Have Courage and Be Kind

[tudordramasource]

NATALIE PORTMAN as Anne Boleyn in THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL (2008) | dir. Justin Chadwick

[lady-arryn]

anonymous requested: the tudors + favourite platonic relationship

[janeseyymour-deactivated2017012]

Would you like to be?

[charlottehopesource]

[edwardslovelyelizabeth]

A man’s love is worthless. Our mother’s loved, look where it got her, a feeble husband. Love is of no value without power and position. If I gave the king a son, he would not be a bastard.

Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn in “The Other Boleyn Girl” (2019) dir. Justin Chadwick 

[threesonsofyorks-deactivated202]

ANNE BOLEYN and MARK SMEATON in THE TUDORS (2007-2010) | 2x05 "The Definition of Love"

[catherinesboleyn]

Letter from Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey in 1529

“My lord,

Though you are a man of great understanding, you cannot avoid being censured by every body for having drawn on yourself the hatred of a king who had raised you to the highest degree to which the greatest ambition of a man seeking his fortune can aspire. I cannot comprehend, and the king still less, how your reverent lordship, after having allured us by so many fine promises about divorce, can have repented of your purpose, and how you could have done what you have, in order to hinder the consummation of it. What, then, is your mode of proceeding? You quarreled with the queen to favor me at the time when I was less advanced in the king’s good graces; and after having therein given me the strongest marks of your affection, your lordship abandons my interests to embrace those of the queen. I acknowledge that I have put much confidence in your professions and promises, in which I find myself deceived. But, for the future, I shall rely on nothing by the protection of Heaven and the love of my dear king, which alone will be able to set right again those plans which you have broken and spoiled, and to place me in that happy station which God wills, the king so much wishes, and which will be entirely to the advantage of the kingdom. The wrong you have done me has caused me much sorrow; but I feel infinitely more in seeing myself betrayed by a man who pretended to enter into my interests only to discover the secrets of my heart. I acknowledge that, believing you sincere, I have been too precipitate in my confidence; it is this which has induced, and still induces me, to keep more moderation in avenging myself, not being able to forget that I have been Your servant,

Anne Boleyn.”

[mademoiselleboullan]

[lochiels]

“When Anne became the King’s wife-to-be, she suddenly found that she had a near-unlimited bank balance to finance her expensive tastes and Henry evidently took great pleasure in spoiling her. For example, when she was twenty-three, in the short period between Christmas and Saint Valentine’s Day, Anne received a veritable treasure trove of jewels to mark the festive season, including: “Nineteen diamonds for her head” (Anne had a special fondness for weaving jewels through her long brown hair for balls or special occasions. As a virgin, she was still allowed to wear her hair down and uncovered in public. Only queens were allowed to do the same after they were married.); Two bracelets each crafted from ten diamonds and eight pearls; Nineteen diamonds set in “trueloves of crown gold”; Twenty-one rubies artfully arranged into gold shaped like a rose; “Flower of diamonds” (It sounds very much like jewels crafted into the shape of flowers); Two borders of cloth of gold for the sleeves of a new gown, trimmed with ten diamonds and eight pearls; Six large golden buttons; Two diamonds crafted into the shape of two hearts to wear in her hair (given to her on February 5th, which leads me to believe she had commissioned them for a Saint Valentine’s Day ball); Twenty-one diamonds and Twenty-one rubies.”

— Anne Boleyn’s 1530 Christmas presents by Gareth Russell

[falconqueenarchive]

15 MAY 1536 ♔ The Trial of Queen Anne

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, was tried for treason in the Tower of London before an audience of as many as two thousand people. The charges against her included committing adultery with five men, one of whom was her own brother, and plotting the king’s death. Though many of the official trial records have been lost (or were surreptitiously destroyed), even those sources usually critical of or hostile to Anne agree that she behaved with great dignity and professed her innocence and her fidelity to the king with eloquence and sincerity. Anne’s poise is especially remarkable because four of her five alleged lovers had already been convicted. The outcome of her trial was therefore preordained, as was that of the subsequent trial of her brother George.

