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* ''Film/MaryQueenOfScots'', starring Creator/SaoirseRonan in the title role and Creator/MargotRobbie as Elizabeth I.
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* ''Film/MaryQueenOfScots'', ''Film/MaryQueenOfScots2018'', starring Creator/SaoirseRonan in the title role and Creator/MargotRobbie as Elizabeth I.
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* ''Series/{{Reign}}'' is a heavily fictionalized account of the life of Mary Queen of Scots, particularly focusing on her first marriage. Elizabeth I appears in later seasons after the death of Mary's first husband.
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Changed line(s) 28,37 (click to see context) from:
Henry had to deal with a couple of pretenders to his throne along the way, but he strengthened his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of King Edward IV, meaning that he secured his tie to the opposing family. The Tudor rose (depicted above) is emblematic of their marriage, being a joining of the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York; to this very day, it stands as the floral heraldic emblem of England. The Tudor line's famous tendency toward red hair was also introduced by her. Elizabeth was intelligent, attractive, pious, and beloved by the people. Theirs was probably a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage, as Tudor historians seem to agree that she and Henry were genuinely attached to one another[[note]]Whether this was from the moment of marriage or developed is unknown; it's probably the latter, as they were complete strangers on their marriage![[/note]]. Unusually for the time period (and especially when compared with his son), Henry is not known to have ever had any mistresses. Henry and Elizabeth had several children, the first being born just eight months after the wedding, and although Elizabeth didn't exert much political influence[[note]]She did, however, occasionally put her foot down. There is a recorded instance of Henry appointing a bishop that his wife chose over one his mother chose and another recorded instance of Elizabeth convincing Henry -- with the help of her mother-in-law, Margaret Beaufort -- not to send Princess Margaret to Scotland in 1502 as she was "too young"; Henry, ultimately, acquiesced to her wishes and sent Princess Margaret in June 1503 instead, four months after Elizabeth was dead.[[/note]], Henry respected her deeply. When their eldest son died in his teens, Elizabeth and Henry comforted one another as their grief hit them both in different ways at different times. While Elizabeth encouraged Henry to have another child the birth of said child would, unfortunately, end Elizabeth's life. Her death, which occurred on her 37th birthday, sent Henry into such deep mourning that he actually became gravely ill, allowing no one to come near him except for his own mother; this was so unusual for the austere King that the members of his court were alarmed. He was young enough to remarry and it would have been politically advantageous to do so, but he had no interest. Even when he finally did give his advisers permission to find him a new bride, his list of desired qualities was recognized as basically being a carbon copy of Elizabeth, which of course they knew they would never be able to find -- indeed, the King remained a widower until the moment of his death, his late wife forever imprinted in his mind as a youthful and loving wife and mother, as well as a competent and supportive consort.
The deaths of his wife Elizabeth and their eldest son Arthur within a year of one another seem to have hit Henry hard, as after that he became considerably harsher to his nobles--and the people in general--and died himself only a few years later. He was buried next to Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey, in a chapel named for himself.
Nowadays, Henry is considered a steady and slightly dull set of hands at the helm of England. However, he only appears as such in comparison to his extravagant and exciting son; Henry VII was in fact an intelligent, suspicious, and steady king, which England needed after years of civil war. Nonetheless, there is a school of thought that Henry was more responsible for ''restarting'' the Wars of the Roses, as after he became King there were several attempts by Yorkists with clearly better claims to the throne to depose him, leading to Henry wiping out the male line of York. Ironically Sir William Stanley was [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves executed]] for apparently being in league with one of the Pretenders.
He had a PetTheDog moment when he gave one of the defeated pretenders a job in his kitchens instead of executing him. Lambert Simnel was a ten-year-old commoner who happened to bear a resemblance to the dead Yorkist princes, and was set up as a puppet by rebel nobles; Henry recognized that a literal child was unlikely to have engineered any part of the plot, and pardoned him.[[note]]Simnel was grateful, remained loyal to the king ever after, and lived to a ripe old age; he is known to have had at least one son, who became a priest.[[/note]] This gesture was even extended to the next pretender, Perkin Warbeck; but when Warbeck attempted to escape (presumably to restart another rebellion), he was quickly captured and confined at the Tower of London. He was later tortured and subsequently hanged.
Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "The Tight-fisted Tudor"). He actually taxed his subjects for the knighting of his son Arthur, as was his right...but he did so ''after'' Arthur had actually died. Nevertheless, to presume that this wealth procured through austerity did not lead to any indulgence on his part (as well as the corruption of his ministers) would be, strictly speaking, not true. If anything, [[ValuesDissonance most of the means he used to enrich the treasury would be considered blatant extortion by modern-day standards]] and ''were'' considered extortion by many of his lords. In short, he was a "fine monarch" in the way that UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} is a fine city.
The deaths of his wife Elizabeth and their eldest son Arthur within a year of one another seem to have hit Henry hard, as after that he became considerably harsher to his nobles--and the people in general--and died himself only a few years later. He was buried next to Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey, in a chapel named for himself.
Nowadays, Henry is considered a steady and slightly dull set of hands at the helm of England. However, he only appears as such in comparison to his extravagant and exciting son; Henry VII was in fact an intelligent, suspicious, and steady king, which England needed after years of civil war. Nonetheless, there is a school of thought that Henry was more responsible for ''restarting'' the Wars of the Roses, as after he became King there were several attempts by Yorkists with clearly better claims to the throne to depose him, leading to Henry wiping out the male line of York. Ironically Sir William Stanley was [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves executed]] for apparently being in league with one of the Pretenders.
He had a PetTheDog moment when he gave one of the defeated pretenders a job in his kitchens instead of executing him. Lambert Simnel was a ten-year-old commoner who happened to bear a resemblance to the dead Yorkist princes, and was set up as a puppet by rebel nobles; Henry recognized that a literal child was unlikely to have engineered any part of the plot, and pardoned him.[[note]]Simnel was grateful, remained loyal to the king ever after, and lived to a ripe old age; he is known to have had at least one son, who became a priest.[[/note]] This gesture was even extended to the next pretender, Perkin Warbeck; but when Warbeck attempted to escape (presumably to restart another rebellion), he was quickly captured and confined at the Tower of London. He was later tortured and subsequently hanged.
Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "The Tight-fisted Tudor"). He actually taxed his subjects for the knighting of his son Arthur, as was his right...but he did so ''after'' Arthur had actually died. Nevertheless, to presume that this wealth procured through austerity did not lead to any indulgence on his part (as well as the corruption of his ministers) would be, strictly speaking, not true. If anything, [[ValuesDissonance most of the means he used to enrich the treasury would be considered blatant extortion by modern-day standards]] and ''were'' considered extortion by many of his lords. In short, he was a "fine monarch" in the way that UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} is a fine city.
to:
Henry had to deal with a couple of pretenders to his throne along the way, but he strengthened his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of King Edward IV, meaning that he secured his tie to the opposing family. The Tudor rose (depicted above) is emblematic of their marriage, being a joining of the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York; to this very day, it stands as the floral heraldic emblem of England. The Tudor line's famous tendency toward red hair was also introduced by her. Elizabeth was intelligent, attractive, pious, and beloved by the people. Theirs was probably a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage, as Tudor historians seem to agree that she and Henry were genuinely attached to one another[[note]]Whether another. [[note]]Whether this was from the moment of marriage or developed is unknown; it's probably the latter, as they were complete strangers on their marriage![[/note]]. marriage![[/note]] Unusually for the time period (and especially when compared with his son), Henry is not known to have ever had any mistresses. Henry and Elizabeth had several children, the first being born just eight months after the wedding, and although Elizabeth didn't exert much political influence[[note]]She did, however, occasionally put her foot down. There is a recorded instance of Henry appointing a bishop that his wife chose over one his mother chose and another recorded instance of Elizabeth convincing Henry -- with the help of her mother-in-law, Margaret Beaufort -- not to send Princess Margaret to Scotland in 1502 as she was "too young"; Henry, ultimately, acquiesced to her wishes and sent Princess Margaret in June 1503 instead, four months after Elizabeth was dead.[[/note]], Henry respected her deeply. When their eldest son died in his teens, Elizabeth and Henry comforted one another as their grief hit them both in different ways at different times. While Elizabeth encouraged Henry to have another child child, the birth of said child would, unfortunately, end Elizabeth's life. Her death, which occurred on her 37th birthday, sent Henry into such deep mourning that he actually became gravely ill, allowing no one to come near him except for his own mother; this was so unusual for the austere King that the members of his court were alarmed. He was young enough to remarry and it would have been politically advantageous to do so, but he had no interest. Even when he finally did give his advisers permission to find him a new bride, his list of desired qualities was recognized as basically being a carbon copy of Elizabeth, which of course they knew they would never be able to find -- indeed, the King remained a widower until the moment of his death, his late wife forever imprinted in his mind as a youthful and loving wife and mother, as well as a competent and supportive consort.
The deaths of his wife Elizabeth and their eldest son Arthur within a year of one another seem to have hit Henry hard, as afterthat that, he became considerably harsher to his nobles--and the people in general--and died himself only a few years later. He was buried next to Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey, Abbey in a chapel named for himself.
Nowadays, Henry is considered a steady and slightly dull set of hands at the helm of England. However, he only appears as such in comparison to his extravagant and exciting son; Henry VIIwas was, in fact fact, an intelligent, suspicious, and steady king, which England needed after years of civil war. Nonetheless, there is a school of thought that Henry was more responsible for ''restarting'' the Wars of the Roses, as after he became King King, there were several attempts by Yorkists with clearly better claims to the throne to depose him, leading to Henry wiping out the male line of York. Ironically Ironically, Sir William Stanley was [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves executed]] for apparently being in league with one of the Pretenders.
He had a PetTheDog moment when he gave one of the defeated pretenders a job in his kitchens instead of executing him. Lambert Simnel was a ten-year-old commoner who happened to bear a resemblance to the dead Yorkistprinces, princes and was set up as a puppet by rebel nobles; Henry recognized that a literal child was unlikely to have engineered any part of the plot, plot and pardoned him.[[note]]Simnel was grateful, remained loyal to the king ever after, and lived to a ripe old age; he is known to have had at least one son, who became a priest.[[/note]] This gesture was even extended to the next pretender, Perkin Warbeck; but when Warbeck attempted to escape (presumably to restart another rebellion), he was quickly captured and confined at the Tower of London. He was later tortured and subsequently hanged.
Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "TheTight-fisted Tight-Fisted Tudor"). He actually taxed his subjects for the knighting of his son Arthur, as was his right...but he did so ''after'' Arthur had actually died. Nevertheless, to presume that this wealth procured through austerity did not lead to any indulgence on his part (as well as the corruption of his ministers) would be, strictly speaking, not true. If anything, [[ValuesDissonance most of the means he used to enrich the treasury would be considered blatant extortion by modern-day standards]] and ''were'' considered extortion by many of his lords. In short, he was a "fine monarch" in the way that UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} is a fine city.
The deaths of his wife Elizabeth and their eldest son Arthur within a year of one another seem to have hit Henry hard, as after
Nowadays, Henry is considered a steady and slightly dull set of hands at the helm of England. However, he only appears as such in comparison to his extravagant and exciting son; Henry VII
He had a PetTheDog moment when he gave one of the defeated pretenders a job in his kitchens instead of executing him. Lambert Simnel was a ten-year-old commoner who happened to bear a resemblance to the dead Yorkist
Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "The
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Incidentally ([[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial and not related in the least]]), he helped with a [[TropeNamers Trope Name]]: MortonsFork was named for a bit of sharp practice under his watch. Well, his Chancellor's, at least. His financial methods and rule were so hated that just after Henry died some of his ministers were executed due to them assisting him in extorting money from his subjects. But deep into his son's reign, some people openly began to pine for Henry VII to the point that Henry VIII made a painting to counter this sentiment.
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Incidentally ([[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial and not related in the least]]), he helped with a [[TropeNamers Trope Name]]: MortonsFork was named for a bit of sharp practice under his watch. Well, his Chancellor's, at least. His financial methods and rule were so hated that just after Henry died died, some of his ministers were executed due to them their assisting him in extorting money from his subjects. But deep into his son's reign, some people openly began to pine for Henry VII to the point that Henry VIII made a painting to counter this sentiment.
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He was only 18 when he came to the throne. The public adored the young king and queen, who were both widely regarded as attractive and charismatic. Incidentally, while many folks know that Henry VIII was, like his contemporary namesake, Duke Henry of Sussex ([[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince Harry]]) a redhead due to the famous portrait shown above, Catherine was as well, despite the many portrayals of her in fiction as raven-haired or brunette. Henry engaged in some WackyFratboyHijinx in his early years as King; he and some male buddies once burst into the Queen's bedchamber dressed as RobinHood and his Merry Men. By most accounts, their marriage was largely happy for the first several years.
In the first nine years of their marriage, Catherine bore Henry three boys and three girls. Unfortunately, two were stillborn, three died in infancy, and only one, Mary, survived. [[labelnote:more]]In order: 1. a stillborn girl, not named; 2. a son, named Henry and nicknamed "Little Prince Hal," made Duke of Cornwall, christened with great pomp, died at 52 days old, received royal funeral; 3. a stillborn boy, not named; 4. a son, named Henry, made Duke of Cornwall, survived less than a month; 5. a daughter, Mary I, see below; 6. a daughter, not named, survived less than a week. Had they all (or even just ''one'' of the boys) survived, things would have been very different. Furthermore, given the House of Trastámara's predisposition towards mental illness (which Catherine of Aragon seems to have dodged) it is possible European royal history might have been even more dramatic.[[/labelnote]] Henry carried on his husbandly duty and waited, in vain, for further issue, his worry and impatience at his lack of an heir growing as the years passed. How much of the fertility problems were down to Catherine -- whose family had a history of dying in childbirth or giving birth to children who died young[[note]]Her sister, Isabella, had a son who died young at the age of 2 and she died in childbirth ''having'' him; her sister Maria had lots of living children -- 8 out of 10 of her children survived to adulthood -- but only two living Portuguese grandchildren: Maria Manuela -- who had a son who was totally bat-shit insane -- and João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, who had diabetes, married his double first cousin, and died young leaving only one son... who later died young in battle anyway; her sister, Juana, did relatively well with ''no'' stillborn children, but had the whole "possibly being crazy" thing going for her, and the Trastamaras on the throne died out anyway due to incest, so take from that what you will; and John got his wife pregnant, died, and then the baby was stillborn anyway[[/note]] and who had a habit of ''fasting'' while in prayer, ''while pregnant'' -- is still hotly debated.
In the first nine years of their marriage, Catherine bore Henry three boys and three girls. Unfortunately, two were stillborn, three died in infancy, and only one, Mary, survived. [[labelnote:more]]In order: 1. a stillborn girl, not named; 2. a son, named Henry and nicknamed "Little Prince Hal," made Duke of Cornwall, christened with great pomp, died at 52 days old, received royal funeral; 3. a stillborn boy, not named; 4. a son, named Henry, made Duke of Cornwall, survived less than a month; 5. a daughter, Mary I, see below; 6. a daughter, not named, survived less than a week. Had they all (or even just ''one'' of the boys) survived, things would have been very different. Furthermore, given the House of Trastámara's predisposition towards mental illness (which Catherine of Aragon seems to have dodged) it is possible European royal history might have been even more dramatic.[[/labelnote]] Henry carried on his husbandly duty and waited, in vain, for further issue, his worry and impatience at his lack of an heir growing as the years passed. How much of the fertility problems were down to Catherine -- whose family had a history of dying in childbirth or giving birth to children who died young[[note]]Her sister, Isabella, had a son who died young at the age of 2 and she died in childbirth ''having'' him; her sister Maria had lots of living children -- 8 out of 10 of her children survived to adulthood -- but only two living Portuguese grandchildren: Maria Manuela -- who had a son who was totally bat-shit insane -- and João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, who had diabetes, married his double first cousin, and died young leaving only one son... who later died young in battle anyway; her sister, Juana, did relatively well with ''no'' stillborn children, but had the whole "possibly being crazy" thing going for her, and the Trastamaras on the throne died out anyway due to incest, so take from that what you will; and John got his wife pregnant, died, and then the baby was stillborn anyway[[/note]] and who had a habit of ''fasting'' while in prayer, ''while pregnant'' -- is still hotly debated.
to:
He was only 18 when he came to the throne. The public adored the young king and queen, who were both widely regarded as attractive and charismatic. Incidentally, while many folks know that Henry VIII was, like his contemporary namesake, Duke Henry of Sussex ([[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince Harry]]) a redhead due to the famous portrait shown above, Catherine was as well, well despite the many portrayals of her in fiction as raven-haired or brunette. Henry engaged in some WackyFratboyHijinx in his early years as King; he and some male buddies once burst into the Queen's bedchamber dressed as RobinHood and his Merry Men. By most accounts, their marriage was largely happy for the first several years.
In the first nine years of their marriage, Catherine bore Henry three boys and three girls. Unfortunately, two were stillborn, three died in infancy, and only one, Mary, survived.[[labelnote:more]]In [[labelnote: more]]In order: 1. a stillborn girl, not named; 2. a son, named Henry and nicknamed "Little Prince Hal," made Duke of Cornwall, christened with great pomp, died at 52 days old, received royal funeral; 3. a stillborn boy, not named; 4. a son, named Henry, made Duke of Cornwall, survived less than a month; 5. a daughter, Mary I, see below; 6. a daughter, not named, survived less than a week. Had they all (or even just ''one'' of the boys) survived, things would have been very different. Furthermore, given the House of Trastámara's predisposition towards mental illness (which Catherine of Aragon seems to have dodged) it is possible European royal history might have been even more dramatic.[[/labelnote]] Henry carried on his husbandly duty and waited, in vain, for further issue, his worry and impatience at his lack of an heir growing as the years passed. How much of the fertility problems were down to Catherine -- whose family had a history of dying in childbirth or giving birth to children who died young[[note]]Her sister, Isabella, had a son who died young at the age of 2 and she died in childbirth ''having'' him; her sister Maria had lots of living children -- 8 out of 10 of her children survived to adulthood -- but only two living Portuguese grandchildren: Maria Manuela -- who had a son who was totally bat-shit insane -- and João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, who had diabetes, married his double first cousin, and died young leaving only one son... who later died young in battle anyway; her sister, Juana, did relatively well with ''no'' stillborn children, but had the whole "possibly being crazy" thing going for her, and the Trastamaras on the throne died out anyway due to incest, so take from that what you will; and John got his wife pregnant, died, and then the baby was stillborn anyway[[/note]] and who had a habit of ''fasting'' while in prayer, ''while pregnant'' -- is still hotly debated.
In the first nine years of their marriage, Catherine bore Henry three boys and three girls. Unfortunately, two were stillborn, three died in infancy, and only one, Mary, survived.
Changed line(s) 69,74 (click to see context) from:
Anyway, Henry did separate England from Rome. Unlike what Whig history implies, he didn't do it specifically because of his desire for UsefulNotes/AnneBoleyn either. [[HeirClubForMen He did it because his only heir was Mary, a daughter, and Henry wanted at that point to make absolutely sure that she would never become Queen in her own right; after all, you couldn't possibly make a strong dynasty out of women rulers...]] (At this point, unlike other countries such as Spain, Hungary, and Egypt, no woman had ever ruled England in her own right -- discounting the unfortunate 12th-century Matilda, granddaughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William the Conqueror]], who was usurped by her cousin Stephen, fought a great civil war against him, and never really got a chance to rule... though her [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet descendants]] did.) Catherine, meanwhile, was entering menopause, so the window of time in which she could have given him a living son was closing. Barring Mary from the succession meant that he couldn't divorce Catherine like many an heirless king had done to a barren wife before; he needed an annulment, something far more serious that would have made Catherine a whore and Mary a bastard in the eyes of almost anyone who mattered. The only way to get an annulment was to apply to the Pope. Unfortunately for Henry the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Catherine's nephew, was at that very moment holding the Pope hostage.
