Charlie Fenton > Recent Status Updates

"But there is the terror and torment that only humans who've used it will experience... and... when you die... I'll be the one writing your name down, but... don't think that any human who's used the death note can go to heaven or to hell."

Read this in high school, have a sudden urge to read it again now

Haven't listened to a Torchwood audio in a while, but rewatching the series again made me want to go back and continue these.

'Not only were they in shock at the death of their young king - but many of the anti-Catholics also mistrusted and disliked Northumberland, and now Jane was associated with him. They did not necessarily need to support the idea of Mary's accession in order to oppose any alternative that stank of Northumberland's plotting, and the fact that Jane was virtually unknown did not help things either.'

'Edward himself questioned the judges about their hesitancy to legalize his will. He contronted them - trail, yet angry - and asserted that Mary would prove a real danger if allowed to succeed him. She would 'provoke great disturbances' and leave 'no stone unturned' to undo the work that he and his religious men had worked so hard to accomplish.'

'[Hooper's] findings in 1551 were dismal, proving to him that only seventy-nine of the three hundred thirty-one clergymen he observed 'were satisfactory from a reformist point of view'. More than half of them did not know the full list of the Lord's Commandments, while two-thirds could not reference passages from scripture in defence of the Creed. Church attendance had decreased significantly'

'Edward appeared entirely devoted to turning his elder sister's heart against her stubborn Catholic faith, even when certain of his council members tentatively questioned how truly harmful it would be to allow her to continue hearing mass within her private home. He was incensed that any of his most trusted men would suggest that he turn a blind eye to idolatry, referring to it as 'the evil thing I will not allow'.'

'Most concerning of all, perhaps, was that within months of Edward's coronation, it was Somerset who signed royal warrants and letters patent on the boy king's behalf. Paget made a clumsy excuse for this when questioned by the French ambassador, claiming that the king was in the process of learning a new signature for himself, as it must change now that he was king.'

'given the 'tedious length' of the ceremony, the Privy Council had decided to abbreviate certain parts, out of fear that it might 'weary and be hurtsome peradventure to the King's Majesty being yet of tender age fully to endure and bid out'. In total, the usually-twelve-hour-long coronation lasted around seven hours, and allowed Edward a few moments of rest.'

‘In 1555, the Catholic justice Sir Anthony Browne issued a draconian order to the officers of Colchester, requiring that they make periodic searches ‘in every house’, and arrest ‘all strangers…for this town (said he) is a harbourer of all heretics, and ever was’. Tudor Colchester enjoys a similar reputation among modern historians, home as it was to one of Marian England’s most persistent Protestant communities.'

‘Queen Elizabeth’s first archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker, wrote that he hoped that England would be spared the kind of Reformation which John Knox had made in Scotland: ‘the people to be orderers of things’.’

'The king had already been supplied with portraits of Anne of Cleves and her sister Amalia, which had been passed in May 1539 to the ambassadors Nicholas Wotton and Richard Berde. Nervously, Wotton and Berde warned that '[a]s muche as we hadde not seene the ij ladyes, we shulde [not be] able to advertise his Majestye whether theyr images wer [llyke to theyr persones'.'

Audiobook version (not on here)

'Elizabeth almost certainly suffered from migraines, and on one occasion she apologized to her brother for a delay in writing that was caused by ‘an affliction of my head and eyes’ – not the only time she would be troubled by such complaints.'

'Mary, though, was convinced enough of her pregnancy to be more determined than ever to make one last-ditch attempt to cut Elizabeth out, drawing up her will on 30 March. Believing – or hoping – herself to be with child, she gave orders in the document that the crown was to be inherited by any progeny she produced, with Philip acting as the infant’s guardian.'

'Hertford, along with Sir Anthony Browne, came urgently to collect him on 28 January. They hastened him to Enfield, where he was met by his sister, Elizabeth, and there told the devastating news of their father's death. It was said that Edward and Elizabeth, both so overcome by grief at the unexpected loss of the king, gripped each other and wept together 'for several hours'.'

'Elizabeth, though admitting no wrongdoing, was begging for the Queen’s forgiveness, but Mary remained unmoved. She would not be swayed by words, and with that their meeting came to an end. As a crestfallen Elizabeth departed for her lodgings, she realized that the rift between herself and Mary was far from healed. Indeed, it appeared worse than ever.'

