Henry VIII's love letters to Anne Boyleyn

Henry VIII wrote Anne Boleyn a collection of love letters. Anne Boleyn was the soon to be second wife after he fought many years with the Catholic Church to divorce his first wife Queen Katherine.  Here is an example of one of his many love letters to dear Anne Boleyn, written in February 1528-

DARLING, these shall be

only to advertise you that this

bearer and his fellow be despatched

with as many things to compass our

matter, and to bring it to pass as our

wits could imagine or devise; which

brought to pass, as I trust, by their

diligence, it shall be shortly, you and

I shall have our desired end, which

should be more to my heart’s ease,

and more quietness to my mind, than

any other thing in the world ; as, with

God’s grace, shortly I trust shall be

proved, but not so soon as I would

it were; yet I will ensure you that

there shall be no time lost that may

be won, and further can not be done;

for ultra posse non est esse*. Keep him

not too long with you, but desire

him, for your sake, to make the more

speed; for the sooner we shall have

word from him, the sooner shall our

matter come to pass. And thus upon

trust of your short repair to London,

I make an end of my letter, my own

sweet heart.

His letters were detailed yet simple and romantic.  Through his letters we can see that he truly had deep feelings for Anne, but we cannot forget the tragic ending to their affair when she was not able to bear him a son. We could even argue that King Henry just wanted something he couldn't have, and the chase made her more appealing to him but once he was able claim Anne as his queen and once she bears him a baby girl, he was so quick to end their affair. It makes me wonder if his feelings to Anne were truly sincere or just because she promised him she would bear him a son. 

source from:

http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/resources/anne-boleyn-words/henry-viiis-love-letters-to-anne-boleyn/

The Ring of the Reformation

The marriage between Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora happened two years before Luther first began to truly organize his new Church. Luther had always argued against celibacy, but his marriage with Katharina was like the seal of approval on clerical marriage (despite the fact that several formal priests and monks were married earlier). Obviously since this was such a special occasion, you would expect Luther to get his beloved a special ring to match this monumental event. According to artist Lucas Cranach, Luther did just that.

Pictured above is Katharina von Bora wearing her beautifully adorned wedding ring. The ring was said to have been made with all gold. In the center of the ring was a crucifix made complete with a figure of Christ the Savior being stabbed in the side with a spear. Finally the ruby itself was deep red, the color of Jesus' blood and underneath the stone was the couple's names and their wedding date in German. 

While the original ring is said to have went missing, here is an accurate replica of the ring so that you can get a closer look at the beauty and intricacy of it.

Henry’s Many Wives

While Henry was still married to his first wife, Catherine, he became infatuated with Anne Boleyn. He began to worry that his current marriage was cursed by God, since the Old Testament had a ban on marring the widow of one’s brother. Thus, he decided the best thing to do was to get an annulment, thus allowing him to remarry.

In 1533, the king determined that he did not need the pope’s permission to rule on issues that affected the Church of England and that he could marry Anne. So wed they did, and soon after they welcomed a daughter, named Elizabeth, into the world.

Their marriage lasted for a few short years, until he met Jane Seymour. Henry lost interest in his “great love” Anne after she delivered a stillborn son. Within six month he managed to execute Anne for treason. Thus, freeing himself up to marry Jane.  Jane was able to quickly produce him a son, but died only two weeks later.

Now it was time for marriage number four. She was the ruler of a Protestant duchy in Germany. However, it only took Henry a few days to be over this marriage and ready for the next. Henry had the marriage annulled. Next, he married Catherine Howard. Oddly enough, after two years she too was beheaded for treason and adultery. His final marriage was to Catherine Parr. She was the only wife to survive being married to him. Luckily, she was able to outlive him.

Sources:

http://www.history.com/topics/henry-viii

Love Letters

               As we talked in the class Henry VIII was an avid writer.  Not only did he write such extravagant works such as The Defense of the Seven Sacraments, he wrote personal journals and letters.  These letters and journals offer an interesting point of view.  While we typically see Henry as the triumphant, war bound, glorious King, these personal accounts give new insight into the mind of Henry as a person, not a King.  As we all know Henry loved Anne Boleyn, almost border line obsessed, his secret marriage is evidence of that.  While Henry was still trying to court Anne Boleyn he sent her a series of love letters, one of which is shown below.

