#and charles cromwell you no-good bastard :I

[carewyncromwell]

“Are we too far apart? Two worlds among the stars? You’re gonna take a piece of my heart if you leave... So it’s two separate ways, Or am I too late to say, I wanna fight for what we got? ‘Cause I believe in family...in family...”

~“Family” by TobyMac

x~x~x~x

I gotta say, I didn’t think I’d become so attached to Carewyn’s youngest cousin Tristan when I decided to write for him in that one drabble I did, but...yeah, here he ended up as a young adult with Carewyn in my sketchbook! Go figure! XD

But yeah, this is Tristan Cromwell, age 18, and dressed to the Goth Victorian nines. Yes, that is his aesthetic -- he would’ve 150% been that Tim Burton-obsessed weirdo kid, if he’d been raised in the Muggle World. I see this being him reaching out to his now-nearly-30-year-old cousin Carewyn at the Ministry of Magic, specifically talking at that one fountain in the center Atrium, which has gone through some changes since its pre-Wizarding-War days and especially since the Wizarding War itself. As you can see, Tristan’s grown up a lot since he appears in that drabble -- a bit personality-wise, yes, but definitely physically. Tristan ends up being the tallest and lankiest of all the Cromwells at 5′11″, making him both an inch taller than his father and the same height as his deceased grandfather, Charles. It also means he towers over Carewyn, the smallest Cromwell at 5′3″.

Despite his and Carewyn’s differences, though, Tristan as a young adult really becomes all the more motivated to fix the rift in his broken family. (I’m not joking, while working on this, I must have played Scott Shattuck’s cover of Waiting on a Miracle a good twenty times, imagining it as a theme for adult!Tristan.) As Blaise’s only son and heir, he’s presumed to be the one who’ll have to take on the mantle of leadership for the Clan, even while the youngest of the Cromwell cousins, so Tristan feels an obligation to do what his father has been unable to and bring Carewyn, Jacob, and Lane back into the fold. One lesson Tristan does internalize that Blaise never does, however, is that love is about sacrifice, not just possessive control...a lesson bolstered by his interactions with his favorite "bastard cousin,” Carewyn. I could even see Tristan seeking out Carewyn’s help with getting a position at the Ministry as an adult, since his father’s influence is far less than Charles’s was back in the day and Tristan’s lack of real-world experience, connections, and social skills hampers him in his job search.

“I’m a Cromwell! I’m not supposed to have to struggle to get the respect owed me.”

Fortunately for however proud and entitled Tristan is thanks to Blaise’s toxic influence, he also is painfully aware of his duty to his family and is determined to be the best Head he can be...even if it required him taking a desk job he’d be miserable at.

“Wouldn’t I, what, prefer to do something else? Obviously. I’ve been locked up inside nearly my whole life -- you don’t think I don’t wish every day I could just pack my bags and go running off into the sunset on some whirlwind adventure, the way your brother does? Hell, reckon even your precious Quidditch player’s able to do that sometimes, with how much travel he must get up to...

“...But...I can’t. Not when it’d break Father’s heart. Not when the whole Clan needs leadership, and just about all of them presume it has to be me. It’s not like it could be anyone else, really. Elmer’s not the leadership sort, and Arsen and Kain...they can’t even score a promotion with the Hitwizards, let alone take charge of the Clan. And Heather, Dahlia, and Iris, feh -- the Manor would probably get burned to the ground in a week if they called the shots.

“I was raised to do this, by my father. I have to do this, the way he has -- but I can’t do it his way. Not just because the Cromwell name’s been tarnished and Father can’t help me get ahead the way Grandfather did for him, but because...well...”

“...You’re not your father.”

“...Yes. And...if anything is going to get better, with our family...if I’m ever going to make things right...I can’t be like him, either. No matter how much I love him and no matter how much I want to make him proud...if I’m going to make that dream come true, I have to do things my way.

“So just...put in a good word for me, will you? Maybe Father’s word doesn’t have weight here at the Ministry, but yours does. You’re the Ministry’s Star Prosecutor, after all. Even if I do have to be stuck indoors all day, well, at least it’ll be a different ‘indoors.’ And I know Father will be pleased, if I ended up in your Department. Sure he’ll see it as the perfect excuse to try to lure you back home...”

Tristan’s lips were curled up in an amused, mischievous smirk, when he said this: one that made him more closely resemble that thirteen-year-old boy Carewyn had seen back at the Cromwell Manor during the War.

As one can expect, Carewyn didn’t flaunt her influence around to get Tristan a job the way he wanted...but, feeling some compassion for her cousin, she did line up several promising Ministry internship opportunities for him -- one with the Department of International Magical Cooperation, one in the Department of Magical Games and Sports’s office closer to Quidditch League Headquarters, one at St. Mungo’s sponsored by the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad, and even three for the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. None of those opportunities, however, were in Wizarding Law. 

Sorry, Tristan -- but I think you’ve had more than enough of being stuck indoors.

After much deliberation, Tristan selected one of the internships for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, specifically the one that required him to work with the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau, exploring more humane methods of transport for the creatures across Muggle-occupied areas. Tristan’s extensive knowledge of magical creature anatomy ended up being very helpful in this task -- though the best part of the experience, by far, ended up being when he was able to finally see a real-life Welsh Green for the first time. After only ever knowing such creatures as models and drawings in books, Tristan almost couldn’t breathe when he was able to actually reach out and touch one, with his own hands.

Blaise would probably be more than a little disconcerted about his son ending up so close to such a dangerous creature -- but in that moment, Tristan couldn’t keep the huge grin off his face as he ran a hand gently along the dragon’s comb, rubbing his wet eyes on his sleeve. He’d never been so happy in all his life.

[queenaboleyna]

post in the tags who is your problematic fave male the tudors character mine is thomas cromwell

[queenmarytudor]

MARY: SERIES ONE

When King Henry VIII announces his daughter unable to inherit the crown of England, Princess Mary Tudor and her friends at court rebel and conspire against him.

An imagined six episode psychological drama series, focusing on Princess Mary Tudor and the intrigues, secrets and lies of Henry VIII’s court... 

THE KING’S PEARL

Princess Mary Tudor, Princess of Wales and heir to the throne of England, is at her court in the Welsh Marches. Rhys ap Gruffydd kneels in irons before her; he has been arrested for inciting rebellion and is on the way to the Tower of London. Rhys petitions Mary for help in getting his grandfather’s lands and titles restored to him, as they are his by right and not her stewards, who has been gifted them by the king. Rhys says surely Mary knows what it is like to have an inheritance threatened. Mary promises to help him when she returns to court. Rhys thanks his princess, stating that though his wife is related to the king’s mistress, Anne Boleyn will never be Rhys’ queen.

Mary returns to court for Christmas. All along the streets nobles and peasants alike cheer for their princess before she is welcomed lovingly by her parents King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon. 

There is a grand feast; Mary reunites with her father’s cousin Henry Courtenay and his wife Gertrude, one of Katherine’s ladies. She dances with the courtier Nicholas Carew while her parents watch proudly. 

Mary petitions her father to release Rhys from imprisonment in the Tower. The king, delighted to have his pearl back, agrees, but refuses to grant him his grandfather’s lands and titles. The pair decide to go riding together.

On their return, Gertrude escorts Mary to see her mother. She tells Mary her father’s mistress, Anne Boleyn, has just arrived back at court. Katherine introduces Mary to Eustace Chapuys, ambassador to Mary’s cousin Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Chapuys promises he will do his best to help her and her mother. Katherine and Chapuys reveal Pope Clement has forbidden the king from marrying Anne, threatening him with excommunication from the church if he does.

After Mass, where the royal family pray together, a freed Rhys seeks out Mary. He thanks her for his release and attempting to get his inheritance back. 

Mary goes to her father’s chambers, where Thomas Cromwell introduces himself as King Henry’s new minister. Mary asks where her father is. When Cromwell replies he is with Anne Boleyn, Mary leaves for the sanctuary of her mother’s rooms. 

Henry Courtenay arrives from parliament, telling Katherine, Mary and Gertrude that the king has now declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Gertrude tells them she heard of a nun in Kent who can predict the future. Katherine warns her not to do anything foolish. 

On Saint David’s Day, the patron saint of Wales, Mary is given a Welsh leek by the king’s gentlemen pensioners in a grand ceremony. She is watched by a crowd of courtiers and Chapuys, who compliments her. They talk for a while before she leaves. 

Exiting, Mary comes across Anne Boleyn. They glare at each other before Anne reluctantly sinks into a curtsey. Mary ignores her.

Mary plays the virginals for her parents. Despite their praise, there is obvious tension between the pair.

At nightfall Mary and her father talk. Mary is confused how he has declared himself the head of a church that doesn’t exist. Henry says she is clever; one day his pearl will understand. After he has left, Mary tells her governess, Margaret Pole, that she doesn’t think she will ever understand.

Katherine worries when Margaret wakes her in the night to inform her Mary is ill. Gertrude brings up the Nun of Kent again, but Maria Willoughby and Jane Seymour shush her. Katherine goes to help Margaret care for Mary. As Mary continues to vomit, Katherine strokes her daughter’s hair, clutching her necklace which she believes contains a piece of the True Cross. She prays her daughter will get better, comforting her with old stories of her and King Henry when they were younger.

In the morning a recovered Mary wakes to six luxurious new dresses, a gift from her father. She immediately puts one on.  

At breakfast, the queen is sat at the table alone. The king left them earlier in the morning to go on summer progress with Anne Boleyn, forcing most of the courtiers to go with them, including the Courtenay’s. Katherine smiles and tells Mary they can still have a good time, just the two of them and their households.

Reginald, the son of Margaret, is sent money by the king to study in Padua. Katherine and Margaret are hopeful Reginald will convince King Henry to recant his decision to break from Rome and marry a heretic. Reginald promises he will. Mary hugs her cousin goodbye, wishing him well. 

At court, Chapuys watches on with Nicholas Carew and an incensed Gertrude and Henry as Anne Boleyn takes the queen’s role at a feast. While talking, Rhys Gruffydd is publicly re-arrested for encouraging Wales to rebel against the king, and supposedly taking the title of Prince of Wales. The group disbelieve this after what Mary did for him. 

Katherine hears from Maria that Rhys has been beheaded, but she is determined to protect her daughter and keeps the news a secret.

Mary and Katherine go hawking, but on their return are sent orders to separate. Katherine promises she will see Mary soon, encouraging her to stay strong. Any bastard born of Anne Boleyn will never rule; Mary is the heir and future queen of England.  

 PRINCESS OF WALES  

Mary and her tutor Richard Featherstone are having a Latin lesson on Utopia by Sir Thomas More. In the book women are encouraged to fight in battle; Mary tells the priest she would if she could. 

Mary is walking in the fields with her ladies, Susan Clarencius and Anne Hussey, and her cousin Margaret Douglas. Her and Margaret’s cousin Frances Brandon has recently married Henry Grey. Mary is betrothed to the French Dauphin, but she has heard no news lately of a marriage... she is surprised to come across her father, riding with Nicholas. He asks how she is and Mary replies she is well, but missing her mother now she has seen him. The king is going to Calais with Anne Boleyn, now the marquess of Pembroke, but promises to see her more often when he returns.

Gertrude sees the Nun of Kent in disguise, switching clothes with her maid. Amazed at her trance, she invites the woman, Elizabeth Barton, to her house.

Mary is having her breakfast served by her friend Henry Jerningham when she is informed by her chamberlain that her father has, with the blessing of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, married Anne Boleyn. John Hussey asks for a verbal response to the news for the king, but Mary ignores him entirely, continuing to talk with Henry and her ladies. Uncomfortable, he carries on with his orders; Mary is forbidden from writing to her mother and he must take Mary’s jewels. Margaret refuses to give them up to John unless she has a direct order from the king. 

