Anne Boleyn
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There are times when researching the past is, for a woman of today, a very insulting experience. This morning at the hairdresser I dipped into a book called Medieval Maidens: Young Women and Gender in England, 1270-1540. (No Hello, Heat or OK for me!) Yes, I knew before I started that I wouldn’t like…
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As you probably know, the list of women who have been beheaded in England is very short. Helena Bonham Carter has played two of them so far – Lady Jane (1554) in 1986 and Anne Boleyn (1536) (opposite Ray Winstone’s Henry VIII on ITV) in 2003 and I heard that she was about to play a royal…
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The 10 greatest medieval royal romances? Some, maybe….
Anne Boleyn, Anne Neville, Anne of Bohemia, Blanche of Lancaster, Catherine de Roet, Catherine de Valois, Cecily Duchess of York, Charles Brandon, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Eleanor of Castile, George Duke of Clarence, Henry VIII, Hugh le Despenser, Isobel Neville, John of Gaunt, Mary “Tudor”, Owain Tudor, Phillippa of Hainault, Piers Gaveston, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, Richard IIIWell, my opinion only, of course, but where are John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford/de Roët? I don’t believe his first wife, Blanche, was his greatest love. That honour went to Katherine, for love of whom he went to extraordinary lengths, enduring scandal and opprobrium, but eventually making her his third duchess. And managing to…
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The Howards, Talbots and Seymours – England’s auxilliary royal families?
Admiral Charles Rodney, Admiral Thomas Seymour, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Charles II, Dukes of Somerset, Edward IV, George IV, George V, Henry VIII, Howards, James of Monmouth, Jane Seymour, John Ashdown-Hill, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Laura Culme-Seymour, Lucy Walter, Maria Smythe, Miranda Hart, naval families, Royal Marriage Secrets, Seymours, TalbotsThis document shows the descent of the known “wives”, secret wives, mistresses, illegal wives and alleged partners of five English and British kings, taken from Ashdown-Hill’s Royal Marriage Secrets: thosehowardsagain As a bonus, Laura Culme-Seymour, from a naval family, including Admiral Thomas Lord Seymour; Admiral Rodney and the first three Culme-Seymour baronets, has a famous…
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This BBC documentary was actually very good and it worked because Starkey spoke about a subject he knows inside out – the Reformation and Henry VIII, relating it to current affairs. From Luther’s theses, indulgences and translating the Bible, first into German then English, he moved onto Tyndale‘s efforts to smuggle it into England and…
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Father of a Queen: Thomas Boleyn
Anne Boleyn, arms, Battle of Bosworth, Cambridge University, Edenbridge, Elizabeth Howard, Elizabeth Tilney, Geoffrey Boleyn, George Viscount Rochford, Gonville Hall, Hever Castle, James IV, John Howard Duke of Norfolk, Kent, Lord Privy Seal, Margaret Cheyne, Mary “Tudor”, Mary Boleyn, pubs, Richard III, Sheriff, Thomas Boleyn Earl of Wiltshire, Thomas Earl of Surrey, tombs, William BoleynTwo miles from Edenbridge in Kent lies the small but attractive castle of Hever. Originally built in 1270, it was taken over 1462 by Geoffrey Bullen (or Boleyn) younger brother of Thomas Boleyn , Master of Gonville Hall, a constituent college of Cambridge. Geoffrey had a son called William and he in turn fathered Thomas…
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Recently I came across a portrait of Henry VIII that I had not seen before–certainly it is one of the lesser known ones. Ar first glance, the painting appears to be of a youth, pudgy-faced and beardless (with some similarities to portraits of Edward IV around the tip of the nose, eyes and mouth)–however, a…
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This link takes you to an interesting article about the fates of two great opposites, Sir Thomas More and William Tyndale. And, once again, Henry VIII’s lust for Anne Boleyn was at the heart of it.
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GREENWICH PALACE – HUMPHREY DUKE OF GLOUCESTERS PALACE OF PLEAZANCE
“Tudors”, Anne Boleyn, Anne Mowbray, Bermondsey Abbey, Burgundy, Canterbury, Catherine of Aragon, Charles II, Edward I, Eleanor Cobham, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Wydeville, enclosures, Ghent, Greenwich Castle, Greenwich Palace, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Humphrey of Gloucester, Jane Lady Grey of Ruthin, Joan Lady Strange, Margaret of Anjou, Mary I, Mary of York, Placentia Palace, Princenhof, Richard of Shrewsbury, Royal Observatory, Sheriff Hutton, Society of Antiquaries, St. george’s Chapel, Stuarts, WydevillesHumphrey Duke of Gloucester from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book A print by an unknown artist now in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich depicting the Palace c 1487. Greenwich Palace, or Placentia as it is often known, was built around 1433 by Henry V’s brother, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, who named it Bella Court after…