             
               This specific letter goes into great detail of his emotions he felt for Anne Boleyn.  Towards the end of his letter he lets her know that she is the only one he desires.  He lets her know that he prays to God every day that they see each other again.  Another interesting fact about this letter is that at the bottom he wrote something similar to "H. and AB forever" and her initials were in a heart that he drew.  While Henry may have been ruthless to some of his wives this letter still is a great testament to the love and emotion he felt for Anne Boleyn at one time.

Arthur Tudor

As we have discussed Henry VII in class, and have viewed some of the musical and historical accounts of his life, one question I had was what exactly happened to his children?  We have learned that Henry the VII stumbled through many marriages and produced a number of offspring.  His ultimate goal was to conceive a son to become heir to his throne.  Arthur Tudor, pictured above, was the son of Henry VII and was born a mere eight months after Henry's marriage to Elizabeth of Yorkshire. 

Henry had great plans for Arthur, and appointed him the prince of Wales at a very young age.  At just three years old Arthur was Knighted, and by seven he was sent away to learn the ropes as a prince.  The painting above depicts Henry Tudor as a young man in 1502.  As we can see he is dressed in elegant clothing that portrays his high status, and is accompanied by a variety of jewelry.  From the picture, one might see Arthur as more of a boy than a man, which essential is what he was at the time he obtained his prince hood.  For Henry, the grandiose views of a son that would proceed him wrote the history of Arthur.  The depiction of Arthur in this painting and in his known history sums up his life as the son of Henry VII who was an interesting character in himself.  The fascination of Henry often focuses more on his life than on the lives of his children or wives, and this piece help bring to light one of the many offspring of the infamous king.

Sources:
http://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2013/04/01/arthur-tudor-prince-of-wales/

Katherine Parr

  
          Many people know off all the scandals that King Henry VII caused during his reign. From his 6 wives, to their beheading, to this constant battle for a son, everything he did it considered fairly common knowledge to this time. But many people do not know about the scandals within his wives.While some wives wee accused of adultery and incest, evidence says now most of these accusations were for King Henry to have a reason for ridding the old wife and finding a new, younger "better" one. After doing some research on his wives, I found some risque acts involving King Henry's last wife, Katherine Parr. 
          Katherine Parr was born in 1512, thought the exact day of her birth is unknown. She was named after King Henrys first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Parrs mother, Maud Green, was along with Catherine of Aragon during the Kings courting process in his early reign. (King Henry's last wife was named after his first, which is kind of silly to me.) Prior to her marriage with King Henry VII, she was married 3 times before. At the age of 17 she married a man named Edward Borough, though he died some years after. Her second marriage was to John Neville, third Baron Latimer of Snape Castle in Yorkshire. She was 22 and he was 41. Neville died in 1543, leaving Katherine widowed once again, now at the age of 31. It was at this time that she was noticed by the King and a man named Thomas Seymour, who was the brother of King Henrys 3rd wife, Jane Seymour. Even though Katherine had expressed feelings to marry Thomas Seymour, she felt King Henrys request was an offer she could not refuse.  
          Katherine Parr and King Henry VII had a seemingly decent marriage. She was close to all three of her step children and helped in the education of the younger 2. King Henry fell ill and died in January of 1547. 
          Only a few short months after the death of the King, Katherine secretly married Thomas Seymour-the man she originally  was seeking interest in before her prior marriage. While there is no actual evidence that she had any type of affair with Seymour, one can imagine why they hastily married in secret. When their marriage arose to the public, it created a scandal during this time. 


Do you think Katherine Parr was unloyal to King Henry VII during their marriage?