You have to pity Pope Clement. On one hand he couldn't annul the marriage, since the man holding him hostage would have literally killed him for the insult to his aunt and cousin. On the other hand he could hardly just say "no" to Henry, who was sovereign of one of Christendom's Great Powers (a second-rate one, but still). Thanks to siding with the losers (chiefly France) in the Italian Wars (the reason Charles was holding him hostage), the rise of Protestantism in Germany, and the encroaching Ottoman Empire in the east, Clement didn't have too many friends left other than England. So he temporized. He held hearings, he reserved judgments, he delayed things again and again, probably praying that one of them would just go off and die before things came to a head. [[note]] To Henry's eternal fury though, the Pope ''did'' grant an annulment to Henry's sister Margaret, the dowager Queen of Scotland, who wanted out of her second marriage. Then again, Margaret wasn't married to anyone who would kill the Pope if their marriage was annulled.[[/note]]
His prayers went unanswered. For some years, Henry had been "courting" (modern historians are more likely to see it as "stalking") a young woman of his court named Anne Boleyn, the sister of Mary Boleyn/Carey, one of his mistresses. She was everything Catherine was not: fiery instead of placid, defiant instead of obedient, hot-headed instead of calm. She refused to sleep with Henry for years, saying that her chastity was worth more to her than her own life. Naturally this made Henry even more eager to have her, both because she said no and because she was young enough to give him a son. By this time, her multiple pregnancies and stillbirths, as well as the stress of Henry's treatment of her (apart from anything else, he allowed her ''no'' access to their daughter and the two weren't even permitted to write to one another), seems to have taken a toll on Catherine and led to premature menopause. Exactly what induced Anne to finally sleep with Henry has been debated for centuries (modern historians point to a possible secret marriage at Dover in November 1532, while the Victorians thought she was a scheming whore), but suffice to say she did and was soon pregnant. Henry was overjoyed, and finally gave up trying to convince the Pope; he semi-secretly married (or remarried) Anne in January 1533, officially separated the English Church from Rome, made himself Supreme Head, and directed his new Archbishop of Canterbury to annul his marriage to Catherine. He was so intent that his son, his long-awaited, desperately-wanted heir, would be born legitimately that he was willing to destroy centuries of religious tradition to do so. [[note]]Interestingly, Henry ''did'' have a living son at this time -- but unfortunately, said son was his acknowledged bastard Henry Fitzroy. Fitzroy's existence was one of the major reasons for Henry's anger/suspicions of Catherine, as his mistress Bessie Blount had given him a healthy son. Henry adored Fitzroy and made him Duke of Richmond and Somerset, Captain of Calais, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; Henry actually thought about making him ''King'' of Ireland but was talked out of it. Fitzroy was the most powerful peer in the realm next to the King and Henry seems to have always had Fitzroy in mind as his "spare", but was possibly warming up to the idea of making him the official heir as an Act of Parliament was passed in 1536 granting Henry the right to declare anyone his heir. Sadly and ironically, Fitzroy died of consumption round about the time that the Act which could have made him the future king of England was going through Parliament.[[/note]]
You have to pity Pope Clement. On one hand he couldn't annul the marriage, since the man holding him hostage would have literally killed him for the insult to his aunt and cousin. On the other hand he could hardly just say "no" to Henry, who was sovereign of one of Christendom's Great Powers (a second-rate one, but still). Thanks to siding with the losers (chiefly France) in the Italian Wars (the reason Charles was holding him hostage), the rise of Protestantism in Germany, and the encroaching Ottoman Empire in the east, Clement didn't have too many friends left other than England. So he temporized. He held hearings, he reserved judgments, he delayed things again and again, probably praying that one of them would just go off and die before things came to a head. [[note]] To Henry's eternal fury though, the Pope ''did'' grant an annulment to Henry's sister Margaret, the dowager Queen of Scotland, who wanted out of her second marriage. Then again, Margaret wasn't married to anyone who would kill the Pope if their marriage was annulled.[[/note]]
His prayers went unanswered. For some years, Henry had been "courting" (modern historians are more likely to see it as "stalking") a young woman of his court named Anne Boleyn, the sister of Mary Boleyn/Carey, one of his mistresses. She was everything Catherine was not: fiery instead of placid, defiant instead of obedient, hot-headed instead of calm. She refused to sleep with Henry for years, saying that her chastity was worth more to her than her own life. Naturally this made Henry even more eager to have her, both because she said no and because she was young enough to give him a son. By this time, her multiple pregnancies and stillbirths, as well as the stress of Henry's treatment of her (apart from anything else, he allowed her ''no'' access to their daughter and the two weren't even permitted to write to one another), seems to have taken a toll on Catherine and led to premature menopause. Exactly what induced Anne to finally sleep with Henry has been debated for centuries (modern historians point to a possible secret marriage at Dover in November 1532, while the Victorians thought she was a scheming whore), but suffice to say she did and was soon pregnant. Henry was overjoyed, and finally gave up trying to convince the Pope; he semi-secretly married (or remarried) Anne in January 1533, officially separated the English Church from Rome, made himself Supreme Head, and directed his new Archbishop of Canterbury to annul his marriage to Catherine. He was so intent that his son, his long-awaited, desperately-wanted heir, would be born legitimately that he was willing to destroy centuries of religious tradition to do so. [[note]]Interestingly, Henry ''did'' have a living son at this time -- but unfortunately, said son was his acknowledged bastard Henry Fitzroy. Fitzroy's existence was one of the major reasons for Henry's anger/suspicions of Catherine, as his mistress Bessie Blount had given him a healthy son. Henry adored Fitzroy and made him Duke of Richmond and Somerset, Captain of Calais, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; Henry actually thought about making him ''King'' of Ireland but was talked out of it. Fitzroy was the most powerful peer in the realm next to the King and Henry seems to have always had Fitzroy in mind as his "spare", but was possibly warming up to the idea of making him the official heir as an Act of Parliament was passed in 1536 granting Henry the right to declare anyone his heir. Sadly and ironically, Fitzroy died of consumption round about the time that the Act which could have made him the future king of England was going through Parliament.[[/note]]
to:
Anyway, Henry did separate England from Rome. Unlike what Whig history implies, he didn't do it specifically because of his desire for UsefulNotes/AnneBoleyn either. [[HeirClubForMen He did it because his only heir was Mary, a daughter, and Henry wanted at that point to make absolutely sure that she would never become Queen in her own right; after all, you couldn't possibly make a strong dynasty out of women rulers...]] (At this point, unlike other countries such as Spain, Hungary, and Egypt, no woman had ever ruled England in her own right -- discounting the unfortunate 12th-century Matilda, granddaughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William the Conqueror]], who was usurped by her cousin Stephen, fought a great civil war against him, and never really got a chance to rule... though her [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet descendants]] did.) Catherine, meanwhile, was entering menopause, so the window of time in which she could have given him a living son was closing. Barring Mary from the succession meant that he couldn't divorce Catherine like many an heirless king had done to a barren wife before; he needed an annulment, something far more serious that would have made Catherine a whore and Mary a bastard in the eyes of almost anyone who mattered. The only way to get an annulment was to apply to the Pope. Unfortunately for Henry Henry, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Catherine's nephew, was at that very moment holding the Pope hostage.
You have to pity Pope Clement. On onehand hand, he couldn't annul the marriage, marriage since the man holding him hostage would have literally killed him for the insult to his aunt and cousin. On the other hand hand, he could hardly just say "no" to Henry, who was sovereign of one of Christendom's Great Powers (a second-rate one, but still). Thanks to siding with the losers (chiefly France) in the Italian Wars (the reason Charles was holding him hostage), the rise of Protestantism in Germany, and the encroaching Ottoman Empire in the east, Clement didn't have too many friends left other than England. So he temporized. He held hearings, he reserved judgments, and he delayed things again and again, probably praying that one of them would just go off and die before things came to a head. [[note]] To Henry's eternal fury though, the Pope ''did'' grant an annulment to Henry's sister Margaret, the dowager Queen of Scotland, who wanted out of her second marriage. Then again, Margaret wasn't married to anyone who would kill the Pope if their marriage was annulled. [[/note]]
His prayers went unanswered. For some years, Henry had been "courting" (modern historians are more likely to see it as "stalking") a young woman of his court named Anne Boleyn, the sister of Mary Boleyn/Carey, one of his mistresses. She was everything Catherine was not: fiery instead of placid, defiant instead of obedient, hot-headed instead of calm. She refused to sleep with Henry for years, saying that her chastity was worth more to her than her own life.Naturally Naturally, this made Henry even more eager to have her, both because she said no and because she was young enough to give him a son. By this time, her multiple pregnancies and stillbirths, as well as the stress of Henry's treatment of her (apart from anything else, he allowed her ''no'' access to their daughter daughter, and the two weren't even permitted to write to one another), seems to have taken a toll on Catherine and led to premature menopause. Exactly what induced Anne to finally sleep with Henry has been debated for centuries (modern historians point to a possible secret marriage at Dover in November 1532, while the Victorians thought she was a scheming whore), but but, suffice to say say, she did and was soon pregnant. Henry was overjoyed, overjoyed and finally gave up trying to convince the Pope; he semi-secretly married (or remarried) Anne in January 1533, officially separated the English Church from Rome, made himself Supreme Head, and directed his new Archbishop of Canterbury to annul his marriage to Catherine. He was so intent that his son, his long-awaited, desperately-wanted heir, would be born legitimately that he was willing to destroy centuries of religious tradition to do so. [[note]]Interestingly, [[note]] Interestingly, Henry ''did'' have a living son at this time -- but but, unfortunately, said son was his acknowledged bastard Henry Fitzroy. Fitzroy's existence was one of the major reasons for Henry's anger/suspicions of Catherine, as his mistress Bessie Blount had given him a healthy son. Henry adored Fitzroy and made him Duke of Richmond and Somerset, Captain of Calais, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; Henry actually thought about making him ''King'' of Ireland but was talked out of it. Fitzroy was the most powerful peer in the realm next to the King King, and Henry seems to have always had Fitzroy in mind as his "spare", but was possibly warming up to the idea of making him the official heir as an Act of Parliament was passed in 1536 granting Henry the right to declare anyone his heir. Sadly and ironically, Fitzroy died of consumption round around about the time that the Act which could have made him the future king of England was going through Parliament.Parliament. [[/note]]
You have to pity Pope Clement. On one
His prayers went unanswered. For some years, Henry had been "courting" (modern historians are more likely to see it as "stalking") a young woman of his court named Anne Boleyn, the sister of Mary Boleyn/Carey, one of his mistresses. She was everything Catherine was not: fiery instead of placid, defiant instead of obedient, hot-headed instead of calm. She refused to sleep with Henry for years, saying that her chastity was worth more to her than her own life.
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk who greatly sympathized with the former/'true' queen and blamed Anne for Henry breaking with Rome, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to tune out Henry's mistresses the way Catherine had done (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her [[note]]In particular, she managed to alienate her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who wound up completely turning against her and even ''presided at her trial'' as Lord High Steward.[[/note]] -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
to:
Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and and, in fact fact, we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk who greatly sympathized with the former/'true' queen and blamed Anne for Henry breaking with Rome, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to tune out Henry's mistresses the way Catherine had done (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her [[note]]In particular, she managed to alienate her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who wound up completely turning against her and even ''presided at her trial'' as Lord High Steward.[[/note]] -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
Changed line(s) 79,84 (click to see context) from:
What also didn't help, and modern historians now believe was a key factor, was Henry having a near-fatal jousting accident. Not only did the news of the event actually trigger one of Anne's miscarriages, but the accident caused two serious injuries for Henry. One was probable brain damage from his horse rolling over him (which altered his personality and made him erratic); the other was a severe leg injury which would cause him to endure constant pain for the rest of his life (which made him irritable and easily angered). This incident put an end to most of the athletic Henry's many physical activities, leading him to become the overweight figure we recognize today, which also contributed to his frequent mood swings. Conveniently, at about this time Catherine of Aragon died [[note]]There were the inevitable whispers that she had been poisoned, due to a black spot being discovered on her heart during her embalming, but medical experts today think her death was probably due to cancer...although, and rather spookily, Anne's last miscarriage happened ''on the same day'' as Catherine's funeral.[[/note]] and so if Henry were to end his marriage to Anne, there would be no more pressure for him to go back to her. And if he now remarried someone ''else'', all parties would consider the new marriage legitimate, as Catholics and those sympathetic to Catherine now considered him a widower.
Enter UsefulNotes/JaneSeymourRoyalty. A staunch Roman Catholic, Jane was everything Anne was not -- quiet, placid, feminine, delicate, and blonde. (Henry was like that: every wife he chose was, in some way, the stark opposite of her predecessor.) Jane also refused to have sex with Henry until marriage, which didn't take very long: within months of Anne's last miscarriage, her enemies had her charged with adultery, incest, and treason.[[note]]Not witchcraft; that’s a rather stupid myth perpetuated by the Victorians. The early Tudors considered witchcraft a stupid peasant superstition.[[/note]] She was convicted despite the evidence being a laughable tissue of lies, and Henry (by now getting into the swing of this Supreme Head thing) annulled their marriage, and she was executed. In one last act of "kindness" to his former wife, Anne was beheaded by a professional executioner from France, who used a sword and made it quick.[[note]]This really ''was'' an act of kindness, though it hardly sounds like it. Being a headsman was a brutal occupation, and one which didn't exactly do wonders for one's mental health. As such, the headsman would often drink heavily on the day of an execution, which could sometimes lead to an absolute bloodbath when the axe swings would ''miss''. Some executions took multiple swings before the head was severed from the body, by which point the victim would be practically mutilated. By getting Anne a master swordsman who could do the job with one clean stroke, Henry kept her from suffering too grievously. Nevertheless, the fact that this French executioner arrived as fast as he did suggests to historians that Henry had hired him way before Anne's set trial, further cementing the fact that Henry had committed to removing Anne regardless of whether she was innocent or not.[[/note]] Some historians suggest that Jane, rejecting gifts of money from Henry -- she reportedly kissed the letter he wrote and sent it ''and'' the purse of money that came with it back to the King, who was enraptured at her actions -- was more cunning than she outwardly portrayed herself to be, was playing the long game and, much like Anne, ''won.''
Ten days later Henry married Jane. A year and a half later, Jane died after giving birth to Henry's only legitimate son to survive infancy, Edward VI. Common wisdom has it that "she had the good fortune to bear a male heir, and the good sense to die almost immediately afterward, before the King could tire of her". That said, it’s unlikely that Jane saw her slow, agonizing death of puerperal infection and the loss of everything she was and everyone she knew at the age of 29 as ‘good fortune’ or ‘smart’. To her, her death must have been the worst possible outcome, and those who call her ‘smart’ to have died young in agony might wish to remember that.
Enter UsefulNotes/JaneSeymourRoyalty. A staunch Roman Catholic, Jane was everything Anne was not -- quiet, placid, feminine, delicate, and blonde. (Henry was like that: every wife he chose was, in some way, the stark opposite of her predecessor.) Jane also refused to have sex with Henry until marriage, which didn't take very long: within months of Anne's last miscarriage, her enemies had her charged with adultery, incest, and treason.[[note]]Not witchcraft; that’s a rather stupid myth perpetuated by the Victorians. The early Tudors considered witchcraft a stupid peasant superstition.[[/note]] She was convicted despite the evidence being a laughable tissue of lies, and Henry (by now getting into the swing of this Supreme Head thing) annulled their marriage, and she was executed. In one last act of "kindness" to his former wife, Anne was beheaded by a professional executioner from France, who used a sword and made it quick.[[note]]This really ''was'' an act of kindness, though it hardly sounds like it. Being a headsman was a brutal occupation, and one which didn't exactly do wonders for one's mental health. As such, the headsman would often drink heavily on the day of an execution, which could sometimes lead to an absolute bloodbath when the axe swings would ''miss''. Some executions took multiple swings before the head was severed from the body, by which point the victim would be practically mutilated. By getting Anne a master swordsman who could do the job with one clean stroke, Henry kept her from suffering too grievously. Nevertheless, the fact that this French executioner arrived as fast as he did suggests to historians that Henry had hired him way before Anne's set trial, further cementing the fact that Henry had committed to removing Anne regardless of whether she was innocent or not.[[/note]] Some historians suggest that Jane, rejecting gifts of money from Henry -- she reportedly kissed the letter he wrote and sent it ''and'' the purse of money that came with it back to the King, who was enraptured at her actions -- was more cunning than she outwardly portrayed herself to be, was playing the long game and, much like Anne, ''won.''
Ten days later Henry married Jane. A year and a half later, Jane died after giving birth to Henry's only legitimate son to survive infancy, Edward VI. Common wisdom has it that "she had the good fortune to bear a male heir, and the good sense to die almost immediately afterward, before the King could tire of her". That said, it’s unlikely that Jane saw her slow, agonizing death of puerperal infection and the loss of everything she was and everyone she knew at the age of 29 as ‘good fortune’ or ‘smart’. To her, her death must have been the worst possible outcome, and those who call her ‘smart’ to have died young in agony might wish to remember that.
to:
What also didn't help, and modern historians now believe was a key factor, was Henry having a near-fatal jousting accident. Not only did the news of the event actually trigger one of Anne's miscarriages, but the accident caused two serious injuries for Henry. One was probable brain damage from his horse rolling over him (which altered his personality and made him erratic); the other was a severe leg injury which that would cause him to endure constant pain for the rest of his life (which made him irritable and easily angered). This incident put an end to most of the athletic Henry's many physical activities, leading him to become the overweight figure we recognize today, which also contributed to his frequent mood swings. Conveniently, at about this time Catherine of Aragon died [[note]]There were the inevitable whispers that she had been poisoned, due to a black spot being discovered on her heart during her embalming, but medical experts today think her death was probably due to cancer...although, and rather spookily, Anne's last miscarriage happened ''on the same day'' as Catherine's funeral.[[/note]] and so if Henry were to end his marriage to Anne, there would be no more pressure for him to go back to her. And if he now remarried someone ''else'', all parties would consider the new marriage legitimate, as Catholics and those sympathetic to Catherine now considered him a widower.
Enter UsefulNotes/JaneSeymourRoyalty. A staunch Roman Catholic, Jane was everything Anne was not -- quiet, placid, feminine, delicate, and blonde. (Henry was like that: every wife he chose was, in some way, the stark opposite of her predecessor.) Jane also refused to have sex with Henry until marriage, which didn't take very long: within months of Anne's last miscarriage, her enemies had her charged with adultery, incest, and treason.[[note]]Not [[note]] Not witchcraft; that’s a rather stupid myth perpetuated by the Victorians. The early Tudors considered witchcraft a stupid peasant superstition.[[/note]] She was convicted despite the evidence being a laughable tissue of lies, and Henry (by now getting into the swing of this Supreme Head thing) annulled their marriage, and she was executed. In one last act of "kindness" to his former wife, Anne was beheaded by a professional executioner from France, who used a sword and made it quick.[[note]]This really ''was'' an act of kindness, though it hardly sounds like it. Being a headsman was a brutal occupation, occupation and one which didn't exactly do wonders for one's mental health. As such, the headsman would often drink heavily on the day of an execution, which could sometimes lead to an absolute bloodbath when the axe swings would ''miss''. Some executions took multiple swings before the head was severed from the body, by which point the victim would be practically mutilated. By getting Anne a master swordsman who could do the job with one clean stroke, Henry kept her from suffering too grievously. Nevertheless, the fact that this French executioner arrived as fast as he did suggests to historians that Henry had hired him way before Anne's set trial, further cementing the fact that Henry had committed to removing Anne regardless of whether she was innocent or not.[[/note]] Some historians suggest that Jane, rejecting gifts of money from Henry -- she reportedly kissed the letter he wrote and sent it ''and'' the purse of money that came with it back to the King, who was enraptured at her actions -- was more cunning than she outwardly portrayed herself to be, was playing the long game and, much like Anne, ''won.''
