Nonsuch HP is 12!

 

Today is Nonsuch HP's 12th birthday. To celebrate this, the blog has been tidied up a bit and the the internet safety policy updated to reflect the substantial changes in the internet and social media that have taken place recently.

This also seemed a good opportunity to look back over the hundreds of articles that have been published over the years. Many still remain relevant and of interest, and can be found easily using the "tags" which you can find on the right hand side. Over time we will re-tag or highlight those articles that are particularly worth reading. Here are some tags that we recommend:

• Black History
• Cold War
• Middle East
• Tudors

We also recommend our "pages" on special subjects which you can see on the right hand side, in particular:

• Nonsuch Palace
• Historical Fiction (although this needs some serious updating)

Please let us know if there are any topics you think the blog should be covering in the next 12 years!

November 28 - The Marriage of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway

This Day in History: 28 November 2020

 

28 November 1582

 

438 years ago, today, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, when he was 18 years old and she was 26. The two paid for a 40-pound bond for their marriage license in Stratford-upon-Avon. Six months later, Anne gave birth to their daughter, Susanna, and two years later, to twins. Despite this, little is known about Shakespeare's early life, apart from that his father was a tradesman, and Shakespeare's baptism took place in April 1564. Sometime after the birth of his children, Shakespeare set off for London to become an actor. By 1592, he was well established in London's theatrical world as an actor and a playwright.

 

His earliest plays, including 'The Taming of the Shrew', were written in the early 1590s. Later in the decade, he wrote tragedies like 'Romeo and Juliet' and comedies including 'The Merchant of Venice'. However, his greatest tragedies were written after 1600, like 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. Shakespeare also became a member of the popular theatre group, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. They built and operated the famous Globe Theatre in London in 1599, which Shakespeare would later become a major shareholder in. In 1610, he retired to Stratford, where he wrote his last plays, including 'The Winter's Tale'. He also had written more than 100 sonnets, which were published in 1609. His plays, on the other hand, were not published during his lifetime.

 

Want to find out more about the life of Shakespeare? Click here for more information, or here for more about his marriage.

November 23 - Perkin Warbeck is Executed

This Day in History: 23 November 2020

 

23 November 1499

 

521 years ago, today, Perkin Warbeck, who invaded England in 1497 claiming to be the lost son of King Edward IV, was hanged for allegedly trying to escape from the Tower of London. In 1491, Warbeck went to Ireland and claimed that he was Richard, Duke of York, the second son of Edward IV. In 1483, however, Richard and his elder brother were presumed murdered in the Tower of London by their uncle, King Richard III. Despite this, their fates are still not confirmed, as it is unknown what happened to them.

 

Warbeck found support from the enemies of King Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England, who had established his new dynasty in 1485, when he won the Battle of Bosworth against King Richard III. These supporters included James IV of Scotland, who offered Warbeck Lady Catherine Gordon in marriage. However, the Treaty of Ayton ended this support as James made peace with England. In 1497, Warbeck landed at Cornwall and raised an army of 6,000 men. Faced with King Henry's larger army, he fled, but was captured and imprisoned. He was treated well by Henry initially, and soon confessed to being an imposter. However, after trying to escape, he was hanged.

 

Want to find out more about Perkin Warbeck? Click here for more information, or here for more about the Battle of Bosworth.

November 17 - The Elizabethan Age Begins

This Day in History: 17 November 2020

 

17 November 1558

 

462 years ago, today, the Elizabethan Age begun when Queen Mary I died and was succeeded by her half-sister, Elizabeth. The two half-sisters had a stormy relationship during Mary's five-year reign, as Mary had been brought up as a Catholic, and so enacted pro-Catholic legislation and tried to restore the pope's supremacy in the country. A Protestant rebellion commenced, resulting in Mary imprisoning Elizabeth in the Tower of London on suspicion of complicity. After Mary's death, Elizabeth likewise suffered several Catholic plots, but her ascension was greeted with approval by most of England's lords, as they were largely Protestant and hoped for greater religious tolerance.