𓅃 “The Queen then was summoned by an usher. She seemed…not as one who had to defend her cause but with the bearing of one coming to great honor. […] She defended herself soberly against the charges, her face saying more for her than her words; for she said little, but no one to look at her would have thought her guilty. In the end the judges said she must resign her crown to their hands; which she did at once without resistance, but protested she had never misconducted herself towards the King. […] Her face did not change, but she appealed to God whether the sentence was deserved; then turning to the judges, said she would not dispute with them, but believed there was some other reason for which she was condemned than the cause alleged, of which her conscience acquitted her, as she had always been faithful to the King. But she did not say this to preserve her life, for she was quite prepared to die. Her speech made even her bitterest enemies pity her.” Lancelot de Carles

𓅃 “…then the Constable of the Tower and the Lieutenant brought forth the Queen to the bar… [H]er indictment was read afore her, whereunto she made so wise and discreet answers to all things laid against her, excusing herself with her words so clearly as though she had never been faulty to the same…” Charles Wriothesley

𓅃 “On the 15th the said Concubine and her brother were condemned of treason by all the principal lords of England, and the duke of Norfolk pronounced sentence. …the thing was not done secretly, for there were more than 2,000 persons present. What she was principally charged with was having cohabited with her brother and other accomplices…These things she totally denied, and gave to each a plausible answer. […] To all [charges] he [George Boleyn] replied so well that several of those present wagered 10 to 1 that he would be acquitted, especially as no witnesses were produced against either him or her… The Concubine was condemned first, and having heard the sentence…she preserved her composure, saying that…what she regretted most was that the above persons, who were innocent and loyal to the King, were to die for her.” Eustace Chapuys

[thetudorsgifs-deactivated202402]

THE TUDORS + deleted scenes | S2

[laurapetrie]

Making her first recorded appearance at the English court [during the Cheateau Vert masque in 1522] was Perserverance, she who would go down in history. A dark-haired figure; not beautiful, but polished to the glitter of a gemstone by a youth spent at the continental courts. An accomplished performer and markswoman whose arrows would indeed strike right to Henry’s heart, but who would in the end be herself the one destroyed by the courtly fantasy. At the end of the evening, at a banquet of custards and candied fruits and gilded gingerbread and flavored spirits of wine, the masquers all divested themselves of their disguises. When Perseverance unmasked, it was revealed she was that newcomer to court, that expert performer… Her name was Anne Boleyn. - Sarah Gristwood Anne Boleyn was neither saint nor villain; she was not even a particularly bad person. Her virtues overwhelmingly outweighed her vices. We have not yet troubled to look properly at her charities, her friendships and the tidal wave of compliments that were hers in the days before notoriety drowned her. We ignore her controversial attendance at a Requiem Mass for the butchered Cardinal Fisher, her locking of herself in her oratory and bursting into tears at the news of Katherine of Aragon’s death, or the commendable image of a woman horrified and disgusted by the burning to death of heretics. She was a mass of contradictions – much good, some bad – but in the end we must allow her this, for it reminds us that this extraordinary woman really lived. - Gareth Russell

[machiavellianjanearchive]

might post that alison weir quote abt jane seymour just to feel something

[machiavellianjanearchive]

“It is pure speculation to suggest that, had she lived, Jane Seymour might well have been the most formidable of Henry's wives, yet this is certainly indicated by the standards she set for her household and by her warning, sent through Lord Hussey to Lady Lisle, that the court was ‘full of pride, envy, indignation, mocking, scorn and derision’. She had succeeded in ridding her household of Anne Boleyn's wayward influence, and was vigorously re-establishing the virtuous precepts set by Queen Katherine. Beneath her outward show of humility, there was steel, even though it was confined to the domestic sphere only. A year on the throne had transformed Jane into a pious and godly matron who was fully conscious of her rank and dignity, and who carried the knowledge that she might well be nurturing the heir to England in her womb.”