Ten days later Henry married Jane. A year and a half later, Jane died after giving birth to Henry's only legitimate son to survive infancy, Edward VI. Common wisdom has it that "she had the good fortune to bear a male heir, and the good sense to die almost immediatelyafterward, afterward before the King could tire of her". That said, it’s unlikely that Jane saw her slow, agonizing death of puerperal infection and the loss of everything she was and everyone she knew at the age of 29 as ‘good fortune’ or ‘smart’. To her, her death must have been the worst possible outcome, and those who call her ‘smart’ to have died young in agony might wish to remember that.
Enter UsefulNotes/JaneSeymourRoyalty. A staunch Roman Catholic, Jane was everything Anne was not -- quiet, placid, feminine, delicate, and blonde. (Henry was like that: every wife he chose was, in some way, the stark opposite of her predecessor.) Jane also refused to have sex with Henry until marriage, which didn't take very long: within months of Anne's last miscarriage, her enemies had her charged with adultery, incest, and treason.
Ten days later Henry married Jane. A year and a half later, Jane died after giving birth to Henry's only legitimate son to survive infancy, Edward VI. Common wisdom has it that "she had the good fortune to bear a male heir, and the good sense to die almost immediately
Changed line(s) 87,92 (click to see context) from:
This search took longer than expected, and it was nearly three years before Henry married again. This was partly due to the fluctuating politics in Europe that left Henry and his government constantly uncertain about with whom they needed to be allied; and partly because the European marriage market, ''shockingly,'' was not that keen on a king who had gone through three wives in five years, with Anne Boleyn's fate standing out in particular. Apparently when Mary of Guise -- a French noblewoman who would later marry Henry's nephew James V of Scotland and give birth to [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary Queen of Scots]] -- learned that Henry had told the French ambassador that he was big in person and had need of a big wife, she glibly replied, "I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck." When Henry's ambassadors were plying his suit to her, Christina of Denmark supposedly said, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." While these stories are likely apocryphal, Christina and her relatives at least made no secret of her aversion to marrying Henry, particularly since Catherine of Aragon was ''her great-aunt.'' When she posed for a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (whom Henry had sent to paint all the prospective candidates for wife Number Four) she wore mourning dress, and given that she had been widowed over two years prior, her choice of wardrobe was very telling - mourning dress is supposed to be worn for six months, then into purple for six months for "half-mourning", then out of mourning; the fact she wore mourning dress ''a whole year later than she needed to'' was one hell of a sign. The wooing of both ladies went nowhere, and several other marriage negotiations also fell through.
The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she probably wasn't really that unattractive]]. While the English members of Henry's court felt compelled to say whatever the irascible king wanted to hear, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had, at most, made her nose slightly smaller. Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, opined that while Anne was no great beauty she was attractive, pleasant to be around, and dignified. At least one person she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts rather than activities that the royal court enjoyed like hunting, dancing and singing, and Henry tended to like them feisty, tiny, boyish, keen on the outdoors and with a classically-trained intellect. Furthermore Anne's heavy, conservative, and not exactly fashionable or flattering German clothing did her no favours, and combined with what one courtier described as a "serious" affect tended to make her appear older than her years. She also spoke very little English when she first arrived in the country, although she did learn it while in England. All the same, given that Henry insisted that Anne was not just unattractive, but repulsive enough to make consummation physically impossible, more than one historian has wondered if Henry had become impotent by this point and blamed Anne instead of his weight.
Henry's aversion to Anne, at least from a romantic and erotic standpoint, was also not helped by their disastrous first meeting. On New Year's Eve of 1539, Anne and her entourage arrived at Rochester in Kent, where they intended to rest overnight before riding on to Greenwich, where she would be formally received by the king. Henry, impatient to meet his (fourth) wife-to-be, decided to surprise her. Once they arrived at Rochester, the king and some buddies disguised themselves as peasants and entered an upstairs room where Anne and her ladies were watching a bull-baiting. Why did he do such a thing? Because, according the the chivalric tradition from which Henry was drawing, Anne was supposed to see through his disguise and recognize her "true love." Unfortunately, [[CultureClash Anne was completely unfamiliar with this tradition,]] and only saw a stranger - and a foul smelling one at that - being overly familiar with her, to the point of grabbing her and kissing her.
The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she probably wasn't really that unattractive]]. While the English members of Henry's court felt compelled to say whatever the irascible king wanted to hear, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had, at most, made her nose slightly smaller. Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, opined that while Anne was no great beauty she was attractive, pleasant to be around, and dignified. At least one person she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts rather than activities that the royal court enjoyed like hunting, dancing and singing, and Henry tended to like them feisty, tiny, boyish, keen on the outdoors and with a classically-trained intellect. Furthermore Anne's heavy, conservative, and not exactly fashionable or flattering German clothing did her no favours, and combined with what one courtier described as a "serious" affect tended to make her appear older than her years. She also spoke very little English when she first arrived in the country, although she did learn it while in England. All the same, given that Henry insisted that Anne was not just unattractive, but repulsive enough to make consummation physically impossible, more than one historian has wondered if Henry had become impotent by this point and blamed Anne instead of his weight.
Henry's aversion to Anne, at least from a romantic and erotic standpoint, was also not helped by their disastrous first meeting. On New Year's Eve of 1539, Anne and her entourage arrived at Rochester in Kent, where they intended to rest overnight before riding on to Greenwich, where she would be formally received by the king. Henry, impatient to meet his (fourth) wife-to-be, decided to surprise her. Once they arrived at Rochester, the king and some buddies disguised themselves as peasants and entered an upstairs room where Anne and her ladies were watching a bull-baiting. Why did he do such a thing? Because, according the the chivalric tradition from which Henry was drawing, Anne was supposed to see through his disguise and recognize her "true love." Unfortunately, [[CultureClash Anne was completely unfamiliar with this tradition,]] and only saw a stranger - and a foul smelling one at that - being overly familiar with her, to the point of grabbing her and kissing her.
to:
This search took longer than expected, and it was nearly three years before Henry married again. This was partly due to the fluctuating politics in Europe that left Henry and his government constantly uncertain about with whom they needed to be allied; and partly because the European marriage market, ''shockingly,'' was not that keen on a king who had gone through three wives in five years, with Anne Boleyn's fate standing out in particular. Apparently Apparently, when Mary of Guise -- a French noblewoman who would later marry Henry's nephew James V of Scotland and give birth to [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary Queen of Scots]] -- learned that Henry had told the French ambassador that he was big in person and had need of a big wife, she glibly replied, "I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck." When Henry's ambassadors were plying his suit to her, Christina of Denmark supposedly said, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." While these stories are likely apocryphal, Christina and her relatives at least made no secret of her aversion to marrying Henry, particularly since Catherine of Aragon was ''her great-aunt.'' When she posed for a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (whom Henry had sent to paint all the prospective candidates for wife Number Four) she wore mourning dress, and given that she had been widowed over two years prior, her choice of wardrobe was very telling - mourning dress is supposed to be worn for six months, then into purple for six months for "half-mourning", then out of mourning; the fact she wore mourning dress ''a whole year later than she needed to'' was one hell of a sign. The wooing of both ladies went nowhere, and several other marriage negotiations also fell through.
The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she probably wasn't really that unattractive]]. While the English members of Henry's court felt compelled to say whatever the irascible king wanted to hear, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had, at most, made her nose slightly smaller. Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, opined that while Anne was no great beauty she was attractive, pleasant to be around, and dignified. At least one person she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts rather than activities that the royal court enjoyed like hunting,dancing dancing, and singing, and Henry tended to like them feisty, tiny, boyish, keen on the outdoors and with a classically-trained intellect. Furthermore Furthermore, Anne's heavy, conservative, and not exactly fashionable or flattering German clothing did her no favours, and combined with what one courtier described as a "serious" affect tended to make her appear older than her years. She also spoke very little English when she first arrived in the country, although she did learn it while in England. All the same, given that Henry insisted that Anne was not just unattractive, but repulsive enough to make consummation physically impossible, more than one historian has wondered if Henry had become impotent by this point and blamed Anne instead of his weight.
Henry's aversion to Anne, at least from a romantic and erotic standpoint, was also not helped by their disastrous first meeting. On New Year's Eve of 1539, Anne and her entourage arrived at Rochester in Kent, where they intended to rest overnight before riding on to Greenwich, where she would be formally received by the king. Henry, impatient to meet his (fourth) wife-to-be, decided to surprise her. Once they arrived at Rochester, the king and some buddies disguised themselves as peasants and entered an upstairs room where Anne and her ladies were watching a bull-baiting. Why did he do such a thing? Because, accordingthe to the chivalric tradition from which Henry was drawing, Anne was supposed to see through his disguise and recognize her "true love." Unfortunately, [[CultureClash Anne was completely unfamiliar with this tradition,]] and only saw a stranger - and a foul smelling foul-smelling one at that - being overly familiar with her, to the point of grabbing her and kissing her.
The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she probably wasn't really that unattractive]]. While the English members of Henry's court felt compelled to say whatever the irascible king wanted to hear, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had, at most, made her nose slightly smaller. Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, opined that while Anne was no great beauty she was attractive, pleasant to be around, and dignified. At least one person she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts rather than activities that the royal court enjoyed like hunting,
Henry's aversion to Anne, at least from a romantic and erotic standpoint, was also not helped by their disastrous first meeting. On New Year's Eve of 1539, Anne and her entourage arrived at Rochester in Kent, where they intended to rest overnight before riding on to Greenwich, where she would be formally received by the king. Henry, impatient to meet his (fourth) wife-to-be, decided to surprise her. Once they arrived at Rochester, the king and some buddies disguised themselves as peasants and entered an upstairs room where Anne and her ladies were watching a bull-baiting. Why did he do such a thing? Because, according
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In the end, Anne, who by now knew exactly what happened to Queens One ''and'' Two (and had her decision greatly simplified by the fact that ''she was provably as pure and virgin as the day she was married''), signed the annulment papers at the King's first suggestion, and thereby got a ''very'' generous settlement - including several castles, a metric fuck-tonne of money, and no one to tell her what to ''do'' with it - from a very relieved King Henry, which allowed her to outlive (and get richer than) the other five. But by the time of the annulment, Henry had realized that he genuinely ''liked'' Anne as a person even though he didn't want to be married to her; for the rest of his life he treated her as an [[LikeBrotherAndSister honorary sister]], and she was even referenced publicly as "the King's good sister". She got on incredibly well with both of his daughters, was provided with a household and allowance, and was invited to all the events at court. Henry was so thankful for her acquiescence that her title of "the King's good sister" came with lofty status, and it was understood that, apart from the King's wife and daughters, she outranked ''every other woman in the kingdom.'' Regardless of how pretty Anne of Cleves was, or whether she was pretty at all, in the end it didn't matter all that much. Clearly, Anne was no fool. Good for her!
to:
In the end, Anne, who by now knew exactly what happened to Queens One ''and'' Two (and had her decision greatly simplified by the fact that ''she was provably as pure and virgin as the day she was married''), signed the annulment papers at the King's first suggestion, suggestion and thereby got a ''very'' generous settlement - including several castles, a metric fuck-tonne of money, and no one to tell her what to ''do'' with it - from a very relieved King Henry, which allowed her to outlive (and get richer than) the other five. But by the time of the annulment, Henry had realized that he genuinely ''liked'' Anne as a person even though he didn't want to be married to her; for the rest of his life he treated her as an [[LikeBrotherAndSister honorary sister]], and she was even referenced publicly as "the King's good sister". She got on incredibly well with both of his daughters, was provided with a household and allowance, and was invited to all the events at court. Henry was so thankful for her acquiescence that her title of "the King's good sister" came with lofty status, and it was understood that, apart from the King's wife and daughters, she outranked ''every other woman in the kingdom.'' Regardless of how pretty Anne of Cleves was, or whether she was pretty at all, in the end end, it didn't matter all that much. Clearly, Anne was no fool. Good for her!
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So Henry moved on to Catherine Howard, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine was one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, and [[BrokenRecord (go figure)]] everything Anne was not: tiny, boyish, spirited, frivolous, and auburn-haired. She was also in love with (and probably legally married to) another man, but that didn't matter: by that time, Henry wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone. After the marriage, Catherine, who was probably all of fifteen years old at this point, found a new boyfriend -- Henry's closest body servant -- and carried on with him behind the King's back.[[note]]According to all sources, however, when the court was on progress to the house of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his second wife, Katherine Willoughby, the young queen ''actually behaved herself''. What that says about the Duchess of Suffolk, who was able to keep Catherine in line, is up to you.[[/note]] Bad idea. When Henry found out, he naturally had both the current and former boyfriends killed, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint then sat around for months whining about how all women are whores.]] Given Catherine's age and other events in her life [[note]]She was likely around ''thirteen'' when she had her first 'relationship' with Henry Mannox, her music teacher, who was at least ten years older than her and may even have been in his mid-thirties. During her interrogation Catherine claimed that Francis Dereham, the aforementioned man to whom she was probably legally married (due to a pre-contract), essentially forced himself upon her. While witnesses from Norfolk House (where both of them were living at the time of their affair) refuted this and said Catherine enjoyed Dereham's attentions, please recall that Catherine was still likely no more than fifteen at this point, and Dereham, again, was more than ten years older than her, meaning he might have pressured her into accepting said attentions. As for the man with whom she was accused of adultery, Thomas Culpeper (who was, once more with feeling, [[RuleOfThree at least ten years older than Catherine]]) theories have been raised that he might have had knowledge of her previous affairs and hoped to use them to gain leverage and power over the young Queen. He may also have been a rapist; in 1539 a Thomas Culpeper was accused of, and granted a royal pardon for, raping a park-keeper's wife and then murdering a villager... though it's entirely possible that this might have been Culpeper's elder brother, confusingly also called Thomas.[[/note]] there are historians who now suspect she may have been coerced into the relationship and quite possibly raped -- and then beheaded for it.
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So Henry moved on to Catherine Howard, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine was one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, and [[BrokenRecord (go figure)]] everything Anne was not: tiny, boyish, spirited, frivolous, and auburn-haired. She was also in love with (and probably legally married to) another man, but that didn't matter: by that time, Henry wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone. After the marriage, Catherine, who was probably all of fifteen years old at this point, found a new boyfriend -- Henry's closest body servant -- and carried on with him behind the King's back.[[note]]According to all sources, however, when the court was on progress to the house of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his second wife, Katherine Willoughby, the young queen ''actually behaved herself''. What that says about the Duchess of Suffolk, who was able to keep Catherine in line, is up to you.[[/note]] Bad idea. When Henry found out, he naturally had both the current and former boyfriends killed, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint then sat around for months whining about how all women are whores.]] Given Catherine's age and other events in her life [[note]]She was likely around ''thirteen'' when she had her first 'relationship' with Henry Mannox, her music teacher, who was at least ten years older than her and may even have been in his mid-thirties. During her interrogation interrogation, Catherine claimed that Francis Dereham, the aforementioned man to whom she was probably legally married (due to a pre-contract), essentially forced himself upon her. While witnesses from Norfolk House (where both of them were living at the time of their affair) refuted this and said Catherine enjoyed Dereham's attentions, please recall that Catherine was still likely no more than fifteen at this point, and Dereham, again, was more than ten years older than her, meaning he might have pressured her into accepting said attentions. As for the man with whom she was accused of adultery, Thomas Culpeper (who was, once more with feeling, [[RuleOfThree at least ten years older than Catherine]]) theories have been raised that he might have had knowledge of her previous affairs and hoped to use them to gain leverage and power over the young Queen. He may also have been a rapist; in 1539 a Thomas Culpeper was accused of, and granted a royal pardon for, raping a park-keeper's wife and then murdering a villager... though it's entirely possible that this might have been Culpeper's elder brother, confusingly also called Thomas.[[/note]] there are historians who now suspect she may have been coerced into the relationship and quite possibly raped -- and then beheaded for it.
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Luckily for Catherine, she (unlike Anne Boleyn or Catherine Howard) was able to save herself. She was made aware of the warrant for her arrest, and had such a screaming fit that Henry sent his physician to her. It's hard to blame her; Anne and the other Catherine were beheaded for adultery, but Catherine Parr's crime was ''heresy'', the sentence for which was to be burned at the stake -- a much longer, more agonizing death sentence.
Catherine pulled herself together when the King came to check on her. When Henry tried to coerce her into a debate, she answered meekly, claiming that she, as his wife and subject, considered him her head and that any time she ever debated or disagreed with him on religion, she was either seeking his guidance to improve her understanding, or else attempting to engage his mind and distract him from the various aches and pains caused by his aging, especially that old leg injury which had never healed. Henry was delighted to hear this, telling her that all was mended and "We are perfect friends again."
Catherine pulled herself together when the King came to check on her. When Henry tried to coerce her into a debate, she answered meekly, claiming that she, as his wife and subject, considered him her head and that any time she ever debated or disagreed with him on religion, she was either seeking his guidance to improve her understanding, or else attempting to engage his mind and distract him from the various aches and pains caused by his aging, especially that old leg injury which had never healed. Henry was delighted to hear this, telling her that all was mended and "We are perfect friends again."
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Luckily for Catherine, she (unlike Anne Boleyn or Catherine Howard) was able to save herself. She was made aware of the warrant for her arrest, arrest and had such a screaming fit that Henry sent his physician to her. It's hard to blame her; Anne and the other Catherine were beheaded for adultery, but Catherine Parr's crime was ''heresy'', the sentence for which was to be burned at the stake -- a much longer, more agonizing death sentence.
Catherine pulled herself together when the King came to check on her. When Henry tried to coerce her into a debate, she answered meekly, claiming that she, as his wife and subject, considered him her head and that any time she ever debated or disagreed with him on religion, she was either seeking his guidance to improve herunderstanding, understanding or else attempting to engage his mind and distract him from the various aches and pains caused by his aging, especially that old leg injury which had never healed. Henry was delighted to hear this, telling her that all was mended and "We are perfect friends again."
Catherine pulled herself together when the King came to check on her. When Henry tried to coerce her into a debate, she answered meekly, claiming that she, as his wife and subject, considered him her head and that any time she ever debated or disagreed with him on religion, she was either seeking his guidance to improve her
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Famous as a sickly [[AChildShallLeadThem boy-king]] whose early death made rather a mockery of his father's long and tempestuous campaign for a male heir, the reputation of Edward as a frail child has been recently debunked. He almost died of 'quartan fever' (a relatively benign malaria) at age four, but afterwards was healthy up to the age of 15. To be fair, though, he did then contract what was apparently 'consumption' (tuberculosis) and snuffed it without reaching his majority.
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Famous as a sickly [[AChildShallLeadThem boy-king]] whose early death made rather a mockery of his father's long and tempestuous campaign for a male heir, the reputation of Edward as a frail child has been recently debunked. He almost died of 'quartan fever' (a relatively (relatively benign malaria) at age four, four but afterwards was healthy up to the age of 15. To be fair, though, he did then contract what was apparently 'consumption' (tuberculosis) and snuffed it without reaching his majority.
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Before Edward's final illness, there were no doubts that he would eventually marry and father a large family of sons, rendering moot the Succession Act passed in Henry's lifetime (by which first Mary, then Elizabeth, would succeed Edward if he died without heirs of his own). When it became obvious that Edward wouldn't live long enough to secure the succession, the king sought to change the succession to eliminate any possibility of Catholic Mary returning the country to Rome, but he couldn't find a legal way to do so without disinheriting Elizabeth as well.[[note]]In fact, it wasn't legal for Edward to change the succession in his will; the succession had been set by Parliament (creating a precedent, incidentally) that no mere royal will, let alone that of a minor, could set aside.[[/note]] No matter: his first will, written in his own hand some time before his death, left the succession to the eldest son of Lady Jane Grey, a cousin of Edward's (technically first cousin once removed; her maternal grandmother was Henry VIII's youngest and favorite sister, Mary Tudor) who had recently been married (much against her will) to Lord Guildford Dudley, son of the Duke of Northumberland, head of the Council of Regency and one of Edward's senior advisers. It wasn't long, though, before Edward realized that he wasn't even going to live long enough for Jane to have any children, so he amended his will to leave the throne directly to her.