 

In foreign affairs, Elizabeth practised a policy of strengthening England's Protestant allies and dividing her foes. She was opposed by the pope, who refused to recognise her legitimacy, and by Spain, a powerful Catholic nation. In 1588, Spain invaded England, in which the Spanish Armada, the greatest naval force at the time, was destroyed by storms and a determined English navy. With increasing English domination at sea, Elizabeth encouraged voyages of discovery, such as Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the world and Sir Walter Raleigh's expeditions to the North American coast. Elizabeth also became known as the 'Virgin Queen' for her reluctance to marry. By her death, England had become a major world power, and Elizabeth passed into history as one of England's greatest monarchs.

 

Want to find out more about the reign of Elizabeth I? Click here for more information, or here for more about Elizabeth's spy network.

September 26 - Sir Francis Drake's Circumnavigation of the Globe

This Day in History: 26 September 2020 

 

26 September 1580 

 

440 years ago, today, Francis Drake finished his circumnavigation of the globe when he returned to Plymouth, becoming the first British navigator to sail the earth. He had set out from England three years prior, on a mission to raid Spanish holdings on the Pacific coast of the New World. After crossing the Atlantic, Drake abandoned two of his ships in South America and sailed into the Straits of Magellan with the remaining three. Storms wrecked one of these ships and forced another back to England. Only the 'Golden Hind' reached the Pacific Ocean, but Drake continued unphased as he raided the Spanish settlements and captured a rich Spanish treasure ship. 

 

Reaching as far north as present-day Washington before turning back, Drake paused near San Francisco Bay in June 1579 to repair his ship. He called the land 'Nova Albion' and claimed the territory for Queen Elizabeth. In July, the expedition visited several islands across the Pacific before rounding Africa's Cape of Good Hope and returning to the Atlantic Ocean. Drake returned to Plymouth bearing rich captured treasures and valuable information about the world's oceans. Queen Elizabeth I knighted Drake in 1581 during a visit to his ship. He later played a crucial role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The great explorer and the most renowned of the Elizabethan seamen died in 1596 at the age of 56. 

 

Want to find out more about the life of Francis Drake? Click here for more information, or here for more about if he was a pirate or hero. 

Hever historical fiction from Year 7

Here are some stories inspired by our trip to Hever Castle and our study of the Tudors so far.  Enjoy!

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl, is yet another historical fiction by Philippa Gregory. As the third novel in the ‘Tudor Court’ series, the novel explores exactly what the title states, ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, Mary Boleyn, sister of Henry VIII’s infamous second wife, Anne Boleyn. In the novel, Gregory depicts part of the turbulent reign of England’s Henry VIII through Mary Boleyn’s eyes during her time in and out of court.

Already married to William Carey and barely 14, Mary Boleyn embarks on a several year affair with the King at the beginning of the novel, giving him both a daughter and a son, albeit both illegitimate. “Keep him coming forward but never let him think that you come forward yourself. He wants to feel that he is pursuing you, not that you are entrapping him. When he gives you the choice of coming forward or running away, like then—you must always run away. But don’t run too fast. Remember he has to catch you.” Despite only a year separating them in age, Mary is disastrously more naïve than Anne, who is cunning, intelligent and skilful in the art of seduction, earning the role as Mary’s adviser in the seduction of the King.

“I shall be dark and French and fashionable and difficult. And you shall be sweet and open and English and fair. What a pair we shall be! What man can resist us?”

Mary’s golden fair hair reflects her sweet and caring disposition. “I wanted the heat and the sweat and the passion of a man that I could love and trust. And I wanted to give myself to him: not for advantage, but for desire.” Mary’s decline begins when she falls in love with the King and thus begins to lose sight of the reason as to why she was being courted in the first place. Anne understands that “anyone can attract a man” and “the trick is to keep him,” and, more importantly, Anne understands that love is not important in seducing the King. She understands that “in this world ruled by men” the aim is to rise in status, and to bring her family with her.

The favour of the King is eventually tossed from Mary to Anne. “I have overturned the order. Nothing will ever be the same for any woman in this country again.” Anne bewitches King Henry into tearing the country apart in return for her love. In order to marry her, the King breaks with Rome and brings the Church of England under his control, all for Anne to give birth to a girl, Elizabeth, after promising him she would give him his coveted son. All of this leads to Anne’s demise.

“And then the sword came down like a flash of lightning, and then her head was off her body and the long rivalry between me and the other Boleyn girl was over.”

