Charlie Fenton > Recent Status Updates

“King he is not and cannot be, for King Richard was well alive when this man took the crown; and an abdication made under duress is no valid abdication and cannot confer a valid right. And if King Richard is now dead, then it was by Lancaster’s order he died, and whatever title Lancaster might otherwise have possessed to inherit from him is forfeit.”

‘If there was one thing not ugly and absurd about that marriage, it was a small but irreversible change in her own situation. She was no longer an unmarried daughter, but a widow, and widowhood represented status, and liberation not merely from spinsterhood, but also from any expectation of fulfilment in marriage.’

‘Even by Foxe’s account, the vast majority of executions passed off quietly. Certainty there is nothing to suggest an upward curve of disapproval, nor an evidence that resistance was stronger to the burnings in 1558 than it had been in 1555. Many of the victims themselves were indeed by then more determined and more vehement’

‘For the council laid down the principle that if Richard were still alive (‘as they supposed’) he should be securely guarded for the safety of the realm. And in the next breath they recommended that ‘if he were no longer alive’ his body should be shown publicly to as many people as possible, to quash the rumours of his escape to Scotland.’

‘The greatest barrier to a positive assessment of the Marian restoration, however, remains the fact of the burning of more than 280 protestant men and women in just under four years, from February 1555 to November 1558. This was the most intense religious persecution of its kind anywhere in sixteenth-century Europe’

‘Fratricide was seen by many as an unnatural act, and his part in the affair damaged Somerset’s reputation. He may not have participated in the final vote in Parliament but he, too, held responsibility for his brother’s death. He wielded more power than any other man in England and could have stopped the proceedings or at least ensured that Thomas was not charged with treason.’

‘Somerset and his wife were the recipients of numerous book dedications, many from the reformers. Somerset received dedications in twenty-four books and manuscripts, a similar number to that made to the king during the same period, and the duchess received seven.‘

‘He was no longer to hold the position until Edward reached the age of 18 but only during the king’s ‘pleasure’. While this opened up the possibility of Somerset continuing to govern after the king reached his majority, it is unlikely that he asked for this amendment since it also presented the opportunity for him to be removed from the Protectorate early.’

‘The injunctions had enabled Somerset and the council to legalise selective destruction of images and in early September van der Delft reported their removal from churches all over London. Many men needed little encouragement to rid their churches of idolatry. However, in some places the removal and destruction led to disputes about what constituted abuse of an image.’

‘Henry had not given Hertford any singular position of precedence over these councillors but once the king was dead Hertford moved quickly to assert his pre-eminence and take control. He and Pager had known the contents of the will for four weeks, and it had given them plenty of time to decide their course of action.’

‘For the next five years, with no opportunities to prove his worth, his progress at court slowed. Following his sister’s death he was described by one correspondent as ‘young and wise, of small power’ but he was still considered to be a man of influence and some people went to great lengths to maintain a friendship with him.’

‘Edward Seymour’s future looked assured - his sister was Queen of England and he was related to Henry VIII. Just a week after the marriage he received his greatest recognition so far when he was created Viscount Beauchamp of Hache in Somerset, granted for service ‘done and to be done; as also of his circumspection, valour and loyalty’.’

‘For three quarters of an hour, Henry and Francis were alone ‘and seemed unable to tear themselves away from each other’. Had the sun not already begun to set, ‘their loving conference would have lasted longer,’ but as darkness approached, they each invited the chief noblemen in their trains to pay their respects.‘

Need to find a book on Kick Kennedy now, she led such an interesting life!

‘Designs for some of the most complex tents survive in the collection of the British Library. One of the largest comprises four interlocking rectangular sections in a straight line, like a series of rooms, with five small circular tents attached on each side, all under what appears to be red velvet embroidered with gold and topped with large heraldic beasts and ridgeboards with gold fleur de lys.’

“What do you know of England now, of how the roads are laid, and where they’re going - of places in the city where children have never seen the Thames - never seen a patch of grass. How content you must be, reciting your Psalms to the air, and coming home to a pretty wife and books that left the press three hundred years ago!”

