We Weren't All Beheaded

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Marquess of Pembroke Ceremony: 

“Jewels were not, however, all that Anne needed to be fitted for the European stage. When Francis I had last seen her she had been a lady-in-waiting to his wife. If she was to meet him now as England’s intended queen, she needed status. This she was given an impressive ceremony in Windsor Castle on the morning of Sunday, 1 September. There, her hair about her shoulders and her ermine-trimmed crimson velvet hardly visible under the jewels, Anne was conducted into the Kings presence by Garter King-at-Arms… carrying the crimson velvet mantel and gold coronet of Marquis… Anne kneeled to the king, while Stephen Gardner read out a patent conferring on her and her own right and on her offspring the title of marquis of Pembroke. Henry placed on her the mantle and the coronet and handed her the patents of nobility, plus another granting lands worth 1000 pounds a year.” in the Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Jeering at Henry

“When Anne went hunting with the King, villagers would hoot and hiss at her, and on one occasion when Henry was riding alone near Woodstock, one of his subjects yelled,’Back to your wife!’”- in The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Anne’s Dances in her Chamber

“…the chronicles and letter-writers pass over them in virtual silence once [Anne] has become Queen. Only the accident of her trial lets us see her dancing with her ladies and the gentleman of the court in her bed chamber. ” - Eric Ives in The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Anne’s Confrontation with Jane Seymour asked by sendmedaughters

“Thomas Fuller, in his ‘History of the Worthies of England’ (1662), records a tale of how Jane, seeing Jane wearing a new jewelled pendant about her neck, asked to see it; when Jane showed herself unwilling, Anne lost control of her temper and ripped the locket from Jane’s neck with such force ‘that she hurt her hand with her own violence; but it grieved her heart more when she perceived in it the King’s picture.” - Alison Weir’s The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: The Masque

March 1st 1522: “There were eight court ladies involved, each cast as one of the qualities of the perfect mistress of chivalric tradition - Beauty, Honour, Perseverance, Kindness, Constancy, Bounty, Mercy, and Pity - with Anne playing Perseverance… Opposite them were the eight virtues of the ideal courtier - ‘Amoress[ness]’, Nobleness, Youth, Attendance, Loyalty, Pleasure, Gentleness, and Liberty - with the King playing the lead.” - Eric Ives in The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Thomas Wyatt’s Poem

Brunet and Phyllis by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542)

Now joy, now woe, if they my cheer distain,—

For hope of small, if much to fear therefore,—

To haste or slack my pace to less or more,—

Be sign of love, then do I love again.

If thou ask whom,—sure, since I did refrain

Her that did set our country in a roar,

The unfeignéd cheer of Phyllis hath the place

That Brunet had;—she hath, and ever shall.

She from myself now hath me in her grace;

She hath in hand my wit, my will, and all.

My heart alone well worthy she doth stay,

Without whose help scant do I live a day.

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Anne’s Gift to Henry 1527-1528

“[Anne] signified her surrender by sending a gift - the word the king used for it was ‘une étrenne’. It was one of those trinkets concealing a meaning that Tudor people loved - a ship with a woman on board and with a (presumably) pendant diamond. The message was transparent. For centuries the ship had been a symbol of protection - the ark which rescued Noah from destroying deluge; the diamond - as the Roman de la Rose had said - spoke of a ‘heart as hard as diamond, steadfast and nothing pliant’. Anne was saying ‘yes’.” - Eric Ives in The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Anne’s Quarrel with Henry 

St Andrew’s Day: November 30 “Did I not tell you that whenever you disputed with the Queen she was sure to have the upper hand? I see that some fine morning you will succumb to her reasoning and that you will cast me off. I have been waiting long and might in the meanwhile have contracted some advantageous marriage, out of which I might have had issue, which is the greatest consolation in this world. But, alas! Farewell to my time and youth spent to no purpose at all.” - Taken from one of Chapuys reports.

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Sweating Sickness in England - June 1528 

“… when one of Anne’s ladies went down with an attack of the sweating sickness, a highly contagious and frequently fatal disease… Henry took off on a flight from a safe house to safe house at a speed which demonstrated his paranoia about infection…[and when] Anne did go down with the sweat, Henry reacted with real anxiety. Off went William Butts, his [Henry’s] second best doctor… Care and sympathy worked and by 23 June Anne recovered.” - Eric Ives in The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Quarrel about the Shirts 1529-1530

“One unfortunate in the privy chamber caught the full force of her wrath when she discovered him one day taking fabric to Katherine to make into shirts for Henry, and this despite his excuse (which the King confirmed) that he was doing so on instructions. One may sympathize with Anne, but it was no fault of the hapless courtier that Henry saw no implication in a wife he was claiming  to have rejected being expected to continue caring for his linen.” - Eric Ives in The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Anne telling Wyatt about her Pregnancy Craving: February 1533

“A week later she [Anne] said to one of her favourites, probably Wyatt, and again in the hearing of many courtiers, that she had developed a craving for apple, which the King said was a sign that she was pregnant but which she had denied - clearly in jest, for she went back into her room laughing loudly.” - Eric Ives in The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

beyondthegoblincity:

—Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

akingslayer:

Things that The Tudors’ Writers Did Right: Henry’s Distraction: December 1533

“She nearly caused an international incident at a banquet on 1 December 1533 by bursting into laughter when she was talking to the French ambassador. Offended, he had asked, ‘How now, Madam! Are you amusing yourself at my expense or what?’ Trying to mollify him, Anne explained that Henry had gone to bring another guest for her to entertain, and an important one, but on the way he had met a lady and the errand had gone completely out of his head.” - Eric Ives in The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

beyondthegoblincity:

—Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)