It of course wasn't pure coincidence that the new heiress to the throne was married to the son of the head of the Regency Council. The marriage was so timely, in fact, that a theory arose among historians that Northumberland had effectively staged a coup and forced Edward to name his new daughter-in-law as heir; some historians even suggested that Northumberland poisoned Edward with an arsenic-based medicine that kept him alive but in agony until Edward made Jane his heir. As the Letters and Papers of Edward's reign show, however, the amendment of the Succession Act was mainly Edward's own idea, and Northumberland merely grasped the opportunity to marry his son to Jane and make a grab for even greater power.
Edward's death occurred in July of 1553, and Jane (again, [[ReluctantRuler unwillingly]] -- notice a running trend here, folks?) was crowned Queen four days later. Her reign lasted nine days before a justifiably annoyed Mary I showed up with an army. Unfortunately for Northumberland, he'd failed in his attempt to secure the princess in person before proclaiming Jane as queen instead (well used to watching her own back, Mary had sprung into action on the first news of Edward’s death, and was already on her way to seek support in East Anglia by the time Northumberland’s men arrived at her home), and he'd grossly underestimated Mary's popularity with the likes of conservatives, Catholics, and those who were loyal to the memory of her mother and believed Catherine had been treated unfairly. Catherine of Aragon being absolutely beloved by the English people as a whole, it was a ''big'' army. Heads rolled, right into a basket.
Jane's life was spared for the present; Mary wasn't stupid or irrational enough to believe that a fifteen-year-old bookworm had engineered a coup all by herself, and understood that the plot was mainly carried out by Jane's father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland. Mary's original intent was to have Jane and her husband convicted of treason, imprisoned, and then quietly released once things had died down. With Northumberland, however, Mary used the tried and true method of monarchs for hundreds of years and, well, you probably get the idea -- his head ended up in a basket.
It of course wasn't pure coincidence that the new heiress to the throne was married to the son of the head of the Regency Council. The marriage was so timely, in fact, that a theory arose among historians that Northumberland had effectively staged a coup and forced Edward to name his new daughter-in-law as heir; some historians even suggested that Northumberland poisoned Edward with an arsenic-based medicine that kept him alive but in agony until Edward made Jane his heir. As the Letters and Papers of Edward's reign show, however, the amendment of the Succession Act was mainly Edward's own idea, and Northumberland merely grasped the opportunity to marry his son to Jane and make a grab for even greater power.
Edward's death occurred in July of 1553, and Jane (again, [[ReluctantRuler unwillingly]] -- notice a running trend here, folks?) was crowned Queen four days later. Her reign lasted nine days before a justifiably annoyed Mary I showed up with an army. Unfortunately for Northumberland, he'd failed in his attempt to secure the princess in person before proclaiming Jane as queen instead (well used to watching her own back, Mary had sprung into action on the first news of Edward’s death, and was already on her way to seek support in East Anglia by the time Northumberland’s men arrived at her home), and he'd grossly underestimated Mary's popularity with the likes of conservatives, Catholics, and those who were loyal to the memory of her mother and believed Catherine had been treated unfairly. Catherine of Aragon being absolutely beloved by the English people as a whole, it was a ''big'' army. Heads rolled, right into a basket.
Jane's life was spared for the present; Mary wasn't stupid or irrational enough to believe that a fifteen-year-old bookworm had engineered a coup all by herself, and understood that the plot was mainly carried out by Jane's father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland. Mary's original intent was to have Jane and her husband convicted of treason, imprisoned, and then quietly released once things had died down. With Northumberland, however, Mary used the tried and true method of monarchs for hundreds of years and, well, you probably get the idea -- his head ended up in a basket.
to:
Before Edward's final illness, there were no doubts that he would eventually marry and father a large family of sons, rendering moot the Succession Act passed in Henry's lifetime (by which first Mary, then Elizabeth, would succeed Edward if he died without heirs of his own). When it became obvious that Edward wouldn't live long enough to secure the succession, the king sought to change the succession to eliminate any possibility of Catholic Mary returning the country to Rome, but he couldn't find a legal way to do so without disinheriting Elizabeth as well.[[note]]In [[note]] In fact, it wasn't legal for Edward to change the succession in his will; the succession had been set by Parliament (creating a precedent, incidentally) that no mere royal will, let alone that of a minor, could set aside.[[/note]] No matter: his first will, written in his own hand some time before his death, left the succession to the eldest son of Lady Jane Grey, a cousin of Edward's (technically first cousin once removed; her maternal grandmother was Henry VIII's youngest and favorite sister, Mary Tudor) who had recently been married (much against her will) to Lord Guildford Dudley, son of the Duke of Northumberland, head of the Council of Regency and one of Edward's senior advisers. It wasn't long, though, before Edward realized that he wasn't even going to live long enough for Jane to have any children, so he amended his will to leave the throne directly to her.
It It, of course course, wasn't pure coincidence that the new heiress to the throne was married to the son of the head of the Regency Council. The marriage was so timely, in fact, that a theory arose among historians that Northumberland had effectively staged a coup and forced Edward to name his new daughter-in-law as heir; some historians even suggested that Northumberland poisoned Edward with an arsenic-based medicine that kept him alive but in agony until Edward made Jane his heir. As the Letters and Papers of Edward's reign show, however, the amendment of the Succession Act was mainly Edward's own idea, and Northumberland merely grasped the opportunity to marry his son to Jane and make a grab for even greater power.
Edward's death occurred in July of 1553, and Jane (again, [[ReluctantRuler unwillingly]] -- notice a running trend here, folks?) was crowned Queen four days later. Her reign lasted nine days before a justifiably annoyed Mary I showed up with an army. Unfortunately for Northumberland, he'd failed in his attempt to secure the princess in person before proclaiming Jane as queen instead (well used to watching her own back, Mary had sprung into action on the first news of Edward’s death, and she was already on her way to seek support in East Anglia by the time Northumberland’s men arrived at her home), and he'd grossly underestimated Mary's popularity with the likes of conservatives, Catholics, and those who were loyal to the memory of her mother and believed Catherine had been treated unfairly. Catherine of Aragon being absolutely beloved by the English people as a whole, it was a ''big'' army. Heads rolled, right into a basket.
Jane's life was spared for the present; Mary wasn't stupid or irrational enough to believe that a fifteen-year-old bookworm had engineered a coup all byherself, herself and understood that the plot was mainly carried out by Jane's father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland. Mary's original intent was to have Jane and her husband convicted of treason, imprisoned, and then quietly released once things had died down. With Northumberland, however, Mary used the tried and true method of monarchs for hundreds of years and, well, you probably get the idea -- his head ended up in a basket.
Edward's death occurred in July of 1553, and Jane (again, [[ReluctantRuler unwillingly]] -- notice a running trend here, folks?) was crowned Queen four days later. Her reign lasted nine days before a justifiably annoyed Mary I showed up with an army. Unfortunately for Northumberland, he'd failed in his attempt to secure the princess in person before proclaiming Jane as queen instead (well used to watching her own back, Mary had sprung into action on the first news of Edward’s death, and she was already on her way to seek support in East Anglia by the time Northumberland’s men arrived at her home), and he'd grossly underestimated Mary's popularity with the likes of conservatives, Catholics, and those who were loyal to the memory of her mother and believed Catherine had been treated unfairly. Catherine of Aragon being absolutely beloved by the English people as a whole, it was a ''big'' army. Heads rolled, right into a basket.
Jane's life was spared for the present; Mary wasn't stupid or irrational enough to believe that a fifteen-year-old bookworm had engineered a coup all by
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Poor kid was still a teenager, and hadn't even particularly wanted to be Queen -- she was essentially the figurehead of a ''coup d'etat''. She has gone down in history as an anomaly, only included on king-lists with an asterisk: the ''de facto'' monarch who 'ruled' for but a handful of days, never had any real power and certainly was never crowned. Only rarely is she referred to as 'Queen Jane' or 'Jane I'; most sources call her simply Lady Jane Grey – the unfortunate adolescent who is remembered as England's queen-who-never-was.
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Poor kid was still a teenager, and hadn't even particularly wanted to be Queen -- she was essentially the figurehead of a ''coup d'etat''. She has gone down in history as an anomaly, only included on king-lists with an asterisk: the ''de facto'' monarch who 'ruled' for but a handful of days, never had any real power power, and certainly was never crowned. Only rarely is she referred to as 'Queen Jane' or 'Jane I'; most sources call her simply Lady Jane Grey – the unfortunate adolescent who is remembered as England's queen-who-never-was.
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->'''Nickname''': ''Bloody Mary'' [[note]]Mary had nearly 300 protestants executed for their alleged part in the attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on throne instead of her.[[/note]]
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->'''Nickname''': ''Bloody Mary'' [[note]]Mary had nearly 300 protestants Protestants executed for their alleged part in the attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne instead of her.[[/note]]
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England's very first Queen Regnant, Mary I was Henry VIII's daughter and his only surviving child by UsefulNotes/CatherineOfAragon. As a little girl, she was doted on by both of her parents, especially as time passed and she continued to be their only surviving child. She was declared Princess of Wales in all but actual title (and some of her contemporaries actually did refer to her as "the Lady Mary, Prince of Wales"), being given the colors of the Prince of Wales to use for her livery and allowed to use the official seal of Wales on her correspondence.[[note]]The reason she was not formally created as Princess of Wales (apart from her parents fully expecting a son at some point) is because it's a courtesy title reserved exclusively for the wife of the Prince of Wales. To call Mary "Princess of Wales" would actually have been a sort of step ''down'' in title from what she was throughout her childhood, which was heir apparent. A few centuries later, the future Elizabeth II was not made Princess of Wales for the exact same reason.[[/note]] As a girl, she was sent with her household to Ludlow, then the traditional seat of the Prince of Wales, to continue her education. Everything changed for Mary, however, when Anne Boleyn became queen. With her parents' marriage declared invalid, Mary was declared a bastard, struck from the succession, stripped of her title as "Princess", separated from her mother, and forced into her baby half-sister's service as a lady-in-waiting. When ordered to recognize Anne Boleyn as Queen of England and Elizabeth as Princess, Mary declared that she knew of no Queen but her mother, and no Princess but herself -- though she ''was'' willing to call Elizabeth her sister, as she called Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Henry VIII's illegitimate son, her brother.
Dad and Anne Boleyn were not pleased by this. Exactly how much Anne resented Mary is unclear, but historians tend to agree that she was unpleasant at ''best'' to her stepdaughter. Luckily for Mary, Anne lost her head, and Mary's subsequent stepmothers were more sympathetic. After her mother's death, she caved, and signed papers repudiating her parents' marriage, which restored good relations between herself and her father. Her father and Jane Seymour named her godmother to Prince Edward, and she was chief mourner at Jane Seymour's funeral. She was eventually restored to the succession, although she remained legally born out of wedlock and was styled "the Lady Mary, the King's daughter," rather than "Princess."[[note]]In other words, she could not be officially referred to as "The Princess Mary" or "My Lady Princess." She was still a princess of the blood, but not ''the'' Princess of England. [[/note]]
Dad and Anne Boleyn were not pleased by this. Exactly how much Anne resented Mary is unclear, but historians tend to agree that she was unpleasant at ''best'' to her stepdaughter. Luckily for Mary, Anne lost her head, and Mary's subsequent stepmothers were more sympathetic. After her mother's death, she caved, and signed papers repudiating her parents' marriage, which restored good relations between herself and her father. Her father and Jane Seymour named her godmother to Prince Edward, and she was chief mourner at Jane Seymour's funeral. She was eventually restored to the succession, although she remained legally born out of wedlock and was styled "the Lady Mary, the King's daughter," rather than "Princess."[[note]]In other words, she could not be officially referred to as "The Princess Mary" or "My Lady Princess." She was still a princess of the blood, but not ''the'' Princess of England. [[/note]]
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England's very first Queen Regnant, Mary I I, was Henry VIII's daughter and his only surviving child by UsefulNotes/CatherineOfAragon. As a little girl, she was doted on by both of her parents, especially as time passed and she continued to be their only surviving child. She was declared Princess of Wales in all but actual title (and some of her contemporaries actually did refer to her as "the Lady Mary, Prince of Wales"), being given the colors of the Prince of Wales to use for her livery and allowed to use the official seal of Wales on her correspondence.[[note]]The reason she was not formally created as Princess of Wales (apart from her parents fully expecting a son at some point) is because that it's a courtesy title reserved exclusively for the wife of the Prince of Wales. To call Mary "Princess of Wales" would actually have been a sort of step ''down'' in title from what she was throughout her childhood, which was heir apparent. A few centuries later, the future Elizabeth II was not made Princess of Wales for the exact same reason.[[/note]] As a girl, she was sent with her household to Ludlow, then the traditional seat of the Prince of Wales, to continue her education. Everything changed for Mary, however, when Anne Boleyn became queen. With her parents' marriage declared invalid, Mary was declared a bastard, struck from the succession, stripped of her title as "Princess", separated from her mother, and forced into her baby half-sister's service as a lady-in-waiting. When ordered to recognize Anne Boleyn as Queen of England and Elizabeth as Princess, Mary declared that she knew of no Queen but her mother, and no Princess but herself -- though she ''was'' willing to call Elizabeth her sister, as she called Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Henry VIII's illegitimate son, her brother.
Dad and Anne Boleyn were not pleased by this. Exactly how much Anne resented Mary is unclear, but historians tend to agree that she was unpleasant at ''best'' to her stepdaughter. Luckily for Mary, Anne lost her head, and Mary's subsequent stepmothers were more sympathetic. After her mother's death, shecaved, caved and signed papers repudiating her parents' marriage, which restored good relations between herself and her father. Her father and Jane Seymour named her godmother to Prince Edward, and she was chief mourner at Jane Seymour's funeral. She was eventually restored to the succession, although she remained legally born out of wedlock and was styled "the Lady Mary, the King's daughter," rather than "Princess."[[note]]In other words, she could not be officially referred to as "The Princess Mary" or "My Lady Princess." She was still a princess of the blood, but not ''the'' Princess of England. [[/note]]
Dad and Anne Boleyn were not pleased by this. Exactly how much Anne resented Mary is unclear, but historians tend to agree that she was unpleasant at ''best'' to her stepdaughter. Luckily for Mary, Anne lost her head, and Mary's subsequent stepmothers were more sympathetic. After her mother's death, she
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As the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and granddaughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain]], Mary I was Catholic in a big way. Prosecutions for heresy were resumed with great vigour during her reign; there were more burnt at the stake in the Marian period than in any other Tudor reign. (Henry tended to have his noble victims beheaded, while his less exalted victims were hanged until half-dead, cut down, castrated, and disemboweled while still alive. Thomas More handled the few executions by burning which had occurred in Henry's reign.) Mary herself was not personally ferocious, but she was, like her husband Philip, morbidly conscientious and absolutely convinced that the extirpation of Protestantism was a moral imperative. The logic employed was that, by burning Protestants and 'giving them a taste' of what awaited them in hell, they would be persuaded to recant in their final moments and die good Catholics, thereby ensuring their entry to heaven. It kind of backfired because many of those burned ''still'' refused to recant, despite the utter horror.[[note]]Being burnt at the stake is a particularly agonizing death, because what exactly kills you can vary. The fire destroying your body is slow and painful, as is suffocating from the smoke and all of the oxygen being used up. It was considered a mercy to hang a bag of gunpowder around the victim's neck, in the hopes that it would explode and kill them more quickly. Anne Boleyn agreed to have her marriage annulled and Princess Elizabeth declared a bastard in exchange for her death sentence being commuted from burning to the relatively quicker beheading, by a skilled French swordsman.[[/note]] This forbearance in the face of indescribable agony created a lot of martyrs and convinced many that ''Protestantism must really be something if people are willing to suffer for their faith. I mean, look what the Catholic Queen is doing.''
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As the daughter of Catherine of Aragon and granddaughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheCatholicMonarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain]], Mary I was Catholic in a big way. Prosecutions for heresy were resumed with great vigour during her reign; there were more burnt at the stake in the Marian period than in any other Tudor reign. (Henry tended to have his noble victims beheaded, while his less exalted victims were hanged until half-dead, cut down, castrated, and disemboweled while still alive. Thomas More handled the few executions by burning which had occurred in Henry's reign.) Mary herself was not personally ferocious, but she was, like her husband Philip, morbidly conscientious and absolutely convinced that the extirpation of Protestantism was a moral imperative. The logic employed was that, by burning Protestants and 'giving them a taste' of what awaited them in hell, they would be persuaded to recant in their final moments and die good Catholics, thereby ensuring their entry to heaven. It kind of backfired because many of those burned ''still'' refused to recant, despite the utter horror.[[note]]Being burnt at the stake is a particularly agonizing death, death because what exactly kills you can vary. The fire destroying your body is slow and painful, as is suffocating from the smoke and all of the oxygen being used up. It was considered a mercy to hang a bag of gunpowder around the victim's neck, in the hopes that it would explode and kill them more quickly. Anne Boleyn agreed to have her marriage annulled and Princess Elizabeth declared a bastard in exchange for her death sentence being commuted from burning to the relatively quicker beheading, by a skilled French swordsman.[[/note]] This forbearance in the face of indescribable agony created a lot of martyrs and convinced many that ''Protestantism must really be something if people are willing to suffer for their faith. I mean, look what the Catholic Queen is doing.''
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She then married an English nobleman, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Why? They were half-cousins; they were both grandchildren of Henry VIII's older sister Margaret. This gave them each substantial claims to the English throne, if Good Queen Bess died childless. Marriage united and strengthened their claims[[note]]Which of them had the better claim depends on who you ask. Mary's was the senior claim by strict law of descent; she was the daughter of Margaret Tudor's elder son from her indisputably legitimate first marriage, but both Mary and her father had been born in Scotland and were not English citizens. Darnley was the son of Margaret Tudor's daughter from her annulled (and therefore sketchy) second marriage, but both he and his mother had been born and lived in England. Darnley was also that rarest of unicorns, a male Tudor who lived long enough to be able to shave, while Mary was already an anointed queen in her own right. Their marriage patched up the weaknesses in each other's claims and meant they would be competing directly with Elizabeth and the other potential heirs, not each other. On the other hand, their grandmother renounced the claims of herself and her descendants to the throne, and Henry VIII explicitly disinherited Margaret's entire line in his will. So, you know, who you ask.[[/note]] and their son, James, did in fact succeed Elizabeth. But that was later; at the time, Elizabeth forbade the match. Or didn't -- some historians believe that Elizabeth knew Darnley was ''such a prick'' that anyone who married him would tire of him and get rid of him, and that she knew ''exactly what she was doing'' when she sent him to Scotland with Robert Dudley and that everything that happened with him and Mary was planned to bring Mary down!
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She then married an English nobleman, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Why? They were half-cousins; they were both grandchildren of Henry VIII's older sister Margaret. This gave them each substantial claims to the English throne, throne if Good Queen Bess died childless. Marriage united and strengthened their claims[[note]]Which of them had the better claim depends on who you ask. Mary's was the senior claim by strict law of descent; she was the daughter of Margaret Tudor's elder son from her indisputably legitimate first marriage, but both Mary and her father had been born in Scotland and were not English citizens. Darnley was the son of Margaret Tudor's daughter from her annulled (and therefore sketchy) second marriage, but both he and his mother had been born and lived in England. Darnley was also that rarest of unicorns, a male Tudor who lived long enough to be able to shave, while Mary was already an anointed queen in her own right. Their marriage patched up the weaknesses in each other's claims and meant they would be competing directly with Elizabeth and the other potential heirs, not each other. On the other hand, their grandmother renounced the claims of herself and her descendants to the throne, and Henry VIII explicitly disinherited Margaret's entire line in his will. So, you know, who you ask.[[/note]] and their son, James, did in fact succeed Elizabeth. But that was later; at the time, Elizabeth forbade the match. Or didn't -- some historians believe that Elizabeth knew Darnley was ''such a prick'' that anyone who married him would tire of him and get rid of him, and that she knew ''exactly what she was doing'' when she sent him to Scotland with Robert Dudley and that everything that happened with him and Mary was planned to bring Mary down!
