Thanks to Philippa Gregory’s books and the film adaptation of her novel The Other Boleyn Girl, I have become a huge fan of the Tudors and the era in which they lived. I have written reviews for 5 of Philippa’s books and I recommend that you read her work; it’s historical fiction and the Tudors at their best! To read my reviews of her work please click on the title: The Other Boleyn Girl, The Queen’s Fool, The Virgin’s Lover, The Boleyn Inheritance and The Other Queen. There is one more book in this series that I haven’t had the pleasure of reading them yet; The Constant Princess.

Who were the Tudors?

The Royal Tudors family tree traces the rise and the fall of the Plantagenet dynasty and the start of the Tudors dynasty with Owen Tudor. The Tudor family tree ends with Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth I died childless, thus ending the famous dynasty of the Tudors, and she was succeeded by King James I (1603–1625) and the dynasty of the Stuarts. Who did the Tudors marry? The six wives of Henry VIII immediately spring to mind. Who were the children of the Tudors? And who were the close relatives of the Tudors? Full details of the Tudors and their family tree is available in this section. King Richard III was defeated by Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 which started the House of Tudor. It is interesting to note that Edmund Tudor married Margaret Beaufort who was a descendent of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford.   

The dynasty of the Tudors was symbolised by the Tudor Rose which was the emblem of the Tudors and represented the fusion of the Lancastrian and Yorkist noble factions. This fusion was symbolised by the White rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. An important emblem of the Tudors dynasty which marked the end of the devastating English civil war called the Wars of the Roses.

 The Tudor Rose (above)

Map of Europe in the year 1560 (above) – Please click on the image to enlarge.

Henry VIII Wives

The Tudors encompass one of the most exciting periods in English History. The dynasty of the Tudors include Kings and Queens such as King Henry VIII and his daughters, Bloody Mary and Queen Elizabeth I. But King Henry VIII is perhaps most famous for his number of wives – six in all. What were the names of King Henry VIII wives and in what order did he marry them?

Catherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn
Jane Seymour
Anne of Cleves
Catherine Howard
Catherine Parr

There is a popular rhyme which details the how the marriages of each of the wives of King Henry VIII ended:

“Divorced, Beheaded, Died
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived”

For more information on The Tudors and their history please go to the following websites:

Tudor Genealogy, The Tudors, TodorHistory.org and History on the Net

Sources: please see below

http://www.the-tudors.org.uk/tudor-rose.htm

http://www.the-tudors.org.uk/

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/europe1560_shepherd.jpg

http://www.btinternet.com/~j.larmouth/sarah-jayne/wives/wives.jpg

http://www.tudorroseconsultancy.co.uk/TudorRose.png

http://www.btinternet.com/~j.larmouth/sarah-jayne/wives/wives.jpg

http://www.shafe.co.uk/crystal/images/lshafe/De_Here_The_Family_of_Henry_VIII_An_Allegory_of_Tudor_Succession_c1572.jpg

Anya Seton was the Philippa Gregory of her day, and vice versa. We know Gregory as the author of The Other Boleyn Girl and similar historical fiction told from the female point of view. In acknowledgement of her predecessor, Gregory has used her success as an author to promote Seton’s books, written in the 1940s and 1950s. As a result, some of Seton’s works have been reissued, with forewords by Gregory.

While there is a dated quality about Katherine, I think Gregory has done the right thing in trying to get it and other Seton books back into circulation. Aside from some relatively chaste bodice-ripping, along with a bit of overwrought yearning, Seton has written a well-crafted history of Medieval England. In Katherine, she tells the story of Katherine Swynford, third wife of John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster during the reigns of Edward III and Richard II. Although they married late in life, Katherine and Lancaster became lovers shortly after the death of his first wife, Blanche, to whom Katherine was also devoted. (Why didn’t they marry sooner? This was the 14th century, when royal marriages were based on political alliances.)

Seton takes us through wars, rebellions, and the plague, deftly using her characters to show us life at all levels, from the poorest serfs up to the most self-centered kings. I finished this book feeling as if I knew more about what it was to be alive then, regarding the customs, the clothing, the values, etc.