Gertrude welcomes Elizabeth warmly, asking about her prophecies. The nun says there may be war now the king has married Anne Boleyn; Gertrude asks her to pray her husband will remain safe. It grieves him that men of noble blood are being dismissed from the privy chamber, with the king ruled by Cromwell who is the son of a blacksmith.

That night, Gertrude tells Henry about the nun’s visit, telling him the king will flee the realm one day. Henry is horrified at her listening to the prophecies, potentially earning the wrath of his cousin when he finds out. He demands she tell the king. 

Mary and Margaret Douglas are informed by Margaret that their aunt Mary has died. The pair worry over Frances, but Margaret tells them she has a husband to comfort her now. Mary fears the French accepting Anne Boleyn as queen means her betrothal will be void. The three are interrupted by Mary’s servant Randall Dodd, who delivers a letter passed on by her mother’s servant Anthony. Katherine writes she has “heard such tidings today that I do perceive if it be true, the time is come that Almighty God will prove you; and I am very glad of it, for I trust He doth handle you with a good love [...] But one thing I especially desire you, for the love that you do owe unto God and unto me, to keep your heart with a chaste mind, and your body from all ill and wanton company, not thinking or desiring any husband for Christ’s passion; neither determine yourself to any manner of living till this troublesome time be past.”

Shortly after there is an official command from King Henry to take Mary’s jewels. Her personal arms are stripped from her and her household is to be reduced, with some servants, including Randall Dodd, sent to wait on her new sister Elizabeth, whose christening John Hussey must attend. 

King Henry confronts Gertrude, informing her that he knows she has visited the Nun of Kent. She petitions King Henry to forgive her, blaming her womanly foolishness. He does, and orders his cousin to as well. To show his goodwill towards her, Gertrude is bestowed the honour of becoming Princess Elizabeth’s godmother, but an annoyed Gertrude sees it as an insult.

Mary is playing a card game with her ladies and Henry Jerningham when John returns from the christening and tells Mary she is longer a princess. Mary refuses to accept it and writes to her father, believing he was “not privy to it, not doubting but you take me for your lawful daughter, born in true matrimony.”

In response to her letter the Duke of Norfolk comes to dissemble all her household; Mary is to go to Hatfield to serve her sister Elizabeth, the Princess of Wales. Mary says that title belongs to her by right, and no one else.

Mary is only allowed to take one lady in waiting with her and chooses Susan. Her cousin Margaret Douglas is to serve the new queen. Margaret offers to serve Mary at her own expense, but Norfolk refuses. Mary has an emotional goodbye with her staff. Margaret urges her to remember her grandmother had been declared a bastard before becoming queen of England.

On the way to Hatfield, one of the men escorting Mary whispers she must hold firm, for the sake of England. 

Arriving, Norfolk asks if she will pay her respects to the Princess of Wales. Mary replies she knows of no other princess in England except herself. The daughter of the marquess of Pembroke has no such title - but if her father acknowledges her as his own, she will call her sister as she calls Henry Fitzroy brother.

As he leaves, Norfolk asks if can take a message to the king. Mary says to tell him his daughter, the Princess of Wales, begs for his blessing. When Norfolk refuses, Mary tells him curtly he might leave it then, and to go away and leave her alone. She retires to her bedchamber to cry. 

UNBRIDLED BLOOD

Mary refuses to pay court to Elizabeth unless made to by force. When walking, she is always far in front or far behind the newborn, never at her side. She eats in her own rooms with food Susan steals from the kitchens, avoiding the public table. She has outgrown the ornate dresses her father gave her.

An outraged Gertrude shows Chapuys the letter she has received from the king, telling his subjects that they ought to thank God for giving them a lawful heir. Chapuys reveals he has already sent a Latin declaration for Katherine to sign and pass along to her daughter. 

The king arrives to visit his youngest daughter. Mary is desperate to see her father, but is visited by Norfolk and Cromwell. They urge her to renounce her title, but Mary says it is labour wasted to press her; they are deceived if they think bad treatment, rudeness, or even the chance of death would make her change her determination. She asks to see her father and kiss his hand, but is refused. When they leave, she runs to the terrace at the top of the house and kneels in mercy. The king bows and doffs his cap, as do the men with him, before leaving.  

The Oath of Supremacy and 1534 Act of Succession are both implemented, making Henry VIII Head of the Church of England, and Elizabeth and any other children of Anne Boleyn his heirs. The Courtenay’s are annoyed as queen Anne flaunts her belly; she is pregnant again. 

Mary receives a letter from her mother, which comforts and encourages her, along with the Latin declaration Chapuys spoke of that denies her illegitimacy. She signs it and Susan smuggles it out of Hatfield back to Chapuys. 

John Hussey and his wife Anne are returning home now Mary’s household has been dissolved, but before they go John talks with the Courtenay’s and Chapuys about the possibility of the emperor invading in support of his cousin’s rights. Chapuys says he is trying hard to convince his master. Henry says he wishes he had the opportunity to shed blood in the service of Katherine and Mary. John replies he could easily rise the north of England to help Princess Mary, and “the insurrection of the people would be joined immediately by the nobility and the clergy”. Gertrude reminds them of the prophecies of the Nun of Kent; perhaps there will be war over this... 

When moving households, Mary refuses to share a litter with Elizabeth and is forcibly put in by guards. Roughly manhandled, she shouts a public protest to some peasants who salute and cheer her as princess. Her new caretaker, Anne Shelton, warns Mary her niece queen Anne has ordered her to box Mary’s ears as a cursed bastard when she uses the title of Princess.

After Gertrude informs him of Mary’s abuse, Nicholas pays the king’s fool to insult queen Anne and princess Elizabeth. The king is furious, banishing the jester from court, but Nicholas shelters him in his own home.

A badly bruised Mary hears of Nicholas’ actions and sends a letter of thanks to him via Susan. Shelton summons Mary to visit her, questioning why she has received a letter from Elizabeth Carew, Nicholas’ wife. Elizabeth urges her to submit to the king for the passion of Christ, otherwise she will be undone. Mary pleads ignorance and throws the letter in the fireplace.

As they watch queen Anne and her uncle Norfolk prepare to visit Elizabeth, Jane Seymour tells the Courtenay’s that the queen has had a miscarriage. They fear how she will treat Mary.

As punishment for the litter incident, Norfolk takes Mary’s remaining jewels. He mocks a brooch from her childhood spelling out the Emperor. Mary is furious, even more so when Anne visits her, urging her to honour her as queen and she will reconcile her to her father. Mary says she knows of no queen of England but her mother - but if her father’s mistress would intercede on her behalf, she would be much obliged. An enraged Anne storms out, swearing to bring down her unbridled Spanish blood.

Shelton tells Mary if she were the king she would kick her out of the house for disobedience, and that the king said she will lose her head for breaking the law and not renouncing her title. Seeing Richard Featherstone preparing to leave in the retinue of queen Anne, a quick witted Mary asks him if she can practise her Latin. The people around them do not understand as she asks if the rumours are true and she is to be killed. Richard is shocked, saying it is not good Latin before leaving with the rest of Anne’s entourage. Returning to London, he immediately informs Chapuys of the danger Mary is in. The ambassador is determined to find a way to see her. 

The Nun of Kent is publicly executed, with her head put on a spike on London Bridge. After, the king tells Henry the trust his daughter has in the emperor makes her obstinate, but he fears no one if his vassals stay loyal. He warns his cousin not to trip lest he lose his head. 

WORST ENEMY IN THE WORLD

After she was forced into a litter, Mary asks to ride on her horse when moving households. As soon as she is mounted, she races ahead of her sister’s litter, riding across the countryside to the waiting river barge. Exhilarated by the freedom of her ride, she beats the rest of the household there and takes the place of honour. On the riverbank, Chapuys watches on as Mary sails past. They smile at each other, reassured. 

Shelton wonders how the ambassador knew they would be there. Suspecting Susan of sending messages in and out of the household, she dismisses Mary’s last lady. Mary is completely alone. 

Months have passed; it is now winter. King Henry remains furious at his daughter’s continued defiance, telling his cousin Mary will be an example to show that no one ought to disobey the laws; at the beginning of his reign he was as gentle as a lamb, and by the end he will be worse than a lion. Henry tells his wife.

Gertrude disguises herself to visit Chapuys, saying after the next parliament Mary and Katherine will die. She swears it is as true as the Gospel. Gertrude is adamant they must do something to help save their princess. Chapuys says Katherine spoke to him of Mary marrying Reginald Pole and uniting their claims to the throne. The emperor is busy taking Tunis, but Chapuys believes only a small army sent by Charles V with Reginald amongst the troops would be enough to make people declare for Mary. Gertrude pledges the support of her relatives, but says they need a quicker solution. 

Mary is no longer allowed to eat in her room, but she refuses to eat at the main table and submit to a lower rank then her sister Elizabeth, now a toddler at the head of the table. She is slowly starving. 

After seeing the king talking with Jane Seymour, Gertrude has an idea. She tries to convince Jane to attract the king’s attentions in the hope of getting better treatment for Mary but a haughty Jane refuses. 

Mary is constantly belittled by servants, who say the world will be at peace when they are discharged of the pain and trouble she gives them. She is incensed to hear the French ambassadors are to visit Elizabeth in the hopes of a betrothal. She declares she is the Dauphin’s future wife, not her bastard sister. Shelton orders her to her room, and when Mary refuses she is locked in by force. 

The next morning, a weak Mary discovers she has started her period. Disoriented, she calls out for her mother and Margaret. While getting up, she collapses.  

Shelton weeps, fearing people will think she has poisoned Mary. She tells a bedridden Mary the king will not see her until she admits to being a bastard. He believes she is his worst enemy in the world. Mary sobs but refuses to give in, saying God has not blinded her to confess her father and mother had lived in adultery and made her a bastard.

Chapuys talks to Cromwell and then the king, trying to convince them to let Katherine tend to her daughter. Henry refuses; if mother and daughter are together, Katherine might “raise a number of men and make war, as boldly as did queen Isabella her mother.” He also refuses to send Margaret Pole, who Chapuys calls Mary’s second mother, as she is a fool of no experience. If Mary had been in her care she would have died, but Shelton is an expert in female complaints. 

After queen Anne shows no sympathy for a grievously ill Mary, Jane agrees to help Gertrude. 

Mary is examined by a doctor. She fainted due to her heavy period, in addition to not eating or drinking enough. She is suffering from sorrow. The doctor orders her to eat more and recommends being moved closer to her mother to improve her spirits. Mary knows it will never happen. 

Shelton reveals Sir Thomas More and several monks have been executed for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, and Richard Featherstone is now imprisoned in the Tower. She tells Mary to take warning by their fate. Servants openly desire her death, especially now the queen is pregnant again with what is sure to be a son. Mary notices her old servant Randall Dodd does not join in their bullying. Cornering him in private, she convinces him to deliver a letter to Chapuys.

Gertrude leads Jane to Nicholas, and the pair coach her on how to act. Nicholas tell Jane she must by no means comply with any of the King's wishes, except marriage.

Mary watches out of the window as armed guards are stationed at the gates. Randall walks through them, carrying a letter for Charles V urging the emperor to invade. Mary tells him “In the name of the Queen, my mother, and mine, for the honour of God take this matter in hand, and provide a remedy for the affairs of this country; begging you in the meantime not to forget to solicit permission for me to live with my mother.” 

MONSTER IN NATURE  

Chapuys visits a mortally ill Katherine. She worries over her daughter, but he promises to look after her. After Maria Willoughby arrives she is no longer alone and begs Chapuys to go and protect Mary.

Mary is summoned to see Shelton, who informs her of her mother’s death. She is devastated. Shelton implores her to submit, saying she will not receive the necklace her mother left her in her will. Mary replies she would rather die a hundred times than change her opinion, before going to her bedchamber to cry. 