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[[QuestionableConsent To this day, it is unknown whether Mary married Bothwell because she wanted to or because he raped her and she might have felt she didn't have a choice]]. Whatever the case, the Scottish nobles blamed her for Darnley's death.[[note]]She was definitely tired of him, but Mary's goal was always the English throne. She knew that Darnley, despite being cruel, frivolous, and an international embarrassment, was more of a help than a hindrance in that regard, if no other, and that annulling her marriage to him would threaten their son's inheritance to both realms, while having him killed would ruin her credibility and stain her honor - especially in England, where Darnley was still Queen Elizabeth's cousin. From a pragmatic standpoint of realizing her ambitions, Mary's only course of action was to reconcile with Darnley, and she seemed to have been doing that. Darnley was murdered the night before he was set to resume conjugal relations with Mary. Consensus seems to be that Bothwell and other lords killed Darnley, and then the other lords pinned the blame on Bothwell ''and'' Mary to justify deposing her.[[/note]] Consequently, there was a battle. Bothwell ran off to Denmark, hoping for sanctuary but ending his days chained to a pillar in a dungeon -- he'd forgotten about the time he'd jilted the Danish King's cousin at the altar.
Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son, then went to England and threw herself on Elizabeth's "mercy" which, in this case, was almost non-existent; having been in the same situation herself - having to rely on the monarch for mercy - Elizabeth was taking no chances on someone being the threat to her that ''she'' had been (however unwillingly) to her half-sister. But Elizabeth was initially willing enough to shelter her cousin; some historians believe that she had genuine sympathy for Mary's plight, being twice widowed, forced away from her child, and unable to return to her beloved homeland. Mary was kin, after all, and an anointed queen just like Elizabeth herself. So at first she consented to the arrangement, and from 1568 to 1586, Mary lived in what amounted to fancy jail. She was treated more like a visiting royal than a prisoner; she had books, good food, fresh air, and various luxuries, and was allowed to receive visitors. As she was kept in the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of Elizabeth's most loyal courtiers, Mary's "prisons" were his assorted castles and manors. Unfortunately...
Being a Catholic, she became a focus for Catholic opposition to Elizabeth (who had already been excommunicated by Pope Pius V). The plots were numerous, and increasingly dangerous, over the course of nearly twenty years. Eventually, the Babington Plot (which would have executed Elizabeth and replaced her with Mary) became the straw that broke the camel's back; after a trial on treason charges that may or may not have been true, Mary was beheaded. Because regicide looked rather bad back then (especially when it was your own cousin), Elizabeth allegedly arranged for the death warrant to be sent "accidentally". A softer view says that it actually ''was'' sent accidentally. Elizabeth blamed Sir William Cecil, who tended to say things that made Elizabeth unhappy, and a diplomat, William Davison. When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth she was extremely indignant, and her wrath was chiefly directed against Davison; Davison, she asserted, had disobeyed her instructions not to seal the warrant. However, this instruction did not arrive until 2 February 1587, and Cecil had already taken the initiative. The secretary was arrested and thrown into the Tower, but although he defended himself vigorously, he did not say anything about the Queen's wish to get rid of Mary by assassination. Charged before the Star Chamber with misprision and contempt, he was acquitted of evil intention, but was sentenced to pay a fine of 10,000 marks and to imprisonment during the Queen's pleasure. Owing to the exertions of several influential men, he was released in September 1588, after the invasion crisis had passed; the Queen refused to employ him again in her service, but he kept his office, and probably never paid the fine. At the end of the day, Cecil was usually right, and Elizabeth knew it.
Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son, then went to England and threw herself on Elizabeth's "mercy" which, in this case, was almost non-existent; having been in the same situation herself - having to rely on the monarch for mercy - Elizabeth was taking no chances on someone being the threat to her that ''she'' had been (however unwillingly) to her half-sister. But Elizabeth was initially willing enough to shelter her cousin; some historians believe that she had genuine sympathy for Mary's plight, being twice widowed, forced away from her child, and unable to return to her beloved homeland. Mary was kin, after all, and an anointed queen just like Elizabeth herself. So at first she consented to the arrangement, and from 1568 to 1586, Mary lived in what amounted to fancy jail. She was treated more like a visiting royal than a prisoner; she had books, good food, fresh air, and various luxuries, and was allowed to receive visitors. As she was kept in the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of Elizabeth's most loyal courtiers, Mary's "prisons" were his assorted castles and manors. Unfortunately...
Being a Catholic, she became a focus for Catholic opposition to Elizabeth (who had already been excommunicated by Pope Pius V). The plots were numerous, and increasingly dangerous, over the course of nearly twenty years. Eventually, the Babington Plot (which would have executed Elizabeth and replaced her with Mary) became the straw that broke the camel's back; after a trial on treason charges that may or may not have been true, Mary was beheaded. Because regicide looked rather bad back then (especially when it was your own cousin), Elizabeth allegedly arranged for the death warrant to be sent "accidentally". A softer view says that it actually ''was'' sent accidentally. Elizabeth blamed Sir William Cecil, who tended to say things that made Elizabeth unhappy, and a diplomat, William Davison. When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth she was extremely indignant, and her wrath was chiefly directed against Davison; Davison, she asserted, had disobeyed her instructions not to seal the warrant. However, this instruction did not arrive until 2 February 1587, and Cecil had already taken the initiative. The secretary was arrested and thrown into the Tower, but although he defended himself vigorously, he did not say anything about the Queen's wish to get rid of Mary by assassination. Charged before the Star Chamber with misprision and contempt, he was acquitted of evil intention, but was sentenced to pay a fine of 10,000 marks and to imprisonment during the Queen's pleasure. Owing to the exertions of several influential men, he was released in September 1588, after the invasion crisis had passed; the Queen refused to employ him again in her service, but he kept his office, and probably never paid the fine. At the end of the day, Cecil was usually right, and Elizabeth knew it.
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[[QuestionableConsent To this day, it is unknown whether Mary married Bothwell because she wanted to or because he raped her and she might have felt she didn't have a choice]]. Whatever the case, the Scottish nobles blamed her for Darnley's death.[[note]]She was definitely tired of him, but Mary's goal was always the English throne. She knew that Darnley, despite being cruel, frivolous, and an international embarrassment, was more of a help than a hindrance in that regard, if no other, and that annulling her marriage to him would threaten their son's inheritance to both realms, realms while having him killed would ruin her credibility and stain her honor - especially in England, where Darnley was still Queen Elizabeth's cousin. From a pragmatic standpoint of realizing her ambitions, Mary's only course of action was to reconcile with Darnley, and she seemed to have been doing that. Darnley was murdered the night before he was set to resume conjugal relations with Mary. Consensus The consensus seems to be that Bothwell and other lords killed Darnley, and then the other lords pinned the blame on Bothwell ''and'' Mary to justify deposing her.[[/note]] Consequently, there was a battle. Bothwell ran off to Denmark, hoping for sanctuary but ending his days chained to a pillar in a dungeon -- he'd forgotten about the time he'd jilted the Danish King's cousin at the altar.
Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son, then went to England and threw herself on Elizabeth's "mercy" which, in this case, was almost non-existent; having been in the same situation herself - having to rely on the monarch for mercy - Elizabeth was taking no chances on someone being the threat to her that ''she'' had been (however unwillingly) to her half-sister. But Elizabeth was initially willing enough to shelter her cousin; some historians believe that she had genuine sympathy for Mary's plight, being twice widowed, forced away from her child, and unable to return to her beloved homeland. Mary was kin, after all, and an anointed queen just like Elizabeth herself. So atfirst first, she consented to the arrangement, and from 1568 to 1586, Mary lived in what amounted to fancy jail. She was treated more like a visiting royal than a prisoner; she had books, good food, fresh air, and various luxuries, and was allowed to receive visitors. As she was kept in the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of Elizabeth's most loyal courtiers, Mary's "prisons" were his assorted castles and manors. Unfortunately...
Being a Catholic, she became a focus for Catholic opposition to Elizabeth (who had already been excommunicated by Pope Pius V). The plots were numerous, and increasingly dangerous, over the course of nearly twenty years. Eventually, the Babington Plot (which would have executed Elizabeth and replaced her with Mary) became the straw that broke the camel's back; after a trial on treason charges that may or may not have been true, Mary was beheaded. Because regicide looked rather bad back then (especially when it was your own cousin), Elizabeth allegedly arranged for the death warrant to be sent "accidentally". A softer view says that it actually ''was'' sent accidentally. Elizabeth blamed Sir William Cecil, who tended to say things that made Elizabeth unhappy, and a diplomat, William Davison. When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth she was extremely indignant, and her wrath was chiefly directed against Davison; Davison, she asserted, had disobeyed her instructions not to seal the warrant. However, this instruction did not arrive until 2 February 1587, and Cecil had already taken the initiative. The secretary was arrested and thrown into the Tower, but although he defended himself vigorously, he did not say anything about the Queen's wish to get rid of Mary by assassination. Charged before the Star Chamber with misprision and contempt, he was acquitted of evilintention, intention but was sentenced to pay a fine of 10,000 marks and to imprisonment during at the Queen's pleasure. Owing to the exertions of several influential men, he was released in September 1588, after the invasion crisis had passed; the Queen refused to employ him again in her service, but he kept his office, office and probably never paid the fine. At the end of the day, Cecil was usually right, and Elizabeth knew it.
Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son, then went to England and threw herself on Elizabeth's "mercy" which, in this case, was almost non-existent; having been in the same situation herself - having to rely on the monarch for mercy - Elizabeth was taking no chances on someone being the threat to her that ''she'' had been (however unwillingly) to her half-sister. But Elizabeth was initially willing enough to shelter her cousin; some historians believe that she had genuine sympathy for Mary's plight, being twice widowed, forced away from her child, and unable to return to her beloved homeland. Mary was kin, after all, and an anointed queen just like Elizabeth herself. So at
Being a Catholic, she became a focus for Catholic opposition to Elizabeth (who had already been excommunicated by Pope Pius V). The plots were numerous, and increasingly dangerous, over the course of nearly twenty years. Eventually, the Babington Plot (which would have executed Elizabeth and replaced her with Mary) became the straw that broke the camel's back; after a trial on treason charges that may or may not have been true, Mary was beheaded. Because regicide looked rather bad back then (especially when it was your own cousin), Elizabeth allegedly arranged for the death warrant to be sent "accidentally". A softer view says that it actually ''was'' sent accidentally. Elizabeth blamed Sir William Cecil, who tended to say things that made Elizabeth unhappy, and a diplomat, William Davison. When the news of the execution reached Elizabeth she was extremely indignant, and her wrath was chiefly directed against Davison; Davison, she asserted, had disobeyed her instructions not to seal the warrant. However, this instruction did not arrive until 2 February 1587, and Cecil had already taken the initiative. The secretary was arrested and thrown into the Tower, but although he defended himself vigorously, he did not say anything about the Queen's wish to get rid of Mary by assassination. Charged before the Star Chamber with misprision and contempt, he was acquitted of evil
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The Spanish sent a fleet of ships, which they called the Great and Most Fortunate Navy (''Grande y Felicísima Armada''), to invade England. Well, they tried to invade. The English (aided by the Dutch Republic) burned many ships in port with fire ships and were generally rather good, tactically speaking, routing the Armada in the English Channel in one of the nation's most famous military victories. What was left of the fleet had to limp home the long way round the British Isles, where many of those involved died from drowning, starvation, or being killed by annoyed English people in Ireland. (And, for that matter, by some of the Irish people in Ireland, who decided that galleons full of weakened Spaniards with valuable loot represented a welcome break from the otherwise fairly miserable lot of Irish peasants under the Tudors.)
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The Spanish sent a fleet of ships, which they called the Great and Most Fortunate Navy (''Grande y Felicísima Armada''), to invade England. Well, they tried to invade. The English (aided by the Dutch Republic) burned many ships in port with fire ships and were generally rather good, tactically speaking, routing the Armada in the English Channel in one of the nation's most famous military victories. What was left of the fleet had to limp home the long way round around the British Isles, where many of those involved died from drowning, starvation, or being killed by annoyed English people in Ireland. (And, for that matter, by some of the Irish people in Ireland, who decided that galleons full of weakened Spaniards with valuable loot represented a welcome break from the otherwise fairly miserable lot of Irish peasants under the Tudors.)
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In other matters, that whole "Virgin Queen" thing? Debatable. Good Queen Bess had at least two well-publicized affairs -- the question is whether the hard-headed Elizabeth would have taken the risk of the damage an illegitimate royal pregnancy would have caused[[note]]One notable historian, Dr Paul Doherty, claims that ''Unkempt and exhausted, 800 miles from England the shipwrecked young man prepared to meet his interrogators in a Madrid courtroom one June day in 1587. Suspected of spying after his ship ran aground just days earlier in the Bay of Biscay, the unshaven sailor feared for his life. But it was not the threat of incarceration that troubled him, but the repercussions of the secret he was about to reveal. Asked to identify himself, he replied: "I am the bastard son of Queen Elizabeth of England and her lover Robert Dudley."'', though whether there is any truth to this is unknown.[[/note]]. The first, long-lasting one was with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, her [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend childhood companion]]. If she was ever in love with anyone, she was in love with him; he was certainly in love with her, and had been since she they met when she was ''eight'' and just an illegitimate child, so the rumours of him wanting her for the crown are somewhat unjustified (although he probably saw that as a juicy bonus too!). But alas, sadly for Elizabeth, he was married, until his first wife Amy died under dubious circumstances that made their marriage impossible.[[note]]A number of modern medical historians believe that her death was caused by breast cancer; however, she was ''found dead from a fall down a flight of stairs'', which didn't look very good at the time. Other historians believe it may have been suicide, since she made rather a point of sending away all of her servants on the morning of her death. In any case, an inquest was held and her husband was found innocent, but the damage to his chances of marrying Elizabeth was done.[[/note]] Leicester died shortly after the defeat of the Armada. Elizabeth mourned for a few months, and then took up with the second Earl of Essex, also named Robert. He was, essentially, her boy-toy. She had reigned longer than he'd been alive. Incidentally, he was also Leicester's stepson through Leicester's second marriage. Unlike his stepfather, however, this Robert didn't know how to keep his mouth shut and got a big head. Bess was mildly displeased by this, so, like they did many times before, axe and head and block met again. As for political matches, it seems that she took her courtship with Francis (French: François), Duke of Anjou, at least somewhat seriously. Despite their age difference (Elizabeth was considerably older than her suitor) they seem to have been quite fond of one another. For a time Elizabeth even wore a frog shaped earring Francis sent her, a likely reference to her nickname for him ("my little frog").
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In other matters, that whole "Virgin Queen" thing? Debatable. Good Queen Bess had at least two well-publicized affairs -- the question is whether the hard-headed Elizabeth would have taken the risk of the damage an illegitimate royal pregnancy would have caused[[note]]One notable historian, Dr Paul Doherty, claims that ''Unkempt and exhausted, 800 miles from England the shipwrecked young man prepared to meet his interrogators in a Madrid courtroom one June day in 1587. Suspected of spying after his ship ran aground just days earlier in the Bay of Biscay, the unshaven sailor feared for his life. But it was not the threat of incarceration that troubled him, but the repercussions of the secret he was about to reveal. Asked to identify himself, he replied: "I am the bastard son of Queen Elizabeth of England and her lover Robert Dudley."'', though whether there is any truth to this is unknown.[[/note]]. The first, long-lasting one was with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, her [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend childhood companion]]. If she was ever in love with anyone, she was in love with him; he was certainly in love with her, and had been since she they met when she was ''eight'' and just an illegitimate child, so the rumours of him wanting her for the crown are somewhat unjustified (although he probably saw that as a juicy bonus too!). But alas, sadly for Elizabeth, he was married, until his first wife Amy died under dubious circumstances that made their marriage impossible.[[note]]A number of modern medical historians believe that her death was caused by breast cancer; however, she was ''found dead from a fall down a flight of stairs'', which didn't look very good at the time. Other historians believe it may have been suicide, suicide since she made rather a point of sending away all of her servants on the morning of her death. In any case, an inquest was held and her husband was found innocent, but the damage to his chances of marrying Elizabeth was done.[[/note]] Leicester died shortly after the defeat of the Armada. Elizabeth mourned for a few months, months and then took up with the second Earl of Essex, also named Robert. He was, essentially, her boy-toy. She had reigned longer than he'd been alive. Incidentally, he was also Leicester's stepson through Leicester's second marriage. Unlike his stepfather, however, this Robert didn't know how to keep his mouth shut and got a big head. Bess was mildly displeased by this, so, like they did many times before, axe and head and block met again. As for political matches, it seems that she took her courtship with Francis (French: François), Duke of Anjou, at least somewhat seriously. Despite their age difference (Elizabeth was considerably older than her suitor) they seem to have been quite fond of one another. For a time Elizabeth even wore a frog shaped frog-shaped earring Francis sent her, a likely reference to her nickname for him ("my little frog").
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The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she wasn't really that unattractive]] -- at least, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but remarkably pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had produced a faithful image of her. At least one said she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens; Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, said at the time that, while she was no great beauty, she was quite attractive, pleasant, and dignified. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts rather than activities that the royal court enjoyed like hunting, dancing and singing, and Henry tended to like them feisty, tiny, boyish, keen on the outdoors and with a classically-trained intellect -- plus Anne's heavy and unflattering German clothing did her no favours, and she spoke very little English when she first arrived in the country. More than one historian has wondered if Henry had become impotent by this point and blamed Anne instead of his weight.
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The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she probably wasn't really that unattractive]] -- at least, unattractive]]. While the English members of Henry's court felt compelled to say whatever the irascible king wanted to hear, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but remarkably pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had produced a faithful image of her. had, at most, made her nose slightly smaller. Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, opined that while Anne was no great beauty she was attractive, pleasant to be around, and dignified. At least one said person she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens; Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, said at the time that, while she was no great beauty, she was quite attractive, pleasant, and dignified. queens. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts rather than activities that the royal court enjoyed like hunting, dancing and singing, and Henry tended to like them feisty, tiny, boyish, keen on the outdoors and with a classically-trained intellect -- plus intellect. Furthermore Anne's heavy heavy, conservative, and unflattering not exactly fashionable or flattering German clothing did her no favours, and she combined with what one courtier described as a "serious" affect tended to make her appear older than her years. She also spoke very little English when she first arrived in the country. More country, although she did learn it while in England. All the same, given that Henry insisted that Anne was not just unattractive, but repulsive enough to make consummation physically impossible, more than one historian has wondered if Henry had become impotent by this point and blamed Anne instead of his weight.
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In the end, Anne, who by now knew exactly what happened to Queens One ''and'' Two (and had her decision greatly simplified by the fact that ''she was provably as pure and virgin as the day she was married''), signed the annulment papers at the King's first suggestion, and thereby got a ''very'' generous settlement - including several castles, a metric fuck-tonne of money, and no one to tell her what to ''do'' with it - from a very relieved King Henry, which allowed her to outlive (and get richer than) the other five. But by the time of the annulment, Henry had realized that he genuinely ''liked'' Anne as a person even though he didn't want to be married to her; for the rest of his life he treated her as an [[LikeBrotherAndSister honorary sister]], and she was even referenced publicly as "the King's good sister". She got on incredibly well with both of his daughters, was provided with a household and allowance, and was invited to all the events at court. Henry was so thankful for her acquiescence that her title of "the King's good sister" came with lofty status, and it was understood that, apart from the King's wife and daughters, she outranked ''every other woman in the kingdom.'' Clearly, Anne was no fool -- good for her! She never remarried and was the last of Henry's six wives to die, ten years after Henry, though Catherine of Aragon had a longer lifespan. She was also the first of Henry's wives to lack strong religious convictions; born and baptized Catholic, she was raised in a Protestant environment and most of her close relatives became leading lights of the early Protestant movement, but she herself only converted to Anglicanism to marry Henry, and then converted back to Roman Catholicism when her former stepdaughter Mary took the throne.
