Charlie Fenton > Recent Status Updates

‘Bona lived with her mother under the protection of the Neapolitan Aragons following her father’s death. Her marriage to King Sigismund I the Old of Poland was arranged by the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, as result of the alliance agreed between the Habsburgs, Sigismund and his brother, King Vladislaus II of Hungary, at the Congress of Vienna in 1515.‘

‘counsel was meant to impart reason, and prudence was the primary virtue associated with the counsellor. Partly, this was because they would not possibly have the political experience requisite for such a virtue - women end up excluded from politics because they had been excluded from politics - but it also had to do with a long-standing tradition of seeing women’s advice on many matters as irrational’

‘Edward’s face reddened, and Mary knew that she had said something wrong. “It is MY kingdom,” he stated firmly. “You are my dear sister, but you are not my queen. You will never be queen, and you reach too high if you hope to offer correction to your king.”’

‘Sir John Russell, who was much closer to Henry, concurred that he was ‘a prince of much wisdom and knowledge, yet he was very suspicious and much given to suspection (suspicion)’. This situation was at least partly of the king’s making. He had fostered an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust through his own fickle behaviour, which had deprived his men of the luxury of feeling secure in his favour.‘

‘“Asking for forgiveness where they knew they could not get permission, if you ask me,” Fran observed.
“Well, they will not get it from me,” Mary said with a stomp of her foot. “I have loved Kateryn as I have few others, but my father is not cold in the ground and they married without permission of the king. It is he they must beg forgiveness from.”’

‘heard of the attempt to arrest Kateryn and her father’s rebuke of the order he must have signed, she ran to the chapel to thank God that he had given Kateryn the foresight to evade disaster. She could not bear to have tragedy visit the royal household again. Besides her mother, Mary had never loved one of her father’s wives the way she did Kateryn. She simply could not tolerate losing her’

‘It was vital that the power void left by Courtenay should quickly be filled, and that all trace of him be eradicated. The message was clear: Henry’s men were like chess pieces to be manoeuvred or removed from the board completely, as their master saw fit. No matter how high they might rise, if they opposed or angered the king, he would swiftly prove how dispensable - and replaceable - they were.’

‘The fact that Henry was content to see his wife’s sister marry the son of a commoner is one of the clearest demonstrations he had ever made of the esteem that he held for Cromwell. While his noble councillors and companions scorned this base-born minister, Henry apparently valued his exceptional ability and loyalty so highly that he was willing to tie their two families together.’

‘In the scramble for places and honours that followed Anne Boleyn’s demise, Cromwell was undoubtedly the greatest winner. Even though cracks had begun to appear in the king’s relationship with his chief minister, in dispatching the unwanted queen with such devastating effectiveness, Cromwell had once more proved just how indispensable he was to his royal master.’

‘This first phase of the dissolution brought Henry in the region of £100,000, equivalent to more than £32 million today. The annual incomes of the religious houses, meanwhile, delivered the crown a further £32,000 (£10.3 million). Little wonder that he was apparently content to allow Cromwell to continue his work, regardless of the dangerous resentment that was brewing among his subjects.’

‘Kateryn, for her own part, appeared polite but did not seem to be encouraging the king’s attention... Smart woman. Mary loved her father, when she was not despising him, but she would not wish marriage to him upon anyone. And she rather liked Kateryn Parr. They were of an age and similar temperament. Mary’s mother had been a dear friend of Kateryn’s mother who had proudly served as the princess’ godmother.’

‘There may have been an element of self-preservation in this attitude. Henry would surely have been driven made by remorse if he had allowed any more tender feelings to creep in whenever he dispatched a former friend. He was also adept at convincing himself of the justice of his actions, as the annulment had proven. And he was surrounded by men who were quick to assure him that he was right.’

‘For all that, though, More was still a shrewd man and, far from being the willing martyr that he is so often portrayed as, he tried to chart the hazardous course between upholding his principles and retaining just enough royal favour to avoid the block. Having made his stand by refusing to acknowledge Anne as queen and resigning the chancellorship, he resolved to do nothing further to provoke the king’s ire.‘

‘in his younger days, had been content to leave even the weightiest of business to the cardinal, it was now clear that he intended to exercise a much tighter control. Partly this was because Henry no longer spent the majority of his time hunting and pursuing the other pleasurable pastimes of his youth, but it was also because Wolsey’s failure to secure an annulment had forced him to play a more active role.’