Randall gives a letter to Mary from Chapuys, making plans for her to escape England. The emperor cannot spare any troops, but there is a ship waiting 40 miles away if she can get there. Chapuys says he will write with a plan soon but Mary is convinced she must go at once lest she be killed. 

Chapuys holds a dinner party with the Courtenay’s, Nicholas and Jane. Nicholas has been inducted into the Order of the Garter over George Boleyn. They discuss queen Anne having a quarrel with Cromwell, and rumours of the king wanting a new wife. Gertrude advises Jane to tell the king his subjects hate his marriage, and no one considers it legitimate. A messenger arrives for Jane from the king, with a letter and a purse of money. All watch on with approval as Jane sends it back, saying she can only accept a gift of money from the king when he makes her an honourable match. Chapuys hopes the progress of their scheme will mean Mary will not need to flee - he tells them “she is so eager to escape from all her troubles and dangers that if he were to advise her to cross the Channel in a sieve she would do it.” 

In turmoil, a grieving Mary takes matters into her own hands. While playing with Elizabeth she tests the strength of the garden gate, noting where Shelton’s window looks out. Returning to the house, she tells the doctor she can’t sleep. He says he will get her some pills to help. 

On the same day Katherine is buried, queen Anne has a miscarriage. The king tells Henry he has been seduced by witchcraft into his marriage, which is null because God has not granted him a son. 

Mary laces some wine with the sleeping pills, and prepares to give it to Shelton and her maids. Only a letter from Nicholas delivered by Randall dissuades her. He begs her to “be of good cheer, for shortly the opposite party will put water in their wine as the King is already sick and tired of the concubine as could be.” Mary replies telling them to do everything possible to remove the mistress. 

At queen Anne’s trial for adultery against the king, Henry votes guilty. He, Gertrude, Nicholas and Chapuys watch on as Anne is beheaded and Jane marries the king.

Mary is astonished to receive a visit from her old lady, Anne Hussey. They have returned from the north as John has to attend parliament, where Elizabeth will be declared a bastard now queen Anne is dead. While talking to Mary, Anne calls for a drink for the princess, and is arrested. Mary is in shock and writes a letter to her father, hoping to reconcile with him now her enemy is dead.

After being presented as the new queen, Jane tells the Courtenay’s, Nicholas and Chapuys that Henry has received his daughter’s letter but is not happy. She promises to help Mary, and Chapuys christens her the peacemaker. 

Margaret Pole returns to court, attracting hundreds of people on the way who think Mary is with her. She carries a scathing letter from her son Reginald. King Henry is outraged that Reginald accuses him of tearing true defenders of religion to pieces, as well as likening him to the tyrant emperor Nero.

A group of nobles headed by Norfolk arrive to harass Mary into signing the acts, calling her a monster of nature and a traitress for continuing to defy her father. When she argues with them they say if she were their daughter they would beat her to death, or bash her head against a wall until it was a soft as a boiled apple.

Mary is locked in her bedchamber and not allowed to talk to anyone. She is to be watched over day and night. Hours pass and she refuses to back down. The guards are changed - this time Randall is on duty. Mary creates a distraction for the other guard and passes a scribbled letter to Randall for Chapuys. 

Jane pleads for mercy, but the king calls her a fool for interfering; she ought to think of the children they will have together and not any others. King Henry swears that not only will Mary suffer, but also his cousin, Cromwell and others. 

Anne is interrogated in the Tower for calling Mary a princess, but she insists it was merely due to habit. Henry is kicked off the privy council, and Nicholas is questioned about his relationship with Mary. Legal papers are drawn up to put Mary on trial for treason.  

Randall returns, detailing what has happened to her friends and giving Mary a letter from Chapuys. Chapuys points out she now has a better opportunity of becoming heir to the crown than when Anne Boleyn was alive. He urges her to save her life for the tranquillity of the kingdom, and comforts her with the knowledge that “God looks more into the intentions than into the deeds of men.”

Fearing for her and her friends lives, a broken Mary finally submits to her father and signs the document before her without reading the contents. 

GRACE 

Mary lies awake in the night crying before being disturbed by a knock at the door - Susan has returned. She is to resume her duties as the king is riding to see Mary. 

A nervous Mary sees her father for the first time in years, along with his new wife Jane who gives her a diamond. King Henry says he regrets their long separation, giving Mary some money and the necklace Katherine left her daughter in her will. He promises she can soon return to court. 

Freed from the Tower, Anne returns north with her husband John, where the people mutter about the king being ruled by evil ministers who have closed the monasteries and forced Princess Mary to sign acts labelling her a bastard. 

Mary returns to court, where the king pats Jane’s stomach, insinuating she is with child. He tells Mary some of his councillors were desirous of her death and she swoons in fear, but her father assures her all will be well now. She sits beside the queen at the high table while Gertrude serves them. 

Cromwell welcomes Mary back, congratulating her on finally signing the acts and calling her “the most obstinate woman that ever was.” 

Mary reunites with Henry Jerningham and Margaret Pole, along with Margaret’s sons Henry and Geoffrey. She tells Mary Reginald, who has just been made a cardinal, will not stop supporting her cause abroad. 

Mary thanks Nicholas, Henry, Gertrude and Chapuys for their help. She begs the ambassador to get her absolution from the Pope for signing the acts under duress. Seeing them talk, King Henry tells his daughter he hates dissemblers. There is talk of an uprising in the north where people believe her able to inherit after him. He forces her to write to the pope, the emperor and his family confirming she sees herself as a bastard.  

In Lincolnshire rebels threaten to burn the Hussey’s house down. Anne promises her husband will join them. John calls her a fool to make such a promise; Anne argues he wanted to rise the north for princess Mary and the true faith. John says that was with the emperor’s help and before she submitted to the king. He writes to him protesting his innocence in the affair. 

At court the king is enraged at the rebels, tearing up John’s letter. Jane goes on her knees and petitions him to reopen the monasteries, but is rebuffed by the king who tells her not to meddle. He talks about the rebellion with Mary, making sure to mention her old chamberlain’s letter, and the vast expense of the army he is sending to suppress it. 

Henry is sent north at the head of the army to prove his loyalty. Gertrude worries over his safety, remembering the Nun of Kent’s prophecies of war. Courtier Edward Neville asks Gertrude if she is merry and she replies "How can I be merry? My lord is gone to battle." He tells her not to fear this one or the second battle, but beware the third. She warns him prophecies will turn him to displeasure one day. 

Anne gives the rebels food, wine and money, encouraging them further. As the army approaches and rebels still camp outside his house, John flees. 

A terrified Jane tells Mary she was mistaken about being with child. Mary reassures her, thanking her new mother for all her help. When he hears, King Henry says he will clearly have no children by his wife, and that if he will have no son to succeed him he hopes for a grandson. 

Henry meets up with John. He pleads innocence, and joins him to deliver an invitation to the rebel leader, lawyer Robert Aske. At the king’s request he is to attend court for Christmas.   

At court Aske and Mary are kept separated. The king questions Aske on the rebels demands. They want the monasteries to reopen, and see no reason why Mary could not be queen. People think the king’s divorce made by Thomas Cranmer was not legal and “Lady Mary ought to be favoured for her great virtues [...] for she is marvellously beloved by the whole people.” He worries with her being ruled illegitimate the emperor has a reason to wage war against the realm. The king tells him he has nothing to fear from the emperor. 

Mary asks Chapuys to distract the king while Gertrude takes her to Robert Aske. Chapuys talks with King Henry about Prince Luis of Portugal being a possible husband for Mary now the French Dauphin has died.  

In secret, Aske tells Mary she will always be the Princess of Wales and heir, no matter what the king decrees, as the law deems her legitimate. The people of England look to her for hope in such faithless times. 

She keeps his words close to her heart as Aske and John Hussey are beheaded for treason. The king says their bodies are to be sent back north as a message for all those against his rule. Mary approves, and King Henry delights at his pearl finally understanding his authority. 

A traumatised Mary stares at the bloodstained scaffold, silently vowing to avenge the deaths of her loving supporters.

[arty-e]

My Tudors series ‘review

Y’all asked for this so here comes my rant review about the Tudors:

TW: Rape mentions

First things first let’s address the biggest elephant in the room and that is the costumes. Holy shit series 1 was fucking painful with the costumes. At least they got the basic dress shape for the women but other than that the women costumes were painful to look at. The headdresses were the biggest crime of them all. There were no French hoods, at least no accurate French hoods. Also why were there so many sequences! What was going on with all that glitter!! Don’t get me started on the hair! One lady in waiting (Joan Bulmer) had a fucking bob! A bob! The men costumes weren’t great at the beginning but as the series went on they did improve quite a lot. I’m gonna give credit where credit is due and say it did improve as the series went on as a whole (but not by a lot).

Now that we’ve got the costumes complaints out the way lets actually talk about the ‘contents’ of the series. First of all why the fuck was Charles Brandon such a big deal in this?! He wasn’t as important as the series implied him to be. I feel they only added him so that there was a consistent character through out the show and who was at least a little likeable (tbf on Tudors the main people who played a part in actual Tudor history were often executed or removed at some point).

On the subject of Charles Brandon they did get one thing right; he did marry one of Henry’s sisters, Mary Tudor. However in the series he married Margaret Tudor which made no sense at all! It appears to me that they merged the two sisters together and merge I mean they had the Mary Tudor history then gave them Margret’s name. In actual history Mary Tudor married the old sickly King of France and when he died she then married Charles Brandon. However in the tudors she marries the old sickly king of Portugal???? And because she doesn’t want to remain married to him kills him????? I know why they did this because they had already showed the king of France (Francis) who was young at Field of Cloth and Gold episode so it would make little to no sense to have her marry him. But that leads into my next complaint, the timeline.

Several things in this show don’t make sense with historical context because it’s all jumbled up. A couple of examples here are Henry Fitzroy, they killed him off when he was six in this, he died when he was 17 just before Edward was born. Along with that they also made claim that the Act of Succession (the act allowed Mary and Elizabeth to become Queens after Edward) was passed before Henry had married parr. The whole reason the Act of Succession ever came to be was because Parr had helped reconcile Henry and his two daughters and pushed for him to legitimise them and be added to the line of succession after their brother. Those are just a couple of examples that stood out to me when it came to the timeline.

Also the way they Jane portrayed as an innocent type and a ‘perfect’ woman was also painful. She acts all sweet to Elizabeth when the real Jane only payed attention to Mary and called Elizabeth the Bastard.

Now for my biggest complaint; the heinous misogyny in this thing. The way they treated the female character in this was (in my opinion) worst than actual Tudor history. Women in this show were constantly objectified and the amount of sex scenes in this thing is fucking painful! Did nobody have anything better to do!? In series one they took away Anne Boleyn’s agency and made her a complete puppet of her uncle and father. Anne was a very intelligent and charismatic woman and you don’t see this at all. To be fair on Natalie Dormer she fought with the writers for Anne to be more than sex object for series 2 because she had done her own research on her and fought for Anne. By Series 2 Anne got a bit more agency but they made her somewhat cruel and failed to really show her charisma. Now alone with Anne they were unspeakably cruel for what they did to Katherine Howard. They literally called her prostitute and even an episode synopsis they out right  call her prostitute. She was an abused child and they decided to do that. Along with that they also make it look like that her claim that Francis Dereham raped her was a lie and that she was only saying to save herself. It was truly disgusting. I do appreciate them trying to strongly tell the audience that Katherine was just a child (act all excitable, have dancing around the place) but the rest of her story was handled extremely poorly.

Catherine Parr is my next big complaint. They practically stripped her of everything that made interesting and took away all achievements while married to Henry. Ive already talked about the Act of Succession so I won’t go into that again. They only briefly show her being Queen Regent while Henry is away fighting in France (they were much more focused on Henry’s war), also when she discovers that there is an arrest warrant after her she sits in her room and cries for ages until Henry comes in asking what its wrong. They took away her going to him and winning back her life from him. When Henry does forgive her he is asked by one of his servants if they shoulda top the warrant but he tells them not to all because he wants to catch Gardiner out! What bullshit is that!? They took away Catherine’s indolence and replaced with Henry out smarting his evil bishop!? Henry was too fucking thick to do!