Sources:
http://www.elizabethfiles.com/catherine-parr-and-thomas-seymour-part-one/3641/
http://tudorhistory.org/parr/

An Allegory of the Reformation

Edward VI and the Pope, an Allegory of the Reformation

The painting I chose for this weeks post represents the handing over of power from Henry VIII to his son Edward VI. About the origin of the painting itself little is known. The artist is unknown and art historians even debate over the date it is produced. Some claim that it is a contemporary work, which was produced right after Henry’s death in 1547 while others believe it was produced during the 1560s. The National Portrait Gallery of London, where the oil painting is exhibited today, dates it around 1570.

           

However we don’t know much about the origin of the painting, the content of it is reflects clearly the beginning of the Reformation in England. Henry VIII lies in his bed pointing to his son Edward VI, who sits on a dias in a throne next to him. Since Edward was only ten years old at the time his father died, Henry VIII named sixteen executors in his will, to act as Edward's Council until he reached the age of 18. Some of the council members are depicted around the table. Right next to Edward’s side stands his uncle, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector. At the top right we can figure out a picture of iconoclasm. Men are pulling down and smashing idols, which was an activity approved of by a lot of English religious reformers.

            

At the bottom of Edward’s feet a book falls onto the slumped figure of the pope. The book shows a text from Isaiah: "The Worde of the Lord endureth for ever". The ribbons around the pope reads: “idolatry” and “supersticion”, on his chest is written “all fleshe is grasse”, which is also a quote out of Isaiah and it means that every body is ephemeral. We can also see the words “feyned holiness” next to it.

The bent body of the pope and all the words around him, and also the way the pope points a triple cross towards two monks, who are chained to Edward's dais deliver the clear message of splitting with the Catholic Church. The English  Reformation started under Henry VIII but was fully accomplished under his son, Edward VI. It was not only Edward but also his uncle Seymour, who played a major role in the events at these changing times. Because of all the indications in the picture and the clear message it delivers, it is regarded as a piece of contemporary propaganda.

Sources:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ed_and_pope.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VI_of_England

John Calvin...and Hobbes

 philosophersguild.com

So in the midst of me creating this witty pun for this week's blog, I did a little research to see if there was a parody cartoon I could use as a pictorial reference and discovered something surprising.  Apparently the character Calvin is based off of John Calvin, and Hobbes is based off of Thomas Hobbes, a theologian and philosopher respectively.  Since these two lovable characters were actually based off of famous figures in history, I decided to see if there were any further similarities in character besides the sharing of names.  To my delighted surprise, there actually were.

  Painting of Calvin by Hans Holbein the Younger

The Calvin we all know and love was a kid that seemed much older and more mature for his age, and had very specific and sometimes odd views concerning personal ethics and politics.  John Calvin was the same in that he strongly believed in predestination as well as strict rules concerning church ethics.  In fact, there is a comic strip that hones in on John Calvin's beliefs, hidden almost in-between the lines.  Calvin is quoted as saying to Hobbes, "If you ask me, the whole notion of 'instant gratification' is a myth!"  Historically, John Calvin did believe in this idea, simply because he believed that all of human life was pretty much preordained and that there wasn't anything one could do about that fact.  Both Calvins questioned the true meaning of life, however subtly, and I believe that there are lots of little 'historical nuggets' to be found in the cartoon in addition to the numerous John Calvin references.   

Sources:
http://www.dailyrepublican.com/calvin-hobbes.html
Zophy's Renaissance and Reformation Europe
Class Discussion

You can find a snazzy t-shirt version of the cartoon pic here!!:  http://www.philosophersguild.com/Calvin-and-Hobbes-T-shirt.html

Holbein's Anne of Cleaves

 

This is the portrait of Anne of Cleaves Hans Holbein of Augsberg painted for King Henry VIII. Anne was the King Henry's bride to be after his third wife, Jane Seymour, died. King Henry had never seen or met Anne of Cleaves, but Thomas Cromwell thought it would be good for the king to marry someone of a Protestant dynasty. The king was leery about Protestantism, but Cleves was not getting along with Charles the V just like England. So as a result, Henry decided to go through with the marriage. However, because King Henry had never seen her he seen Anne he sent Hans Holbein to paint her and return, too bad they didn't have snapchat. 