“Jane would be the next queen and her children, when she had them, would be the next princes or princesses. Or she might wait, as the other queens had waited, every month, desperate to know that she had conceived, knowing each month that it did not happen that Henry's love wore a little thinner, that his patience grew a little shorter. Or Anne's curse of death in childbed, and death to her son, might come true. I did not envy Jane Seymour. I had seen two queens married to King Henry and neither of them had much joy of it.”

By the end of the novel, Mary is evidently less naïve and more intelligent. She is the only Boleyn sibling with her head still attached to her body after the well-known demise of Anne and George. Her conscience, at first, would not allow her to desert her siblings, albeit her husband, William Carey, advises her to protect her children, especially her son, Henry, and the now motherless Princess Elizabeth.

AA

Innocent Traitor

'Innocent Traitor' by Alison Weir embodies the perfect mix between vast historical scope and enlivened Tudor drama. The novel follows "The Nine Day Queen", Lady Jane Grey and details of her short life of just 17 years. Although proven to be a highly gifted person, her intelligence went unappreciated: Her life was lived in constraint and abuse by her scheming father and ruthless mother. The little salvation she had in her own household was her nurse and only source of comfort, Mrs Ellen.

"For when I am in presence either of father or mother; whether I speak, keep silent […] I must do it, as it were, in such weight, measure, and number, even so perfectly, as God made the world."

From her very birth Jane was perceived as a disappointment, simply for being female, yet her parents had soon pinned their hopes on her marrying Edward VI, King Henry VIII's son and heir. However, once it becomes evident that Edward's illnesses would eventually lead to his death, their choice for Jane changed to Guilford Dudley, who she was made to marry despite her open contempt towards the marriage.

Edward VI's death marked the beginning of Jane's famously short, reluctant reign. In just nine days of her crowning, Mary I was named as the true monarch and Jane was charged with treason. Weir poignantly describes Jane's execution in the Tower of London on 12 February 1554, a measure taken by Mary to prevent Jane from ever usurping her throne.

AD

The Life of Elizabeth

The Life of Elizabeth is a non-fiction book which explores the life of the infamous Queen Elizabeth I who was only two years old when her father Henry VIII killed her mother, Anne Boleyn, because she had not yet produced a male heir. Alison Weir covers the time period from her birth in 1533 to 1603 and enlightens us on her heritage and family relations. Elizabeth I was often referred to as The Virgin Queen which Weir explains is because she was one of the only English monarchs who did not get married. This was certainly unexpected: she could easily have had her choice of husbands, and the Privy Council and her closest advisors constantly begged her to marry. As a result of her aversion to matrimony, she began to be called the "Virgin Queen".

Because Elizabeth was both husbandless and childless, to overthrow her would be to gain immediate control of the throne; plots against her proliferated. Most involved replacing her with Mary Queen of Scots, a Catholic member of the Stuart line but by the end James VI of Scotland was named as her successor. However, Elizabeth's journey to become queen was not an easy one. During Mary's reign Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. In 1588, Elizabeth succeeded her half sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. Elizabeth quickly consolidated power and returned the country to Protestantism. During her rule she was rumoured to have been involved in some scandalous affairs due to her distaste in marriage but despite many difficulties she prevailed and was marked in History as a virtuous ruler. M A H

The Women of the Cousins' War

Over the summer I read ‘The Women of the Cousins’ War’ by Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin and Michael Jones. This book is a non-fiction book and focused on the extraordinary stories of Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort; three women who until now have been largely forgotten by history. The book is based in 16^th century Tudor Britain. I was particularly interested in the story of Margaret Beaufort also known as the ‘King’s Mother’ by Michael Jones who focused both on Margaret’s life, her family history and her role as being the mother of King Henry VII.

Margaret lived an interesting life and faced many unusual encounters throughout her childhood, for example she had an arranged marriage with 7 year old John de la Pole when Margaret was only 6 years old herself. His marriage was arranged by William de la Pole – a man who feared his own future and wanted his son to marry into a wealthy family and have a more powerful claim to the throne. In this marriage King Henry VI, the current king at the time, gave a very generous gift of £25,000 in today’s money so that Margaret could have been dressed magnificently. This fact fascinated me as this amount of money was surprising to be spent on a 6 year old! This early marriage of Margaret interested me as this would be very unusual in today’s century and was interesting to find out a few pages later in the book that the King actually planned to dissolve Margaret’s childhood marriage to John de la Pole and arrange another marriage with Henry VI’s own 22 year old half-brother Edmund Tudor. Within this marriage Margaret had one son at the age of 13! This was very shocking to find out and I later found out that the impact of giving birth at 13 years old left Margaret in a poor medical state and left her unable to have any more children. From my own knowledge of the Tudor times I know that dissolving marriages such as the one Margaret encountered was very unusual.