So overall I found this so frustrating to watch from costume and historical inaccuracies to the misogynistic choices to strip the few of the most important women in English history of their agency and independence. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world but still it was really annoying. My advice is for you to watch Game of Thrones instead because then you don’t have to complain about inaccuracies because it’s all fantasy and doesn’t claim to be a historical drama. (Also Natalie Dormer is also in this)

also if you want a good Tudor drama then watch wolf hall. Costumes are amazing and its very well done (only complaint Cromwell is painted too well in it)

(Also Elizabeth needed WAY more screen time)

[carllisle]

Your previous Siobhan writing was really touching and beautiful! It definitely made my day! Would you like to elaborate on Siobhan finding out the “Esme’s magic” and perhaps Carlisle and Esme telling the story of how they met and how he changed Esme?

Thank you so much for your ask! I apologise for the delay in response, but I really enjoyed thinking about this. Thank you so much for sharing, and I’m honoured that you’d like me to write more! 

Mentions of infant death and abuse. 

-----------

“Does it bother you?” Siobhan asked as they made their way along the coast. The sea air was fresher in Ireland than anywhere Esme had before been and she liked it. The sky was so big, the salt so cleansing. The land felt ancient around her. With the old vampire at her side, there was something almost tangible about the sanctity of the world about them. 

Esme looked up at the woman running at her side and smiled. “No. Does it bother you?” 

“It does bother me a little,” Siobhan admitted with a laugh. “You fight your basic nature and for what? You’re missing out on the greatest joy in life!” 

Esme slowed their pace and Siobhan followed her lead. They came to a jog and then to a stop. In the distance, the lights of a seaside town popped into life under the twilight sky. “I’ve... I’ve not found the joy of human blood worth the pain it brought me.”

“Pain?” 

It wasn’t easy to talk about, but there was something about the Irishwoman that made Esme want to talk about it. She was very beautiful, and her frightening, kind face invited her stories willingly. Siobhan reminded Esme of Carlisle - when she asked a question, she truly wanted to know the answer. Esme looked away. “I remember the loss of my child. I cannot bear to think of inflicting that pain onto another.” 

“Do you think humans feel like us?” 

Esme smiled softly again. “Yes. My human life ended not long ago and I still feel the pain in my bones. I will do whatever I can to avoid causing that pain in anyone else. But I make no judgement on those who do.” 

“It sounds like you do,” Siobhan pointed out. “You sound like Carlisle.” 

“I don’t mean to. But he and Edward are my greatest influence in immortality, it can’t be helped.” Esme felt very watched but there was nothing threatening about it, it was just odd. “I am sorry if I have offended you.” 

Siobhan laughed and it was a joyful sound. “You have not, don’t fear. Your husband has been much more forthcoming with his ideas than you and I’ve been offended less!” 

Esme clasped her hands in front of her and looked down. Her dress swung in the light breeze and she felt pretty. 

“Would you tell me how he found you?” she asked after a comfortable silence. 

“It’s not a nice story,” Esme admitted. 

“But it has a nice ending, does it not?” 

Esme looked at her and nodded after a moment. “Could we go down onto the beach?” 

Siobhan took her hand and together they made the running leap off the grassy clifftop and seconds passed as their bodies rushed through the air and they landed side by side on the damp sand below. Esme felt calmer on the beach now. There had been something about the clifftop that felt too familiar. 

“Will you tell me?” Siobhan asked as she brushed off her bare feet. 

“Yes, if you like.” They began walking along the beach as the sea lapped quietly against the shore some way off. “My first husband did not love me, and when I fell pregnant I ran from him. It was easy to pass myself off as a war widow, you know, American soldiers were being sent home and then back to the Front to rebuild, even in 1920 men were being sent back in body bags.” Esme sniffed. The salt made her nose tingle. “But he found me, and I moved on. After my baby was born, he died. I had two days of bliss, and one day of terror, and the worst happened. I threw myself from a cliff and I was thought to be dead. Carlisle found me and took my body home and changed me.” Esme rolled up her sleeve and then pulled her collar to the side. 

Siobhan looked at the bite marks that were usually hidden. “That’s a lot of teeth marks you’ve got there.” 

Esme smiled faintly. “He tells me it was a frenzied effort. All of them can be covered, though, so I don’t mind. Seven or eight, I haven’t counted, but I’m glad for them all.”

“Why you?” 

Esme wanted to blush. It was a forward question and one that had haunted both she and Carlisle since the day she woke. “We met when I was sixteen. He remembered the girl I was, and I think it made him sad to see how I had fallen.” 

“He loved you as a girl?” Siobhan’s eyebrows creased. 

“It wasn’t like that,” Esme smiled. “Our paths crossed fleetingly. I think God put us in each other’s way so that when the time was right, we fell into place.” 

Siobhan looked like she disagreed completely but she didn’t voice her opinion. Instead, she asked another question that knocked Esme. “You first husband? What of him?”

Esme bit her lip. “He’s dead.” 

“Did you do it?” 

She shook her head. “Edward did. Charles was his first kill.” 

“Good lad. You know, I killed the vampire who turned me?”

Esme looked at her with wide eyes. “Why?” 

“He was a man who took what he wanted. He took me and I didn’t want him, so he was presented with a choice - let me go, or die. Three others stood by his side and they died too.” She smirked. “I don’t regret it. It was a small price for freedom. Do you think that’s wrong?” 

“Does it matter what I think?”

“It does. I want to know you, Esme.” 

Esme’s voice was gentle. “I think it was incredibly brave of you. You were put in an impossible position but you came out of it. And now you have a life that you love. It that not wonderful?” 

The taller woman watched Esme and cocked her head to the side. “I think you’re very kind, Esme. I think you’re brave, too. Don’t let Carlisle overshadow that.” 

That surprised her. “What makes you say that?” 

“I’ve known him for a long time, and he is the best of us, I think. He’s determined and compassionate and intelligent, but you’re still you. You’re still made in the eye of God, like him and like me. Don’t dull yourself for him.” 

“I don’t think I will,” she replied slowly, confused with the turn the conversation had taken. 

“Men will always try to dull the great women around them, that’s all. Carlisle is still a man, despite his other virtues, but you’re a great woman, I can see that.” 

It was humbling for Esme to be stood before Siobhan and be told that. She didn’t feel great compared to her new friend, but there was no reason to believe that she was being lied to. “You’re very kind.”

Siobhan shrugged. “I’m too old for games and lies, I only say what I see. Protect yourself, alright? Carlisle will never intentionally hurt those he loves, I know you know that, but he’s still a man.”

Impossible to know whether she should laugh or not, Esme fell into silence. Their feet were quiet against the damp sand along the beach but eventually Siobhan’s arm made its way around Esme’s shoulder and she felt safe. “How did you meet Liam?” she asked after a while. 

Siobhan’s smile was broad at that. “Now there’s a tale to tell. Now tell me, Esme, what do you know of that English bastard Cromwell?” 

[1863-project-art]

OC-tober: Day 24

Steph Bases Some Of Her Characters On Double Acts: Richard Feversham and Edmund Oxenbrigg, The World Turned Upside Down

Yeah, like nobody noticed this one. I even named them Richie and Eddie.

As anyone who’s been following the development of The World Turned Upside Down has likely been aware, I’ve been having way too much fun doing this. It lets me use slapstick. It lets me use explosives. It’s the first time I’ve really been able to work with two characters who are willing to put each other through almost anything if it’ll be funny, and there’s just an unbridled energy to it that makes it so much fun to do.

When I started really thinking about what sort of things I could look to for a piece set during the utter chaos of the English Civil War period, it hit me that a period of upheaval in comedy would work really well for inspiration for a period of upheaval in sociopolitical and religious thought. I looked to the alternative comedy of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and it worked surprisingly well - in both cases there was a group of rebellious spirits standing against the current order of things and pushing for changes that the people in charge weren’t quite ready for. In both the 1640s and the 1980s, there were leaders in charge that made some incredibly unpopular decisions (one of whom, Charles I, was eventually flat-out decapitated in January 1649, only to be replaced by what really became a military dictatorship when Cromwell followed his lead and also dismissed Parliament). Richard ranting about how both King and Parliament are betraying the common people and there shouldn’t be a government as Edmund tries to blow something up right next to him absolutely has shades of Rick Pratt and Vyvyan Basterd in the 1980s, and it’s 100% intentional.

Material-wise, I had a good 25-30 years to work with, and I got to pull inspiration from a wide variety of places. The penchant for sheer property destruction and explosives comes from the Dangerous Brothers (and Vyvyan), Richard’s hatred of government is a nod to The Young Ones, and the sheer slapstick the two engage in is an undercurrent throughout, although it’s arguable that Rik and Ade perfected the art with Bottom in the early 1990s (the source of the image above, which I referenced to redraw Edmund and Richard doing the same poses). But the most fun I had was giving Richard and Edmund that real-life friendship under it all, where “bastard” is a term of endearment and they genuinely find each other really freaking funny.  Everything just fell so neatly into place within the world of the story that it clicked instantly and if you read the script it’s pretty clear these two are upstaging everyone every time they’re on the page, just like their inspirations did in real life. It just works.

[ruledthewaves]

How did Arthur cope under Oliver Cromwell? Was he resentful of the abolishing of the Monarchy to be replaced with essentially the same thing but with a man about as fun as a fart in a phone box?

Short answer: Drinking, piracy, and yes, he was resentful.

Long answer under the cut.

Arthur coped by finding every excuse to engage in overseas diplomacy and trade, and barring that, if all else failed, by slipping away to the seas for actual piracy. A good deal of drinking was involved but I think that goes without saying. He was physically 15-16 at the time and exhausted after the Civil War(s), and at the risk of tl;dring about those, in the end his hope was purely a more functional government in terms of how the monarchy and Parliament balanced with/against one another. Obviously the end results were… mixed, although I’ve seen it argued that the balance of Parliament and monarchy helped with stability in the longterm, especially after the Glorious Revolution later. But that’s another topic for another day.

In simpler terms, I don’t think any nation would be thrilled about the prospect of political upheaval resulting during and from civil wars, much less regicide, because the state and its structured government is a major factor in the nation’s continued existence. Escaping to the sea for a few years, maybe even visiting fledgling colonies among other places, was a response to an existential crisis over which he had very little control. Would he still be Arthur after all the changes? The other civil wars had changed him, but not so much that he wasn’t Arthur anymore, but the beheading of Charles I was enough to unnerve him to the point that he just… left, likely around 1655/1656 if we’re going to pick a specific date. He tried to hold out but his patience left him eventually.

I think he did appreciate the political reform in terms of building more republican policies. And still, as a restless seafaring and physically young fellow you can imagine that Arthur wasn’t happy to be ruled by a man who had the previous monarch executed but still was addressed as Your Highness, could have accepted less money in yearly payment to assist in the balancing of the national debt, and sought to change a nation’s morals through a militarization of its politics. Arthur leaving and remaining away from the islands, not monitored, was absolutely a clandestine act on Arthur’s part. While I don’t think Cromwell would have been cruel to Arthur, I imagine his activities and life would have been purposefully directed with the intention of furthering the moral upkeep of the people at large. (Despite that not being how the personifications work, good job Oliver.)

Also, no one wants to spend years at a time with the equivalent of… well, okay, I’ll take your ‘fart in a phone box’ and raise you a ‘fart in a crowded elevator in the middle of August.’ 

