Anne Boleyn

Forget Richard III cartoons – Henry VIII wins by a mile….!

Feb 18, 2022

anniversaries, art, humour

Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, annulments, cartoons, Catherine Howard, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Parr, dating agencies, executions, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Leicester, Marriage Guidance Council, Mary I, Richard III, tattoos

Long live the new king? Ye gods. Henry VII may have been an unpleasant, money-grubbing, paranoid gargoyle, but his son was a true MONSTER. Forget about falls on the head changing his character, the fact is that he’s remembered for his marriages and the way he executed two of his unfortunate queens, Anne Boleyn…
Another Shakespeare scene rewritten

Jan 28, 2022

anniversaries, humour, television reviews, The play’s the thing

Anne Boleyn, Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head, Charles Hawtrey, Henry VIII, ITV, Ray Winstone, Thomas Cromwell

Following our previous dialogues, here we have some alternative dialogue from Henry VIII, as used in the ITV version with Ray Winstone: HENRY VIII: Cor blimey, Cromwell me old china, that Enn Blin aint half a right pain in the Gregory, and no mistake. {By the end of the show, both “Enn Blin” and Cromwell…
THOMAS CROMWELL’S HOUSE IN AUSTIN FRIARS

Jan 25, 2022

anniversaries, buildings, religion

“Perkin”, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Augustinian Friars, Austin Friars, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Edmund Bellard, executions, Great Fire of London, Hans Holbein, Henry VIII, John Stow, London, Museum of London, Pilgrimage of Grace, Royal Marriage Secrets, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Wolsey, Throgmorton Street, William Calley

Reblogged from A Medieval potpourri sparkypus.com Thomas Cromwell c.1532. Minature attibuted to Hans Holbein the Younger. Oil on panel. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Following on from my earlier post on Perkin Warbeck and his burial at Austin Friars where I touched upon Thomas Cromwell’s house in the Austin Friars precinct I was happy to come across this…
Henry VIII’s “palace” in Southampton….

Jan 7, 2022

anniversaries, buildings

Anne Boleyn, Bloody Tower, Catherine of Aragon, executed women, ghosts, Henry VIII, Royal Marriage Secrets, royal palaces, Southampton, St. Michael’s Square

While looking into the history of Southampton I came upon the astonishing illustration above. What an absolutely stupendous building! And in its history there figure some important figures and events from Southampton‘s (and England’s) past. “….On the west side of St. Michael’s Square is the fine timber-built house now called ‘Henry VIII’s Palace,’ and probably…
More Secret Marriages!

Nov 27, 2021

anniversaries, battles, humour, law, religion

Anne Boleyn, Barnet, Bishop of Liverpool, cartoons, Catherine of Aragon, Charles Brandon, Dan Snow, denialists, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, George IV, Henry VIII, John Ashdown-Hill, Lady Edwina Grosvenor, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Louis XIV, Madame de Maintenon, Maria Fitzherbert, Mary “Tudor”, pre-contract, Richard of Warwick, Royal Marriage Secrets, secret marriage, Twitter

Back in 2010, historian Dan Snow was married in secret to Lady Edwina Grosvenor, daughter of the Duke of Westminster. I’ve looked but I can’t see that Dan mentions Edward IV‘s probable ‘secret marriage’ to Eleanor Talbot in any of his Twitter or other postings on history. (He did once post a very entertaining picture…
Not just another Anne Boleyn series

Nov 14, 2021

anniversaries, genealogy, law, religion, television reviews

Anne Boleyn, annulments, BBC2, bigamy, Careys, Diarmaid MacCulloch, Elizabeth II, executions, George Boleyn, Henry VIII, Jane Parker Viscountess Rochford, Leanda de Lisle, Mary Boleyn, mediaeval canon law, secret marriage, The Boleyns: A scandalous family, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Wolsey

This was shown on BBC2 during August and the subject has been covered several times in recent years, not least with our old friend Dr. Starkey. However, I am pleased I watched it for two reasons. The first is that The Boleyns: A scandalous family discussed the situation from the perspective of Thomas Boleyn seeking…
The portrait at Hever Castle is more like Henry VI than Richard III….