So Henry moved on to Catherine Howard, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine was one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, and [[BrokenRecord (go figure)]] everything Anne was not: tiny, boyish, spirited, frivolous, and auburn-haired. She was also in love with (and probably legally married to) another man, but that didn't matter: by that time, Henry wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone. After the marriage, Catherine, who, unlike Anne of Cleves, probably ''was'' a fool and also probably all of fifteen years old at this point, found a new boyfriend -- Henry's closest body servant -- and carried on with him behind the King's back.[[note]]According to all sources, however, when the court was on progress to the house of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his second wife, Katherine Willoughby, the young queen ''actually behaved herself''. What that says about the Duchess of Suffolk, who was able to keep Catherine in line, is up to you.[[/note]] Bad idea. When Henry found out, he naturally had both the current and former boyfriends killed, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint then sat around for months whining about how all women are whores.]] Given Catherine's age and other events in her life [[note]]She was likely around ''thirteen'' when she had her first 'relationship' with Henry Mannox, her music teacher, who was at least ten years older than her and may even have been in his mid-thirties. During her interrogation Catherine claimed that Francis Dereham, the aforementioned man to whom she was probably legally married (due to a pre-contract), essentially forced himself upon her. While witnesses from Norfolk House (where both of them were living at the time of their affair) refuted this and said Catherine enjoyed Dereham's attentions, please recall that Catherine was still likely no more than fifteen at this point, and Dereham, again, was more than ten years older than her, meaning he might have pressured her into accepting said attentions. As for the man with whom she was accused of adultery, Thomas Culpeper (who was, once more with feeling, [[RuleOfThree at least ten years older than Catherine]]) theories have been raised that he might have had knowledge of her previous affairs and hoped to use them to gain leverage and power over the young Queen. He may also have been a rapist; in 1539 a Thomas Culpeper was accused of, and granted a royal pardon for, raping a park-keeper's wife and then murdering a villager... though it's entirely possible that this might have been Culpeper's elder brother, confusingly also called Thomas.[[/note]] there are historians who now suspect she may have been coerced into the relationship and quite possibly raped -- and then beheaded for it.
So Henry moved on to Catherine Howard, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine was one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, and [[BrokenRecord (go figure)]] everything Anne was not: tiny, boyish, spirited, frivolous, and auburn-haired. She was also in love with (and probably legally married to) another man, but that didn't matter: by that time, Henry wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone. After the marriage, Catherine, who, unlike Anne of Cleves, probably ''was'' a fool and also probably all of fifteen years old at this point, found a new boyfriend -- Henry's closest body servant -- and carried on with him behind the King's back.[[note]]According to all sources, however, when the court was on progress to the house of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his second wife, Katherine Willoughby, the young queen ''actually behaved herself''. What that says about the Duchess of Suffolk, who was able to keep Catherine in line, is up to you.[[/note]] Bad idea. When Henry found out, he naturally had both the current and former boyfriends killed, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint then sat around for months whining about how all women are whores.]] Given Catherine's age and other events in her life [[note]]She was likely around ''thirteen'' when she had her first 'relationship' with Henry Mannox, her music teacher, who was at least ten years older than her and may even have been in his mid-thirties. During her interrogation Catherine claimed that Francis Dereham, the aforementioned man to whom she was probably legally married (due to a pre-contract), essentially forced himself upon her. While witnesses from Norfolk House (where both of them were living at the time of their affair) refuted this and said Catherine enjoyed Dereham's attentions, please recall that Catherine was still likely no more than fifteen at this point, and Dereham, again, was more than ten years older than her, meaning he might have pressured her into accepting said attentions. As for the man with whom she was accused of adultery, Thomas Culpeper (who was, once more with feeling, [[RuleOfThree at least ten years older than Catherine]]) theories have been raised that he might have had knowledge of her previous affairs and hoped to use them to gain leverage and power over the young Queen. He may also have been a rapist; in 1539 a Thomas Culpeper was accused of, and granted a royal pardon for, raping a park-keeper's wife and then murdering a villager... though it's entirely possible that this might have been Culpeper's elder brother, confusingly also called Thomas.[[/note]] there are historians who now suspect she may have been coerced into the relationship and quite possibly raped -- and then beheaded for it.
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In the end, Anne, who by now knew exactly what happened to Queens One ''and'' Two (and had her decision greatly simplified by the fact that ''she was provably as pure and virgin as the day she was married''), signed the annulment papers at the King's first suggestion, and thereby got a ''very'' generous settlement - including several castles, a metric fuck-tonne of money, and no one to tell her what to ''do'' with it - from a very relieved King Henry, which allowed her to outlive (and get richer than) the other five. But by the time of the annulment, Henry had realized that he genuinely ''liked'' Anne as a person even though he didn't want to be married to her; for the rest of his life he treated her as an [[LikeBrotherAndSister honorary sister]], and she was even referenced publicly as "the King's good sister". She got on incredibly well with both of his daughters, was provided with a household and allowance, and was invited to all the events at court. Henry was so thankful for her acquiescence that her title of "the King's good sister" came with lofty status, and it was understood that, apart from the King's wife and daughters, she outranked ''every other woman in the kingdom.'' Regardless of how pretty Anne of Cleves was, or whether she was pretty at all, in the end it didn't matter all that much. Clearly, Anne was no fool -- good fool. Good for her! She her!
Anne of Cleves never remarried which, again, meant that she had control over her money and property. She was the last of Henry's six wives to die, ten years after Henry, though Catherine of Aragon had a longer lifespan. She was also the first of Henry's wives to lack strong religious convictions; born and baptized Catholic, she was raised in a Protestant environment and most of her close relatives became leading lights of the early Protestant movement, but she herself only converted to Anglicanism to marry Henry, and then converted back to Roman Catholicism when her former stepdaughter Mary took the throne.
So Henry moved on to Catherine Howard, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine was one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, and [[BrokenRecord (go figure)]] everything Anne was not: tiny, boyish, spirited, frivolous, and auburn-haired. She was also in love with (and probably legally married to) another man, but that didn't matter: by that time, Henry wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone. After the marriage, Catherine,who, unlike Anne of Cleves, probably ''was'' a fool and also who was probably all of fifteen years old at this point, found a new boyfriend -- Henry's closest body servant -- and carried on with him behind the King's back.[[note]]According to all sources, however, when the court was on progress to the house of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his second wife, Katherine Willoughby, the young queen ''actually behaved herself''. What that says about the Duchess of Suffolk, who was able to keep Catherine in line, is up to you.[[/note]] Bad idea. When Henry found out, he naturally had both the current and former boyfriends killed, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint then sat around for months whining about how all women are whores.]] Given Catherine's age and other events in her life [[note]]She was likely around ''thirteen'' when she had her first 'relationship' with Henry Mannox, her music teacher, who was at least ten years older than her and may even have been in his mid-thirties. During her interrogation Catherine claimed that Francis Dereham, the aforementioned man to whom she was probably legally married (due to a pre-contract), essentially forced himself upon her. While witnesses from Norfolk House (where both of them were living at the time of their affair) refuted this and said Catherine enjoyed Dereham's attentions, please recall that Catherine was still likely no more than fifteen at this point, and Dereham, again, was more than ten years older than her, meaning he might have pressured her into accepting said attentions. As for the man with whom she was accused of adultery, Thomas Culpeper (who was, once more with feeling, [[RuleOfThree at least ten years older than Catherine]]) theories have been raised that he might have had knowledge of her previous affairs and hoped to use them to gain leverage and power over the young Queen. He may also have been a rapist; in 1539 a Thomas Culpeper was accused of, and granted a royal pardon for, raping a park-keeper's wife and then murdering a villager... though it's entirely possible that this might have been Culpeper's elder brother, confusingly also called Thomas.[[/note]] there are historians who now suspect she may have been coerced into the relationship and quite possibly raped -- and then beheaded for it.
Anne of Cleves never remarried which, again, meant that she had control over her money and property. She was the last of Henry's six wives to die, ten years after Henry, though Catherine of Aragon had a longer lifespan. She was also the first of Henry's wives to lack strong religious convictions; born and baptized Catholic, she was raised in a Protestant environment and most of her close relatives became leading lights of the early Protestant movement, but she herself only converted to Anglicanism to marry Henry, and then converted back to Roman Catholicism when her former stepdaughter Mary took the throne.
So Henry moved on to Catherine Howard, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine was one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, and [[BrokenRecord (go figure)]] everything Anne was not: tiny, boyish, spirited, frivolous, and auburn-haired. She was also in love with (and probably legally married to) another man, but that didn't matter: by that time, Henry wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone. After the marriage, Catherine,
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Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk who greatly sympathized with the former/'true' queen and blamed Anne for Henry breaking with Rome, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to turn the other cheek to Henry's mistresses the way Catherine had done (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her [[note]]In particular, she managed to alienate her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who wound up completely turning against her and even ''presided at her trial'' as Lord High Steward.[[/note]] -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
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Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk who greatly sympathized with the former/'true' queen and blamed Anne for Henry breaking with Rome, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to turn the other cheek to tune out Henry's mistresses the way Catherine had done (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her [[note]]In particular, she managed to alienate her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who wound up completely turning against her and even ''presided at her trial'' as Lord High Steward.[[/note]] -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
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Anyway, Henry did separate England from Rome. Unlike what Whig history implies, he didn't do it specifically because of his desire for UsefulNotes/AnneBoleyn either. [[HeirClubForMen He did it because his only heir was Mary, a daughter, and Henry wanted at that point to make absolutely sure that she would never become Queen in her own right; after all, you couldn't possibly make a strong dynasty out of women rulers...]] (At this point, there had ''never'' been a Queen Regnant of England -- discounting the unfortunate 12th-century Matilda, granddaughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William the Conqueror]], who was usurped by her cousin Stephen, fought a great civil war against him, and never really got a chance to rule... though her [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet descendants]] did.) Catherine, meanwhile, was entering menopause, so the window of time in which she could have given him a living son was closing. Barring Mary from the succession meant that he couldn't divorce Catherine like many an heirless king had done to a barren wife before; he needed an annulment, something far more serious that would have made Catherine a whore and Mary a bastard in the eyes of almost anyone who mattered. The only way to get an annulment was to apply to the Pope. Unfortunately for Henry the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Catherine's nephew, was at that very moment holding the Pope hostage.
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Anyway, Henry did separate England from Rome. Unlike what Whig history implies, he didn't do it specifically because of his desire for UsefulNotes/AnneBoleyn either. [[HeirClubForMen He did it because his only heir was Mary, a daughter, and Henry wanted at that point to make absolutely sure that she would never become Queen in her own right; after all, you couldn't possibly make a strong dynasty out of women rulers...]] (At this point, there unlike other countries such as Spain, Hungary, and Egypt, no woman had ''never'' been a Queen Regnant of ever ruled England in her own right -- discounting the unfortunate 12th-century Matilda, granddaughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William the Conqueror]], who was usurped by her cousin Stephen, fought a great civil war against him, and never really got a chance to rule... though her [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet descendants]] did.) Catherine, meanwhile, was entering menopause, so the window of time in which she could have given him a living son was closing. Barring Mary from the succession meant that he couldn't divorce Catherine like many an heirless king had done to a barren wife before; he needed an annulment, something far more serious that would have made Catherine a whore and Mary a bastard in the eyes of almost anyone who mattered. The only way to get an annulment was to apply to the Pope. Unfortunately for Henry the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Catherine's nephew, was at that very moment holding the Pope hostage.
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Changed line(s) 51,52 (click to see context) from:
The man with six[[note]] If we want to be really technical, the correct number is actually '''two''', or three (if you are Catholic). Wives number 1 (for Anglicans only), 2, 4, and 5 were ''annulled'', which is a legal {{retcon}} claiming that the pair never got married in the first place). Catholics accept the same, except wife 1 is included in the list.[[/note]] wives. Every Briton can remember what happened to them -- "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" (and every pedant will reply, "annulled, annulled and beheaded, died, annulled, annulled and beheaded, survived"). Arguably the best-known monarch in history, yet he was not even born to the throne and is a fine upshot of the royal marital tradition of producing ''"an heir and a spare"'' — he was actually the "[[SpareToTheThrone spare]]", but ended up in line to the throne after his older brother Arthur died... and he also married the guy's widow, [[UsefulNotes/CatherineOfAragon Catherine of Aragon]] (Catalina de Aragón), a literal Spanish Princess, Aragon and Castile having been united by the marriage of her parents as part of the Spanish Catholic Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from [[UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain Moorish Spain]]. Marrying his brother's widow raised a few eyebrows, but it did carry with it several advantages. For one thing, it continued to link the new House of Tudor to the powerful House of Trastámara, granting the Tudors legitimacy; and since Catherine's sister Juana (heiress to the Spanish throne, as her parents had no living sons by that point) was married to Philip "the Handsome" Habsburg of Burgundy, son and heir of the [[UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire Holy Roman Emperor]], the three-way political alliance thus cemented was absolutely fantastic (and conveniently completely surrounded France). Second, it gave Henry a very desirable out from the international royal marital lottery. Unlike many royal spouses, Catherine and Henry were already well-acquainted and, even better, seemed to like one another. They were close in age, Catherine only being five years older than him, and intellectual matches; not only was she friends with the scholars Erasmus and Sir UsefulNotes/ThomasMore, but she had served as ambassador to the English court for her father, making her the first female ambassador in European history. They were also both widely regarded as attractive and -- perhaps best of all -- Henry was marrying someone who already knew her way around that whole monarch thing. He was only 18 when he came to the throne and engaged in some WackyFratboyHijinx in his early years as King; he and some male buddies once burst into the Queen's bedchamber dressed as RobinHood and his Merry Men. A redhead, he does remind one of his contemporary namesake, Duke Henry of Sussex ([[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince Harry]]). Plus, there was the small matter of not then having to return Catherine's dowry. The marriage took place, and by most accounts, it was largely happy for the first several years.
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The man with six[[note]] If we want to be really technical, the correct number is actually '''two''', or three (if you are Catholic). Wives number 1 (for Anglicans only), 2, 4, and 5 were ''annulled'', which is a legal {{retcon}} claiming that the pair never got married in the first place). Catholics accept the same, except wife 1 is included in the list.[[/note]] wives. Every Briton can remember what happened to them -- "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" (and every pedant will reply, "annulled, annulled and beheaded, died, annulled, annulled and beheaded, survived"). Arguably the best-known monarch in history, yet he was not even born to the throne and is a fine upshot of the royal marital tradition of producing ''"an heir and a spare"'' — he was actually the "[[SpareToTheThrone spare]]", but ended up in line to the throne after his older brother Arthur died... and he also married the guy's widow, [[UsefulNotes/CatherineOfAragon Catherine of Aragon]] (Catalina de Aragón), a literal Spanish Princess, Aragon and Castile having been united by the marriage of her parents as part of the Spanish Catholic Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from [[UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain Moorish Spain]]. Marrying his brother's widow raised a few eyebrows, but it did carry with it several advantages. For one thing, it continued to link the new House of Tudor to the powerful House of Trastámara, granting the Tudors legitimacy; and since Catherine's sister Juana (heiress to the Spanish throne, as her parents had no living sons by that point) was married to Philip "the Handsome" Habsburg of Burgundy, son and heir of the [[UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire Holy Roman Emperor]], the three-way political alliance thus cemented was absolutely fantastic (and conveniently completely surrounded France). Second, it gave Henry a very desirable out from the international royal marital lottery. Unlike many royal spouses, Catherine and Henry were already well-acquainted and, even better, seemed to like one another. They were close in age, Catherine only being five years older than him, and intellectual matches; not only was she friends with the scholars Erasmus and Sir UsefulNotes/ThomasMore, but she had served as ambassador to the English court for her father, making her the first female ambassador in European history. They were also both widely regarded Moreover, unlike Henry, Catherine had been trained from childhood in how to effectively serve as attractive a potential ruler and -- perhaps best of all -- Henry royal consort and therefore he was marrying someone who already knew her way around that whole monarch thing. Plus, there was the small matter of not having to return Catherine's dowry.
He was only 18 when he came to thethrone throne. The public adored the young king and queen, who were both widely regarded as attractive and charismatic. Incidentally, while many folks know that Henry VIII was, like his contemporary namesake, Duke Henry of Sussex ([[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince Harry]]) a redhead due to the famous portrait shown above, Catherine was as well, despite the many portrayals of her in fiction as raven-haired or brunette. Henry engaged in some WackyFratboyHijinx in his early years as King; he and some male buddies once burst into the Queen's bedchamber dressed as RobinHood and his Merry Men. A redhead, he does remind one of his contemporary namesake, Duke Henry of Sussex ([[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince Harry]]). Plus, there was the small matter of not then having to return Catherine's dowry. The marriage took place, and by By most accounts, it their marriage was largely happy for the first several years.
He was only 18 when he came to the
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Changed line(s) 231,232 (click to see context) from:
Elizabeth's status as the Virgin Queen served to inspire a cult of loyalty in her subjects, who often portrayed and imagined her as a goddess or the Virgin Mary. Elizabeth, in turn, referred to her subjects as "all her husbands." The "marriage question" also served as a handy, quick-and-dirty foreign policy tool -- so long as the question remained open, so to speak. But was she really a virgin? Modern sensibilities tend to assume that any romantic involvement involves sex, and as far back as the Victorian era, historians laboured to find a reason why Elizabeth never married that went beyond "good politics". Some believed that Elizabeth's exposure to her father -- and, more importantly, how her father [[OffWithHisHead treated his wives]] -- might have scared her off marriage[[note]]Would ''you'' blame her? I wouldn't![[/note]], while others suggested she had a reproductive defect of some kind. (The most fanciful even suggested that she was a ''man''; never mind the numerous gynecological examinations she endured during marriage negotiations, or the fact that if Henry had had a son, the course of English history would've been entirely different.) Some historians have [[NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat speculated]] on Elizabeth's sexual orientation, despite her clear affection for and attraction to both Roberts Dudley and Devereux, as well as the fact that many royals throughout history who are today recognized as gay have [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland done their royal duty]] and produced offspring for the good of the realm and the family.[[note]]See: in England: (Possibly) Elizabeth's own ancestor [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Edward II]]; See also: in France: UsefulNotes/LouisXIV's younger brother [[AgentPeacock Philippe]], [[MassiveNumberedSiblings Duc d'Orléans]].[[/note]] Modern historians who recognize Thomas Seymour's predations for what they were have posited that the abuse rendered her afraid of sex. All of that said, a case can easily be made that Elizabeth would have been a fool to engage in premarital sex if there was any chance of pregnancy, and would have been a fool to marry and give up all her power to a subject or a foreign prince.
