ICH DIEN / EICH DYN

Tom | 20s | she/her 👑 history/research sideblog

[olli-online]

argentina gonna barely make it past the first knock out stage in 2030 when theres no messi and no reason for fifa to be desperate to keep them around. couldnt come soon enough

[ednyfedfychan]

“Anne [Boleyn] and Elizabeth [Darrell] were very different figures, both emotionally and politically. Where Anne was associated at court with religious reform, Darrell seems to have been firmly in the conservative camp. Her father, Sir Edward Darrell of Littlecote in Wiltshire, was vice-chamberlain to Queen Katherine of Aragon, and it was no doubt through his influence that she became a maid of honour to the Queen, probably at some point in 1529 or 1530. This was a troubled time in which to join Katherine's household, in the midst of Henry's Great Matter, and to do so argues for a conscious choice of loyalties.”

— Greg Walker, Writing Under Tyranny

[ednyfedfychan]

“It should be noted that some of the opinions expressed by volunteers did reinforce the workings of coloniality, especially with reference to the capability of source communities to ‘look’ after their own material culture. This is because the direct questioning of the capability of these communities to conserve their objects is not only tinged through notions of white supremacy but reinforces a static and ahistorical view of the material culture which denies their agency and lived context. Therefore, these assertions intersect with the accessibility discourse to operate as a form of neocolonial capture which not only recolonises objects, but also asserts the legitimacy of a Western-based museum to create and (re)present a vision of a world founded upon a coloniality of knowledge. / Recognition of this is what informs arguments exhibited by volunteers who are pro-return. These responses ranged from explicit commentary regarding the Museum’s complicity in (re)producing notions of white supremacy and the need to engage in substantive reparative efforts to calling for the use of facsimiles to replace contested objects.”

— Laurence Maidment-Blundell, To Retain or Return? How do British Museum Volunteers Feel about Repatriation? (2025)

[ednyfedfychan]

“The study argues that the three women—the unidentified lady proposed as Anne Boleyn, ‘Anna Bollein Queen’ proposed as Elizabeth Boleyn, and ‘Lady Vaux’ proposed as Mary Boleyn—are related and may represent a mother and her two daughters.

My view is that the study opens up new avenues for research and encourages us to reconsider what we regard as established facts. At the same time, however, we are dealing with history and art history, disciplines in which documentary evidence remains crucial. I would like to see a contemporary paper trail linking these sketches to the women the study proposes they depict—an entry in an inventory, a description in a will, or any other contemporary reference. Such evidence would provide a firmer foundation for the identifications proposed by the study.” (source)

[ednyfedfychan]

"[in] a letter written to Mary of Guise from Marion, Lady Hume on 28 March 1549, [...] she is complaining about the villainy of the English who ‘dystrow all this cuntre’. Strangely it seems the Spaniards, and ‘the Mour’ behave better, ‘lyk noble men’. [...] There was clearly at least one Moor in Berwickshire in 1549: if it was not Pedro Negro, then who was it? If not Pedro Negro, then perhaps Jacques Granado, another mercenary, knighted by Somerset a week after Negro on 1 October 1547, at Newcastle, whose name suggests he was from Grenada, and whose arms include ‘a Blackamoor’s head couped Sable, wreathed argent’.

There is concrete evidence of a man of African descent serving in the Tudor army twenty-seven years earlier in Exeter, where a Military Survey of 1522 lists in the Parish of St Petrock, as one of the ‘Billmen able for the war’: ‘Peter Blackmore, a moren borne…worth in goods nil’. The evidence I am drawing together for my thesis shows a considerable black presence (of around 300 individuals) in Britain in the period 1500–1640. That only fifteen of these are present in the period 1500–60 is perhaps a reflection of the fact that Parish Registers (the dominant source) only began in 1538, and often do not survive from that early. At the very least Lady Hume’s letter means that we cannot yet entirely dismiss the idea of a mercenary soldier of African descent serving in the Anglo Scottish wars of the mid-sixteenth century."