Whenever Holbein returned with the painting the king was pleased with Anne and allowed the finalization of the wedding. However, afterwords upon the actual meeting of the two the king changed his mind on being attracted to Anne and quickly annulled the wedding. He believed Hans Holbein's painting was misleading that it covered up the effects of smallpox. This goes to show Henry's views on marriage. He obviously only wanted a young woman that was beautiful and gave birth to only living sons. That couldn't have been too hard (sarcasm). Giving birth in this time period was dangerous and the fact that Henry wanted his wives to give birth multiple times and expected sons is absurd. 

Holbein's Henry VIII

Hans Holbein the Young (aka jr.) 's Portrait of Henry VII is arguably one of the most iconic and most well known portrait of Henry (see below left). Plot twist: the portraits we see today in full color are actually copies of the original that was lost in a fire. Plot twist #2: the original wasn't a portrait at all, but was a mural that included 3 other people, his wife Jane Seymour and his parents Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Holbein, as the appointed kings painter, was commissioned to paint this mural of the family for Henry's privy chambers in the Palace of Whitehall. This was likely to of happened between 1536-1537, due to the fact that Jane and Henry were together at this time. As mentioned, this mural was lost in a fire caused by a maid doing laundry. Fortunately for our class and scholars alike, Charles II commissioned a copy of the mural with a Flemish painter named Remigius Van Leemput in 1667 (see below right). 

Copy of the Whitehall Mural, c.1667
Remigius Van Leemput, after Holbein

Portrait of Henry VII(copy), c.1536-1547
Artist Unknown

As you can tell, this copy influenced many future painters which can be seen in the many similar portraits of Henry that exist today. His stance is always the same and his royal garb is pretty consistent throughout the copies. We know today that vanity proportioning was applied in these portraits- are we surprised? In real life Henry's legs were much shorter in relation to his body (we know this because there are remaining pieces of his armor), and that, quite obviously, his shoulders weren't that broad-however, his royal garb did make him appear broader and more daunting. Notice that Henry clutches a sword in this left hand in all the portraits. This is thought to have been included to intimidate and show off his wealth. 

This is the one remaining Holbein of Henry that is believed to have been the warm up drawing of sorts for the painting of the Whitehall Mural. (below) 

Portrait of Henry VII, c.1536
Hans Holbein, the Younger

 Fun Fact: Some say that this famous depiction was used for means of propaganda during his rein-  a way to boost his ego while at the same time slipping in hidden anti-henry messages into the various portraits being copied of him. 

Sources: 

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/holbeins-henry-viii.html

http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/henry8face2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Henry_VIII

http://www.pastscape.org/hob.aspx?hob_id=404943

The Woman Who Supported Calvin

                             

(These two images show Renée of France, both done during her lifetime, the one on the left obviously being an earlier portrait done by Jean Clouet, the second portrait done by François Clouet.)

Renée of France, the duchess of Ferrara offered sanctuary to Jean Calvin during his travels; specifically she invited him to visit her court in Italy in 1536 (Zophy 216). Her more conservative husband, Duke Ercole II did not enjoy Calvin’s stay. By 1540 Calvin had succeeded in convincing Renée to stop practicing Roman Catholicism altogether. Her husband responded by first taking away her children, and then allowing her to be sentenced and imprisoned for heresy in 1554. She signed a form of recantation and was released, a lucky situation indeed. With his death in 1559, Renée returned to France the following year and offered a safe place for Calvinists to stay inside of France.

Renée always enjoyed allowing the various religious reformers to visit her court. The group she paid the most attention to was the French Protestants offering them safety when being pushed out of France in response to Calvin’s activities. Duke Ercole did not enjoy this; he viewed them as heretics and dissenters (Zophy 216). Yet she also allowed intellectual thinkers into her court as well. The humanist Olympia Morata was brought for a visit, as well as Clément Marot, a famous French poet. For her life, Renée held quite a strong perspective on intellectual and religious beliefs, even if it brought problems into her marriage, which ended after thirty-one years together, due to the duke’s death. Her own death in 1574 came after a lifetime of support for various religious opinions and ideas.

Information not found in Zophy:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/498078/Renee-of-France