I also discovered from the book that Margaret was deeply religious as she experienced a vision from Saint Nicholas advising her to choose Edmund Tudor over John de la Pole and this experience of encountering a vision was a remarkable experience for her as she had to confide with her spiritual adviser.

Margaret encountered many interesting experiences throughout her life and her main role in life was to advance their fortunes of her only son Henry Tudor (Henry VII).  EB

Stormclouds

Free from the stresses of exams now, I've been having a lot of fun reading some of the year 7s' efforts at writing historical fiction after their trip to Hever Castle (see previous post). Somewhat inspired by all this creativity, I've decided to post a bit of my own Tudor fiction here. This is, in all likelihood, going to be my final post on this blog, and so I no longer feel any embarrassment about my attempts at creative writing.

I wanted to explore some of the religious tensions of the late 1530s, so this is set at the spectacular event that was the christening of the future Edward VI. It's told from Archbishop Cranmer's point of view, and foreshadows his eventual martyrdom under the regime of Mary Tudor in 1556. Mary never really forgave Cranmer for his role in her father's divorce proceedings and the Royal Supremacy, and I wanted to explore their relationship a bit.

The whole story can be found here. 

Shakespeare's England

Here are some of the sources which today's talk on Shakespeare's England (for Nonsuch Literary Week) was based on:

• A Compendium of Common Knowledge: A fantastic collection of information (somewhat randomly arranged) about everyday life in Elizabethan England, examining topics as diverse as food, music, duelling and how much to tip servants. Provided by http://www.elizabethan.org/ which also has other interesting material on Elizabethan topics. Its links page is also very thorough.
• Elizabethan Theatre: Lots of details on the different theatres operating in Elizabethan England.
• Shakespeare (from the RSC): Plenty of information, including a helpful PDF on Shakespeare's life and career.
• Elizabethan Theatre (A lecture): Lots of detail on theatres, performances, etc.
• Elizabethan England in the Year of Shakespeare's Birth (Joel Hurstfield, History Today, 1964): It may be 50 years old, but it is still a very helpful and detailed article, focusing on Sir Thomas Smith's survey of England written in 1565.

If you find any further useful sites, please let us know and we will add them to the list!

The Marlowe Papers

To be honest I’m pretty sure that The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber is the most confusing book that I have ever read; admittedly I probably should have guessed that it would be confusing as the entire book is written in a series of poems. But I thought that it’d be fine as I’m taking English as well as history, but as it turns out I’m not very good at Shakespearian English.

The plot of the book is what made me decide to read the book, and once you decipher the poetry and understand the plot, the book is quite interesting. The book is about Christopher Marley, who later becomes Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, throughout his life as he becomes famous under his own name, becomes an intelligence agent for Sir Francis Walsingham before being stabbed in a fight. Up until this point the book sticks to well accepted historical facts about Christopher Marlowe, but the book explores the idea that Marlowe did not die but instead escaped to France to continue his intelligence work, and write plays in his spare time. As it turns out intelligence work is actually quite boring as the majority of the book seems to be taken up by him sitting in French pubs, complaining about his life or being arrested for different things (you would have thought that being arrested for heresy would be more interesting).

Overall my main problem with the book was that it was almost impossible to tell what was going on, as it gives you no warning about the beginning of different flashbacks (or one of the main characters frankly disturbing dreams). What makes this worse is that these flash backs are not always in chronological order so it’s fairly difficult to understand the series of events that lead to his “death”. Another issue I had was with telling many of the characters apart, because everyone in the book seemed to be called Thomas, and it was only because of the character list at the front that I could tell them apart.

I my opinion the book is very confusing and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is not willing to spend a large amount of time translating the poetry into something understandable, but if you are willing to spend some time on the book, the plot is an interesting idea and the characters can be fairly funny at times, but I’d have probably enjoyed the book more without the poetry.