— Miranda Kaufmann, Sir Pedro Negro: What Colour Was His Skin?

[ednyfedfychan]

"[Ungerer] argues that Negro was more likely to belong to a Genoese family of that name that had settled in Spain and Portugal in the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This contradicts those who have taken this Spanish mercenary, knighted by Protector Somerset in 1548, as evidence that it was possible for a black man to gain prestige and honour in sixteenth-century Britain. The chief protagonist of Negro’s blackness is literary critic Imtiaz Habib, who draws a parallel between Negro and Othello: ‘Shakespeare’s Othello should be considered […] in the context of black military service in Tudor armies and generally, of the unacknowledged blacks of sixteenth century England’. This is not a straightforward academic disagreement. Habib’s rhetoric is infused with the underlying accusation that evidence of black mercenaries serving in the Tudor army has been suppressed by white imperialists: ‘This [black] presence is the site of suppressive inscription that is the modality of empire building’. He has recently remarked: ‘Its also interesting that whenever any claim of historical significance is made for a Black person in early modern Europe, the blackness of the person has to be immediately challenged. It would appear that even though oppressed, and denigrated in life a Black person has to prove her/his blackness for European history to even acknowledge her/his existence, whereas a White person is White by default and all significance is hers/his automatically.’ While this polemic approach is unhelpful, Ungerer’s proof by omission is not sufficient to disprove Negro’s blackness. Contemporary chroniclers may have seen the name Negro as indication enough that the soldier was black."

— Miranda Kaufmann, Sir Pedro Negro: What Colour Was His Skin?

[wonder-worker]

“Elizabeth Woodville took up her predecessor's patronage at Queens' even before her coronation. […] The statutes ascribed to her the appropriate motivation that she was 'specially solicitous concerning those matters whereby the safety of souls and the public good were promoted, and poor scholars desirous of advancing themselves in knowledge of letters, are assisted in their need'. As was the case in the petitions for indulgences, Elizabeth chose to appear specifically as a benefactress to all subjects, in contrast to the more restricted courtly and clerical sphere […].”

— J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503

[edwardslovelyelizabeth]

“Elizabeth Woodville was a keen literary patron, purchasing books from, among others,the chancellor of Cambridge University. Her copy of The Romance of San Graal was passed down to her elder daughter [Elizabeth of York], while Caxton’s History of Jason was dedicated and presented to Prince Edward in 1477 to help him learn to read. Caxton noted Elizabeth Woodville’s encouragement as ‘the supportation of our most redobted liege lady'…Elizabeth of York was also a customer of Caxton’s as well as of his successor, Wynkeyn de Worde. Eneydos was dedicated to Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Caxton’s final book, The Fifteen Oes, an appropriate selection of prayers from St.Bridget of Sweden, was made for Elizabeth and her daughter Margaret. There is thus a connection between Margaret of Scotland’s earliest vernacular commissions and Elizabeth Woodville’s and Elizabeth of York’s patronage of the first english printer, placing the patronage of English royal women at the center of a movement whose impact, during Renaissance, was to be felt all over the world.”

— Queens Consort. England’s Medieval Queens by Lisa Hilton (2008)

[queenmarytudor]

"The most famous portrait of her – everyone knows what this portrait looks like – it’s by Antonius Mor, a Netherlandish artist who worked for Charles V and Philip. Now, a lot of people think oh you know this shows Bloody Mary, she’s cruel, she’s haggard, she’s old, she’s intolerant. Well actually, this portrait shows a lot more than that. Yes, you could have those arguments, but if we actually look closely – and I love this fact about this portrait, I realised it a few years ago – she’s actually the only Tudor to smile in her portrait. It’s a very small smile, but there’s a very subtle smirk. It’s a sort of – she’s enjoying this.

