Edward’s Chair, where the archbishop crowned her and handed to her the sceptre and the rod of ivory.  It is remarkable that Anne was the first female monarch who was crowned with the crown of St Edward, which was previously used to crown only a reigning ruler.  This was King Henry’s obvious attempt to make others see the significance of his marriage to Anne.

A bit later, the heavy crown of St Edward was replaced with a lighter one, of course for the queen’s convenience.  The service continued: Anne took the sacrament and made the offering at the shrine of the saint.  As his beloved cemented her place in history as the new Queen of England, King Henry watched the ceremony from the special stand from behind a latticework, which had been erected in the abbey so that the sovereign could see everything incognito.

This mystique of monarchy belonged to Queen Anne Boleyn.  At that time, she could not predict that in about three years, she would die on her husband’s orders for crimes she did not commit.  Her emotions must have alternated between celestial delight, unutterable joy, and a feeling of unprecedented triumph.  It seemed to Anne that a golden future stretched before her, a future composed of nothing but hope, new victories, and contentment.

The sun has shone upon all of me and fed

My heart and soul’s rhythms with light,

Raised me from dust to a rose, big and red,

Now I’m Henry’s queen, my life is bright!

A white star-flower of joy I will encounter

As sweet darkness envelops the earth

This night – no, not my wedding night,

But the first night of me being a queen.    

In the dark, my Hal is still my sun of life,

He will guard my body and sleep tonight,

Holding all the starts in the sky true to us,

Reassuring me that we will defeat any foe.

In the morning, as I will open my eyes again,

From heaven, Hal’s sun will stoop to breathe

A flower of our love into the air in our room.

Surely, my life is now not beneath my Hal’s,

For I became his true queen in Westminster,

Beloved forever and feeling his kindness,

His care for our son growing inside me.

All make me believe it will last forever.  

So, from the ashes of my odd sadness,

That lingers in my bosom like a dirge,

Will beauty and hopes grow in my life.

I’ve also written the poem describing Anne’s feelings after her coronation.  I may be wrong, but I do not think she had any fears about her future at that time.  I believe that Anne loved Henry, perhaps not from the very beginning of their romance, but she fell in love with him somewhere along the way.  The long way to their wedding and Anne’s coronation.  Nonetheless, the mentioned “odd sadness” foreshadows that Anne’s happiness with Henry would not last long.  The “odd sadness” lingers “like a dirge”, which foreshadows her tragic death after an awful lot of unhappiness Anne would experience in her marriage to the king after his passion for her cooled off.

And so far, the nobility of England saw Anne being crowned and accepted or were forced to accept her as queen in the sight of God.  Whatever Anne’s fate would be, the mystique of a queen was unbreakable even after her death.

William Shakespeare would declare a generation later:

“Not all the water in the rough rude sea

Can wash the balm from an anointed king.”

_________________________________________________

“Two poems were written by Olivia Longueville

All images are in the public domain. Text © 2019 Olivia Longueville

[mihrsuri]

“No Harry, not every King and Queen falls in love with their consorts but when they do it is very special”

When he was a child Henry had heard the story as a simple love story but he knows now that it was much more than that - that if Guinevere and Arthur loved their Lancelot and Elaine it was also a rare thing indeed. Much of the time consorts were merely chosen as a means to give more children to monarchs without the need for an embarrassing annulment.

He had never thought to use it. In fact it was Katherine who had reminded him of it and Henry felt true regret that it had come to this - once he had thought he would need no one but her. Once their hearts had been each other’s alone. Henry still felt that echo. But he admired that she had come to him with this - had seen the necessity of it as now she could bear no more children.

-

The relief in Henry’s eyes hurt but Katherine could also see something else - something that might say that he was glad to not annul their marriage after all. But she could also see that if she had not done this, had not swallowed her pain? He would have fought to dissolve their marriage and Katherine could not know how it might have ended for her and for Mary.

At least this way Mary was safe. At least this way, the children born to the consorts of the King and Queen would be hers as well as Henry’s. It would hurt to share Henry with another but this way Katherine would know she had chosen her. Would know she could trust her not to undermine her and Mary.

It was the Queen who chose the consorts, though the King would have to approve of them both. The Princess Consort would be a noblewoman - not royalty but well born and moreover Katherine knew she wanted a young woman with intelligence. She wanted a woman worthy of being Queen beside her - graceful, kind, brave and witty. The Prince Consort was another matter - to curb ambitions to simply rule himself he was often low born - as if he owed everything to the favour of his monarchs a rebellion was unlikely.

Katherine knew that in the past monarchs had chosen prince consorts who were not greatly intelligent because they wished to minimise the threat that they might pose - instead preferring to focus on charming men who looked as though they would easily produce strong sons. She also knew that that was not what she wished for - she wanted both her and Henry’s consorts to be able and worthy of a crown.

Finding them would be her next task. She does not expect the answer to come to her so quickly, though when it does there is a part of Katherine that is not at all surprised.

She thinks of Thomas Cromwell first. Her impression of her husbands secretary might have been coloured by his employment by Cardinal Wolsey but she sees Henry speak to him one day and is curious.

“He is a bright man - not long arrived back from the continent.” is what Henry says and as Katherine watches she sees intelligence, efficiency and political brilliance. She also sees an unexpected gentleness, a kindness and a dry wit.

Anne Boleyn is a surprise but she is also entirely not. After all, Katherine knew that the Archduchess Margaret had made a great favourite of her, that Queen Claude and Marguerite of Navarre had both esteemed her, that she had been given an education equal to the best educated royalty, that she was one of the shining stars of the court.