JT

Innocent Traitor

According to Alison Weir, Lady Jane Grey’s upbringing would send the strictest parent running to a social worker screaming “child abuse”. Enduring the wrath of her parents for being born a girl, Jane’s life is pretty bleak, save for the ever-present governess, Mrs Ellen, who devotes her life to Jane, and Queen Katherine Parr, who takes Jane into her household until her untimely death following childbirth.

Sadly, just as Weir presents the events, these were common occurrences in Tudor households, especially the aristocratic. Jane’s parents’ excuse for their behaviour is their noble blood, being cousins of the royal family, however many girls, like Jane, were mistreated in the name of teaching them social protocol, in order to be bartered to the highest bidding (and ranking) husband.

Weir’s portrayal, although given artistic licence on many of the dramatic deathbed scenes, seems accurate, and even includes some obscure events, such as Mary Tudor being forced to sign a document acknowledging the illegitimacy of her parents’ marriage, and Elizabeth Tudor’s alleged scandalous behaviour with Katherine Parr’s final husband, Thomas Seymour. Weir skips between points of view, ranging from Lady Jane herself, to her mother, both Tudor girls and Queen Katherine Parr. Although I’m not a fan of the jumpy tone this gives the book, it does allow a broad view on the motives for every event Weir details, although still leans heavily on the basis that Jane is an innocent party in all aspects.

Although I find that Weir uses her artistic license rather liberally, Innocent Traitor is a great insight into the workings of Tudor upbringings, and the lead-up to the fateful 9 day end to Lady Jane Grey.

KI

The Boleyn Inheritance

After watching ‘The other Boleyn Girl’, my interest for the Boleyn family has always been an awe-inspiring topic I constantly seek to learn more about, so its not surprising that I chose ‘The Boleyn Inheritance’. Although audiences may presume that this book solely focuses on the cliché and infamous relationship between Henry and Anne, it is not. This story revolves around three determined women who share one fate: Jane Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Anne of Cleves.

This book really did steal my attention from other fictional Tudor stories because unlike others, it unfolded all three women’s stories with their own point of view, especially Jane Rochford - commonly known as Jane Boleyn. The most intriguing part was to observe what Jane’s side of the story was and how she repeats her past years by instigating and scheming her way in the Tudor court and attempting to get her kinswoman (Katherine) upon the throne just to benefit herself.

Now turning the spotlight on Katherine, it wasn’t a wonder to me when I realized that she was all part of a plot to ascend the Queen’s throne by her uncle. The audience will emphasize with Katherine the most out of the three as she marries the 50 year old king and suffers the consequences of her adultery later on. Nevertheless, I genuinely disliked the way Gregory painted her in an egoistic manner and I know this book is not a hundred percent accurate but coming onto the throne at the age of fourteen is stretching it a bit to be honest…...

Anne in my judgment was somewhat of a 2D character as she had a mediocre role and not enough background history of herself and above everything, Gregory endlessly depicted her as a woman without any faults as the story progressed. 

But all in all, this is an inspiring read for its entertainment reasons and the way that Gregory uses three women’s voices to illustrate how their lives had been within the Tudor court, truly does amaze me.

UH

Edward Tudor

Instead of going out with friends or doing my homework, today I decided to be very productive and stay in my onesie all day watching the 1977 adaptation of ‘The Prince and The Pauper’ from the historical novel by Mark Twain. It was actually pretty good and educational (wink, wink). I mean, apart from the fact Edward Tudor was nineteen years old instead of nine. But, as I am not a qualified historian, that didn’t bother me... well not too much anyway.

And I bet you can all guess what this blog is going to be about! Yes, Edward Tudor. 

So now you lucky people are going to get five (hopefully interesting) facts about him:

1. He was made King of England when he was nine (considering that I can barely make up my mind about what I want to eat and I’m six years older than him, I find that prospect very frightening, even if he did have advisors).
2. He died when he was 15 (there’s not really any way to sugar coat this one, it’s sad but true).
3. Despite the fact that his sisters were disowned for a short period, they were still quite close to him- Elizabeth gave Edward a “shirt of her own working” and I thought that was quite cute. 
4. He liked his step-mother, Catherine Parr, whom he referred to as his “most dear mother” (see, not all step-mothers are evil like in Cinderella).
5. He could play the lute (for all of the musically inept like me, this is a string instrument that looks like either a small guitar or a big violin. You can see it below).