She’s sort of showing her human side obviously [to] the crown because that crown is that hierarchy between the Divine and human. She’s wearing what we like to call a Spanish pendant or La Peregrina, for those that know it that way, so it’s showing her Spanish inheritance. Also her Spanish future. We know this portrait [was] painted after the marriage because she’s wearing her wedding ring, but what’s interesting is that her spousal ring, the diamond ring here, is closer to her heart, it’s on her wedding finger. Because the Tudor belief was that the vein on that finger went directly to the heart. So, the fact that the spousal ring is on there first, shows that she’s not going to just do what Philip says, she’s not doing to be that subordinate wife, she is Queen first and wife second. It’s a beautiful portrait. And then obviously you then have the Tudor rose/red rose, showing her ancestry also show her betrothal, her love for her husband, but what’s interesting is that this portrait was in the ownership of Charles V, so this is the Spanish version of it."

Charles V's portrait

"However there are a couple of English versions which are very interesting. So if we look at the Marquess of Northampton’s collection, most people would think oh it’s the same image, but if you look closer, there’s no wedding ring. It’s been taken out. Why is it not there? I mean, it could just be a mistake, maybe, but it seems quite a weird mistake to make because everything else is basically the same."

Marquess of Northampton's copy of Mary's portrait

"You then have the same in the Isabella Gardiner museum – now this one was Mary’s own copy, this was gifted to Sir [Henry] Jerningham in 1557 by Mary. Again, same image, we think it’s the same – no wedding ring."

Mary's portrait gifted to Henry Jerningham

"The fact that there’s two portraits, contemporary portraits of her, that don’t have the wedding ring, I think that suggested something. It could have been a portrait before the marriage, maybe? But we know Mor wasn’t in the country until November/December 1554, or when Philip arrived, so he would have painted her as a married woman. The fact that the wedding rings aren’t there means that they’re not there on purpose. It’s to show her as a queen. Not as a wife."

- Peter Stiffel, The Iconography of Mary I, Talking Tudors podcast Episode 188

L - R - Spanish close up, English close up. Mary's wedding ring was described as a "plain hoop of gold without any stone in it; for that was as it is said her pleasure, because maidens were so married in old times."

[richmond-rex]

Taken as a whole, Richard III’s Parliament was unexceptional: it was a workmanlike and pragmatic affair. There were no important legislative initiatives comparable to those seen in, for example, the Parliaments of Henry VI in 1429 or Henry VII in 1495. In 1484, Parliament transacted the business the King wished to see transacted, and just enough business of concern to the Lords and Commons to keep them pliant. There is no suggestion of open hostility to the King on the part of Parliament, but nor is there a sense that they were being cowed into submission by an overbearing monarch. The balance of business benefitting King, Lords and Commons respectively was comparatively even, and suggests negotiation, rather than confrontation.

— Hannes Kleineke, Richard III and the Parliament of 1484

[wonder-worker]

"Late medieval English queens consort are seldom represented in ways that are not predominantly focused on their roles as the wife of the ruling king or the mother of the royal children. Margaret of Anjou and Elizabeth Woodville are no exception; their images, be they positive or negative, are fixated on their roles as wives and mothers, and their actions are constantly analysed within those contexts. Both queens, however, were granted substantial economic resources, these material resources being necessary for them to operate as effective queens consort. The fact that significant portions of their material resources, the dominant portion in the case of Elizabeth Woodville, were landed assets means that, at the very least, these queens figured as important players in the economic landscape of their world and society."

-Michele Seah, 'My Lady Queen, the Lord of the Manor': The Economic Roles of Late Medieval Queens", Parergon, Volume 37, Number 2, 2020.

[ednyfedfychan]

"Much like Foxe’s Acts and Monuments, Sander’s volume features entertaining ironic providential twists that justly recompense sinful actions. Thus, Henry Tudor replaces Anne Boleyn with Jane Seymour the day after Anne’s execution, the author noting that “as Anne supplanted Catherine, so Jane supplanted Anne,” and that “the judgments of God are not less marvellous than they are just, rewarding every one accord ing to his works”. Thus, Henry’s actions are placed in a providential framework of judgment against Anne, satisfying the audience’s sense of justice and pity towards Catherine."

