Charlie Fenton > Recent Status Updates

‘With increasing intensity during Henry VII’s reign, searches were carried out to scrutinise records involving local jurisdictions, including court proceedings and bonds taken for judicial purposes such as appearance and keeping the peace. In the mind of the king and his councillors, all courts were the king’s courts. Indeed, a statute in his last parliament affirmed this for the city of London.’

‘Raising Margaret up would establish that he was a better man than his father. It would let everyone know that infighting was over and all members of the royal family were to be welcomed at court with open arms. Looking at the perfect features of his tiny son, he saw no reason why he could not afford to welcome Margaret’s brood to higher glory.’

‘At the death of Bray in August 1503, Empson was an accomplished councillor of the king and a leading minister in the duchy of Lancaster. He was already sitting in the courts of requests and star chamber, and in February 1504 he became a knight of the Bath when the future Henry VIII was created prince of Wales.’

‘Like many queens before her, Catherine had chosen to be content that she would be the mother to princes and princesses, if not the only woman in her husband’s bed. Margaret was astounded by Catherine’s strength but grateful once again for the husband God had joined her to, for he had never caused her that kind of pain.’

‘Margaret wasn’t sure how to feel about the death of Henry Tudor, who had committed the legalized murder of her brother and defeated her uncle in battle. She certainly wouldn’t be shedding any tears for the man who had turned her future upside-down when he walked away from Bosworth as the victor. She had tried to find the good in him for Elizabeth’s sake, but now they were both gone.‘

‘Although Dudley acted as his personal bond minister, with Empson in a similar position overseeing the working councillors for day-to-day activities, the king directed the overall policy. He accomplished this through his councillors, who like Dudley worked from books and lists of obligations due to the crown, usually in specific areas of prerogative rights or judicial fines owed to the king.‘

It turns out I have actually already read some of these chapters already, they were published in a few journals and I read them for my university essay on Henry VII last year. Still great essays and very well researched, good to have them in print as you need a subscription to access the journals.

The girl’s friendship with her sickly cousin reminds me of The Secret Garden

‘The midwife arrived just in time to deliver the queen of a thin, weakly crying baby girl. Named Catherine for the several wonderful women of that name that Elizabeth cherished in her life, the baby was quickly placed in the care of nurses as doctors were called upon to see to the queen. Despite their best efforts and the prayers of many, Elizabeth’s health seemed to fail further.’

‘Arthur, the mingling of Tudor and Plantagenet blood named after the golden king of legend, was dead before reaching the age of sixteen. Images of him as an infant, toddler, and small boy flashed before her mind’s eye. She had been so full of hope for him. He had been as serious and contemplative as his father, but with enough of his mother’s charm and piety to earn the love of the people that eluded Henry.‘

‘Catherine of Aragon rode into London amidst cheers from a pressing crowd. Every man, woman, and child hoped for a glimpse of the woman who would be the next queen of England. She did not disappoint. Perched upon a highly decorated mule, Catherine could have been an angel from heaven with her white skirts spread out around her and her light auburn hair flowing down to veil her small body from view.‘

‘“I am confused, Rodrigo. I hide nothing from you. Truthfully, he is closer in appearance to my brother, Edward, than to Richard, but I, their sister, would know if he were either. Between you and I, I suspect that he is a product of one of my father’s dalliances.” She knew that it was dangerous to confess so much to a man with the ear of the Spanish monarchs, but he would have observed the truth for himself.’

‘Ruling over the household and his sisters, in practice if not in name, was Henry’s namesake, Prince Harry. At almost six, Harry was the spitting image of Elizabeth’s father. Were he the one to be king after his father, it would be as if the Plantagenets had never given way to the Tudors, Elizabeth thought ruefully.‘

‘One significant image of the shape-shifting first Tudor, supported by mounting evidence, is that of the hands-on ruler who, working directly through trusted and competent ministers, officials and servants, actively prosecuted the laws of the realm to secure not only a more orderly, law-abiding society but also a potentially enormous source of royal revenue previously untapped with any regularity’

‘By 1485, royal income came largely from royal lands and prerogative rights (money from warships, marriages, fees and the like). Then there were grants from parliament, including customs on trade. From near bankruptcy under Henry VI to a rise in trade and population during the course of the 15th century, by the end of Henry VII’s reign his total revenue was in excess of £100,000 annually.‘

‘during Buckingham’s futile rebellion against Richard, Henry signed a debt of 10,000 crowns owed to Duke Francis of Brittany to provision an invasion force. Henry signed his name “henry of Richemont”, and though there are suggestions that he also signed documents “H R” for Henricus Rex while abroad, this debt should therefore not be construed as vacillating between reality and wishful thinking.‘

‘Harry’s hair shone particularly red against the white of the snow, and Elizabeth couldn’t help but allow a smile to turn up the corners of her mouth as she watched him allow his sister to pelt him with snowballs. Already learning the rules of chivalry, he dared not toss any her way, but instead focused his attack on the king’s ward, Charles Brandon.’

