History Literature / NowBloomsTheTudorRose

* TangledFamilyTree: The Hapsburgs have an extra-tangled one. [[RoyallyScrewedUp The results have not been pretty.]]

ThoseTwoGuys: Edward and Thomas Seymour show up whenever a kangaroo court needs witnesses [[spoiler:until they inform on each other]]

-->The young Danish nobleman cuts his classes at Wittenberg to meet the young Anna, who he then wins over by a burning revelation of his passion to her in a small secluded forest. He follows this up by a burning revelation of his passion to her in her dressing chamber, then in her bedroom, and then he manages a quick one in her uncle's bedroom.

-->John William, like his brother, married a Princess--in his case, Anne of Denmark. And while his brother has been galavanting all over the Empire, John William has been staying at home, galavanting all over her.

** Suleiman's son Prince Selim is hinted to be an incipient one, though he demonstrates that [[FunctionalAddict he's still quite a dangerous man despite that]].

** Anne Boleyn can cow her sons well into adulthood. [[Spoiler: Henry IX rebels against her influence as a teen and an adult, but he's uncomfortable when she calls him out on his elopement. Anne also convinces Edward to fulfill his betrothal to Madeline of Navarre.]]

ThoseTwoGuys: Edward and Thomas Seymour show up whenever a kangaroo court needs witnesses [[Spoiler:until they inform on each other]]

* SpoiledSweet: Margaret Tudor is the baby of the family and the family beauty, but her most notable character trait is her piety, which takes the form of promoting religious tolerance and believing that her husband is destined to be king of... a lot of places.

* William Paulet: A long-standing member of the Privy Council whose primary distinction is his lengthy tenure. That and the fact that, like [[{{Casablanca}} Captain Renault]], he blows with the wind - which always keeps him on the Royal Family's good side.

[[AlternateHistory But what if, instead of Elizabeth, Anne had given birth to a boy?]]

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The House of Stewart (Protestant/Anglophile) vs. the House of Stuart (Catholic/Francophile). [[spoiler: For example, the two daughters of James V, who find themselves more or less on opposite sides of the debate: Mary Stewart vs. Antoinette Stuart.]]

* TheSoundOfMartialMusic: The House of Hapsburg plays [[SarcasmMode a bit of a role...]]

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: A great deal of attention is devoted to the rather colourful and questionably-competent reign of [[spoiler: Frederick II of Denmark]]. He dies suddenly after getting drunk and drowning in a full suit of armour.

* CallBack: Two years after Princess Margaret Tudor pleads with her mother to "please, please let her marry the Prince of Transylvania," Princess Antoinette Stuart pleads with her older sister to "please, please let her marry Lennox."

* ComfortingTheWidow: Done by Edward, Duke of York, of all people. [[spoiler: The widow in question is Diane de la Mark and he's even responsible for the death of her husband.]]

* DeadGuyJunior: Edward Tudor names his eldest son after his prematurely-deceased younger brother Thomas. [[spoiler:And then ''he'' dies too.]] John Christian's eldest daughter is named [[spoiler:Mary, presumably after his mother]].

* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: Invoked after Henri II suffers a (non-fatal) jousting accident, when one of the young women being promoted as a new mistress is sent to take care of him.

* StopHelpingMe: Thomas Trilby, Bishop of Westminster, "assists" Edmund Grindal, Bishop of London, with a minor dispute in such a way as to turn the entire thing into a national controversy over the proper forms of worship.[[invoked]]

* UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfTudor: As the title suggests, their family is at the heart of this epic tale.

* SeriousBusiness: The "Dispute of the Hymnals", fought between the "Libertine" and "Puritan" factions of the Church of England over... how to sing in church.

For various reasons, ThePope would not grant Henry an annulment from his wife, so he decided to [[StartMyOwn separate from the Church and declare himself Supreme Head]] in order to do so. Anyone who stood in the way was [[OffWithHisHead summarily dealt with]], and Henry married Anne and made her his Queen. All along, she had promised that ''she'' would give him the son he desperately wanted.

* IdleRich: Ercole d'Este, brother of the Duke of Ferrara and nephew to ThePope, is an honest-to-goodness RichIdiotWithNoDayJob. [[spoiler:He is however [[TookALevelInBadass getting better]].]]

* KnightTemplar: The Society for Purity and Correctness in Doctrine, aka the Cathars, a bunch of [[PrinciplesZealot dedicated Catholics]] so reactionary, they think ThePope has it wrong. [[{{Irony}} Part of what they are protesting is said Pope's approach to people who think he has it wrong.]]

