#eoy tag

[bugpurity]

do i know greek? no. latin? not really. history? negligible. p and r? no. english? i'll kill myself in front of you. is it all in 3 days? yeah!

[ednyfedfychan]

“Following medieval precedent, Ashdown now went to Henry's wife, Elizabeth of York, a procedure also later followed by Henry VIII for Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Katherine Howard. It is well known that Henry VII tightened expenditure to rebuild the royal finances: more feudal dues were exacted and attempts were made in 1489 to curtail illegal hunting in Ashdown Forest, where it was also seen that Maresfield tenants claiming common of pasture in Ashdown were misusing the custom to the detriment of the deer. Henry's Scottish campaigns in 1485 and 1496 also had implications for Ashdown, as we shall see, and we also find that Chelwood Vachery, formerly belonging to Michelham Priory, was now absorbed into duchy control. A hierarchy of officials continued to administer Ashdown. The primary post remained that of master forester, a sinecure for members of the elite who might combine the post with being master of game. In turn, he normally employed a steward, and we find, for example, Thomas Fiennes (Lord Dacre) as steward of Ashdown in July 1519 and other well-connected men involved. George Neville, Lord Abergavenny, master forester 1503–22, was followed by Sir Thomas Boleyn of Hever (d. 1539) and George, his son (executed for treason in 1536); Thomas Culpeper in May 1541; and Sir Anthony Browne, son-in-law of Sir John Gage, in May 1542.

— Brian Short, ‘Society and Community on Ashdown Forest, 1500–1800’ in Turbulent Foresters: A Landscape Biography of Ashdown Forest (2022)

[ednyfedfychan]

“Since it is God who preserves her, however, her own agency is undermined, and this renders her nothing more than a symbolic representative of the Yorkist line for the rest of the narrative. She, like Jane Seymour in the reign of Henry VIII, exists solely to provide heirs to the throne, a complete contrast to her predecessor. In the few instances where she is described, most notably upon her death, Elizabeth is the ‘moost vertuous princes and gracious quene’; similarly, Jane Seymour is the ‘noble and gracious mother’ of Edward VI. By undercutting the narratives of these queens, Hall is able to provide the illusion of a smooth passage of power between fathers and sons as illustrated in the frontispiece, cutting women out of the equation altogether— something he has up to this point been unable to do.”

‘‘The Point of a Very Woman’: Gendering Destabilisation in Edward Hall’s Union and Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles’, The Last Plantagenet Consorts: Gender, Genre, and Historiography 1440–1627, Kavita Mudan Finn

[ednyfedfychan]

“Henry could hardly bear to see [Jane] die. Immediately afterwards, he committed the organization of the funeral to two trusted servants, [...] and ‘retired to a solitary place to pass his sorrows’, following the precedent set by his father in 1503, just as Jane’s funeral was based on the pattern of Elizabeth’s. [...] Norfolk attempted to console Henry, ‘peradventure not wisely, yet plainly’, [...] exhorting him to accept God’s pleasure in taking the queen and to comfort himself with the prince (a treasure sent to him and the realm). He also advised him to find a new wife. After this robust recommendation, Norfolk moved swiftly on to other business: the king’s grant to himself and Cromwell of the monastic house of Lewes. It would be surprising if a courtier who knew his king as well as Norfolk had misjudged the acceptability of his advice and request.”

Ralph Houlbrooke, Royal Grief in England, 1485–1640