mercurayyy

now see him fabulous

WHAT ABOUT DOOMED SIBLINGS

CLAIRE FOY as Queen Anne Boleyn Wolf Hall (2015) | Episode five

WRONG

☆ commission work: click here to view commission info.

Okay, let’s kick this sucker off with some thoughts on my boy Henry VIII!

Everyone tends to think of Henry’s thing as “starting a new religion because this one won’t let him get divorced,” but, as with most things, it’s really more complicated than that.

The Pope gave out annulments ALL THE TIME; in fact, Henry’s buddy Charles Brandon had gotten two. So Henry figured it would be a routine walk in the park. BUT. Just as he was trying to get this done, Catherine of Aragon’s nephew, Charles V, had CAPTURED THE POPE, and Charles wasn’t keen on losing his influence in England by letting his aunt be divorced.

So Henry had the thought: Maybe it’s bad policy to let the political turmoil of a foreign power (essentially what the papacy was at the time) dictate what’s happening in his own country. Also, we’re sending them all this money? Also, all the English clergy had basically diplomatic immunity, and also we’re giving THEM money? We wouldn’t do this for France or Spain, so why Rome?

Moreover, Henry was not out to create his own religion; he was as Catholic as they come. He hated Protestants. In fact, back in the day, he had written a treatise raving about the Pope, which earned him the title Defender of the Faith. So even when he was excommunicated, he was still Defender of the Faith! In fact, even now, long after the English DID make their own religion and got as far away as possible from the Catholic Church, the monarch is STILL Defender of the Faith. It’s on the coins.

History, man.

People always say her portraits are stiff, cold, overly modest — compared to other female rulers. I remembered reading that during her reign, there were anti-Marian pamphlets circulating that were openly hostile, anti-Spanish, and very gendered. Some of them leaned hard into sexualized humiliation — using Mary’s body as a way to talk about fears of Spain, Catholicism, and foreign men “overrunning” England. I genuinely cannot write the explicit nature of it, but it really stayed with me.

Because a lot of Tudor circles really just like to focus on the 'bloody mary' aspect of Mary, or tearing her down to prop up Elizabeth, we often times aren't allowed to focus on the drastic change that took place with her being queen.

Because England had never had a queen in her own right, so everything from the language used at ceremonial proceedings to even the way her privy chamber, and councilors of primarily men operated around her, had to change.

A huge thing about Henry VIII was emphasizing his masculinity, and his mandhood, and that is what England was used to.

Mary was an exact contrast to that.