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Elizabeth's status as the Virgin Queen served to inspire a cult of loyalty in her subjects, who often portrayed and imagined her as a goddess or the Virgin Mary. Elizabeth, in turn, referred to her subjects as "all her husbands." The "marriage question" also served as a handy, quick-and-dirty foreign policy tool -- so long as the question remained open, so to speak. But was she really a virgin? Modern sensibilities tend to assume that any romantic involvement involves sex, and as far back as the Victorian era, historians laboured to find a reason why Elizabeth never married that went beyond "good politics". Some believed that Elizabeth's exposure to her father -- and, more importantly, how her father [[OffWithHisHead treated his wives]] -- might have scared her off marriage[[note]]Would ''you'' blame her? I wouldn't![[/note]], while others suggested she had a reproductive defect of some kind. (The most fanciful even suggested that she was a ''man''; never mind the numerous gynecological examinations she endured during marriage negotiations, or the fact that if Henry had had a son, the course of English history would've been entirely different.different; there is a legend that the real Elizabeth died in childhood and her guardians were too afraid to tell Henry and substituted a local boy who looked a bit like her and masqueraded as her for the rest of his life, but this is of course impossible given the aforementioned marriage examinations.) Some historians have [[NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat speculated]] on Elizabeth's sexual orientation, despite her clear affection for and attraction to both Roberts Dudley and Devereux, as well as the fact that many royals throughout history who are today recognized as gay have [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland done their royal duty]] and produced offspring for the good of the realm and the family.[[note]]See: in England: (Possibly) Elizabeth's own ancestor [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Edward II]]; See also: in France: UsefulNotes/LouisXIV's younger brother [[AgentPeacock Philippe]], [[MassiveNumberedSiblings Duc d'Orléans]].[[/note]] Modern historians who recognize Thomas Seymour's predations for what they were have posited that the abuse rendered her afraid of sex. All of that said, a case can easily be made that Elizabeth would have been a fool to engage in premarital sex if there was any chance of pregnancy, and would have been a fool to marry and give up all her power to a subject or a foreign prince.
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Changed line(s) 85,86 (click to see context) from:
This search took longer than expected, and it was nearly three years before Henry married again. This was partly due to the fluctuating politics in Europe that left Henry and his government constantly uncertain about with whom they needed to be allied; and partly because the European marriage market, ''shockingly,'' was not that keen on a king who had gone through three wives in five years, with Anne Boleyn's fate standing out in particular. Apparently when Mary of Guise -- a French noblewoman who would later marry Henry's nephew James V of Scotland and give birth to [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary Queen of Scots]] -- learned that Henry had told the French ambassador that he was big in person and had need of a big wife, she glibly replied, "I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck." When Henry's ambassadors were plying his suit to her, Christina of Denmark supposedly said, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." While these stories might well be apocryphal, Christina at least made ''no'' secret of her aversion to marrying Henry, particularly since Catherine of Aragon was ''her great-aunt.'' When she posed for a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (whom Henry had sent to paint all the prospective candidates for wife Number Four) she wore mourning dress, and given that she had been widowed over two years prior, her choice of wardrobe was very telling - mourning dress is supposed to be worn for six months, then into purple for six months for "half-mourning", then out of mourning; the fact she wore mourning dress ''a whole year later than she needed to'' was one hell of a sign. The wooing of both ladies went nowhere, and several other marriage negotiations also fell through.
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This search took longer than expected, and it was nearly three years before Henry married again. This was partly due to the fluctuating politics in Europe that left Henry and his government constantly uncertain about with whom they needed to be allied; and partly because the European marriage market, ''shockingly,'' was not that keen on a king who had gone through three wives in five years, with Anne Boleyn's fate standing out in particular. Apparently when Mary of Guise -- a French noblewoman who would later marry Henry's nephew James V of Scotland and give birth to [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary Queen of Scots]] -- learned that Henry had told the French ambassador that he was big in person and had need of a big wife, she glibly replied, "I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck." When Henry's ambassadors were plying his suit to her, Christina of Denmark supposedly said, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." While these stories might well be are likely apocryphal, Christina and her relatives at least made ''no'' no secret of her aversion to marrying Henry, particularly since Catherine of Aragon was ''her great-aunt.'' When she posed for a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (whom Henry had sent to paint all the prospective candidates for wife Number Four) she wore mourning dress, and given that she had been widowed over two years prior, her choice of wardrobe was very telling - mourning dress is supposed to be worn for six months, then into purple for six months for "half-mourning", then out of mourning; the fact she wore mourning dress ''a whole year later than she needed to'' was one hell of a sign. The wooing of both ladies went nowhere, and several other marriage negotiations also fell through.
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Changed line(s) 159,160 (click to see context) from:
There seems to be an assumption that Jane was rather weak and easily coerced into the events of 1553. While it's true that she didn't have any part in the plans to install her on the throne, it is foolish to consider her weak. She was a Tudor, after all. Northumberland's plan had been to have Guildford Dudley rule as king, but Jane refused to grant him that title, instead assigning him a duke -- at one point, when threatened about it by her husband, Jane did the smart thing and fled to an even scarier woman: ''her mother''.[[note]]Guildford also ran back to his mother to complain about how mean his wife was.[[/note]] It was Jane who insisted that her father-in-law, the guy who got her into this mess and one of the best soldiers in the kingdom, be the one who got in front of the army and bring Mary in. When some of the council began changing sides and fleeing the Tower of London to go help Mary, Jane took control of the castle's keys ''personally''. She was also incredibly intelligent, with schooling better than her cousins Mary and Elizabeth. She spoke several languages, and was a skilled letter writer. Like Edward VI, the signs were there that she would have been a competent, if pious, monarch. Before the end, despite her reluctance about the whole thing, she had even begun to sign documents as "Jane the Quene" (spelling hers).
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There seems to be an assumption that Jane was rather weak and easily coerced into the events of 1553. While it's true that she didn't have any part in the plans to install her on the throne, it is foolish to consider her weak. She was a Tudor, after all. Northumberland's plan had been to have Guildford Dudley rule as king, but Jane refused to grant him that title, instead assigning him a duke -- at one point, when threatened about it by her husband, Jane did the smart thing and fled to an even scarier woman: ''her mother''.[[note]]Guildford also ran back to his mother to complain about how mean his wife was.[[/note]] It was Jane who insisted that her father-in-law, the guy who got her into this mess and one of the best soldiers in the kingdom, be the one who got in front of the army and bring Mary in. When some of the council began changing sides and fleeing the Tower of London to go help Mary, Jane took control of the castle's keys ''personally''. She was also incredibly intelligent, with schooling even better than that of her cousins Mary and Elizabeth. She spoke several languages, and was a skilled letter writer. Like Edward VI, the signs were there that she would have been a competent, if pious, monarch. Before the end, despite her reluctance about the whole thing, she had even begun to sign documents as "Jane the Quene" (spelling hers).
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Katherine Howard didn't "win"; the entire point of Six is that it's unfair to pit the queens against each other.
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* ''Theatre/{{Six}}'' is a musical production about the wives of Henry VIII, who stage a sort of competition to decide which of them had the worst life while married to him. [[spoiler:Katherine Howard "wins".]]
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* ''Theatre/{{Six}}'' is a musical production about the wives of Henry VIII, who stage a sort of competition to decide which of them had the worst life while married to him. [[spoiler:Katherine Howard "wins".[[spoiler: The competition was staged and they agree that it's unfair for them to compare their trauma.]]
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Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "The Tight-fisted Tudor"). He actually taxed his subjects for the knighting of his son Arthur, as was his right...but he did so ''after'' Arthur had actually died. Nevertheless, to presume that this wealth procured through austerity did not lead to any indulgence on his part (as well as the corruption of his ministers) would be, strictly speaking, not true. If anything, [[ValuesDissonance most of the means he used to enrich the treasury would be considered blatant extortion by modern-day standards]] and ''were'' considered extortion by many of his lords.
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Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "The Tight-fisted Tudor"). He actually taxed his subjects for the knighting of his son Arthur, as was his right...but he did so ''after'' Arthur had actually died. Nevertheless, to presume that this wealth procured through austerity did not lead to any indulgence on his part (as well as the corruption of his ministers) would be, strictly speaking, not true. If anything, [[ValuesDissonance most of the means he used to enrich the treasury would be considered blatant extortion by modern-day standards]] and ''were'' considered extortion by many of his lords.
lords. In short, he was a "fine monarch" in the way that UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} is a fine city.
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He was a fine monarch in the way that UsefulNotes/{{Singapore}} is a fine city. Incidentally ([[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial and not related in the least]]), he helped with a [[TropeNamers Trope Name]]: MortonsFork was named for a bit of sharp practice under his watch. Well, his Chancellor's, at least. His financial methods and rule were so hated that just after Henry died some of his ministers were executed due to them assisting him in extorting money from his subjects. But deep into his son's reign, some people openly began to pine for Henry VII to the point that Henry VIII made a painting to counter this sentiment.
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Became king after raising an army with help from the King of France and beating UsefulNotes/RichardIII at the Battle of Bosworth Field after one noble (Baron Stanley, perhaps not incidentally his stepfather, whom he made Earl of Derby for his trouble)[[note]]A peerage that [[LongRunners remains in the family to this day]]: most notably, Lord Stanley of Preston, early Governor-General of Canada and namesake of [[UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} Stanley Park]] and UsefulNotes/TheStanleyCup, became ''16th'' Earl of Derby before he could present his trophy.[[/note]] didn't do anything and his brother Sir William Stanley changed sides, thus "officially" ending the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses. The thorn bush thing isn't true, along with Richard III being a hunchback[[note]]Well, not to as severe a degree as Shakespeare claimed. The discovery of his skeleton, however, revealed that he did have a slight spinal deformity which could have been the origin of the rumours.[[/note]] or being really desperate for a horse – Creator/WilliamShakespeare has a lot to answer for.
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Became king after raising an army with help from the King of France and beating UsefulNotes/RichardIII at the Battle of Bosworth Field after one noble (Baron Stanley, perhaps not incidentally his stepfather, whom he made Earl of Derby for his trouble)[[note]]A peerage that [[LongRunners remains in the family to this day]]: most notably, Lord Stanley of Preston, early Governor-General of Canada and namesake of [[UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} Stanley Park]] and UsefulNotes/TheStanleyCup, became ''16th'' Earl of Derby before he could present his trophy.[[/note]] didn't do anything and his brother Sir William Stanley changed sides, thus "officially" ending the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses. The thorn bush thing isn't true, along with Richard III being a hunchback[[note]]Well, not to as severe a degree as the way Shakespeare claimed. The discovery of his skeleton, however, revealed that he did have a slight ''different'' significant spinal deformity (severe scoliosis) which could have been the origin of the rumours.[[/note]] or being really desperate for a horse – Creator/WilliamShakespeare has a lot to answer for.
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So Henry moved on to Catherine Howard, a cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine was one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, and [[BrokenRecord (go figure)]] everything Anne was not: tiny, boyish, spirited, frivolous, and auburn-haired. She was also in love with (and probably legally married to) another man, but that didn't matter: by that time, Henry wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone. After the marriage, Catherine, who, unlike Anne of Cleves, probably ''was'' a fool and also probably all of fifteen years old at this point, found a new boyfriend -- Henry's closest body servant -- and carried on with him behind the King's back.[[note]]According to all sources, however, when the court was on progress to the house of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his second wife, Katherine Willoughby, the young queen ''actually behaved herself''. What that says about the Duchess of Suffolk, who was able to keep Catherine in line, is up to you.[[/note]] Bad idea. When Henry found out, he naturally had both the current and former boyfriends killed, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint then sat around for months whining about how all women are whores.]] Given Catherine's age and other events in her life [[note]]She was likely around ''thirteen'' when she had her first 'relationship' with Henry Mannox, her music teacher, who was at least ten years older than her and may even have been in his mid-thirties. During her interrogation Catherine claimed that Francis Dereham, the aforementioned man to whom she was probably legally married (due to a pre-contract), essentially forced himself upon her. While witnesses from Norfolk House (where both of them were living at the time of their affair) refuted this and said Catherine enjoyed Dereham's attentions, please recall that Catherine was still likely no more than fifteen at this point, and Dereham, again, was more than ten years older than her, meaning he might have pressured her into accepting said attentions. As for the man with whom she was accused of adultery, Thomas Culpeper (who was, once more with feeling, [[RuleOfThree at least ten years older than Catherine]]) theories have been raised that he might have had knowledge of her previous affairs and hoped to use them to gain leverage and power over the young Queen. He may also have been a rapist; in 1539 a Thomas Culpeper was accused of, and granted a royal pardon for, raping a park-keeper's wife and then murdering a villager... though it's entirely possible that this might have been Culpeper's elder brother, confusingly also called Thomas.[[/note]] there are historians who now suspect she may have been coerced into the relationship and quite possibly raped -- and then beheaded for it.
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So Henry moved on to Catherine Howard, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine was one of Anne's ladies-in-waiting, and [[BrokenRecord (go figure)]] everything Anne was not: tiny, boyish, spirited, frivolous, and auburn-haired. She was also in love with (and probably legally married to) another man, but that didn't matter: by that time, Henry wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone. After the marriage, Catherine, who, unlike Anne of Cleves, probably ''was'' a fool and also probably all of fifteen years old at this point, found a new boyfriend -- Henry's closest body servant -- and carried on with him behind the King's back.[[note]]According to all sources, however, when the court was on progress to the house of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his second wife, Katherine Willoughby, the young queen ''actually behaved herself''. What that says about the Duchess of Suffolk, who was able to keep Catherine in line, is up to you.[[/note]] Bad idea. When Henry found out, he naturally had both the current and former boyfriends killed, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint then sat around for months whining about how all women are whores.]] Given Catherine's age and other events in her life [[note]]She was likely around ''thirteen'' when she had her first 'relationship' with Henry Mannox, her music teacher, who was at least ten years older than her and may even have been in his mid-thirties. During her interrogation Catherine claimed that Francis Dereham, the aforementioned man to whom she was probably legally married (due to a pre-contract), essentially forced himself upon her. While witnesses from Norfolk House (where both of them were living at the time of their affair) refuted this and said Catherine enjoyed Dereham's attentions, please recall that Catherine was still likely no more than fifteen at this point, and Dereham, again, was more than ten years older than her, meaning he might have pressured her into accepting said attentions. As for the man with whom she was accused of adultery, Thomas Culpeper (who was, once more with feeling, [[RuleOfThree at least ten years older than Catherine]]) theories have been raised that he might have had knowledge of her previous affairs and hoped to use them to gain leverage and power over the young Queen. He may also have been a rapist; in 1539 a Thomas Culpeper was accused of, and granted a royal pardon for, raping a park-keeper's wife and then murdering a villager... though it's entirely possible that this might have been Culpeper's elder brother, confusingly also called Thomas.[[/note]] there are historians who now suspect she may have been coerced into the relationship and quite possibly raped -- and then beheaded for it.
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Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk who greatly sympathized with the former/'true' queen and blamed Anne for Henry breaking with Rome, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to turn the other cheek to Henry's mistresses the way Catherine had done (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her [[note]]In particular, she'd managed to alienate her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who wound up completely turning against her and even ''presided at her trial'' as Lord High Steward.[[/note]] -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
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Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk who greatly sympathized with the former/'true' queen and blamed Anne for Henry breaking with Rome, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to turn the other cheek to Henry's mistresses the way Catherine had done (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her [[note]]In particular, she'd she managed to alienate her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who wound up completely turning against her and even ''presided at her trial'' as Lord High Steward.[[/note]] -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
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Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to turn the other cheek to Henry's mistresses the way Catherine had done (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
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Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk, folk who greatly sympathized with the former/'true' queen and blamed Anne for Henry breaking with Rome, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to turn the other cheek to Henry's mistresses the way Catherine had done (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her [[note]]In particular, she'd managed to alienate her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who wound up completely turning against her and even ''presided at her trial'' as Lord High Steward.[[/note]] -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
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What also didn't help, and modern historians now believe was a key factor, was Henry having a near-fatal jousting accident. Not only did the news of the event actually trigger one of Anne's miscarriages, but the accident caused two serious injuries for Henry. One was probable brain damage from his horse rolling over him (which altered his personality and made him erratic); the other was a severe leg injury which would cause him to endure constant pain for the rest of his life (which made him irritable and easily angered). This incident put an end to most of the athletic Henry's many physical activities, leading him to become the overweight figure we recognize today, which also contributed to his frequent mood swings. Conveniently, at about this time Catherine of Aragon died [[note]]There were the inevitable whispers that she had been poisoned, due to a black spot being discovered on her heart during her embalming, but medical experts today think her death was probably due to cancer; rather spookily, Anne's last miscarriage happened ''on the same day'' as Catherine's funeral.[[/note]] and so if Henry were to end his marriage to Anne, there would be no more pressure for him to go back to her. And if he now remarried someone ''else'', all parties would consider the new marriage legitimate, as Catholics and those sympathetic to Catherine now considered him a widower.
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What also didn't help, and modern historians now believe was a key factor, was Henry having a near-fatal jousting accident. Not only did the news of the event actually trigger one of Anne's miscarriages, but the accident caused two serious injuries for Henry. One was probable brain damage from his horse rolling over him (which altered his personality and made him erratic); the other was a severe leg injury which would cause him to endure constant pain for the rest of his life (which made him irritable and easily angered). This incident put an end to most of the athletic Henry's many physical activities, leading him to become the overweight figure we recognize today, which also contributed to his frequent mood swings. Conveniently, at about this time Catherine of Aragon died [[note]]There were the inevitable whispers that she had been poisoned, due to a black spot being discovered on her heart during her embalming, but medical experts today think her death was probably due to cancer; cancer...although, and rather spookily, Anne's last miscarriage happened ''on the same day'' as Catherine's funeral.[[/note]] and so if Henry were to end his marriage to Anne, there would be no more pressure for him to go back to her. And if he now remarried someone ''else'', all parties would consider the new marriage legitimate, as Catholics and those sympathetic to Catherine now considered him a widower.
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Yet another unsolicited image change…reverted.
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[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elizabeth_i.jpg]]
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[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elizabeth_i_oil_panel_george_gower_1588.jpg]]
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Actually a descendant of the secret marriage between Catherine of Valois (Henry V's widow) and Owen Tudor. The Tudors were originally a minor noble family from Wales, and played it to the hilt when amassing followers before Bosworth Field (Henry's personal standard at the battle was the Welsh red dragon) and subsequently (he spent a good bit of money trying to prove he was descended from Myth/KingArthur, and named his eldest son Arthur to cement the connection). [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Henry's claim to the throne was incredibly weak]]; his mother, Margaret Beaufort, was the granddaughter of an illegitimate grandson of Edward III who was ''explicitly'' disinherited. On the other hand, with every other claimant dead or imprisoned, the Lancastrians really weren't in a position to say much... or anything at all for that matter! From birth until his coronation he was the 2nd Earl of Richmond (and is thus often called "Richmond" in many histories, including ''Theatre/RichardIII''), having been born the posthumous son of his father.[[note]]He was attainted after Edward IV took the throne in 1461, restored to his former title with the Readeption of Henry VI in 1470, and then attainted ''again'' after 1471 when Edward IV took the throne back.[[/note]] This is the reason Richmond-upon-Thames in London is so named, as he built a palace there in his reign and named it for his (former) dignity. (It had previously been called ''Sheen''.) He was an only child; his mother was ''13'' when he was born and the difficult labour probably rendered her sterile. By all accounts, he was a MommasBoy, and Lady Margaret (who [[OutlivingOnesOffspring survived her son]], albeit by less than a year) was the dominant lady at his court throughout his reign, even over his Queen.[[note]]What said Queen really thought about all this is unknown; as 15th-century royal biographer Amy Licence put it, “only one person knew how Elizabeth really felt about Margaret and she did not commit it to paper.”[[/note]] She was styled "My Lady the King's Mother," though with her son's permission she signed letters and documents as "Margaret R," signifying her position as honorary Queen Mother.