Oct 10, 2021

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, law, religion, The play’s the thing

“Princes”, Anne Boleyn, Battle of Bosworth, character, Domenico Mancini, Henry VI, Henry VII, Hever Castle, Kent, Richard III, royal portraits, Sir William Boleyn, treachery

I’ve seen this (awful!) portrait of Richard before. It just doesn’t look like him, more one of the invented Tudor versions of him, i.e. monstrous and evil, or weak and terrified of all things Tudor. This one fits the ‘weak and terrified’ mould, and if it were listed as a portrait of Henry VI, I’d…
MISIDENTIFIED HISTORICAL PORTRAITS INCLUDING TUDOR QUEENS…

Oct 9, 2021

anniversaries, art, battles, buildings, religion, sources

“Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, beards, Bere Regis, breeches, Catherine Howard, Charles Brandon, Cromwells, David Starkey, Elizabeth of York, executions, fashion, Hans Holbein, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Jane, Jane Seymour, John Morton, Katherine Parr, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Mary “Tudor”, Mary I, Master John, National Portrait Gallery, Nicolas Sanders, Queen’s Collection, queens, Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Rous Roll, royal portraits, Sir John Cheke, St. Mary’s Fairford, St. Mary’s Warwick, Thomas Wolsey, Toledo Museum of Art, tomb effigies, Wars of the Roses

Reblogged from MISIDENTIFIED HISTORICAL PORTRAITS INCLUDING TUDOR QUEENS… Does anyone else like me get irritated by misidentified portraits of historical characters? Is it that difficult to get correct? It’s quite sloppy to be honest as just a quick glance at them tells you something ain’t quite right here! It’s particularly common around 16th century portraiture when…
Digging up our monarchs; no, not Richard III this time….!

Aug 17, 2021

anniversaries, archaeology, buildings, religion, Science

Anne Boleyn, Anne of Bohemia, Banqueting House, burial, Catherine de Valois, Charles I, childbirth, death, Edward I, Edward IV, Edward V, Edward VI, executions, Exhumation, George IV, Greenwich Palace, Henry II, James VII/II, John, King’s Langley, Leicester, Newark Castle, Old St. Paul’s, Pontefract Castle, Richard II, Richard III, Samuel Pepys, Society of Antiquaries, St. Edward the Confessor, St. Peter ad Vincula, St. Thomas Becket, Tower of London, Victoria, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Worcester Cathedral

I’m told that even now, if you purchase a plot of ground in which to put your loved ones to rest, the chances are they’ll only lie in peace for eighty years, at which time they are removed and new occupants move in. Well, for centuries our dead haven’t always been left to enjoy their…
Walking “Tudor” England

Aug 10, 2021

battles, buildings, genealogy, law, religion, television reviews, travel

“Bloody Mary”, “Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Arthur “Tudor”, Ashdown Forest, attainder, Austin Friars, bear-baiting, Bishops of London, Bridewell Palace, brothels, Cambridge, cannon, Channel Five, Christopher Hatton, Clifford’s Tower, conspiracies, dancing, de heretico comburendo, Dutch refugees, East Midlands, Edmund Bonner, Edward of Buckingham, Edward VI, Elizabeth I, excommunication, executions, exile, fire, Framlingham Castle, Fulham Palace, Greenwich Palace, Grey-Dudley rebellion, Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes, Hampton Court, Henry Earl of Huntingdon, Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk, Henry VIII, Hever Castle, James VI/I, Jane, John Dudley Duke of Northumberland, John Foxe, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Katherine Howard, Kenilworth Castle, Kenninghall, Kett Rebellion, Leicester, London, Lord Chancellor, Lord Guildford Dudley, Margaret Clitherow, Mary Stuart, Mass, Michelham Priory, naval power, Nicholas Ridley, Northern Earls’ Rebellion, Norwich, Penshurst Place, Pilgrimage of Grace, Pontefract, Portsmouth, recusants, Ripon Cathedral, Robert Aske, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, royal barges, royal hunting estates, Rushton Triangular Lodge, severed heads, Sir Henry Dudley, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Thomas Tresham, Sir Walter Raleigh, Southwark, St. Mary’s Abbey, Stamford, Suzannah Lipscomb, The Globe, Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Stafford, tobacco, torture, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Will Kemp, William Cecil, William Shakespeare, Wyatt Rebellion, Yorkshire Museum

Suzannah Lipscomb has just completed another series on Channel Five, this time visiting the sites related to the “Tudors”. In the first episode, she concentrated on Henry VIII and the naval power he inherited from John Howard, Duke of Norfolk. The second was principally about the penultimate “Tudor”, Mary I, as well as Edward VI…