History | Powerful Women

history | powerful women

Take this ring, in memory of me. It was a gift from the emperor, who received it from your mother.

What has been overlooked, however, is that in the same conversation, Cromwell claimed that it was a prophecy made in Flanders ‘threatening the king with a conspiracy of those who were nearest his person’, which had ‘roused his suspicion and made him enquire into the matter’. This suggests that Anne was not simply the victim of a pre-planned attack, but rather that Cromwell undertook an investigation into Anne’s circle based on a prophetic warning of danger to the king.

Andy Holroyde

…In any case I have something for you.

Edward VI, meanwhile, was growing up fast and excelled at riding, running and shooting, despite increasing short-sightedness. Consistently striving to emulate Henry VIII, he was becoming more and more like his father. Hands on his hips, he would imitate Henry’s straddling pose, and emit ‘thunderous oaths’ in his high, imperious voice. By calculated displays of wrath and coldness, he sought to make men fear him as they had his father. By now a fanatical Protestant, he was fond of lecturing those around him in the articles of his faith, a role which sat oddly with his youth. His councilors and courtiers were already in awe of him. ‘He will be the wonder and terror of the world if he lives,’ declared Bishop Hooper that year.

”The Children of Henry VIII,” by Alison Weir -Portraits by the Circle of William Scrots (1537-1554) and William Scrots (1546)

History Meme: List of Favorite Women throughout History–Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France & England (c. 1122 – April 1, 1204)

Although Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and later England, lived at a time when women as individuals had few significant rights, she was nevertheless the key political figure of the 12th century. At the age of fifteen she inherited one-quarter of modern-day France, but since women were thought unfit to rule, her land as well as her person were delegated to the custody of men. Her whole life thereafter became a struggle for the independence & political power that circumstances had denied her, although few of her contemporaries could realized this.

Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography by Marion Meade