And what Cromwell did to the Irish was hideous enough–personal animosities with his siblings aside, the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people over religion by a man hawking piety was enough to make Arthur’s stomach turn, because he’s a petty bastard, not a monster. A part of Arthur wished Cromwell had been alive to be beheaded at the end of the Protectorate. For the canonblind, nations don’t direct their governments, it’s the other way around. If you fine people want to know how Arthur handled things personally with Ireland, I’ll have to find an Ireland to write with and get back to you on that.

I’m sorry this took so long, I wanted to nail down some specifics!

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

Those times when a marriage was proposed between Philip of Spain and Elizabeth Tudor...

Thereupon he began to speak to me of the marriage of the prince of Spain with this bastard whom they call Princess; but, seeing my looks, he said no more than two words, and without my saying anything he made answer that he supposed your Majesty would not listen to it out of consideration for the Princess your cousin.

Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys to Charles V, reporting his conversation with Thomas Cromwell. 7 March, 1535. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol8/pp124-149

Commission to Stephen bp. of Winchester and Thomas bp. of Westminster to treat with plenipotentiaries of Charles V., for marriages (1) between the said Emperor and Lady Mary, the King's daughter, (2) between Prince Edward, the King's only son, and Lady Mary, daughter of the said Emperor, and (3) between Prince Philip, the Emperor's only son, and Lady Elizabeth, the King's daughter.

23 October, 1545. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol20/no2/pp286-300

The King perceives by your sundry letters your proceedings on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday (fn. n5); and, as for your desire to know his full determination and be thoroughly instructed how to proceed by degrees with the Admiral of France and his colleagues, his Majesty has willed us to signify that "if he had made his platform he durst, for the opinion he hath of your discretions, wisdom and long experience, commit the building thereupon unto you, as to men of trust;" but, as the ground upon which he is to draw must first be had, he cannot prescribe as you desire, and prays you to follow your first instruction and learn what the French offer. Meanwhile you may fish out what is to be had of the Emperor in the matter of the treaty, "which his Majesty calleth the ground for him to draw his plat upon," and therefore prays you to be diligent therein. As Skipper thought it reasonable that in the new treaty Boulloyn should come into the defence as well as Calais "(Mary ! he said it not to be charged withal again)" his Majesty may be the straiter laced toward France; but until the Emperor has shown himself the King sees no cause to relent to any arbitrament. As to the sequestration of Boulloyn which the French vaunt themselves to hope for by means of the Protestants it was before your departure my lord of Winchester, moved by the Commissaries of the Protestants here and misliked by every man so that you may be sure the King means it not, nor to do one jot more by means of the Protestants than of the Emperor, and not so much if the Emperor go through friendly with him. He prays you not to forget his aid due there and that the good towns and states of the Low Countries may be obliged to the performance of the treaty, which is a thing that tends to their benefit. We send you herewith a commission to treat upon the marriages, and, as written before, that of my lord Prince is to be most "advanced and if the Emperor's lips water (as that fox (fn. n6) said) at my Lady Mary to advance that also as well as the other." We look hourly to hear from you.

"You must also, if there be any practice in hand for marriage with the Prince of Spayn and France, set forth the marriage of my Lady Elizabeth." 

Signed by Russell, Hertford, Browne and Paget. 

The Privy Council to Gardiner and Thirlby. Wyndesour, 10 November, 1545.  http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol20/no2/pp349-365

Thanks for his discretion in the conference signified by his letters of the 23rd. He shall give ear alone to Sturmius or any other making like overtures; which overtures are not to be declared to my lord of Winchester or to his colleagues until the King shall so command. Considering the crafty devices of France to make profit, now at the King's hand and now at the Emperor's, he shall tell Sturmius that, upon consideration, albeit he is addict to peace and would rather have it by their mediation than otherwise, he dare not advertise the King of the overtures until they have better considered them; for, having been privy to the King's secret affairs, he has known the French king to pretend "fair weather" when he meant nothing less (and here, using a great conjuration for secrecy, he may instance the letters (fn. n2) sent hither written, as Skipper said, out of France for avoiding what pacts they listed upon pretence of the Bp. of Rome's authority), and therefore it were expedient to prove whether they can induce the French king, during this treaty of a league defensive between their masters and France, to forbear treating any marriage with the Emperor and suspend the talk for Myllayn and Piemont until that league is concluded and some way taken in this matter of peace. Thus, he shall say, they shall both decipher the French king's meaning towards them and encourage him (Paget) to write to the King. Bulloyn, he shall say, by which he supposes that Bullonoys is also understood, is no occasion for the King to forbear so great sums of money as are due and have been spent in this war; if, besides, the French king would give Ardre, a dog hole which serves only to expend treasure and cause contention, and the rest of the county of Guysnes, there would be more hope of success in this conference. In this way Paget may assay whether they will utter larger offers and decipher what assurance they can give. If, for answer to the above touching the French king's forbearing to treat of the marriage, they require the semblable touching the treaty which they mentioned between the Emperor and Lady Mary, and the Prince of Spain and Lady Elizabeth, Paget may say, as of himself, in confidence, that if they obtain the French king's written promise therein, he will move the King to do the like touching those marriages.

Henry VIII. to Paget. 29 November, 1545. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol20/no2/pp426-456

After conclusion of this "esclarisshment," if there appear likelihood of the Admiral of France coming thither, Gardiner shall devise some pretence for remaining there, the better to learn their proceedings; and before the Admiral's arrival, as soon as his coming is certain, Gardiner shall, as of himself, propone eftsoons to Skepperus or other the overture for marriage between the Prince of Spain and Lady Elizabeth, dissuading the bestowing of that Prince upon the daughter of France, for "the deformity of the person" and other considerations.

The Privy Council to Gardiner, Thirlby and Carne. 26 December, 1545. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol20/no2/pp518-547

Your Majesty will send me orders if I am to move in this, and if you have a copy of the will it would be advisable to see it again, as also the marriage treaty, and although as I have written to your Majesty it is very early yet to talk about marriage the confusion and ineptitude of these people in all their affairs make it necessary for us to be the more circumspect, so as not to miss the opportunities which are presented to us, and particularly in the matter of marriage. For this and other reasons (if there be no objection) it will be well to send me a copy of the (marriage) treaty, which, though it may not be very necessary, will at least serve to post me up as to what would be touched upon, although a new treaty would be different from the last.

Count de Feria to Philip II. London, 21 November, 1558. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol1/pp1-6

We must begin by getting her into talk about your Majesty, and run down the idea of her marrying an Englishman, and thus to hold herself less than her sister, who would never marry a subject. We must tell her that one of the reasons the Queen now in heaven, disliked her was her fear that if she died your Majesty would marry her (Elizabeth) ; and then place before her how badly it would look for her to marry one of these men whilst there are such great princes whom she might marry. After that we can take those whom she might marry here and pick them to pieces one by one, which will not require much rhetoric, for there is not a man amongst them worth anything, counting the married ones and all. We can then remind her of the claims of the Queen Dauphine (Mary Queen of Scots) and the need for her (Elizabeth's) being allied with your Majesty or with someone belonging to you and so on, to the other reasons we can allege against her marriage here. When she is dissuaded, if she inclines to your Majesty it will be necessary for you to send me orders whether I am to carry it any further or throw cold water on it and set up the Archduke Ferdinand, because I do not see what other person we can propose to whom she would agree.

Count de Feria to Philip II. London, 14 December, 1558. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol1/pp7-21

Many great difficulties present themselves and it is difficult for me to reconcile my conscience to it as I am obliged to reside in my other dominions and consequently could not be much in England, which apparently is what they fear, and also because the Queen has not been sound on religion, and it would not look well for me to marry her unless she were a Catholic. Besides this such a marriage would appear like entering upon a perpetual war with France, seeing the claims that the queen of Scots has to the English crown. The urgent need for my presence in Spain, which is greater than I can say here, and the heavy expense I should be put to in England by reason of the costly entertainment necessary to the people there, together with the fact that my treasury is so utterly exhausted as to be unable to meet the most necessary ordinary expenditure, much less new and onerous charges : bearing in mind these and many other difficulties no less grave which I need not set forth I nevertheless cannot lose sight of the enormous importance of such a match to Christianity and the preservation of religion which has been restored in England by the help of God. Seeing also the importance that the country should not fall back into its former errors which would cause to our own neighbouring dominions serious dangers and difficulties, I have decided to place on one side all other considerations which might be urged against it and am resolved to render this service to God, and offer to marry the queen of England, and will use every possible effort to carry this through if it can be done on the conditions that will be explained to you.

The first and most important is that you should satisfy yourself that the Queen will profess the same religion as I do, which is the same that I shall ever hold, and that she will persevere in the same and maintain and uphold it in the country, and with this end will do all that may appear necessary to me. She will have to obtain secret absolution from the Pope and the necessary dispensation so that when I marry her she will be a Catholic, which she has not hitherto been. In this way it will be evident and manifest that I am serving the Lord in marrying her and that she has been converted by my act.

You will however not propose any conditions until you see how the Queen is disposed towards the matter itself, and mark well that you must commence to broach the subject with the Queen alone as she has already opened the door to such an approach. In my marriage treaty with the late Queen it was stipulated that my Netherlands dominions should pass to any issue of the marriage, but as this condition would be very prejudicial to my son (Carlos) it must not be again consented to. Nothing has been said to the Pope nor is it desirable until the Queen's consent has been obtained.

Philip II to Count de Feria. Brussels, 10 January, 1559. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/simancas/vol1/pp21-26

[ofprincessesandqueens]

Could you tell me some cool facts about mary i, please? I don't know much about her :)

Here we go!!

She was the only surviving child of Catherine of Aragon. After her birth Henry said that  it was a girl this time but boys would follow. Catherine would have only one more unsuccessful pregnancy.

She was named after Henry’s sister, Mary.

She was a precocious child. She played the virginals at age four. She could read and write latin at age nine. 

She had an stellar education. Katherine (who already was highly educated) put a lot of effort on it. She studied French, Spanish, music, dance, and perhaps Greek. She’s got the education of a Prince, renaissance style.

At 2 years old she was promised to Francis I of France, but the contract ended a few years later. At age 6 she was promised to her cousin, Charles V, but the contract ended a few years later too.

Henry would boast about Mary to the ambassadors. (”This girl never cries”).

As a young princess she was beloved and cherised by everybody, including her father. He used to call her, “the greatest pearl in the kingdom”.

In 1525 she was sent to Wales as the heirs usually were. She was the Princess of Wales in everything except the name. There, she would learn how to rule. Everything went downhill from here.

Mary did something very brave for a girl at her time. She refused to accept, like his father said, that her parents’ marriage was invalid and she a bastard. Girls in the Tudor time owed obedience to the male figures in their lives. Mary was not only refusing her father, she also was refusing her King. She truly was her mother’s daughter and her gradmother’s granddaughter.

Mary and Katherine were sent away from Court. They would never see each other again.

Her title was taken away from her and from now on she was known as the Lady Mary. Her favourite companions were sent away too, and her servants were unkind to her.

Henry started to say awful things about Mary to Chapuys, knowing he would tell them to Mary.

By the time Anne was crowned, Mary’s health was deteriorated. The King sent doctors who would tell him it was nothing serious and the King dismissed it thinking she was only trying to get his attention.

After Elizabeth was born, Mary was sent to serve her as a maid. I don’t know what Henry was trying to achieve. Perhaps a bad reaction from Mary towards Elizabeth that would put the people against her, but the truth is that Mary adored Elizabeth. She spent hours with her, sewing her clothes, singing to her.

The fact that she loved Elizabeth didn’t mean she accepted her status as a princess and her own as a bastard. She almost starved herself by refusing to eat in a lower table than Elizabeth. She was taking a political stance here.

To Anne’s credit she really tried to be in Mary’s good graces but Mary refused all her gestures. Lady Shelton was instructed to even beat Mary if necessary. Anne wrote a letter asking her to not put preassure on Mary. Anyways, Lady Shelton was not unkind to Mary. The rest of the ladies in the house, however, abused her.