'In what was probably a deliberate irony, it was the eighteenth anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s execution. Elizabeth’s incarceration in the ancient fortress had lasted for nine weeks, but she had survived the ordeal and emerged from the Tower physically unscathed, though not emotionally. Her time there had a profound and lasting impact, instilling in her an intense hatred for the Tower'

'wrote to him saying, 'You have treated me so kindly, like a most loving father ... in which things and gifts is conspicuous your fatherly affection towards me; for, if you did not love me, you would not give me these fine gifts of jewellery.' These heart-wrenching words, written by a child who desperately craved his father's affection, attention, and approval, speak of a prince who evidently idolized the man'

'Reginald Pole, the future Archbishop of Canterbury, claimed that Edward once was in such a rage that he tore a living falcon apart in front of his tutors. Whether or not this story holds any merit is impossible to know, but it might speak to Edward having inherited his father's vicious temper.'

'Far from history's misconception of Edward as a weak, sickly child, the young prince was a playful, happy, perfectly healthy baby who 'sucketh like a child of his puissance', in the words of Cromwell. He was exceptionally well cared for, and apparently very well loved by the women who tended to him. All the while, the king remained a rather absent father - choosing to love his precious son from afar'

'Likewise it would appear wise in your Majesty not to be too ready to trust the Lady Elizabeth, and to reflect that she now sees no hope of coming to the throne, and has been unwilling to yield about religion, though it might be expected of her out of respect for your Majesty and gratitude for the kindnesses you have shown her, even if she had only done so to accompany you.'

'In an interesting link with her mother’s family, Edmund Boleyn, ‘her grace’s kinsman’, was given money, as were both ‘Mr Carey’ – Elizabeth’s cousin – and on a separate occasion his wife, ‘at her departing from Hatfield’. These references confirm that Elizabeth had a strong family network around her in her youth, who were unswervingly loyal to her and would continue to be so'

'She was nevertheless horrified to hear from Sir Robert – doubtless in a further attempt to sway her into a confession – that unsavoury rumours were spreading ‘that I am in the Tower; and with child by my Lord Admiral’. Elizabeth was always sensitive about her reputation and popularity with the people'

'it is inconceivable that she wore the pendant without Henry’s notice, or indeed, given her desire to please him, his permission. This raises several intriguing possibilities behind the reasons for its selection. Perhaps the likeliest is that it was Henry who ordered his daughter to wear the pendant, as a way of highlighting Elizabeth’s illegitimacy'

'In Georgian England, much of the ‘gaieties’ of Christmas seemed to revolve around Twelfth Night, the last eve of Christmas, and Feast of the Epiphany, or visit of the Wise Men. By 1870, this custom had been officially stopped as a result of Queen Victoria objecting to the riotousness of the occasion, thus it is the one Christmas tradition which was quelled by the Victorians rather than enhanced.'

'Although sources regarding her relationship with Jane Seymour are either frustratingly vague or lacking altogether, there is no evidence for the claim that Elizabeth was overlooked by her father and stepmother. On at least one occasion Jane purchased clothes for her – perhaps in response to Lady Bryan’s pleas – ordering materials for a ‘Scottish hood’, as well as a pair of sleeves.'

'Ales would later report to her, mournfully: ‘Never shall I forget the sorrow which I felt when I saw the most serene Queen, your most religious mother, carrying you, still a little baby, in her arms and entreating the most serene King, your father, in Greenwich Palace, from the open window of which he was looking into the courtyard, when she brought you to him.’'

'As the King’s acknowledged, legitimate heir, the Princess was raised surrounded by the full trappings of royalty. A surviving bill shows that for one year alone, from December 1534 to December 1535, her household expenses totalled £111 19s 8d (almost £50,000 today), an eye-watering sum for the needs of an infant.'

'Fanny then goes on to describe Christmas Day, and the gifts and the ‘Christmas Boxes’ (containing money) which were given to the children in the party, Fanny herself receiving two whole guineas (£2.10). She tells of the children’s visit to the servants’ hall to sing carols there, and the excited anticipation with which they looked forward to being allowed to join the grown-ups'