I know of John of Gaunt primarily through Shakespeare plays and the odd bit of history. Seton’s portrayal of him as politically astute and mostly benign — except for one vengeful period following a questioning of his legitimacy — is echoed in Wikipedia which, while not being the ultimate authority, backs up Seton’s take on the man. His vengeance, however, led to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 and the destruction of his luxurious Savoy Palace. In one of her most harrowing and strongest chapters, Seton shows Katherine and a daughter trapped in the palace at the time of the attack.

So I definitely recommend this book, if you will keep in mind that it’s long, and writing styles have changed over the decades. Neither of those facts should put you off, however.

As for animal lovers, this book is set in the Middle Ages. They did things differently back then. Bull-baiting was considered fun, and other activities we wouldn’t tolerate were routine. But really, this book is MOSTLY SAFE for animal lovers. There’s the occasional beast of burden that needs more rest than it’s had; Katherine feels affection for her horse, Doucette; a dog is kicked; royalty fuss over their falcons; and children play with kittens. I didn’t come across any especially gruesome or sad scenes that couldn’t be ignored.

"I told you the Hoyas are tough!"

Summers brought it. Freeman brought it.

Monroe can pass the ball better than any 18 1/2-year-old big man who has ever lived.

Georgetown dominated the #8 Orange.

My mom doesn’t have cable, so we had to listen to Chvotkin the Great on AM 570, which, as I have said, is even better than being at the game.

Very nice Big East win for the Hoyas! By the way, does anyone know the whole story of how the Syracuse Orangemen became the Syracuse “Orange”?

DaJuan Summers had 21 points, his season high

On other interesting matters…

Perhaps you recall our discussions some time back regarding the Aeneid by Virgil. The Aenied defined the ancient Romans as a people by tracing their noble origin through the adventures of their hero and forefather Aeneas.

John of Gaunt tries to advise King Richard II

If England has an Aeneid, it is probably Shakespeare’s “Richard II.” (Or the series of Shakespeare’s plays including Richard II, Henry IV Parts One and Two, and Henry V.)

Near the beginning of the play, Sir John of Gaunt gives a speech while he is in his death throes. King Richard has issued bonds to bankroll his delusions of grandeur, putting the country in debt. The old knight believes that the king will listen to his advice, since “they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.”

Here are the words of the dying duke about his homeland, the Sceptred Isle:

This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear’d by their breed and famous by their birth,
Renowned for their deeds as far from home,
For Christian service and true chivalry,
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry,
Of the world’s ransom, blessed Mary’s Son,
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leased out, I die pronouncing it,
Like to a tenement or pelting farm:
England, bound in with the triumphant sea
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.
Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life,
How happy then were my ensuing death! (Act II, Scene 1)

Now that’s a patriotic speech!

A lesson for all current and future rulers of England: levying heavy taxes on your subjects is a really good way to tick them off. King Richard II learned this lesson the hard way during his reign. Richard was still a child when he inherited the throne of England. His father, Edward, the Black Prince, died at 45, while his father, King Edward III, was still king. When King Edward died, the throne passed to Richard, who was a mere ten years old. Richard’s uncle, John of Gaunt, exercised power in England while Richard was still a minor. His unpopular policies made him an enemy of the English people. The members of the lower classes were suffering heavily from the effects of the Black Plague, and the crown’s constant taxation only increased their negative feelings.

In 1381, a peasant named Wat Tyler decided he’d had enough of King Richard and his uncle’s taxation. He joined up with an already angry group of Englishmen from Essex and marched on London, intent on destroying any properties associated with John of Gaunt. On June 14 of that year, the rebels succeeded in meeting with the fourteen-year-old king and presented him with a list of demands while some of their fellow hellraisers were ransacking the Tower of London, murdering some of the king’s councilors.

Richard’s troubles with Tyler came to an end the next day, when the Mayor of London tracked Wat down in Smithfield and killed him with his sword. The crowd understandably freaked out, but the teenaged king rode in and claimed that they had nothing to worry about — their loyalty should be only to him, and not to worry about Wat … they’d just knighted him, and he was waiting for them nearby. Richard’s allies overtook the rebels, and all of the demands that Richard had promised were quickly tossed aside.

If only the Peasants’ Revolt had been the worst conflict of Richard’s reign … alas, the king would have to face insurrection from within the English nobility, consistent money problems, two childless wives, and the (depending how you look at it) abdication of his crown or usurpation of it by John of Gaunt’s son, Henry Bolingbroke (King Henry IV), all before being locked in a castle in Yorkshire and murdered.