Overall, I feel that this shortish entry on Edward Tudor can be interpreted as something productive, so now I can just watch another film and eat Ben & Jerry’s Ice-cream instead of starting half term homework. All of Edward’s responsibilities have been stressing me out too much. 

JG

The Kingmakers Daughter

Well. Here I am again. Now, I know that many of you will have jumped for joy when my pre-Tudor and Tudor articles dried up, assuming that maybe I was free of the seven-year obsessive phase, and I haven't entirely reverted. Because if you put what I like to call a 'politicians spin' on this article, then it's really an article about a book, and not my usual pre-1800's article at all. The fact that the book is about the Tudors is negligible, and as I'm sure Nick Clegg would agree, a tiny fact like that is barely worth telling anybody...

Those of you who actually bother to read the title of posts on this blog may have a slight clue as to what book I'm about to rave about to you, and for those of you who can't be bothered to read, I'll spell it out: the book that I have been reading lately is The Kingmaker's Daughter. The Kingmaker's Daughter. Just in case you are having trouble getting the message as your brain has given out this close to the summer holidays : The. Kingmaker's. Daughter.

Right, now that's been sorted and everyone's on a level playing field, I'll get on with the actual article bit, which may contain slight traces of my favorite historical period. Sorry. Now, the reason for this relapse is not surprising. My Nan. Who decided to lend me a book that she really liked, knowing that we have similar tastes (so there's two people as crazy as me around). Now, I won't lie to you and tell you that I've torn my way through the book and finished it quicker than the cast of 'The Only Way is Essex' finishes a can of spray-tan, but I will tell you that I'm 1/4 through the book, and I'm already hooked. In fact, the only break I've had from reading 'The Kingmaker's Daughter' since 4:30, is writing this article about 'The Kingmaker's Daughter'.

The book follows Anne Neville through her life, taking off the silver-lined spectacles that we often view that life of nobility with, and showing us the harsh reality of England in the 1400's. Anne's Father is the famous Earl of Warwick, who was known for his ability to put whoever he wanted on the throne of England, but the book follows a period in which this ability seemed to have failed him. As well as showing the dramatic and tumultuous life of the Earl of Warwick himself- from 'Kingmaker' to outlaw, the book highlights the unpredictability of life in England, and the fragility of alliances. Reading the book, it is difficult to imagine a life where your sworn enemy one day can very quickly become your King, and you are fully expected to be loyal to him until the day you die. Or in fact until the day that he's knocked off the throne and you hate him again. England, in the 1400's was a place constantly at war, with everyone and their aunt claiming leadership, and many of them having a chance at leading the country. (Then again, Ed Milliband is the leader of the Labour Party, so not everything changes!)

Anyways, I'm very tired so I'm gonna stop writing now and probably eat some jelly... thanks for sticking with this article for so long and I'll probably update you on the story of Little Miss Neville.
E.C

PS from Mr C: Have you been watching The White Queen? Please let us know your opinions on it, good or bad. You can read more about Elizabeth Woodville here and there is still time to watch Philippa Gregory's programmes on what "really" took place. You may also find this 45 minute podcast from Radio 4 on the Wars of the Roses of interest.

Tudor Book Blog

If you are looking for some summer reading, you may find the Tudor Book Blog of interest. It has plenty of reviews of the latest Tudor novels, and has links to other places of Tudor interest on the internet. There are also plenty of reading ideas on their Pinterest page.

BBC Tudor Programmes on YouTube

If you missed the excellent season of BBC documentaries on the Tudors that was on over the last few weeks, many of the programmes have made it onto YouTube. There are a few key links below. You may also find the BBC's Tudors page of interest.

