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Remember Your Ancestry: The Tudor Family In Other Works

Meredith Quill

By Meredith Quill
in Wolf Hall [V]

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Notwisconsin

Notwisconsin

(edited)

There are a number of people who people write books about. The second millennium CE has Hitler, Abe Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte and Henry VIII. I think there have been more books about these three than everyone else put together.

Edited by Notwisconsin
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M. Darcy

M. Darcy

 

I'm sorely tempted to go check this out, all two nights of it.

I really want to see it but I'm a bit worried it might be too much Wolf Hall between that and the tv series...and my rereading the books.  My plan right now is to go to NY but just see one of the parts. 

 

I mentioned her in the book topic but my favorite writer about all things royalty is Jean Plaidy.  She is how I learned everything about English history.  All her Tudors novels have been republished here in the States.

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Goshengir1

Goshengir1

I love Allison Weir's biographies. I read The Six Wives of Henry VIII in high school and it really fueled my life long love for everything Tudor.  The Children of Henry VIII is also good, and contains the most information I have ever read on Edward and Mary.   She has also written some fiction which is hit or miss, but I enjoyed Innocent Traitor about Lady Jane Grey and Elizabeth.

 

And on the lighter side, I like Philippa Gregory's novels!  The Other Boleyn Girl, The Queen's Fool and The Boleyn Inheritance I thought were all very enjoyable reads.  Not all novels can be Wolf Hall :-)

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kieyra

kieyra

(edited)

One of my favorites on the fictional side (aside from Wolf Hall) is I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles. There's a fair amount of bodice-ripping which I could live without, but I really like her Elizabeth voice aside from that. The author lets Elizabeth be profane and vindictive and capricious and jealous, but also very intelligent and pragmatic. 

Edited by kieyra
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M. Darcy

M. Darcy

A really interesting book that is not necessarily about the Tudors themselves but what life was like in England at that time is The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer. 

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Eegah

Eegah

For anyone looking to go outside the box on this, I would recommend The Tournament by Matthew Reilly, about a 13 year old Elizabeth and her tutor Roger Ascham attending a chess tournament where they encounter a murder mystery. It's quite unusual territory for Reilly, who specializes in utterly brainless (but very fun) action schlock, but he adapts quite well and I look forward to see if he does any more like it.

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ulkis

ulkis

I haaaate Jean Plaidy. She repeats things over and over and OVER. If a book of hers is short, fine, it's doable. But I read her book about Elizabeth Tudor and I almost threw it against a wall.

 

A book I haven't seen here that I would recommend is "Legacy" by Susan Kay about Elizabeth Tudor. It's a bit odd at times but it's really well written (it's fiction, not a biography).

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kieyra

kieyra

(edited)

I was going to post this in the episode thread, regarding Anne's execution, but I had nothing to add about the show itself so brought it here.

No matter how many times I've seen this material played out, the executions never get easier. Natalie Dormer did a very good turn on the block as AB in The Tudors, and then a season later they shot Catherine Howard's execution in a different, but still deeply creepy way.

I can't make it through the more gruesome stuff--burning at the stake, the botched executions (I think they addressed that in The Tudors but I couldn't watch), and the cook who was boiled alive (ditto).

(If there are readers who swore of off The Tudors due to the historical shenanigans in season 1, it gets more on track in season 2, and it's worth it for Natalie Dormer's portrayal of Anne's fall. Then season 3 brings us more of James Frain as Cromwell, and a bizarrely engaging performance of Anne of Cleeves from Joss Stone. )

Edited by kieyra
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susannot

susannot

As bad as Henry was, executions got even more gruesome under the reign of his daughter, Bloody Mary Tudor.  The fires at Smithfield never stopped burning.  Pregnant women were burned at the stake.  Mary's religion demanded it.

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kieyra

kieyra

I'm always conflicted about Mary Tudor. She was a religious fanatic, she had a seriously crappy life for the most part, and I'm pretty sure she was well and truly mentally ill by the end. I think she really believed she was doing God's work. I don't think Henry VIII really had any such delusion.

(Most of my source on this is Weir's Children of Henry VIII, which goes into heartbreaking detail about Mary's false pregnancies, her devastation over being abandoned by Philip, her inability to stop what she regarded as heresy, the loss of Calais, etc.)

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susannot

susannot

(edited)

I agree with everyting you said about Mary Tudor.  She was a seriously committed fanatic.  Still, and I hate to be so gruesome but I read the same sources as you--at least one pregnant woman gave birth by fire, dropping her fetus into the flames.  One of the most disgusting, horrible things I have ever read.  And if poor Mary had been able to bring Phillip in as King of England, there would have been a holocaust of blood in establishing the old religion.  So amazing that religion requires so much violence.

Edited by susannot
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MisterGlass

MisterGlass

 

So amazing that religion requires so much violence.

 

It doesn't.  However, this was the Middle Ages, and might made right.

 

Anne certainly had the better execution compared to Mary, Queen of Scots or the Duke of Monmouth.  If the executioners in Henry's era were anything like Jack Ketch, then the sword was a mercy.  Here is a link on the Tower Green executions.

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Dirtybubble

Dirtybubble

No matter how many times I've seen this material played out, the executions never get easier. Natalie Dormer did a very good turn on the block as AB in The Tudors, and then a season later they shot Catherine Howard's execution in a different, but still deeply creepy way.

I can't make it through the more gruesome stuff--burning at the stake, the botched executions (I think they addressed that in The Tudors but I couldn't watch), and the cook who was boiled alive (ditto).

 

I wouldn't have lasted 10 mins in the dark ages.  As I said in the other thread I'm glad they didn't show the execution of the men.  Anne's death was enough and I would have been happy with the conversation Cromwell had with the executioner as to the who and whats of the ordeal--didn't really need to see her headless body fall to the side no matter how brief the shot.  Yep coulda lived without that. 

 

BUT major MAJOR kudos to the actress who played A.B. and to the actor portraying Thomas Cromwell--wow they earned their pay in those scenes!  Her voice shaking as she gave her final speech and jer hand shaking as she nervously pushed her hair away from her forehead--perfect. 

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ulkis

ulkis

(edited)

Not exactly an official work, but I was reminded of a blog that used to publish parodies/point out historical inaccuracies in films, and here are three Tudor ones they did:

 

Elizabeth (the Cate Blanchett film):

 

http://history-spork.livejournal.com/3679.html

 

Elizabeth: the Golden Age:

 

http://history-spork.livejournal.com/7816.html

 

and The Other Boleyn Girl:

 

http://history-spork.livejournal.com/8104.html

 

this is the rest of the parodies for anyone who might be interested:

 

http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=history_spork&keyword=Movie%20sporkings&filter=all

Edited by ulkis
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ulkis

ulkis

(edited)

For anyone looking to go outside the box on this, I would recommend The Tournament by Matthew Reilly, about a 13 year old Elizabeth and her tutor Roger Ascham attending a chess tournament where they encounter a murder mystery. It's quite unusual territory for Reilly, who specializes in utterly brainless (but very fun) action schlock, but he adapts quite well and I look forward to see if he does any more like it.

 

Thanks for recommending this, it probably would have completely slipped my radar otherwise. I liked it a lot.

Edited by ulkis
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algebra

algebra

As for the whole bloodiness of the era, the glorification of the English dynastic histories pretty much obliterated the actual character of the feuding, the Wars of the Roses being more like gang warfare than any kind of noble endeavor. Think Mexican drug wars. That's how noble they were. These were turf wars with the peasants caught in the crossfire. It doesn't matter how many layers of embroidered gold lace you put on them these guys were just thugs,

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