[kate-bridgerton]

TUDOR WEEK 2024 Day 1 - Monday, 14th of October: Your Favorite Tudor ~ Elizabeth I

“As for my own part I care not for death, for all men are mortal; and though I be a woman yet I have as good a courage answerable to my place as ever my father had. I am your anointed Queen. I will never be by violence constrained to do anything. I thank God I am indeed endowed with such qualities that if I were turned out of the realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom.” - Elizabeth I

[latristereina]

Aware that there might not be many such chances to appeal directly to her father, Mary asked for leave to come and kiss his hand. This was refused, but still she was not to be entirely thwarted. She must, at least, make sure he saw her, so that he would retain in his mind the imprint of a gesture of submissiveness. ‘When the king was going to mount his horse she went on to a terrace at the top of the house to see him. The king, either being told of it, or by chance, turned round, and seeing her on her knees with her hands joined, bowed to her and put his hand to his hat.’ This courtly response was second nature to Henry VIII, but it did not mean that his heart was melted. His ambivalence remained. He told the French ambassador that he had not spoken to the princess because of her obstinacy, which came from her Spanish blood. Yet when the ambassador politely remarked that Mary had been very well brought up, ‘the tears came into his eyes and he could not refrain from praising her’.

- Linda Porter, Mary Tudor: The First Queen

[isadomna]

The first sign that all was not well with this Anglo-French union came when Mary failed to accompany her parents to the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520. The meeting had been postponed from 1519, when Mary was expected to attend, but when it finally took place, she was not there. Her absence may have been regretted by Francis I’s plain but intelligent wife, Queen Claude. As Mary’s prospective mother-in-law she had already sent a jewelled cross worth six thousand ducats and a portrait of her son, the dauphin, but she was not rewarded with a sight of his child bride. There could have been any number of reasons for this, of course. There was tension between Queen Katherine and Cardinal Wolsey, a deterioration of what was often a difficult relationship. Perhaps Katherine did not want her daughter, still so young, caught up in this, or maybe she and Henry felt that a camp, no matter how luxurious, was not the right place for their child to be introduced to her in-laws and the devious world of diplomacy. We shall never know whether Henry would have shown off a son, if there had been one. As it was, Mary was spared any awkwardness and Henry did not have to face any potentially difficult questions about the succession.  

Linda Porter,  Mary Tudor: The First Queen

While her parents feasted in France, Mary became the focus of royal attention, holding court at Richmond Palace. Her nursery had been expanded to become a more “princely” household, refecting her status —albeit reluctantly acknowledged— as the king’s sole heir. Head officers were appointed, and male servants, gentlemen, grooms, and valets were added to her original female staf. Lady Bryan was replaced as lady mistress by one of the most powerful and influential women in England: Mary’s godmother, Margaret Pole, the countess of Salisbury —one of Katherine’s most trusted and long-serving confidantes and a direct descendant of Edward IV’s brother, George, duke of Clarence. It proved to be an inspired choice. Mary became devoted to her new governess and came to think of her as a “second mother.” During this time privy councillors visited the young princess frequently and sent reports to her parents in France. As one letter explained, “We have sundry times visited and seen your dearest daughter the princess, who, God be thanked, is in prosperous health and convalescence; and like as she increaseth in days and years, so doth she in grace, wit and virtue.” Another of June 13, 1520, described Mary as “right merry … and daily exercising herself in virtuous pastimes and occupations.” 

Anna Whitelock,  Mary Tudor: Princess, Bastard, Queen

[isadomna]

Katherine of Aragon’s ladies friends  (½)

Margaret Pole (née Plantagenet). She was Elizabeth of York’s cousin. Lady Margaret was lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon and became close friends. Queen Katharine chose Margaret to be the godmother of her daughter, Princess Mary, and later made her her governess. Lady Margaret supported Katherine and the Princess Mary.

Gertrude Courtenay (née Blount). She was the daughter of William Blount, Baron Mountjoy, Katherine of Aragon’s chamberlain. She married Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devon, a related to Henry VIII. Gertrude was one of Katherine of Aragon’s attendants in the ‘teens. When annulment proceedings began, Gertrude was known to favour the Queen’s cause. Gertrude was chosen as godmother to Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Elizabeth, which, given her views on the marriage, was probably a deliberate attempt to force her to conform. It was well known that Gertrude “really wanted to have nothing to do with this” but agreed “so as not to displease the King”. She remained a Roman Catholic and her affection for the repudiated Queen Katherine, with whom she corresponded after the divorce, gave the king’s ministers grounds to view her with suspicion. Despite this scare, Lady Exeter continued to serve as the chief source of information for Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys.

