The Truth and Myths of Thomas Cromwell Guest Post by Caroline Angus Baker Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, Lord Privy Seal of England, has enjoyed a revival as a popular Tudor character in recent years after being reshaped into a hero. But was Thomas Cromwell ever a villain? After his execution in 1540, all…
Read more The Truth and Myths of Thomas Cromwell (Guest Post)
Guest post by Diarmaid MacCulloch Thomas Cromwell has rarely had a good press, even in Protestant England’s triumphant island story, in which the Pope’s deluded followers were repeatedly put in their place so that the British Empire could flourish and spread Christian civilisation far and wide. In that tale, Henry VIII could take all the…
When Anne Boleyn miscarried what her midwife called a boy it was also reported by the midwife that the child was malformed*. In Tudor England, at the time, a malformed* baby meant that the mother had gravely sinned, whether it be witchcraft, adultery or incest. Are these the events that began the downfall of Anne…
Read more Anne Boleyn’s Last Pregnancy: The Beginning of the End?
It is through my connections to the Tudor world online that I ran into author Adrienne Dillard. Adrienne is a total sweetheart and sent me her book to review after I asked her to write an article about Jane Boleyn for my site. I already had a growing “To Be Read” pile going on but…
Read more Book Review: “The Raven’s Widow” by Adrienne Dillard
The story of Katheryn Howard intertwines with many other notable figures of the time but none more than Anne of Cleves and Thomas Cromwell. We’ll start with Katheryn’s childhood and attempt to chronologically move through time until her execution in 1542. After writing Part One, I realized her story deserves multiple parts. Part One, will…
Described by Polydore Vergil as “A woman of the utmost charm both in appearance and character” and Sir John Russell as, “the fairest of all his wives”. Eustace Chapuys described Jane as “of middle stature and no great beauty”. Jane was of a natural sweet-nature, unlike her predecessor Anne Boleyn and had also been considered…
Read more The Life of Jane Seymour – Third Wife of Henry VIII
