time for a rant :)
here’s what I hate about historians writing books and not using sources/references correctly.
I was searching what Katherine of Aragon did in 1513 around Flodden, and according to Giles Tremlett, she ordered some helmets to wear!
So, she didn’t order or wear armour but she did get some protective headwear. Cool.
But wait. There’s no source.
And because I love reading exact sources, I dug deeper. I searched variations of Catherine of Aragon sallet, helmet, shapewe, 1513, etc. And after a while I found this:
So, now I knew a Robert Amadas was paid for making these helmets... but there’s no mention of Katherine of Aragon. I couldn’t access the direct reference in this because of google books, but with another bit of searching I found the actual Chamber Records mentioned:
Turns out the warrant was signed by the king’s hand, and makes no mention of Katherine at all. So she didn’t have special helmets, but, as Tremlett says there is a record of Katherine conveying ordnance north.
This one specifically mentions the queen - confirming that, if the fancy gold headpieces were Katherine’s, the warrant would have mentioned or been signed by her.
Tremlett just made it up, either purposefully or ignorantly.
He mixed a true source (still with no reference!) together with a random one of that specific time period and created a new inaccurate and unchecked history. Just spreading misinformation about...
