Queen Elizabeth I In Exquisite Needlework, C1580, Possibly Originally Applied To The Front Of A Purse

Queen Elizabeth I in exquisite needlework, c1580, possibly originally applied to the front of a purse which would have contained sweetmeats or money. The symbolism worked into such a small piece is staggering and typical of the glorified mythological image of Elizabeth.

Whew @ the child-molester Thomas Seymour being described as a ‘handsome rogue’

FROM THE VAULTS:

Tudor England

The Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

On turning over in my mind the contents of your last letters, I have put myself into great agony, not knowing how to interpret them, whether to my disadvantage, as you show in some places, or to my advantage, as I understand them in some others, beseeching you earnestly to let me know expressly your whole mind as to the love between us two. 

The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory

“Jane,” I said quietly.  She opened her eyes, she had been far away in prayer.  “Yes, Mary? Forgive me, I was praying."  "If you go on flirting with the king with those sickly little smiles, one of us Boleyns is going to scratch your eyes out.”

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

Why are we so attached to the severities of the past? Why are we so proud of having endured our fathers and our mothers, the fireless days and the meatless days, the cold winters and the sharp tongues? It’s not as if we had a choice.

The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes By His Fool Will Somers, Margaret George

To recount these histories is like unravelling a thread: one means only to tell one little part, but then another comes in, and another, for they are all part of the same garment — Tudor, Lancaster, York, Plantagenet.

Dissolution, C.J. Sansom

In worshipping their nationhood men worship themselves and scorn others, and that is no healthy thing.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Alison Weir

Katherine of Aragon was a staunch but misguided woman of principle; Anne Boleyn an ambitious adventuress with a penchant for vengeance; Jane Seymour a strong-minded matriarch in the making; Anne of Cleves a good-humored woman who jumped at the chance of independence; Katherine Howard an empty-headed wanton; and Katherine Parr a godly matron who was nevertheless all too human when it came to a handsome rogue.

The Life of Elizabeth I, Alison Weir

Relations between Elizabeth and her male courtiers reflected the age—old ideals of courtly love, in which the lover pays hopeless court to his unattainable mistress.

“Anne’s final legacy is one of which she would have been entirely unaware. Although Anne can never have realised, she was to be only the second wife of England’s most married monarch. When Anne met Henry he had been married to Catherine of Aragon, a foreign princess, for many years and Henry’s marital career was entirely conventional. Henry and Catherine had no son and, after Catherine’s death he would have been expected to quickly remarry, perhaps to a French princess or another lady of the imperial family. Anne Boleyn changed all this. By insisting on marriage and driving Henry onwards, she broadened the king’s horizons. Marriage to Anne showed Henry the possibility of choosing his own wife from amongst the noblewomen of his court. The marriage also showed other women, most notably Jane Seymour, the possibility of becoming a second Anne Boleyn. More pertinently, the break with Rome gave Henry the ability to rid himself of wives quickly and easy whenever he saw fit. Thanks to Anne, Henry never found himself married to another Catherine of Aragon clinging determinedly to her position. Instead Henry was able to change his wife whenever the mood suited him. This was the work of Anne Boleyn although she can never have expected or wanted it.”

— Elizabeth Norton, “Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII’s Obsession”

doomed couple: ↳ Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII 

The love affair between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is shrouded in historical myth, romantic legend, cliché and half-truths. Much of their story remains fiercely debated by historians – everything from why Henry fell for Anne, to why he destroyed her in the end.

Anonymous, Portrait of an Elegant Lady (1790′s). Oil on canvas.

#actual historical quote

eh, it’s not a contemporary quote insofar as it wasn’t recorded at the time it was said. william roper is the source , and he was writing of his father-in-law saying this allegedly in the 1520s, but the book itself was written nearly twenty years after his death (1535). he also reported in this book an exchange that heavily implied that more predicted anne boleyn’s execution so.... it would seem some anecdotes are a little too prescient to be taken at face value .