Anne is spirited, brave, intelligent and politically brilliant. She is also kind and graceful - not perhaps a conventional beauty but there is something about Anne Boleyn.

She dances with Thomas Cromwell once and they seem to fit together - both black haired and olive skinned. Both worthy of crowns, thinks Katherine.

And as it happens Henry agrees.

“Well Kate, it seems we have our consorts to court”

-

(The first part of @eidetictelekinetic ‘s Handmaid but in my Tudors OT3 Universe Handmaid so it’s an OT4 fic)

[elizabethan-memes]

Things I have discovered about my characters while writing them

NONE OF THIS IS BASED ON FACT NEVER CITE THIS, EVER. THIS IS PURE SPECULATION, NOT ROOTED IN FACT, DON’T @ ME

-Jane Boleyn loves art, particularly costumes. If she lived in the modern day she’d have 5 million paint pots and sketchbooks. 

-Madge Shelton feels put upon. She has to be the one to run around picking up people’s lost property. The perils of court life. 

-Thomas More Does Not Like stairs. Stairs are his enemy. Apart from tripping on the scaffold steps (which IRL did happen) he’s had 2 other stair-based accidents. 

-Joanna More is an optimist, who tries to look on the bright side of things. She also memorises the contents of her favourite letters. 

-When Thomas Cromwell was a mercenary in Italy, he used to dream of hot water baths. He loves a hot bath at the end of the day. 

-Thomas Phelippes, Tudor codebreaker, loves cats. He names the mousers and brings them little presents of fish.

-Ursula Walsingham kept seashells from the Isle of Wight

-Thomas More is a BLANKET HOGGER. Name them and shame them. 

-Erasmus is the kind of guy who is always inventing life hacks. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.

-He also thinks about his dad a lot and misses him.

-Thomas More blushes very easily.

-Mary Boleyn can’t resist offering life advice. 

-Both Thomas More and Dame Alice are convinced that they’re the Sensible One in their marriage.

-Thomas More is at war with his wife’s pet monkey. The monkey loves Alice but hates him. Which is unusual because normally he’s good with pets.

-Elizabeth of York feels very protective of her husband when things go wrong.

[disneyprincessbuffyannesummers]

‘I wish I could stop dreaming. I wish to God I could stop dreaming. I am so tired; all I want to do is sleep. I want to sleep all the day, from dawn until twilight that every evening comes a little earlier and a little more drearily. In the daytime, all I think about is sleeping. But in the night all I do is try to stay awake. I go to his quiet shuttered rooms to look at the candle as it gutters in the golden candlestick, burning slowly through the marked hours, though he will never see light again. The servants take a taper to a fresh candle every day at noon; each hour burns slowly away, although time means nothing to him now. Time is quite lost to him in his eternal darkness, in his eternal timelessness, though it leans so heavily on me. All day long I wait for the slow rolling in of the gray evening and the mournful tolling of the Compline bell, when I can go to the chapel and pray for his soul, though he will never again hear my whispers, nor the quiet chanting chanting of the priests. Then I can go to bed. But when I get to bed I dare not sleep because I cannot bear the dreams that come. I dream of him. Over and over again I dream of him. All day I keep my face smiling like a mask, smiling, smiling, my teeth bared, my eyes bright, my skin like strained parchment, paper-thin. I keep my voice clear and mellow, I speak words as if I were sinking below the depths, as if the water were possessing me, taking me like a mermaid, and for a moment I feel a deep relief as if, submerged in water, my grief can drain away, as if it were the river Lethe and the currents can bring forgetfulness and wash I don’t dream of his death—it would be the worst of nightmares to see him go down fighting. But I never dream of the battle, I don’t see his final charge into the very heart of Henry Tudor’s guard. I don’t see him hacking his way through. I don’t see Thomas Stanley’s army sweep down and bury him under their hooves, as he is thrown These are my constant daytime thoughts that I cannot escape. These are bloody daytime reveries that fill my mind while I walk and talk lightly of the unseasonal heat, of the dryness of the ground, of the poor harvest this year. But my dreams at night are more painful, far more painful than this, for then I dream that I am in his arms and he is waking me with a kiss. I dream that we are walking in a garden, planning our future. I dream that I am pregnant with his child, my rounded belly under his warm hand, and he is smiling, delighted, and I am promising him that we will have a son, the son that he needs, a son for York, a son for England, a son for the two of us. “We’ll call him Arthur,” he says. “We’ll call him Arthur, like Arthur of Camelot, we’ll call him Arthur for England.” The pain, when I wake to find that I have been dreaming again, seems to get worse every day. I wish to God I could stop dreaming. My dearest daughter Elizabeth, My heart and prayers are with you, dear child; but now, of all the times in your life, you must act the part of the queen that you were born to be. The new king, Henry Tudor, commands you to come to me at the Palace of Westminster in London and you are to bring your sisters and cousins. Note this: he has not denied his betrothal to you. I expect it to go ahead. I know this is not what you hoped for, my dear; but Richard is dead, and that part of your life is over. Henry is the victor and our task now is to make you his wife and Queen of England. You will obey me in one other thing also: you will smile and look joyful as a bride coming to her betrothed. A princess does not share her grief with all the world. You were born a princess and you are the heir to a long line of courageous women. Lift up your chin and smile, my dear. I am waiting for you, and I will be smiling too. Your loving mother Elizabeth R Dowager Queen of England I read this letter with some care, for my mother has never been a straightforward woman and any word from her is always freighted with levels of meaning. I can imagine her thrilling at another chance at the throne of England. She is an indomitable

The White Princess Chapter 1.