‘Could this be her youngest brother? It was possible since her brothers had not been seen since September of 1483. Did she believe it was? It would mean her sons were disinherited, her husband a usurper, and she a fraudulent queen. Once again she asked herself if she believed that Richard could have killed them. Mixed messages swarmed her memories. She didn’t know, but she had to support her husband.’

‘For more than a century the vengeful hand of the English crown had frequently lain heavy on the Howards. Their colossal pride, egotism, ambition, or loyalty to their faith, had cost them dear. Two Dukes of Norfolk had been attainted as traitors and spent lonely years confined in the Tower of London. Another had been beheaded. An heir to the dukedom had been executed on trumped-up charges‘

‘Elizabeth hesitated and havered over the death warrant. She signed it on 9 February 1572 and then delayed its implementation... On 31 May, the duke was warned to prepare himself for death and at eight o’clock on the morning of 2 June he was marched out of the Tower and up the slight slope to the scaffold on Tower Hill.’

‘The following month, he was appointed a member of the Privy Council. Like the third duke, he soon acquired a taste for political intrigue and a thirst for power. Ranged against him at court, however, were some powerful adversaries: Cecil, Elizabeth’s omnipotent minister, and Robert Dudley, who was created Earl of Leicester in 1564.‘

‘Margaret was a needy child and Elizabeth missed the immediate bond that she had felt with Arthur. Too often she found herself handing over the crying child to a wet-nurse after losing patience with her. Remarkably, Henry seemed more forgiving of the child’s screaming. If he were in attendance when the crying began, he would pace the room, bouncing the baby gently, while crooning to her in a low voice.‘

‘London had loved her father and transferred their love to her when he died. It was for her sake, and that of their pocketbooks, that they gave such loyalty to Henry Tudor. If they could not have a York king, they would settle for a York queen. Three days of celebration would solidify Henry’s reign in the eyes of loyal Yorkists in a way that his marriage and his son had not yet done.‘

‘Arthur filled Elizabeth’s days with happiness. She no longer took note of evenings when Henry worked late into the night, though she was joyful when he appeared. Her heart was filled with love for the tiny human that had been created between them. Each gaze of his grey eyes and grasp of his tiny fingers bound her to him in a connection she had never felt with any other person.‘

‘“Surely that is for you to decide, as he is your son and heir. I have a feeling though, that you will like the name that has been placed upon my heart for him.” She lifted the sleeping child and kissed his button of a nose. “I believe he will someday be King Arthur.” She lifted him to his father in a private ceremony more moving to Henry than his own coronation.’

‘The Howards should have recognised their peril. They were clear targets for the king, worried over his son’s succession, and for those who now made their bid for supremacy. Norfolk’s and Surrey’s dynastic pride and inbred arrogance had spawned an absurd complacency. In Henry’s dangerous court of conspiracies, no man - no matter how important, how influential - was entirely safe‘

‘She thought of Anne’s auburn hair, lustrous and thick when she first joyously married Richard, dull and thin the last time Elizabeth had spoken to her days before her death. Anne’s small hands had held her own, just as they had at Christmastime. Frail and aged compared to Elizabeth’s, yet it had been Anne’s hands patting hers in comfort and love.’

‘Norfolk desperately tried to distance himself from his niece, telling Marillac ‘with tears in his eyes, of the king’s grief’ who had loved Catherine ‘much and the misfortunes to his house in her and Queen Anne [Boleyn], his two nieces’. Despairingly, he told Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador, ‘I wish the queen was burned.’’

‘They devised a sophisticated entrapment that would finally overthrow the despised and hated Cromwell, restore everything they cherished in the old liturgy, and provide them with an inestimably powerful political weapon at court... The trap came in the shape of another of Norfolk’s nieces, pretty eighteen-year-old Catherine Howard, the giddy, empty-headed daughter of the duke’s recently deceased spendthrift brother’