Category: Tudor Period

Miniseries, Recap, Royalty, Tudor Period

Wolf Hall: Shut up, shut up, shut up!

Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn in Wolf HallPreviously on Wolf Hall: Anne miscarried again, so Henry told Cromwell to find a way to get rid of her, so he can move on to Jane Seymour.

Cromwell’s having a dinner with an extremely unlikely guest list. The Pole and Courtenay women are there, as is Norfolk, who’s demanding his food. Cromwell calls it forward, and as the plates are placed on the table, he sees Anne coming towards him, dragged by ropes over the dishes, dressed in her coronation gown. Oh, dream sequence. That makes sense. Anne looks up at Cromwell and smiles creepily. He stands and lifts a dagger over her heart, plunges it down…

…and comes back to himself at breakfast, with his family. So, it was kind of a waking dream/fantasy then? Odd. He eats, rather mechanically.

Continue reading “Wolf Hall: Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

EditorBeeLeave a comment
Miniseries, Recap, Royalty, Tudor Period

Wolf Hall: Crows

a5df290c-fac4-462c-884b-188856cedd69-1020x612Previously on Wolf Hall: More was put to death for refusing to acknowledge Henry as head of the church, Anne failed to produce a son, and Cromwell found himself drawn to Jane Seymour.

The intro tells us that the Holy Roman Emperor and his ambassador, Chapuys, refuse to acknowledge Henry’s new title or his new queen, Anne.

We pick up a minute before we left off last week, with Henry and his entourage arriving at Wolf Hall, the Seymour home. Everyone sits down to dinner, with Henry at the head of the table, of course. I’ve only just realized that the actor playing Edward Seymour, the eldest of the Seymour brothers, is the same guy who played Jimmy on Downton Abbey. Small acting world. Everyone suddenly notices that Henry’s dropped off to sleep. None of the men are willing to go wake him up, so Jane finally does it by gently laying a hand on his arm. He wakes with a start and says he was just resting his eyes. Has anybody actually ever said that, for real? Jane returns to her place and dinner continues.

Continue reading “Wolf Hall: Crows”

EditorBee1 Comment
Miniseries, Recap, Royalty, Tudor Period

Wolf Hall: No More

Ep4 Television Wolf HallPreviously on Wolf Hall: Henry broke from the Catholic church so he could finally be with Anne. Cromwell continued his incredible climb, and More began his inevitable fall.

Anne, as we know, has borne a daughter. Henry, trying to hide his disappointment, decides she’ll be named Elizabeth, after both his and Anne’s mothers. He cancels the celebratory jousts, though. Cranmer notes that Henry didn’t ask how Anne was doing and someone else comments that it hardly matters.

Continue reading “Wolf Hall: No More”

EditorBeeLeave a comment
Miniseries, Recap, Tudor Period

Wolf Hall: Anna Regina

Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn in Wolf HallPreviously on Wolf Hall: Wolsey died en route to prison, setting Cromwell on a revenge path against the Boleyns and everyone else involved in his downfall.

It’s now 1531, and Henry’s asking Parliament to declare him Supreme Head of the Church of England, so he can declare his own marriage to Katherine null and void. That’s not going over too well with loyal Catholics, like More, who enjoys spending his afternoons reading aloud from the Bible (or a prayerbook) while some poor bastard gets tortured.

Continue reading “Wolf Hall: Anna Regina”

EditorBee1 Comment
Miniseries, Recap, Tudor Period

Wolf Hall: Don’t Ask, Don’t Get

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell challenges Henry VIII to an archery contestPreviously on Wolf Hall: Henry VIII decided the best way to get a son and heir was to ditch his wife and marry someone younger. He set Cardinal Wolsey the impossible task of dissolving an ironclad marriage, and when the Cardinal failed, he was sent off in disgrace. This is all witnessed by the Cardinal’s lawyer, Thomas Cromwell, a man who dragged himself out of the gutter and is definitely on his way up.

It’s December 1529. Wolsey’s still at Esher, but Anne and Norfolk want him sent further north, further away from Henry. Cromwell’s still in London, fighting on the Cardinal’s behalf.

Continue reading “Wolf Hall: Don’t Ask, Don’t Get”

EditorBee1 Comment
Miniseries, Recap, Tudor Period

Wolf Hall: Three-Card Trick

Wolf HallI can’t tell you guys how much I’ve been looking forward to this for ages. Ever since I read the books a couple of years back. I loved Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies and can’t wait for the third one to come out. I really, really wanted to go see the stage play at Stratford-Upon-Avon, but it didn’t work out. That’s ok, I’ve got this. Are we ready? Let’s go.

It’s 1529. Henry’s been trying to get rid of Katherine of Aragon for two years, and man, is he mad that it hasn’t happened yet. And all that considerable Henry rage has been directed at Cardinal Wolsey.

Continue reading “Wolf Hall: Three-Card Trick”

EditorBee1 Comment
History, Tudor Period

The Princess of Wales

On 19 May 1499, a young Catherine of Aragon married, by proxy, Arthur, Prince of Wales, unwittingly taking her first steps on her journey into living hell. Catherine was only three years old when she became engaged to Arthur, and not yet 14 when the proxy marriage took place. She and Arthur corresponded in Latin, that well-known language of love, until Arthur turned 15 and … Continue reading The Princess of Wales

EditorBee1 Comment
Elizabethan Period, Tudor Period

The Life and Death of Thomas Cranmer

Poor Thomas Cranmer. He thought he’d been doing a good thing, establishing the Anglican church, instituting all sorts of reforms, and clawing his way up to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. But all you need to screw it up was one slightly crazed Catholic with an axe to grind and suddenly you find yourself strapped to a pyre on a fine spring morning. Cranmer … Continue reading The Life and Death of Thomas Cranmer

EditorBeeLeave a comment
Renaissance, Tudor Period

Good Queen Bess

Happy coronation day, Elizabeth! That’s right: on January 15, 1559, Elizabeth I, last monarch of the House of Tudor, was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, following her accession on November 17, 1558. After a highly unstable childhood, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn somehow managed to weather the reign of her devoutly Catholic half-sister, Mary, who was a little too fond … Continue reading Good Queen Bess

EditorBeeLeave a comment
Royalty, Tudor Period

Third Time’s a Charm

Halfway there! On May 30, 1536, Henry VIII married his third wife, Jane Seymour, a mere 13 days after the execution of Anne Boleyn on trumped-up charges of adultery, treason, and incest. Oh, Henry. You were such an asshole. Jane was no stranger to the court, having served as a maid-of-honour to both Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Henry began paying her attention when … Continue reading Third Time’s a Charm

EditorBeeLeave a comment