‘Until almost the last minute, the Anglo-French meeting was a tenuous, fragile thing, a potentially beautiful dream of magnificence and unity, and European peace, but it was constantly undermined by practical and personal concerns, particularly by Henry, so that its fruition seemed uncertain.’

‘A future queen of England went unnoticed among the French retinue in 1520, too. Dark-haired, elegant and well educated, Anne Boleyn had been placed in the household of Margaret of Savoy at Malines at the age of twelve, thanks to the influence of her father. The change in England’s alliances had seen her move to France in late 1514 or early 1515‘

‘giving Catherine a total retinue of 1,260. Added to Henry’s total, this made 5,804 people in attendance upon the king and queen. The king and his company also had 2,406 horses while the queen had 817, making 3,223 horses in all.’

‘The past few weeks had not always been so happy. At times she remembered her grief, and for long stretches in which it was necessary to teach herself again how to draw breath she would feel a cavity open behind her ribs. It was a kind of draining sensation, as it a vital organ had been shared with the man who’d died and was atrophying slowly from misuse.’

‘Michael Seaborne treated Martha with the kind of indifference he might’ve reserved for the hat-stand in the hall: she was entirely inconsequential - he did not even meet her eye on the stairs. But watchful Martha let nothing pass her by - overheard each courteous insult, observed each concealed bruise - and only with a great effort prevented herself from plotting a murder‘

To think this really happened, that poor boy... Kent writes so convincingly though, even I thought he was a changeling at times.

‘He started gasping for air in terror, as if the rope already choked the life from his body. He did not want to die! Especially not in that field, with those mutant birds echoing his last utterance. Who knew what crazy thing you’d say in a moment like that? And him dead and the birds screaming it all out until the mockingjays turned it into some macabre song!’

‘Robert was suffering from a stomach complaint, thought to have been gallstones, and he resigned as Master of the Horse, handing the role over to his stepson, Essex. This was not a sudden decision. It had been discussed in the previous May. Essex was already firmly positioned in the Queen’s affections and, while Robert was absent abroad, had used his position to provide wholehearted support‘

‘Although he and Lettice were distraught, the loss of their son drove them together. As Robert said in his will, Lettice was ‘a faithful, loving and very obedient, careful wife’. Hatton had to explain to Elizabeth the reason for Robert’s sudden departure from court. She immediately sent Sir Henry Killigrew with a message of sympathy, but Robert’s grief did not soften her heart towards Lettice.’

‘As Robert’s relationship with Elizabeth developed, Amy’s absences in the country became ‘convenient’. The Queen was always jealous of those living with her male companions and Robert may have wanted to shelter Amy from court gossip, some of which was ‘obscene’. Her affliction was well known in court circles, and it was recognised that she did not have long to live.’

‘She referred to him as ‘Two Eyes’, and he would sign his letters to her as ‘ō ō’. They had shared difficult times together in the Tower, but he had not put her life in danger with some hot-headed fanatical scheme to place her on the throne. She would never forget how he had sold property to help her finances when she returned to Hatfield. He was totally devoted to the Crown’

‘Robert demonstrated ‘courage and administrative skill that pleased Philip greatly’. As a reward, on 30 January 1557, the Dudley family’s attainders were at last lifted. Robert was given the honour of carrying news of the victory to the Queen at Greenwich and she restored him to the manor of Hemsby.‘

“We control it,” he said quietly. “If the war’s impossible to end, then we have to control it indefinitely. Just as we do now. With the Peacekeepers occupying the districts, with strict laws, and with reminders of who’s in charge, like the Hunger Games. In any scenario, it’s preferable to have the upper hand, to be the victor rather than the defeated.”

‘Cecil later described Robert’s union with Amy as ‘a carnal marriage, begun for pleasure and ended in lamentation’. With Sir John Robsart being ‘a relatively insignificant country squire’, the connection has to be viewed as a genuine love match. Warwick generally sought politically helpful alliances for his sons and daughters. His other children all made more glittering connections.’