Charlie Fenton > Recent Status Updates

'The new queen, Katheryn Parr, was everything Katherine Howard was not. Gracious and humble, she welcomed me into her household: while Katherine Howard would pay no great attention to religious matters, this new queen was well-versed. Her ladies were expected to read the Bible along with their sewing and cards. The king's daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, had been restored to the succession'

'In January 1397, parliament assembled in Westminster, during the proceedings of which 'the duke of Lancaster had a child legitimised whom he had conceived with Katherine Swynford'. Edmund Stafford, bishop of Exeter and Lord Chancellor, addressed the members and declared on behalf of the king that the pope had 'enabled and legitimised Sir John de Beauford, his brothers and his sister''

'In the middle of the decade, possibly as early as 1394, John was betrothed to Margaret Holland, the daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent and elder half-brother of the king... As Margaret was still a minor, the marriage was not immediately consummated and the couple's first child would only follow around 1400 once she reached a more acceptable childbearing age.'

'Gaunt had started a relationship with Katherine, evident from the multitude of grants issued to her throughout that year by the duke... Regardless of any romantic notions, however, marriage was not an option, for Gaunt was no longer a free man. In September 1371, despite his grief for Blanche and coldly disregarding any affection for Katherine, the duke had taken another wife.'

'The family traced their origin to 1372 and the birth of Margaret's grandfather John Beaufort, an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt, the exceptionally wealthy duke of Lancaster and the third son of Edward III. The Beauforts were, therefore, royally descended, and after their retrospective legitimisation in 1397 became loyal adherents to the first three Lancastrian monarchs, amassing considerable influence'

'Born as bastards to a mighty prince, the Beauforts were the right-hand men of their royal kinsmen, amassing considerable authority on the national and continental stage. From uncertain beginnings, the Beauforts became earls, dukes and cardinals, and in time kings themselves, their blood seeping into every corner of the English aristocracy within a few generations of their birth.'

"I have become the queen's liaison with Culpeper. At first it was just once, when the king took ill. The Queen panicked and thought he might die. She said she needed someone to protect her if that should happen so she asked me to call Culpeper to her rooms so that she could seek his assistance. I thought I was helping her. She looked so frightened. But then, once the king had healed, the visits continued"

'With that terrible revelation, my heart broke for Jane and I was filled with rage for the king. Not only did he execute my beloved aunt and uncle, but he caused the death of George's unborn heir. Jane was just as much a victim as Anne and George. All she had was taken from her and, in addition, she had earned a vile, undeserved reputation. I suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here in this treacherous court.'

"I realised I was with child, but instead of casting me off like I expected, he became more protective. I think he was hoping I would have a boy. When you were born a girl, it was easy for him to believe that you were William's child. I believed it too, because it made me feel less shameful." She paused for a moment to brush a tear from her eye. "But as you grew, you began to look more and more like the king."

'after Henry VII's removal from the scene, many persons sought and obtained opportunity to air their grievances and lodge complaints. Unfortunately it seems virtually impossible, at present at least, to disentangle in these moves much reliable information about Henry VII's and his agent's activities, from the inevitable desire of the young and dashing new king and his councillors to emphasise the change of regime'

'We can safely acquit Henry VII of having formed any intention to marry his daughter-in-law Catherine, as this improbable allegation has never been based upon any valid evidence. His first choice for serious consideration was apparently Ferdinand's niece, the recently widowed Queen Joan of Naples. At any rate he sent three envoys to Valencia to interview her and her mother the Dowager Queen'

'It seems difficult to perceive much of a 'system' in Henry's diplomacy, though 'his reactions to external pressures sprang from firm-seated and consistent instincts, or rather from a clear and balanced understanding of the basic interests of the dynasty and the nation'. We may well believe in Henry's consistency, but the external pressures to which he was subjected varied so much'

'Some progress had thus been made in making the Prince's Council an instrument of government in the principality, the Marches, and the Crown lordships. But none of these developments in itself affected the most intractable problem of ensuring justice within the marcher lordships. It was not possible for the king or the prince to attempt direct interference in the internal administration of justice'

'control over the episcopate attained by Henry VII may have constituted a condition precedent without which his son might well have been confronted with a greater degree of opposition from the Church than in fact he experienced when it came to the crisis. To many clergy and others it must have seemed that papal power in practice was no great thing, and that its abolition was not so significant'

'No dispute between the king and the papacy arose. After Bosworth, Henry was prudent enough to declare his obedience, and Innocent VIII quickly reciprocated by providing the necessary dispensation for Henry's marriage with Elizabeth of York and pronouncing that their children would be legitimate, and at the same time obliged by declaring that rebels, including those in Ireland, were ipso facto excommunicate.'