• Henry VII: Winter King
• The Last Days of Anne Boleyn
• Henry VIII's Enforcer: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell
• William Tyndale: The Most Dangerous Man in England
• The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England

Plus here are some other programmes

David Starkey's Documentaries:

• The Six Wives of Henry VIII
• Henry VIII: King and Emperor
• The Children of Henry VIII
• Elizabeth

Simon Schama's History of Britain

• A History of Britain: "Burning Convictions" (1500-1558)
• A History of Britain: "The Body of the Queen" (1558-1603)

Other Tudor Programmes

• The Wars of the Roses
• Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? Part 1
• Henry VIII: Patron or Plunderer? Part 2 (includes a visit to Nonsuch Park!)
• Time Team: Henry VIII's Lost Palaces (includes Nonsuch Palace)
• The Supersizers go...Elizabethan (concentrating on food from the period)
• The Other Boleyn Girl (BBC version)
• Mary Queen of Scots (The 1971 Film)
• Mary Tudor (Channel 5 "Evil" Series)

Please let us know if any of the links do not work as programmes are often removed from YouTube. Please also tell us if you find anything else of interest and we will add it to the list!

Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived...

Although I haven't got into the same habit of some of the other bloggers of ending my articles with my initials, I reckon it's pretty obvious who I am as my articles seem to carry a familiar theme: the Tudors. Yep, you lucky things, it's me again. And, as some of you brighter buttons may have notice from the title, this article will continue with that trend. If i'm perfectly honest with you, I don't even know why i'm so drawn to the Tudor - my main interest in history is really the 'modern world', but something about them really draws me in. I suppose I probably get it directly from my Nan, who introduced me as a small child to the world of the Tudors, and, being an extremely weird child (not much changes), I was immediately enthralled by them: the 9 year old king Edward (if he could be king at nine, why couldn't I be queen at seven?), the infamous 'bloody Mary',  the first truly popular Tudor Elizabeth, and the impossible king, Henry VII. But, if i'm honest, I was completely enraptured the first time my Nan told me about Henry VIII. On the surface, he doesn't seem like the most stable of people, to say the least, and to be honest with you, I was amazed by a king so fat that apparently he couldn't climb the stairs of his palace. I already warned you I was a weird child... So, here is the story of my favorite Henry, and if the Tudor-related articles are beginning to bore you, blame my Nan.

Henry started off with controversy, really. After the death of his brother, instead of looking around for a wife, he just married his brothers widow, which must have looked a little dodgy at the time. The laziness when it came to searching out a suitable lady extended to ruling England, as his close mate Thomas Wolsey basically ruled for him, and was soon elevated to Lord Chancellor, which is pretty nifty job to have, if you ask me.  His first battle plans to invade France sunk like a lead balloon as they were both expensive and unsuccessful, but between Henry and Wolsey a Scottish invasion was beaten off, and Henry gained the title 'father of the royal navy', for increasing the navy by ten times.

However, at the time, failure to produce a male heir was basically paramount to destroying your dynasty, and poor old Catherine of Aragon wasn't going to be popping out sprogs any more at the age of 40. So, like every great king, Henry decided it was time to get himself a new woman, and divorced Catherine, despite the fact that it didn't gain him any brownie points with anyone. His new woman, he decided, was to be Anne Boleyn, and we all know how THAT ended when she couldn't have the precious son Henry so dearly wanted. So. Wife number two and still no luck... I like to think that a public 'lock of your daughters' memo circulated after Anne Boleyn's neck parted company with her head, although clearly a certain Mr Seymour didn't get one. Wife number three, here we come: you lucky, lucky woman, Jane Seymour. Finally, Jane became pregnant with a son, and it's said that Henry genuinely loved her, so all was calm and peaceful... But obviously that would be boring, so in childbirth Jane Seymour died. Now, we couldn't leave Henry without a woman, could we? Wife Four, Anne of Cleves, who sets a record for Henry's shortest marriage lasting only a few months before Henry divorced her and chopped off the head of Thomas Cromwell, who suggested the match, for good measure. The next lucky woman was Catherine Howard, who was married to Henry during the period in which he was sending armies left right and center with no actual rewards. Henry, who was probably getting a bit bored of only having one wife for over a year, decided that it was about time for the guillotine to be dusted off and used again. Bye bye wife five.

So. The last and luckiest of the women. The one who was still married to Henry when he died. Catherine Parr. She acted as a nurse to Henry, and after his death almost faded into the background as he was succeeded by Edward and buried next to Jane Seymour.

So there we are. The original womanizer. I'd love to be able to tell you that the Tudor thing would stop soon, but I don't lie. So, until next time!

P.S: Here are those all-important initials --> E.C