Then, it came the Oath of Supremacy, which Mary, of course, refused to sign.

Mary was forbade to attend Katherine’s funeral.

Anne died shortly after Katherine. Mary, who thought everything that had come from her father those past years was Anne’s fault must have been relieved. At Anne’s death, Henry throwed himself to his bastard son, Henry Fitzroy, telling him that Anne was planing to poison him and Mary. Surely, things would improve, right?

Wrong. Henry sent various nobles to threaten Mary to sign the Oath. He even wanted to throw her into the Tower of London. In 1536, after Chapuys told her he (and the emperador) could not grant her safety, she signed the Oath.

Despite Queen Jane’s best efforts it took months for Henry to invite Mary back to Court. Once there, Henry told his nobles: “Some of you were desirous I should put this jewel to death“. Jane added that it would  have been a shame to lose England’s chief jewel. But Henry patted Jane’s belly and replied: “Nay, Edward”. Mary fainted.

By Christmas, Jane got Mary a diamond ring.

In July, the King and Jane went to Richmond to visit Mary. Henry gave her a ring with 3 miniature portraits of Jane, Henry and Mary. It was a present from Cromwell that impressed Henry, so he insisted to give it to Mary himself.

After Lady Bryan was transferred to Edward’s household, Mary took care of Elizabeth.

Mary was Edward’s godmother.

When Jane died, Mary was the chief mourner.

In 1540 Cromwell was arrested for treason and one of the charges was that he had wanted to marry Mary himself.

Catherine Parr was so impressed at Mary’s translations of Erasmus’ Paraphrases that she wrote her a letter full of praises suggesting that she should have it published.

While his father was unmarried and if she was a Court, Mary acted as a hostess.

Mary still found time to pamper Edward. I think I read somewhere that he wrote her a letter saying she was his favourite person.

In 1544 Mary and Elizabeth returned to the line of sucession, but they remained bastards.

After Henry’s death, Mary inherited estates in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, and was granted Hunsdon and Beaulieu.

The relationship with Edward ended up badly. In 1550, at Christmas, they had a tremendous discussion that had them both reduced to tears. Edward insisted that Mary had to abandon Catholicism. He went as far as trying to remove Mary and Elizabeth from their place as his sucessors.

At his death Mary gave Edward an appropiate Protestant funeral.

After deposing Jane, when Mary rode to London, Elizabeth was with her.

Mary was not keen of having Jane Grey executed as she thought she was a pawn in Dudley’s plot. Jane was only executed after Wyatt’s Rebellion.

Mary was the godmother of Jane’s mother, Frances.

Elizabeth and Anne of Cleves were both present at Mary’s coronation.

Mary was very caritable and would go under disguise to give charity to the poor.  

La Peregrina was a present from Philip to Mary. He had it back after Mary’s death.

Mary expected more of her marriage. Some people said she was in love with Philip. I’m not that sure. She was so inclined to love and be loved that she probably felt like she was. But Philip was not receptive. He left her in England most of the time of their marriage. Plus, the union was highly unpopular amongst the people.

She had two phantom pregnancies. She truly wanted a little family of her own. Who would love her as unconditionally as her own children? I think this is probably, one of the saddest parts of her life. She had a lot of love to give, but nobody to place it properly,

Mary’s first Parliament declared the marriage of her parents valid.

Contrary of what it seems to be the popular belief, she didn’t start burning people right away. She tried a more educational aproach first, promoting the catholic church. But Protestantism continued to grow.

She truly was broken at the end of it. Her relationship with Elizabeth went downhill. She lost Calais, her nerves got the best of her. She was utterly depressed and unhappy. She became more paranoid believing that all the bad things that were happening were a sign of God’s displeasure with her.

Some policies of fiscal reform and colonial exploration and expansion that were later declared as Elizabethan accomplishments were started in Mary’s reign.  

Her motto was Veritas Temporis Filia (Truth, the Daughter of Time).

She died in 1558 at 42 years old in St. James Palace. The Court had abandoned her. They went to Elizabeth. Elizabeth never forgot that.

Elizabeth didn’t spare money on her sister’s funeral and ordered the highest of respects to be payed to her. She even let if clear she would not be happy if the Court didn’t attend the funeral.

Mary said in her will that she wanted to be buried with her mother. As you may know she is buried in Elizabeth’s tomb, her caskett under Elizabeth’s. (THE DISRESPECT).

This is so long, sorry!

[carewyncromwell]

The Cinderella AU is back...and with it, a proper introduction to the character who fills the “evil stepmother” role -- Carewyn’s cold, cruel grandfather, Charles Cromwell. If you’d like to learn more about Charles and his family’s canon counterparts, you can consult this post, but to summarize quickly, in Carewyn’s canon, Carewyn’s mother Lane ran away from home to elope with a Muggle, which ended up protecting Carewyn and Jacob from Charles’s emotionally abusive influence. (At least until R started going after them, because hey, what d’you know, in Carey-bear’s canon, Charles is R’s leader.) But in this AU, Carewyn has to answer to Charles for some reason...so yeah, that doesn’t bode well, does it? You’ll just have to read on to learn a little more about why that might be...

Fashion changed very dramatically during the Renaissance, thanks in large part to the cross-pollination of different cultures and influences that came from more extensive travel, the growing popularity of published works, and royal funding of the arts. Pre-Renaissance men’s fashion, at least for the nobility, was very big on oversized sleeves, which ended up creating a more “top-heavy” frame. (Just look at most portraits of King Henry VIII.) As the Renaissance went on, though, trunk hose (which creates that kind of “bubble butt” look that we’re used to seeing in William Shakespeare Halloween costumes) became the latest fad, shifting a man’s frame to be much more “bottom-heavy.” Women’s fashion briefly flirted with wide trumpet sleeves (as one can see in this portrait of a young Elizabeth Tudor, later Queen Elizabeth I), but by the time the 1550′s were over, rounded sleeves grew much more popular. Fitted sleeves also went in and out of style in a lot of Europe throughout the 16th century, though sleeves were considered a special feature on gowns, so they often had a lot of embellishments, such as paneling, embroidery, or puffs. One exception to this rule, however, was in Italy, where fitted, detachable sleeves that could be used on multiple gowns became fashionable. Fashion in Italy in the 16th century was notably understated and modest compared to a lot of Europe, which tended to favor a lot of ornate beading and embroidery -- there were even laws on the books restricting how “bedazzled” women’s fashion could be. One such law even banned stripes, as it was considered wasteful to use two different kinds of fabric just to make a pattern. That being said, there were plenty of people in Italy who said “screw the rules” and worked around them anyway. Carewyn’s dress in this picture is somewhat based on this design, but with some tweaking, most notably with a fuller skirt and more ornate and puffy sleeves.

Previous part is here -- whole tag is here -- and I hope you enjoy!

x~x~x~x

When the end of the month arrived, Andre requested that Carewyn come to his chambers bright and early in the morning. Carewyn had anticipated that the prince had some extra duties for her to attend to, but instead, he immediately led her over to a corner of his bed chamber that he’d drawn a curtain around. When he pulled the curtain back, he revealed a full tailoring station inside his walk-in closet, complete with organized rolls of fabric, various jewels and beads strewn about over a table, several unfinished hats stacked on the nearby desk, an entire separate wardrobe of unfinished pieces, and several mannequins with fine fabrics half-pinned on them.

One mannequin, however, was wearing a completely finished, luxurious dark scarlet gown. It was made of about six different fabrics, all cut and sewn together in a complex tapestry of folds and textures and trimmed with many sparkling beads and jewels. Also lying on the floor just in front of the dress was a pair of heeled shoes made of off-white cloth with red and white roses sewn into the toes.

Carewyn couldn’t help but gape. Andre was grinning from ear to ear.

“So?” he asked. “What do you think?”

Carewyn glanced out the side of her eye at the prince, over to the dress, and back.

“Did you...make this, your Highness?” she asked, amazed.

Andre laughed. “Carewyn, please, it’s ‘Andre.’ But yes! I got inspired while working on your shoes, so I stitched this up to go with it. ...Do you like it?”

Carewyn walked around the mannequin to look over the gown, not daring to touch it. She’d never seen so many fine fabrics on one dress before -- velvet, linen, silk -- and all the embellishments must’ve taken full days to finish --

“It’s -- well, it’s extraordinary, your -- Andre,” she corrected herself very quickly noticing the prince’s pointed smile. Even she was finding it difficult not to smile too. “The beading on the sleeves, the lace work -- the alternating wool and cotton paneling along the bodice...it’s worthy of an artisan!”

Andre looked clearly both incredibly pleased and impressed. “You have an eye for detail, Carewyn!”

His face burst into a bright white grin as he bent down and picked up one of the off-white cloth shoes.

“I’m pleased you like it,” he said brightly. “I thought it’d be the perfect thing for you to wear today. Lord Cromwell sent a message to the palace asking Father if you could return home for a visit -- so I worked all night to get this done in time so that you could wear it for your outing with your new shoes.”

Despite her best efforts, Carewyn couldn’t completely keep the dismay and discomfort she felt off her face.

“What? Oh -- oh, your Highness, I -- ”

“Ah, ah, ah,” chided Andre, “what have I asked you to call me?”

“Andre,” Carewyn corrected very quickly, her eyes drifting up onto the dress rather than at Andre, “this dress is...truly beautiful...but it befits a lady of status, not -- ”

“It fits you,” Andre said, undaunted. “I used the measurements from your uniform fitting. It should fit you like a glove -- or better.”

Carewyn felt like her stomach was shriveling up. She hated turning away such a lovely gift -- under any other circumstances, she would love wearing it out and about. But...

“That...that is...it’s so kind of you, to use me as your template...”

Or “dress-up doll” -- that is what the Queen said I would be, isn’t it?

“...but I simply couldn’t wear such a gift on my visit...not when I have no comparable gifts to bring my cousins. Many of them are around my age, and...and well, I know Heather, Iris, and Dahlia would be very upset, knowing I got to wear such a beautiful dress and they didn’t.”

None of her cousins had ever been very respectful of Carewyn’s personal belongings. Not long after she first arrived, her aunt Pearl’s two bullying sons, Kain and Arsen, stole her jewelry box while she was sleeping and sold both it and its contents for pocket change. Her youngest cousin, her uncle Blaise’s bratty son Tristan, had once thrown a bottle of red wine out the window that shattered mere feet away from Carewyn and soaked her dress so badly that it never washed out. Even Iris had -- after Carewyn caught the eye of one of her suitors who’d come to call -- ripped the sleeve off Carewyn’s dress so badly that she had to hide from sight for most of the day, until she’d managed to sew it up enough that her chest wasn’t exposed. Carewyn had had to hide her mother’s old dress from her cousins for years, for fear they might steal and/or ruin it.

Andre frowned deeply.

“Well, I hardly can send along anything for your cousins without knowing their measurements,” he said with a quick glance at the wardrobe full of unfinished pieces.

His face then brightened with an idea.

“How about this -- I’ll order you. I order you to wear this dress on your trip home, and to have your cousins give you their honest opinion of it. Then you must bring their opinions back to me. Goodness knows I could use some feedback -- and maybe a few new ideas, if they have them,” he added with a teasing grin.

Carewyn opened her mouth to object, but Andre cut her off.

“As your prince, I command you to showcase my work to your family,” he said through a broad grin. “Am I clear?”

Carewyn really, really didn’t love the idea -- but she had to concede that she could use this to her advantage. She needed a stable place at the palace in order to achieve her goals, and she could help maintain that stable place at the palace by justifying to Charles why she had to be there. And Charles’s whole interest in her being there was to try to endear the Cromwells further to the royal family, and maybe even secure one of her Aunt Claire’s daughters a space in that family...

So, with a heavy sigh, she put on a small smile and inclined her head respectfully.