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Actually a descendant of the secret marriage between Catherine of Valois (Henry V's widow) and Owen Tudor. The Tudors were originally a minor noble family from Wales, and played it to the hilt when amassing followers before Bosworth Field (Henry's personal standard at the battle was the Welsh red dragon) and subsequently (he spent a good bit of money trying to prove he was descended from Myth/KingArthur, and named his eldest son Arthur to cement the connection). [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem Henry's claim to the throne was incredibly weak]]; his mother, Margaret Beaufort, was the granddaughter of an illegitimate grandson of Edward III who was ''explicitly'' disinherited. On the other hand, with every other claimant dead or imprisoned, the Lancastrians really weren't in a position to say much... or anything at all for that matter! From birth until his coronation he was the 2nd Earl of Richmond (and is thus often called "Richmond" in many histories, including ''Theatre/RichardIII''), [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy having been born the posthumous son of his father.father]].[[note]]He was attainted after Edward IV took the throne in 1461, restored to his former title with the Readeption of Henry VI in 1470, and then attainted ''again'' after 1471 when Edward IV took the throne back.[[/note]] This is the reason Richmond-upon-Thames in London is so named, as he built a palace there in his reign and named it for his (former) dignity. (It had previously been called ''Sheen''.) He was an only child; his mother was ''13'' when he was born and the difficult labour probably rendered her sterile. By all accounts, he was a MommasBoy, and Lady Margaret (who [[OutlivingOnesOffspring survived her son]], albeit by less than a year) was the dominant lady at his court throughout his reign, even over his Queen.[[note]]What said Queen really thought about all this is unknown; as 15th-century royal biographer Amy Licence put it, “only one person knew how Elizabeth really felt about Margaret and she did not commit it to paper.”[[/note]] She was styled "My Lady the King's Mother," though with her son's permission she signed letters and documents as "Margaret R," signifying her position as honorary Queen Mother.
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The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she wasn't really that unattractive]] -- at least, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but remarkably pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had produced a faithful image of her. At least one said she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens; Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, said at the time that, while she was no great beauty, she was quite attractive, pleasant, and dignified. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts rather than activities that the royal court enjoyed like hunting and archery, and Henry tended to like them feisty, tiny, boyish, and with a classically-trained intellect -- plus Anne's heavy and unflattering German clothing did her no favours, and she spoke very little English when she first arrived in the country. More than one historian has wondered if Henry had become impotent by this point and blamed Anne instead of his weight.
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The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she wasn't really that unattractive]] -- at least, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but remarkably pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had produced a faithful image of her. At least one said she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens; Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, said at the time that, while she was no great beauty, she was quite attractive, pleasant, and dignified. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts rather than activities that the royal court enjoyed like hunting hunting, dancing and archery, singing, and Henry tended to like them feisty, tiny, boyish, keen on the outdoors and with a classically-trained intellect -- plus Anne's heavy and unflattering German clothing did her no favours, and she spoke very little English when she first arrived in the country. More than one historian has wondered if Henry had become impotent by this point and blamed Anne instead of his weight.
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The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she wasn't really that unattractive]] -- at least, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but remarkably pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had produced a faithful image of her. At least one said she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens; Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, said at the time that, while she was no great beauty, she was quite attractive, pleasant, and dignified. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts, and Henry tended to like them feisty, tiny, boyish, and with a classically-trained intellect -- plus Anne's heavy and unflattering German clothing did her no favours. More than one historian has wondered if Henry had become impotent by this point and blamed Anne instead of his weight.
Henry's aversion to Anne, at least from a romantic and erotic standpoint, was also not helped by their disastrous first meeting. On New Year's Eve of 1539, Anne and her entourage arrived at Rochester in Kent, where they intended to rest overnight before riding on to Greenwich, where she would be formally received by the king. Henry, impatient to meet his (fourth) wife-to-be, decided to surprise her. Once they arrived at Rochester, the king and some buddies disguised themselves as peasants and entered an upstairs room where Anne and her ladies were watching a bull-baiting. Why did he do such a thing? Because, according the the chivalric tradition from which Henry was drawing, Anne was supposed to see through his disguise and recognize her "true love." Unfortunately, Anne was completely unfamiliar with this tradition, and only saw a stranger - and a foul smelling one at that - being overly familiar with her, to the point of grabbing her and kissing her.
Henry's aversion to Anne, at least from a romantic and erotic standpoint, was also not helped by their disastrous first meeting. On New Year's Eve of 1539, Anne and her entourage arrived at Rochester in Kent, where they intended to rest overnight before riding on to Greenwich, where she would be formally received by the king. Henry, impatient to meet his (fourth) wife-to-be, decided to surprise her. Once they arrived at Rochester, the king and some buddies disguised themselves as peasants and entered an upstairs room where Anne and her ladies were watching a bull-baiting. Why did he do such a thing? Because, according the the chivalric tradition from which Henry was drawing, Anne was supposed to see through his disguise and recognize her "true love." Unfortunately, Anne was completely unfamiliar with this tradition, and only saw a stranger - and a foul smelling one at that - being overly familiar with her, to the point of grabbing her and kissing her.
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The "lucky" lady ended up being Anne of Cleves (German: ''Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg''). Henry was introduced to her via one of the aforementioned Holbein portraits, now on display in The Louvre. Her father was the Duke of Cleves, an important mover and shaker in the emerging Protestant Schmalkaldic League who presumably judged having England in his back pocket would be worth whatever risk his daughter might face marrying Europe's most notorious serial monogamist. Her elder sister Sybelle, meanwhile, was married to the Elector of Saxony who led the League. After Catherine of Aragon, she was Henry's only wife who would be considered a "royal", as the daughter of a sovereign prince. Although he is said to have been enamored of her portrait, Henry found her so unattractive in person that the marriage was annulled six months later without it having been consummated. (History does not record what Anne thought of Henry, who by this time weighed about 350 pounds and had nasty pus-spewing abscesses on both legs.) The strange part was that [[HollywoodHomely she wasn't really that unattractive]] -- at least, none of the English courtiers who wrote about her after Henry's death mentioned her being anything but remarkably pleasant-looking and that Hans Holbein - known for painting realistic, rather than flattering, portraits - had produced a faithful image of her. At least one said she was the best-looking of all of Henry's queens; Charles de Marillac, the French Ambassador, said at the time that, while she was no great beauty, she was quite attractive, pleasant, and dignified. ''But'' she was also docile, tall, quite large-breasted, and largely trained in the domestic arts, arts rather than activities that the royal court enjoyed like hunting and archery, and Henry tended to like them feisty, tiny, boyish, and with a classically-trained intellect -- plus Anne's heavy and unflattering German clothing did her no favours.favours, and she spoke very little English when she first arrived in the country. More than one historian has wondered if Henry had become impotent by this point and blamed Anne instead of his weight.
Henry's aversion to Anne, at least from a romantic and erotic standpoint, was also not helped by their disastrous first meeting. On New Year's Eve of 1539, Anne and her entourage arrived at Rochester in Kent, where they intended to rest overnight before riding on to Greenwich, where she would be formally received by the king. Henry, impatient to meet his (fourth) wife-to-be, decided to surprise her. Once they arrived at Rochester, the king and some buddies disguised themselves as peasants and entered an upstairs room where Anne and her ladies were watching a bull-baiting. Why did he do such a thing? Because, according the the chivalric tradition from which Henry was drawing, Anne was supposed to see through his disguise and recognize her "true love." Unfortunately, [[CultureClash Anne was completely unfamiliar with thistradition, tradition,]] and only saw a stranger - and a foul smelling one at that - being overly familiar with her, to the point of grabbing her and kissing her.
Henry's aversion to Anne, at least from a romantic and erotic standpoint, was also not helped by their disastrous first meeting. On New Year's Eve of 1539, Anne and her entourage arrived at Rochester in Kent, where they intended to rest overnight before riding on to Greenwich, where she would be formally received by the king. Henry, impatient to meet his (fourth) wife-to-be, decided to surprise her. Once they arrived at Rochester, the king and some buddies disguised themselves as peasants and entered an upstairs room where Anne and her ladies were watching a bull-baiting. Why did he do such a thing? Because, according the the chivalric tradition from which Henry was drawing, Anne was supposed to see through his disguise and recognize her "true love." Unfortunately, [[CultureClash Anne was completely unfamiliar with this
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Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to turn the other cheek to Henry's mistresses unlike Catherine (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
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Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to turn the other cheek to Henry's mistresses unlike the way Catherine had done (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
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You have to pity Pope Clement. On one hand he couldn't annul the marriage, since the man holding him hostage would have literally killed him for the insult to his aunt and cousin. On the other hand he could hardly just say "no" to Henry, who was sovereign of one of Christendom's Great Powers (a second-rate one, but still). Thanks to siding with the losers (chiefly France) in the Italian Wars (the reason Charles was holding him hostage), the rise of Protestantism in Germany, and the encroaching Ottoman Empire in the east, Clement didn't have too many friends left other than England. So he temporized. He held hearings, he reserved judgments, he delayed things again and again, probably praying that one of them would just go off and die before things came to a head. [[note]] To Henry's eternal fury though, the Pope gave an annulment to Henry's sister Margaret, Queen of Scotland. Then again, Margaret wasn't married to anyone who would kill the Pope if their marriage was annulled.[[/note]]
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You have to pity Pope Clement. On one hand he couldn't annul the marriage, since the man holding him hostage would have literally killed him for the insult to his aunt and cousin. On the other hand he could hardly just say "no" to Henry, who was sovereign of one of Christendom's Great Powers (a second-rate one, but still). Thanks to siding with the losers (chiefly France) in the Italian Wars (the reason Charles was holding him hostage), the rise of Protestantism in Germany, and the encroaching Ottoman Empire in the east, Clement didn't have too many friends left other than England. So he temporized. He held hearings, he reserved judgments, he delayed things again and again, probably praying that one of them would just go off and die before things came to a head. [[note]] To Henry's eternal fury though, the Pope gave ''did'' grant an annulment to Henry's sister Margaret, the dowager Queen of Scotland.Scotland, who wanted out of her second marriage. Then again, Margaret wasn't married to anyone who would kill the Pope if their marriage was annulled.[[/note]]
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This search took longer than expected, and it was nearly three years before Henry married again. This was partly due to the fluctuating politics in Europe that left Henry and his government constantly uncertain about with whom they needed to be allied; and partly because the European marriage market, ''shockingly,'' was not that keen on a king who had gone through three wives in five years, with Anne Boleyn's fate standing out in particular. Apparently when Mary of Guise -- a French noblewoman who would later marry Henry's nephew James V of Scotland and give birth to [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary Queen of Scots]] -- learned that Henry had told the French ambassador that he was big in person and had need of a big wife, she glibly replied, "I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck." When Henry's ambassadors were plying his suit to her, Christina of Denmark supposedly said, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." While these stories might well be apocryphal, Christina at least made ''no'' secret of her aversion to marrying Henry, particularly since Catherine of Aragon was ''her great-aunt.'' When she posed for a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (whom Henry had sent to paint all the prospective candidates for wife Number Four) she wore mourning dress, and given that she had been widowed over two years prior, her choice of wardrobe was very telling - mourning dress is supposed to be worn for six months, then into purple for six months for "half-mourning", then out of mourning; the fact she wore mourning dress ''a whole year later than she needed too'' was one hell of a sign. The wooing of both ladies went nowhere, and several other marriage negotiations also fell through.
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This search took longer than expected, and it was nearly three years before Henry married again. This was partly due to the fluctuating politics in Europe that left Henry and his government constantly uncertain about with whom they needed to be allied; and partly because the European marriage market, ''shockingly,'' was not that keen on a king who had gone through three wives in five years, with Anne Boleyn's fate standing out in particular. Apparently when Mary of Guise -- a French noblewoman who would later marry Henry's nephew James V of Scotland and give birth to [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary Queen of Scots]] -- learned that Henry had told the French ambassador that he was big in person and had need of a big wife, she glibly replied, "I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck." When Henry's ambassadors were plying his suit to her, Christina of Denmark supposedly said, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." While these stories might well be apocryphal, Christina at least made ''no'' secret of her aversion to marrying Henry, particularly since Catherine of Aragon was ''her great-aunt.'' When she posed for a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (whom Henry had sent to paint all the prospective candidates for wife Number Four) she wore mourning dress, and given that she had been widowed over two years prior, her choice of wardrobe was very telling - mourning dress is supposed to be worn for six months, then into purple for six months for "half-mourning", then out of mourning; the fact she wore mourning dress ''a whole year later than she needed too'' to'' was one hell of a sign. The wooing of both ladies went nowhere, and several other marriage negotiations also fell through.
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Changed line(s) 85,86 (click to see context) from:
This search took longer than expected, and it was nearly three years before Henry married again. This was partly due to the fluctuating politics in Europe that left Henry and his government constantly uncertain about with whom they needed to be allied; and partly because the European marriage market, ''shockingly,'' was not that keen on a king who had gone through three wives in five years, with Anne Boleyn's fate standing out in particular. Apparently when Mary of Guise -- a French noblewoman who would later marry Henry's nephew James V of Scotland and give birth to [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary Queen of Scots]] -- learned that Henry had told the French ambassador that he was big in person and had need of a big wife, she glibly replied, "I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck." When Henry's ambassadors were plying his suit to her, Christina of Denmark supposedly said, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." While these stories might well be apocryphal, Christina at least made ''no'' secret of her aversion to marrying Henry, particularly since Catherine of Aragon was ''her great-aunt.'' When she posed for a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (whom Henry had sent to paint all the prospective candidates for wife Number Four) she wore mourning dress, and given that she had been widowed over two years prior, her choice of wardrobe was very telling. The wooing of both ladies went nowhere, and several other marriage negotiations also fell through.
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This search took longer than expected, and it was nearly three years before Henry married again. This was partly due to the fluctuating politics in Europe that left Henry and his government constantly uncertain about with whom they needed to be allied; and partly because the European marriage market, ''shockingly,'' was not that keen on a king who had gone through three wives in five years, with Anne Boleyn's fate standing out in particular. Apparently when Mary of Guise -- a French noblewoman who would later marry Henry's nephew James V of Scotland and give birth to [[UsefulNotes/MaryOfScotland Mary Queen of Scots]] -- learned that Henry had told the French ambassador that he was big in person and had need of a big wife, she glibly replied, "I may be a big woman, but I have a very little neck." When Henry's ambassadors were plying his suit to her, Christina of Denmark supposedly said, "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." While these stories might well be apocryphal, Christina at least made ''no'' secret of her aversion to marrying Henry, particularly since Catherine of Aragon was ''her great-aunt.'' When she posed for a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (whom Henry had sent to paint all the prospective candidates for wife Number Four) she wore mourning dress, and given that she had been widowed over two years prior, her choice of wardrobe was very telling.telling - mourning dress is supposed to be worn for six months, then into purple for six months for "half-mourning", then out of mourning; the fact she wore mourning dress ''a whole year later than she needed too'' was one hell of a sign. The wooing of both ladies went nowhere, and several other marriage negotiations also fell through.
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Changed line(s) 75 (click to see context) from:
Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk, her enemies at court actively hated her, and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.
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Henry seems to have been overjoyed by Elizabeth’s birth; there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was angry or upset, and in fact we have letters written in Henry’s hand before her birth pleading with the midwives to put Anne’s life before that of the child ''even if the child was a boy''. But then further into their marriage Anne miscarried at least two separate pregnancies, both boys, each in the second trimester, and after three years the qualities which had attracted Henry in the first place (especially her strong-minded wilfulness) began to repel him. It didn't help Anne's case that, unlike Catherine, she was apparently unpopular with the common folk, her enemies at court actively hated her, she refused to turn the other cheek to Henry's mistresses unlike Catherine (who even Henry once referred to as Anne's "better" when lecturing her on lecturing ''him'' about his mistresses), and none of her relatives or friends were powerful enough/willing to support and protect her -- ''or'' to kick up a fuss should anything obviously untoward happen to her.her.
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* As indicated above, Edward VI is the Prince in Creator/MarkTwain's ''Literature/ThePrinceAndThePauper''.
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* As indicated above, Edward VI is the Prince in Creator/MarkTwain's ''Literature/ThePrinceAndThePauper''.
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Nowadays, Henry is considered a steady and slightly dull set of hands at the helm of England. However, he only appears as such in comparison to his extravagant and exciting son; Henry VII was in fact an intelligent, suspicious, and steady king, which England needed after years of civil war.
Nowadays, Henry is considered a steady and slightly dull set of hands at the helm of England. However, he only appears as such in comparison to his extravagant and exciting son; Henry VII was in fact an intelligent, suspicious, and steady king, which England needed after years of civil war. Nonetheless, there is a school of thought that Henry was more responsible for ''restarting'' the Wars of the Roses, as after he became King there were several attempts by Yorkists with clearly better claims to the throne to depose him, leading to Henry wiping out the male line of York. Ironically Sir William Stanley was [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves executed]] for apparently being in league with one of the Pretenders.
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Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "The Tight-fisted Tudor"). He actually taxed his subjects (as was his right) for the knighting of his son Arthur, after Arthur had actually died. Nevertheless, to presume that this wealth procured through austerity did not lead to any indulgence on his part (as well as the corruption of his ministers) would be, strictly speaking, not true. If anything, [[ValuesDissonance most of the means he used to enrich the treasury would be considered blatant extortion by modern-day standards]] and were considered extortion by many of his lords.
However there is a school of thought Henry was more responsible for restarting the Wars of the Roses, as after he became King there were several attempts by Yorkists with clearly better claims to the throne to depose him, leading to Henry wiping out the male line of York. Ironically Sir William Stanley was [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves executed]] for apparently being in league with one of the Pretenders.
However there is a school of thought Henry was more responsible for restarting the Wars of the Roses, as after he became King there were several attempts by Yorkists with clearly better claims to the throne to depose him, leading to Henry wiping out the male line of York. Ironically Sir William Stanley was [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves executed]] for apparently being in league with one of the Pretenders.
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Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "The Tight-fisted Tudor"). He actually taxed his subjects (as was his right) for the knighting of his son Arthur, after as was his right...but he did so ''after'' Arthur had actually died. Nevertheless, to presume that this wealth procured through austerity did not lead to any indulgence on his part (as well as the corruption of his ministers) would be, strictly speaking, not true. If anything, [[ValuesDissonance most of the means he used to enrich the treasury would be considered blatant extortion by modern-day standards]] and were ''were'' considered extortion by many of his lords.
However there is a school of thought Henry was more responsible for restarting the Wars of the Roses, as after he became King there were several attempts by Yorkists with clearly better claims to the throne to depose him, leading to Henry wiping out the male line of York. Ironically Sir William Stanley was [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves executed]] for apparently being in league with one of the Pretenders.
lords.
However there is a school of thought Henry was more responsible for restarting the Wars of the Roses, as after he became King there were several attempts by Yorkists with clearly better claims to the throne to depose him, leading to Henry wiping out the male line of York. Ironically Sir William Stanley was [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves executed]] for apparently being in league with one of the Pretenders.
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Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "The Tight-fisted Tudor"). He actually taxed his subjects (as was his right) for the knighting of his son Arthur, after Arthur had actually died. Nevertheless, to presume that this wealth procured through austerity did not lead to any indulgence on his part (as well as the corruption of his ministers) would be, strictly speaking, not true. If any, [[ValuesDissonance most of the means he used to enrich the treasury would be considered blatant extortion by modern-day standards]] and were considered extortion by many of his lords.
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Henry today is also known for being one of the few monarchs to leave his country's treasury fuller when he died than when he was crowned, thanks to his stringent taxation (later nicknamed "The Tight-fisted Tudor"). He actually taxed his subjects (as was his right) for the knighting of his son Arthur, after Arthur had actually died. Nevertheless, to presume that this wealth procured through austerity did not lead to any indulgence on his part (as well as the corruption of his ministers) would be, strictly speaking, not true. If any, anything, [[ValuesDissonance most of the means he used to enrich the treasury would be considered blatant extortion by modern-day standards]] and were considered extortion by many of his lords.
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Consensus claims picture previously used is in fact of Catherine Parr
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** ''Series/BecomingElizabeth'' deals primarily with the succession dramas surrounding the children of Henry VIII: Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The series begins on the eve of Edward VI's accession and portrays the Tudor courtiers hovering about the three heirs (including Lady Jane Grey) and pitting them against each other.
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Consensus claims picture previously used is in fact of Catherine Parr
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** ''Series/BecomingElizabeth'' deals primarily with the succession dramas surrounding the children of Henry VIII: Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The series begins on the eve of Edward VI's accession and portrays the Tudor courtiers hovering about the three heirs (including Lady Jane Grey) and pitting them against each other.