— Deborah R. Forteza, The English Reformation in the Spanish Imagination: Rewriting Nero, Jezebel, and the Dragon

[ednyfedfychan]

"In the flurry of celebrations as the Spanish Armada was preparing to leave for England in 1588, the Jesuit Pedro de Ribadeneyra published the first part of his widely read ecclesiastical history of the events that led up to the 'English schism', the Historia eclesiástica del scisma del reyno de Inglaterra. Translating and adapting Nicholas Sander’s Schismatis Anglicano (1585), a Latin text written by Elizabethan Catholic exiles, he contended that Queen Elizabeth was not only illegitimate but also born of an incestuous union – the monstrous culmination of Henry’s lust and pride in taking Anne Boleyn and setting himself up as head of the church in place of the Vicar of Christ. [...] Contrary to what may be expected, Spaniards did not always reproduce Ribadeneyra’s monstrous portrayal of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Elizabeth Tudor, even when they agreed with the Jesuit."

— Deborah R. Forteza, The English Reformation in the Spanish Imagination: Rewriting Nero, Jezebel, and the Dragon

[ednyfedfychan]

"The apocalyptic atmosphere of the sixteenth century (the tenth in Islam) affected the Middle East as well as Europe. To the east the messianic figure of Ismail Safavi initiated the Safavid regime (1501-1722) with the religious conversion of Iran to Shi’ism. To the West, Muslim reaction to the Spanish Reconquista took the form of prophecies of the end of history. At the center, Ottoman defeat of the Safavis and conquest of the Arab world gave the sultan a new status as World-Conqueror and Shadow of God on Earth, attributes with which Suleyman confidently confronted the world-conquering claims of the Habsburg ruler Charles V. Suleyman’s acquisition of magnificent ceremonial regalia made by Venetian goldsmiths and his advance toward the Habsburg capital of Vienna in 1532, during which the regalia were ostentatiously displayed to the view of the Austrian envoys, were his answer to Charles V’s claim to the title of Caesar and the processions he had organized around his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor. Charles, however, refused the challenge, declining to engage the Ottomans in battle, and the following year he sued for peace. The cultural competition between the two monarchs was an aspect of the geopolitical confrontation of the two empires, the great powers of the sixteenth century."

— Linda Darling, The Renaissance and the Middle East

[ednyfedfychan]

i don’t usually make personal posts on here, i usually just post quotes. but to be clear: any radfem bringing their half-baked nonsense onto my blog can eat shit, actually

[ednyfedfychan]

“Virginity was not just a sexual choice; it also took women out of their gender-defined roles and made them honorary men. [...] The ability of virginity to make women honorary men points to the complexity of the culture of abstinence in the Middle Ages. We cannot reduce the importance placed on a woman’s chastity to Christianity’s being a patriarchal movement aimed at controlling women’s bodies. It may have been women themselves who chose virginity and initiated the movement toward a special status within the church for female virgins. Rather than cutting back on women’s choices, virginity offered them new options. [...] Rejection of sex meant the rejection of the control of a husband. Celibate women could avoid male domination, at least to some degree (the spiritual authority they amassed could help them gain their independence from fathers and brothers as well). [...] Christians understood women’s transcendence of femininity into masculinity in a positive sense: femininity meant being tied to the body and things of the world in a way in which masculinity did not.”

— Ruth Mazo Karras & Katherine E. Pierpont, Sexuality in Medieval Europe: Doing unto Others

[edwardseymour]

"although compassing the death of the king was clearly a treasonous offense, other priests also prophesied the king's death. [in 1537] in london, william barton, a priest, and richard smith reportedly said 'the king was a cuckold and so should worthily die'. barton called the king a traitor to god in presuming to take upon the pope's authority. smith also had a book of prophecies, which he showed to barton, wherein it foretold 'the king's most honourable person should be torn in pieces with his own mule." in addition, smith apparently made a chain composed of precious metals for the purpose of causing the king's death by a fall. barton and smith fared better [...] as the matter appears to have gone no further than the filing of the information."

— jonathan k. van patten, magic, prophecy and the law of treason in reformation england