“Very well, Andre. I’ll wear your work proudly.”

And so Carewyn set off for the Cromwell estate on horseback, dressed in the new shoes and dress Andre had made for her. The shoes were lovely and fit perfectly, but they were rather impractical for walking around outdoors. Carewyn thought to herself that she might have to continue wearing her old shoes when she returned to her palace work, if for no other reason that she hated the thought of getting them scuffed up.

As to be expected, when she arrived, her cousins reacted very hostilely to her appearance.

“Well, well,” sneered curly-black-haired Kain, “what do we have here? Playacting as a lady, little Winnie?”

“All hail Lady Cinderwyn, Duchess of Dust!” sniggered his similarly dark-haired brother Arsen.

He reached for her wide skirt, but Carewyn -- remaining on her horse -- steered herself far enough back that he couldn’t reach.

“I wouldn’t damage this, if I were you,” she said as coolly and levelly as she could. “It’s not mine.”

Arsen and Kain exchanged a mocking, wide-eyed look and an “oooooh.”

“Are you a thief now, little Winnie?” asked Kain. “How far you’ve fallen -- we might need to call the castle guard on you -- ”

“Cinderwyn’s a thief!” crowed tiny Tristan in a sing-song voice. “Cinderwyn’s a thief!”

Claire’s three daughters looked a lot less mocking.

“You have some nerve, stealing clothes from your betters,” spat dainty, brown-haired Heather. “Grandfather should lash you within an inch of your life -- ”

“I haven’t stolen anything,” Carewyn said very firmly. “Now I wish to see Grandfather. I have a message from the Prince he’ll want to hear.”

“Grandfather’s inside,” said Claire’s gangling, button-nosed son Elmer with a crooked smile. “I’m sure he’ll enjoy your new look, Lady Cinderwyn...especially with the finishing touch!”

He jumped right into a mud puddle that splashed everywhere. Carewyn just barely avoided the spray, but when she moved back, Dahlia and Iris successfully grabbed hold of her velvet brocaded skirt and yanked hard in either direction, as if trying to rip it.

“Iris -- Dahlia --  ” said Carewyn, her voice growing colder and harder as she struggled to hold in her temper and emotion as best she could, “if either of you have any ambition to marry his Highness, I would strongly suggest letting go of his dress this instant!”

All of Carewyn’s cousins stiffened.

“His dress?” repeated Dahlia, looking outraged. “You mean to say you took this from the Prince?!”

“He bid me to wear it, for my visit,” Carewyn shot back fiercely. “Or would you have me oppose his Highness’s will?”

“You...arrogant, pretentious, ungrateful little rat!” shrieked Dahlia. She tried to yank Carewyn off her horse, and there was a slight struggle as Carewyn tried to both comfort her horse and prevent Dahlia from dislodging her.

“Now, now, children,” said a very coldly serene voice, “a little less noise there.”

All of the Cromwell children looked up to see Charles Cromwell striding across the lawn. He was dressed in black, gray, and white with a dark red cape with black trim, and he supported himself on an ebony-wood cane with a dragon’s head carved out of black zircon for a handle. Behind him were Carewyn’s aunts, Pearl and Claire, with their husbands, as well as her uncle Blaise. All three of them were looking over Carewyn’s outfit disapprovingly -- Blaise looked particularly irritated, his upper lip curling as he rested a hand on top of Tristan’s shoulder that made the small boy flinch.

Iris and Dahlia were still clinging to Carewyn’s skirt, but they’d frozen up like startled cats when their grandfather appeared.

“Grandfather -- ” stammered Iris, “W-Winnie’s a no-good thief -- she stole this dress from -- !”

"I have stolen nothing,” Carewyn repeated coldly. She stroked her horse’s white mane several times to soothe it.

Pearl too had come up to rest a hand on Arsen’s shoulder and was looking at Carewyn very critically out her own almond-shaped blue eyes -- most of Carewyn’s family had them.

“Is that so?” she said, her voice a low growl in her throat. “Explain, then, what gives you the nerve to show up here dressed in such obnoxious clothes.”

“It’s positively garish,” added Claire in a higher, simpering tone from her comfortable spot in her husband’s arms, mirroring her sister’s disapproval like a child would imitate their older sibling.

Carewyn raised her eyebrows very coolly. “Prince Henri will be very disappointed to hear that. He worked very hard on this.”

This startled all of the Cromwells. Blaise looked scandalized.

“And I suppose that makes you think the Prince favors you somehow?” he spat, his eyes flashing dangerously as he released Tristan’s shoulder and approached Carewyn’s horse. “Rather than just thinking of using you as some saucy little tart and then discarding you, just like your wretch of a father did your mother -- ”

"I think nothing of the sort,” Carewyn cut him off coldly.

Don’t you dare talk about my mother.

Charles, the least visibly startled, took a few steps forward. Iris and Dahlia finally released Carewyn’s skirt so as to get out of the way, and Charles came to a stop about three feet from Carewyn’s horse, his own almond-shaped eyes locked on his ginger-haired granddaughter’s face.

“I believe you owe me a full report, child,” he said quietly. “Stand before me and give it.”

Carewyn’s red-painted lips pursed as she picked up her skirts and descended from her horse at last. She looked up at Charles with a very stoic expression.

“Prince Henri learned that I would be coming to see you, as per your request,” she explained. “He commanded that I wear this dress, for my visit. He’s heard about my cousins and desires Dahlia, Iris, and Heather’s opinions on it. Then he requested I deliver their feedback back to him this evening.”

The time limit was a flat-out lie, but one Carewyn knew she could get away with. She did not want to stay at the Cromwell estate overnight -- she’d rather sleep on a lumpy old cot in the servants’ quarters than on the floor by the kitchen fireplace. 

Claire looked at Charles, her face breaking into a rather eager expression. “His Highness wishes to hear from my daughters? He must have heard from the rest of the court of their extensive talents -- ”

“Or at least purported talents,” said Blaise under his breath with a rather cynical look. “Seems the rumor mill is working well...“

Pearl shot Blaise a glare, but Claire didn’t seem to hear him -- she had already whirled on Carewyn.

“Tell his Highness that the dress is a work of art, fit for a queen!” she said insistently. “And make sure that he knows that there are much better models for his work here, at the Cromwell estate -- Iris has a far superior build, Dahlia the most perfect shoulders -- ”

“I suppose Winnie can do far worse than inanely fawning over your daughters’ target on their behalf,” said Blaise in a rather cutting voice. “Mindlessly swooning certainly worked for you.”

“Blaise!” Pearl snapped reproachfully.

Charles’s eyes drifted over Claire and her three anxious-looking daughters thoughtfully.

“...What feedback...do you believe would most please his Highness, child?” he asked Carewyn.

“He appreciated it when I noticed the details,” said Carewyn. “I would think if anyone had any creative ideas to add onto it...or perhaps constructive criticism...he might react well to it. His Highness is very interested in fashion and tailoring...I’m sure he would appreciate knowing someone who could indulge in that passion with him.”

He must be awfully lonely, locked up in the palace all the time. It’s no wonder he tried to find things to do indoors that could bring him some joy, if he’s unable to go much of anywhere...

Charles’s eyes flitted over the silk and ornate beading on Carewyn’s sleeves.

“His Highness certainly does have an eye for finery...has the royal family come into additional wealth recently?”

“I don’t think so,” said Carewyn. “The castle staff is very limited. And although the nobility are all dressed and fed well and the castle is decadent, the staff is frequently short of common necessities like nails and coal for the fire. Not to mention the staff’s rations are sparse.”

Iris gave a loud, haughty laugh. “Ha! Probably just as well -- you could do with getting some of that meat off your thighs!”

“Iris,” said Charles very sleekly, even as the rest of Carewyn’s cousins sniggered.

His lips curled up in a smile that didn’t touch his eyes.

“...It seems that the King and Queen are indeed in need of our family’s charity. But we must indulge their pride. It’ll be far easier for them to accept help from a future daughter-in-law and princess than simply from a loyal servant of the realm. Carewyn -- you shall report back what his Highness wishes to hear. Customize three answers for Heather, Iris, and Dahlia -- one fawning, one critical, one creative. Whichever answer he likes best, we will then pursue that route with the cousin you’ve assigned to it.”

His almond-shaped blue eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly upon Carewyn’s face.

“And once we’ve secured an invitation from the Prince...I expect that you will step aside, to make room for your cousin to make her move.”

Carewyn’s expression didn’t shift.

“I’m not interested in courting princes,” she said lowly.

Heather, Iris, and Dahlia can knock themselves out. Andre will see through them sooner or later, and it’ll be all their own fault.

There was a cold, diamond-like glint in Charles’s eye. “...Yes...you truly don’t care to chase any man except for your brother...do you, Carewyn, my dear?”

Carewyn tried not to blink or look away.

“You have news of Jacob?”

Charles sighed airily. “I’m afraid not, my dear. I know he’s well, of course...but news from the War front, as you know, is simply impossible to come by...”

“You know he’s alive,” Carewyn shot back a bit more sharply than she meant to. “That doesn’t mean he’s well. No one could be doing well out there.”

“And yet I’m sure you’re happy that the first is guaranteed?” said Charles. “At least, so long as you do your duty to your family, and to me?”

It was a warning, but it was done so delicately -- it was like his voice was flirting with a threat, rather than flat-out making one.

Carewyn’s lips came together tightly as her gaze drifted to the ground.

“You know I wish no harm to come to either you or Jacob,” Charles said softly. “Losing a child was terrible enough, losing grandchildren as well...well, it would deeply upset me. And per our agreement, you are the one who must shoulder the burden of your brother’s and your debt to me...particularly since you have no dowry and no possible claim to my estate. Remember, Carewyn...you are responsible for how you are treated -- and for how Jacob is treated.” 

Carewyn’s eyebrows knit tightly together over her closed eyes.

“...Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now then -- rehearse the answers you plan to give to his Highness with your cousins. I wish them to sound convincing, so that when one or more of them is invited to the palace, they will be able to play their part appropriately.”

Carewyn hated every minute of hashing out responses with Heather, Iris, and Dahlia. Like their mother Claire, they and Elmer were all “follower” type personalities who tended to echo whatever they thought would please others -- so Dahlia, Iris, and Heather were constantly trying to steal each other’s ideas to “improve” Carewyn’s answers, despite all three of them supposedly needing to take three different approaches as part of Charles’s plan. Even the three girls’ hostile attitude toward Carewyn largely came down to her refusing to follow their direction, despite her lowered status in the family giving them authority over her -- something that, Carewyn believed, they would never do if their positions were switched.

When Carewyn was finally ready to leave (and successfully avoided Tristan’s muddy hands when the wickedly grinning little boy forcibly tried to hug her goodbye so he could leave stains on her dress), Blaise pulled Charles aside. As the male heir of the Cromwell legacy, Blaise had always followed in his father’s footsteps most, but there was one thing they didn’t agree on.

“Father,” he said, his voice very low in the back of his throat as he watched Carewyn ride away at a fast gallop, “I don’t approve of her returning to that place.”

Charles smiled coldly. “You always have disliked sharing your toys with others, Blaise.”

“It’s a bad influence!” said Blaise, whirling on his father. “We can’t monitor what she does, how she behaves -- who she speaks to -- how can we hope to keep her, if we consistently open her cage?”

Charles’s eyes, the same color and shape of all of his children and most of his grandchildren, sparkled with something crueler.

“Ah, my boy,” he said sardonically, “you have much to learn about cages. Physical cages have strong bars, but ones easy to see and constantly weathered. But a cage forged carefully in another’s mind...can become so strong that the prisoner willingly chooses to stay.”

Charles turned on his heel, his lips curling up further still even though his face remained so doll-like and emotionless.