'Approximately fifty statutes of the reign may be said to impinge in some way upon the economic and social spheres, but only about a third of these at most appear to have been initiated by the government. The great bulk therefore originated either in the petitions of interested parties presented, usually to the commons, or in the petitions or prayers of the commons themselves.'

'Of course, our cousin the queen gives Katherine a magnificent funeral. How she does love a funeral, especially family! ... Elizabeth does not allow me to attend. Of course not. She only loves her heirs when they predecease her. The last thing she wants is someone pointing out that if Katherine was a Tudor princess then her little sister is one too - and the last of the line.'

'They have made her abdicate in favour of her son and she has agreed to be as nothing, a prisoner with no title. They think this is their triumph but it turns Elizabeth against them in a moment. Now she refuses to recognise the little Prince James as King James VI of Scotland... Never, never, never can an heir be put in the place of a monarch - it is the greatest fear of her life.'

'Mary has given birth. Even worse for Elizabeth, who urged Mary's husband to fire a gun into her belly, the young woman has survived the birth. Worse still, it is a healthy baby. And worst of all for Elizabeth: it is a boy. The papist cousin, just like the Protestant cousin, has a healthy son and heir to the throne of England. Elizabeth, thirty-two years old, unmarried, unloved, now has two cousins with boys'

'Mary Ratcliffe, the maid of honour with the steadiest hand, comes forward with a pot of fresh-mixed ceruse, and Elizabeth sits still, closes her eyes, as Mary paints the white lead and vinegar from her plucked forehead to her nipples in painstaking gentle strokes. It is a long process. The queen's neck, back, and shoulders have to be painted too; the gown she has chosen is low cut'

'In this field, more than any other, it is possible to see Henry VII applying his legal rights for financial gain with a zeal and relentless application which earned him and his agents an unpopularity and a measure of odium which became marked towards the end of the reign and which might well have produced serious consequences for the regime if it had lasted longer.'

'By far the largest category into which Henry VII's proclamations fell was that of general administrative arrangements. Twenty-five fell into that category, dealing with such matters as the mustering and victualling of troops, the surrender of rebels, distraint of knighthood, the maintenance of public order and prohibition of the spread of false news, snd other miscellaneous matters.'

'Robert Dudley, for his part, is desperate not to be banished to Scotland and married off to a woman who must despise him as an adulterer and a wife murderer. He knows that, whatever she says now, Elizabeth would never forgive him marrying another woman. He is gambling everything on her inability to let him go. He urges her to send Henry Stuart to take his place, as a diversion in Mary's court - nothing more.'

"Everyone thinks she's a woman blown about by passion, that her heart comes first. But she's not. She's a woman who feels her passions but is not shifted by them. She's determiner and she's selfish. She'll never give Robert Dudley up, but she'll never marry him either. She loves the throne more than him. He still thinks she will be unable to resist him but I think he's wrong."

'Five meetings of the Great Council are thus known to have been held; all except the first, which was inaugural to the reign, were concerned with the threats of war or rebellion; three of them authorised the imposition of financial air in advance of any parliamentary grant... they clearly performed a function which must have seemed indispensable. The machinery of parliament was clearly too slow'

'My baby, Viscount Beauchamp, is to be called Edward for his father and his forefathers. He can trace his line back to Edward III and beyond. Royal on both sides, his birth should be greeted with celebrations, with the salute of cannon and announcements all around Christendom, but they put me into my bed, and tuck him in beside me, and nobody even visits.'

Right now I really don't like Caris. She says she doesn't want to marry or have children as she doesn't want anyone ruling her life, upsetting Merthin (who she has always given the impression of loving and wanting to marry). She leaves him because of that, but is miserable, unsure of what she even wants to do in future, and doesn't like him seeing other people. Just make a decision already! Poor Merthin -_-