Elizabeth Howard (née Stafford). She was the eldest daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. Her stormy marriage to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, created a public scandal. Elizabeth came to court in 1509 as a lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon, and became the Queen’s lifelong friend. During the long period in which King Henry VIII sought to have his marriage to Katherine of Aragon annulled, the Duchess remained staunchly loyal to the Queen and antagonistic towards her husband’s niece, Anne Boleyn, with whom the King was infatuated. Late in 1530 it was noted that the Duchess was secretly conveying letters to Katherine from Italy concealed in oranges, which the Queen passed on to the Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys. In 1531 the Duchess was exiled from court at Anne Boleyn’s request for too freely declaring her loyalty to Katherine. When Anne Boleyn was crowned in 1533, the Duchess refused to attend the coronation ‘from the love she bore to the previous Queen’.

Mary Tudor. She maintained a close friendship with her sister-in-law, Katherine of Aragon. Mary completely took Katherine’s side when it came to the King’s Great Matter and made her disapproval of Anne Boleyn very clear, which of course had the effect of souring her own relationship with her infatuated brother. Henry VIII.

Margaret of Austria. She was Katherine’s sister-in-law, wife of her brother Juan, Prince of Asturias, and a life-long friend. At the Spanish Court, Margaret tutored Katherine, who was betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, in French. Margaret, who had received panicked letters from Katherine asking for help, sent her own lawyers to aid her during the Great Matter.

Isabel of Portugal. She was Katherine’s niece, daughter of her sister María, Queen of Portugal. The Empress was interested in the case of the repudiation of her aunt. Katherine herself had written to her a full account of the case, of which copies were made to be sent to the Universities of Castile, Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia, with the orders of the Empress that the Universities are to study the case very carefully and send their opinions to her. Originals of the same shall be sent to the Emperor, and copies to Micer Mai in Rome. Isabel did not believe that a single University in Spain will pronounce against the Queen of England, seeing that law and equity were all on her side. The Empress rejoiced that her husband Charles V was so determined to defend the right of Queen Katherine, which, indeed, it were his duty to do; not only because she was his aunt but also because the case closely concerns the Christian religion itself.

María de Salinas. She was a Katherine’s Spanish maid of honour and her devoted friend. María married the largest landowner in Lincolnshire, William Willoughby, Baron Willoughby de Eresby. María named her only daughter after the Queen who served as godmother at Katherine Willoughby’s baptism. María remained a loyal member of Queen Katherine’s household throughout the tortuous divorce proceedings and during the Queen’s exile from court. In August 1532, shortly before Katherine of Aragon’s marriage to Henry  VIII was annulled by Archbishop Cranmer, without papal authorization, María was ordered to leave Katherine’s household and not to make any attempt to communicate with her. Despite the political risks, María continued writting to her friend. She communicated updates about Princess Mary to Queen Katherine. Lady Willoughby signaled her opposition to Anne Boleyn by refusing to attend her coronation. In September 1534, when Katherine’s health deteriorated, Maria begged permission to visit her but was denied. On 5 January 1536 she forced her way into Kimbolton Castle to see Katherine, having again been refused permission to visit. María acted out an elaborate charade to force her way into the house, claiming the letter licensing her to enter was on its way and pretending that she had been thrown from her horse and was in urgent need of shelter. Her ploy worked, and Katherine’s steward and jailer, Sir Edward Bedingfield, let her inside the house. Once María had breached the manor, she went to Katherine’s room, locked the door, and then refused to come out again. Queen Katherine died in her arms two days later. Twenty-two days later, María, along to her daughter the Duchess of Suffolk and Lady Eleanor Brandon, accompanied the Katherine of Aragon’s body in a funeral procession from Kimbolton until her final resting place at Peterborough.

Elizabeth Darrell. Her father, Sir Edward Darrell of Littlecote, Wiltshire,  was Chamberlain to Katherine of Aragon. Elizabeth was a servant of the Marchioness of Dorset and then afterward, on an unknown date, she became maid of honour to Queen Katherine. Possibly out of loyalty to Katherine, Elizabeth refused to take the Oath of Supremacy. In May of 1534 Katherine was sent to Kimbolton Castle, attended by a few loyal servants – including Lady Darrell. When Katherine of Aragon died in January 1536, she left Elizabeth a gift of £200 for her future marriage, “though none was in prospect.” Elizabeth Darrell was among the mourners at Queen Katherine’s funeral. Henry VIII was malicious in preventing Lady Darrell from receiving the funds; she finally received them from Queen Mary after his death.