‘On 22 October, Wolsey was offered the choice of answering to the king or parliament. Without hesitation, he chose the former. The fact that he had been given a choice at all is an indication of Henry’s reluctance to destroy his faithful servant. After all, Wolsey had encompassed an exceptional range of talents and there was no obvious candidate to replace him.‘

‘Everything up to this point felt like a child’s game now that Margaret was faced with the reality of her youngest child held in the fortress whose very name struck fear into noblemen’s hearts. The idea that they had been scheming to arrange marriage for Princess Mary while her father lived and ruled with an iron fist seemed ridiculously dangerous and a wholly not worthwhile risk now that it was already taken.’

‘The vivacious little boy and athletic young man seemed to have been swallowed up by a thick puddle of a man reclining in a cushioned chair with one leg propped up on a short stool. He must have noticed Margaret’s eyes widen, because he released a belly laugh that set his rolls of flab jiggling in a nauseating dance.‘

‘For Queen Anne, fortune’s wheel made a vicious downturn. Even Margaret was surprised when the king’s second wife was brought up on charges of treason rather than given the opportunity to remove herself to a nunnery. Henry used the situation to rid himself of a few others who had been overly fond of the Boleyn girl, accusing them of adultery with her and chopping off their heads.‘

‘One thing was becoming painfully clear to Margaret. The safe place that she had created for herself, for her children, the place she had hoped to keep Mary - it did not exist. Not in King Henry’s England. She was being forced to take a stand. They all were. You were either for Henry or against him. The grey area she had attempted to reside in since the execution of her father was no longer an option.’

‘The proposed reforms had given him the excuse he needed to get rid of his rivals. With the support of the council, in May 1519, Wolsey set about purging the privy chamber of the ‘minions’ whom he and his fellow ministers claimed were having a deleterious influence on their royal master. The men were charged before the council with over-familiarity with the king, for having ‘played such light touches with him‘’

‘Although many at Henry’s court resented Brandon’s rapid rise to power, one man who did not was Thomas Wolsey. This may have been because the two men dominated different spheres of Henry’s life - Brandon the private and military, and Wolsey the political and ecclesiastical. Each nearly counterbalanced the influence of the other’

‘According to Cavendish, Wolsey, ‘whose head was full of subtle wit and policy’, perceived ‘a plain path to walk in towards promotion’. Upon being introduced to the new king, he assured him ‘that he shall not need to spare any time of his pleasure for any business that should necessary happen in the council as long as he being there’. Henry immediately warmed to this quick-witted and charismatic man’

‘Charles Brandon in particular rapidly became a great favourite with the prince. He was seven years older than Henry, but resembled him so closely that some people referred to him as the prince’s ‘bastard brother’. Brandon came from a family of proven loyalty to the crown. His father had been killed at Bosworth bearing Henry VII’s standard, and Charles had subsequently grown up in the royal household.’

‘For a moment, Margaret’s expression did not change. She remembered Henry greeting her as cousin when he first became king. He had made her countess of Salisbury and ensured that each of her children had a position worthy of her family’s name. She had been made governess of his heir, but now she was released. Mary was no longer his princess and she was not needed to care for her.’

‘The king’s sister, Mary, was unashamedly standing up to him, insisting that he put away any thoughts he had about marrying Boleyn. That eased Margaret’s fears somewhat. Mary had been queen of France and was currently married to Charles Brandon, the king’s best friend. She was a solid asset in any debate and would provide some protection for Reginald if necessary.’

‘some historians have suggested that Henry’s cloistering of Edward was done to avoid the growth of factions at court, it was most likely for the same reason his father had protected him: a precaution to keep the sole male heir from harm while the king began seeking a new fertile queen and another son. In fact, that is what his father did after the death of Elizabeth of York, combing the Continent for a new bride.‘

‘The king’s annual gross revenue from all traditional sources near the end of his reign (including £40,000 in “ordinary” revenue) has been calculated at £104,863 - an amount extremely close to the estimate, mentioned above, by the Milanese envoy in 1499. If that is the case, Dudley was potentially responsible on average for an additional 50 per cent per annum over and above the king’s expected income‘

‘She could say nothing else, though she wondered. Henry sometimes behaved as though he loved his daughter beyond measure and was happy to name her his heir. Other times, he showered such favor upon Henry FitzRoy, as Elizabeth Blount’s son was known. Margaret could not imagine how this made Catherine feel because her own feelings were fierce with love and protectiveness for the sweet princess.’

‘Would Henry be content with a girl as an heir? It seemed natural to Catherine because of her own mother, ruling Castile in her own right, but that was not the way things were done in England. Henry’s father had carefully established that he took the throne by conquest, not his wife’s royal blood. Thankfully, others had taken up encouraging and congratulating the queen on the birth of the baby girl named Mary.’