* ThePope: Thanks to the ButterflyEffect, Ippolito d'Este is elected Pope in the Conclave of 1550, and takes the name Pius IV; he becomes a central character. [[spoiler: His strong modernizing tendencies make him a lot of enemies among the hardliners - including, most notably, the man who would in RealLife go on to become Pope Paul IV.]]

UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, the King of England, wanted nothing more than continue [[TheHouseOfTudor his family line]] by siring [[HeirClubForMen a male heir]]. But his wife, Catherine of Aragon, was proving ''very'' uncooperative. Their only child to survive infancy was a daughter, Mary; Henry was able to father a son with one of his mistresses, but he was illegitimate and could not inherit the throne.

[[AC: [[TheHouseOfTudor Tudors]]]]

* TheHouseOfTudor: As the title suggests, their family is at the heart of this epic tale.

* AgentPeacock: Henry Cromwell, 3rd Earl of Essex is a man as deadly as he is fashionable.

* MataHari: [[spoiler: Catherine Howard]]

HenryVIII, the King of England, wanted nothing more than continue [[TheHouseOfTudor his family line]] by siring [[HeirClubForMen a male heir]]. But his wife, Catherine of Aragon, was proving ''very'' uncooperative. Their only child to survive infancy was a daughter, Mary; Henry was able to father a son with one of his mistresses, but he was illegitimate and could not inherit the throne.

Eventually, a clever, charming, and manipulative young courtier named AnneBoleyn caught his eye. Henry had already bedded her older sister, but Anne was more prudish; she would ''not'' sleep with him unless and until they were married. For that to happen, Henry would have to end his marriage to Catherine. Thus began what history remembers as his "Great Matter".

* HenryVIII, King of England: Pretty much every bit the man he was in our history, as aptly described by the Dickens quote on his own page. He is viewed better in that he only had two wives, and didn't kill either of them. [[spoiler: Is injured and incapacitated, then dies, earlier in his reign than in reality, resulting in his son taking the throne as a minor.]]
* Anne Boleyn, Queen Consort [[spoiler: later Dowager]] of England: A very learned and cunning woman, a committed Protestant, a devoted mother, and a dangerous opponent.
* Mary Tudor: Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, viewed by Catholics as the legitimate Heir to the throne. [[spoiler: Reconciles with her father after the death of her mother, and is married off to a Protestant prince. Dies in childbirth.]]

* Reginald Pole: Chosen by Charles V as a [[PuppetKing figurehead Catholic claimant to the throne of England]]. Though there's no love lost between Pole and [[HenryVIII the present monarch]], he has no interest in the job. [[ButThouMust Charles V won't hear of it, and places him under house arrest to prevent him from doing otherwise]].

In 1533, Anne gave birth to [[TheVirginQueen a girl]].

This was the beginning of the end for Anne; the profound stress of failing to live up to the demands of one of the most petulant and impatient men in history resulted in all of her subsequent pregnancies ending in miscarriage. Henry quickly tired of her, and she, too, [[OffWithHisHead was executed]] just three years after they were married. Henry, of course, went on to remarry four more times, having a grand total of ''one'' son. [[TheVirginQueen Their daughter]] eventually became Queen and went on to reign over a GoldenAge.

* AChildShallLeadThem: James V, King of Scots, once again leaves [[MaryOfScotland his daughter]] to reign as Queen of Scots. Here she's slightly older than six days, however. [[spoiler: Also, Henry VIII dies in 1545, leaving behind his eleven-year-old son to take the throne as Henry IX, with Anne Boleyn serving as Regent. And the sudden deaths of his father and grandfather bring King Leander of Portugal to the throne as a toddler, as was the case with the original timeline's King Sebastian.]]

** Also averted by [[spoiler: Henry IX]], who is often described as ''far'' less experienced with women than he lets on, and never has any serious dalliances during his bachelorhood, to the point that [[spoiler: he ''might'' even still be a virgin by the time he finally marries Mary, Queen of Scots, at the age of 26 (giving him something in common with [[TheVirginQueen his historical sister]])]]. This is actually in keeping with the men of his dynasty, [[spoiler: apart from his father]].

* NamesTheSame: A few historical figures have "siblings" in this timeline with the same names, but who are different people. This includes Elizabeth Tudor (here said to be a brunette who strongly resembles her mother); Charles, first son of Philip II; [[MaryOfScotland Mary, Queen of Scots]]; and most of Henri II's children. [[invoked]]