“As weak and overemotional of a thing she is, Carewyn is far more like you and me than Lane ever was. She’s very resourceful and she’ll do whatever she has to in order to get what she wants -- and that drive fuels everything she is and does. It may make her spirited, but it also makes it so that as long as she sees Jacob’s life in the palm of my hand...so too will she be.”

Blaise’s eyes flickered with a strange skepticism. “And...if Jacob’s life were ever not under your sway?”

Charles’s expression grew even more detached and emotionless as his smile faded and his eyebrows raised.

“...Would Carewyn really want to contemplate what state he’d be in, if he weren’t?”

Carewyn couldn’t be happier to leave the Cromwell estate behind. She didn’t slow down her horse’s pace until she’d reached the outskirts of the market, well after the manor house was out of sight. Only then did she slow her horse down to a leisurely trot, so that she could enjoy some time on her own wandering down the village streets before heading back to the palace. The castle staff wasn’t expecting her back to work until the following morning, so she could take her time.

Unfortunately for Carewyn, there was another reason her cousin Tristan’s hands had been so muddy -- and that reason soon became apparent when Carewyn reached into one of the pockets on the side of her saddle, thinking to temporarily change out of the pretty shoes Andre had given her and were now pinching her feet for the ride home. When she reached into the pocket, she instead found the tiny snake that Tristan had stolen out of the reeds by the nearby pond.

With a scream of surprise, Carewyn flung the snake to the ground -- the snake arched back, hissing angrily, and that in turn spooked Carewyn’s horse. With a loud, scared whinny, it reared back, bucking wildly.

“Whoa!” cried Carewyn. “Whoa, boy -- whoa!”

Several passerby turned around at the sound of the noise. A few looked like they wanted to help, but were too warded off by the horse’s kicking feet. Carewyn tried desperately to calm her horse, stroking its mane with one hand and clinging desperately onto the reins with the other, but it was no use. She wasn’t strong enough to wrench her horse into submission. And so when the horse gave a particularly violent jerk, Carewyn was thrown right off.

“AHH!”

Out of nowhere, someone dashed forward. Carewyn ended up slamming right into them, and the two landed roughly in a heap in the dirt.

Carewyn watched her horse gallop off the street, her face very tense and distraught. She then looked down at the person she’d landed on top of, and she gave a visible start.

Her “hero” was a man about her age dressed in modest clothes with tanned skin, slightly-too-long dark hair, and a beard. His sparkling black eyes were squinted slightly as he winced in pain, but nonetheless shone with some concern as he looked her over.

“Are you hurt, Lady Cromwell?” asked Orion.

[queenmarytudor]

Mary Tudor during the reign of Anne Boleyn - Part Three 1536

I figured the most natural point to conclude this series is a month after Anne’s death, with Mary signing the act declaring her a bastard and acknowledging all what Henry and Anne wanted her to throughout her time as queen. This period of Mary’s life defined her future personality, and led to the darkest parts of her reign. 

1536

7th January - Mary’s mother, Katherine of Aragon, dies. 

c. 8 – 10th January – It is reported that Henry “ordered the death of her mother to be kept secret” from Mary, “intending to go or send some good personage to console her.” This does not happen.

In her will, Katherine leaves Mary furs, and a necklace with a cross which she had brought from Spain.

Chapuys sends a consolatory letter to Mary informing her of her mother’s death, sending it to one of her ladies to present it to her, which gave her great consolation. 

Mary replies thanking him for all the good he has done her and begging him to tell the king that if he took away her company she thinks it will be fatal, and that following his [Chapuys’s] counsel, she would endeavour to show constancy but prepare herself to die.

11th January – Anne Shelton “most unceremoniously, without the least preparation” tells Mary of her mother’s death.  

Mary begs her to write to the king to have the physician and apothecary of the queen visit her. Henry replies that any illness she might suffer must be from worry, and she has no need of a physician. 

Mary write to Chapuys begging him, among other things, to press for the physician and apothecary by saying she is unwell and cannot do without them.

Chapuys sends his man to Cromwell to deliver Mary’s requests surrounding her mother’s death. 

Henry wishes to see what Katherine’s furs are like first, and that “if the Princess wishes to have what had been given her [in the will] she must first show herself obedient to her father.”

12th January – Cromwell tells Chapuys’s servant “it depends only on herself that she should have not merely all that her mother left her, but all that she could ask, provided she would be an obedient daughter.” He continues that “the King must be obeyed, and she must not presume to be wiser or of better conscience than her father.”

? – Anne Boleyn sends a message through Anne Shelton, saying “if she would lay aside her obstinacy and obey her father, she would be the best friend to her in the world and be like another mother, and would obtain for her anything she could ask, and that if she wished to come to court she would be exempted from holding the tail of her gown.”

Anne Shelton constantly implores Mary to consider these matters; Mary replies there is no daughter in the world who would be more obedient to her father in what she could do “saving her honour and conscience.”

Mary sends to Chapuys saying it seems the king will shortly send a number of his councillors to force her to take the oath. She requests him to tell her what to reply.

Mary writes twice to ask Chapuys to visit her.

c.20th January – Chapuys sends to Mary letters Charles V wrote to Katherine of Aragon, as well as a letter Mary of Hungary wrote to her. Anne Shelton refuses to let Chapuys’s servant speak to Mary, telling him she is forbidden to let anyone speak with her without bringing a letter or token from the king. 

Anne offers to let Chapuys’s servant see Mary provided he promise not to say anything of it to anyone, but she does not dare allow him to converse with her. This courtesy was showed “because of the little presents which have been made to her in the past”, on advice by Mary.

Mary hears this conversation from her oratory, and shouts to Anne Shelton to “let him go, and that, please God, she would not see him or any other to the displeasure of her father the King.”

21st January – Chapuys receives a letter in return from Mary, saying the letters gave her ‘inestimable comfort’. She says her treatment grows worse and worse.

? – Mary tells Anne Shelton she does not care about offers made to her on her part, and would “rather die a hundred deaths than change her opinion or do anything against her honour and conscience.”

Anne Boleyn writes to Anne Shelton a letter “which might almost be called libel against the Princess”. Mary “has been laughing ever since.”

Chapuys suggests that, as a cover story for an escape, Mary should say she strongly desires entering religion provided she came to full age, especially considering that the King her father is expelling monks and nuns from monasteries who had entered such houses before that time (before they were of age). Mary approves of this ruse and means to put it into practise with additions.  

The physician and apothecary of Queen Katherine visit Mary to tell her in detail the final illness and eventual death of her mother. They stay for two days. One of them gives a gold cross to Mary, left to her by her mother. 

Mary is writing to Chapuys now more then ever, as on account of her mourning she remains mostly in her room alone.

Anne Boleyn writes a letter to her aunt Anne Shelton: 

“Mrs. Shelton, my pleasure is that you do not further move the lady Mary to be towards the King's Grace otherwise than it pleases herself. What I have done has been more for charity than for anything the King or I care what road she takes, or whether she will change her purpose, for if I have a son, as I hope shortly, I know what will happen to her; and therefore, considering the Word of God, to do good to one's enemy, I wished to warn her before hand, because I have daily experience that the King's wisdom is such as not to esteem her repentance of her rudeness and unnatural obstinacy when she has no choice. By the law of God and of the King, she ought clearly to acknowledge her error and evil conscience if her blind affection had not so blinded her eyes that she will see nothing but what pleases herself. Mrs. Shelton, I beg you not to think to do me any pleasure by turning her from any of her wilful courses, because she could not do me [good] or evil; and do your duty about her according to the King's command, as I am assured you do.”

It is unknown if this was a ruse, as it was left in Mary’s oratory. Mary transcribes it and then replaces it where she found it.

29th January – Anne Boleyn’s miscarriages a son.

Mary is to be moved in six days to a different house; thus any escape plans made will no longer work.

? – When changing her lodging she is better accompanied on her removal and provided with what was necessary to her than she ever has been before. King gives her 100,000 crowns to distribute alms along the way. It is rumoured that the King means to increase her train and exalt her position.

Anne Shelton, her daughters and a niece continually question a lady who is intimate with Mary about whether she knows the news of Anne Boleyn’s miscarriage.

Plans continue for Mary’s escape.

16th February – Mary believes it will be easy to escape from the house if she has something sent to her to drug her women. She would have to pass by Anne Shelton’s window but once out of the house could find a way to break or open the garden gate. She “is so eager to escape from all her troubles and dangers that if he [Chapuys] were to advise her to cross the Channel in a sieve she would do it”. She does not think she is guarded, but she may be without knowing.

She is sure she will be removed around Easter to a more convenient house.

She is continually begging Chapuys to ask the Emperor to remedy the situation in England, which she fears will be too late for her. She is daily preparing for death. 

Chapuys, however, believes the situation now is not as bad as it was before.

24th February – Mary writes to Chapuys asking him to write to Charles V to remedy her case.

25th February – Mary tells Chapuys that Cromwell has sent her, by the King, for a little cross her mother ordered to be taken to Mary after her death. 

18th March – Cromwell sends back the cross to Mary, finding it of little value. Apart from this, she has still received nothing her mother bequeathed to her on her death.

25th April – Nicholas Carew and other persons of the privy chamber send to tell Mary “to be of good cheer, for shortly the opposite party would put water in their wine as the King was already sick and tired of the concubine as could be.”

? – Mary tells Chapuys to watch the proceedings and if possible help to accomplish the said divorce,“were it for no other purpose than for the King’s honour and the relief of his conscience.”  

2nd May - Anne Boleyn is arrested.

5th May – Mary is removed to Hunsdon and honourably accompanied both by the servants of Elizabeth and several gentlemen who came of their own accord. Many of her old servants and maids went to her upon the news of Anne Boleyn’s arrest. Anne Shelton allows them to remain, but Mary is warned by Chapuys not to accept or retain anyone but those given by the King.

19th May – Anne Boleyn is executed.

Believing she is restored to favour now Anne Boleyn is dead, Mary writes a series of letters to Cromwell and her father. 

26th May – Mary writes to Cromwell.

“Master Secretary, I would have been a suitor to you before this time to have been a mean for me to the King's Grace to have obtained his Grace's blessing and favor; but I perceived that nobody durst speak for me as long as that woman lived, which is now gone; whom I pray our Lord of His great mercy to forgive." Is now the bolder to write, desiring him for the love of God to be a suitor for her to the King, to have his blessing and leave to write to his Grace. Apologises for her evil writing; "for I have not done so much this two year and more, nor could not have found the means to do it at this time but by my lady Kingston’s being here.” Hunsdon, 26 May.

It is alleged the reason Mary Kingston was there is to deliver a message from the now dead Anne, apologising for her treatment of her.

30th May – Henry marries Jane Seymour.

Mary writes again to Cromwell.

Thanks him for the great pain and labor he has taken in obtaining for her her father's blessing and licence to write to him,—the two highest comforts that ever came to her. Begs him to continue in suit for her. Will be as obedient to the King as can reasonably be expected, and hopes his Grace will not only withdraw his displeasure but license her to come to his presence, which she desires above all worldly things. Begs Cromwell to be her petitioner, "for the love of Him that all comfort sendeth." Can write no more for the rheum in her head, and begs credence for bearer. Hownsdon, 30 May.

1st June – Mary writes to her father.

Begs as humbly as child can for his daily blessing—her chief desire in this world. Acknowledges all her offences since she had first discretion to offend till this hour, and begs forgiveness. Will submit to him in all things next to God, "humbly beseeching your Highness to consider that I am but a woman, and your child, who hath committed her soul only to God, and her body to be ordered in this world as it shall stand with your pleasure." Rejoices to hear of the marriage between his Grace and the Queen now being. Desires leave to wait upon the latter and do her Grace service. Trusts to Henry's mercy to come into his presence. As he has always shown pity, "as much or more than any prince christened," hopes he will show it to his humble and obedient daughter. Prays God to send him a prince. Hounsdon, 1 June.

? - Lord Morley, father of Jane Boleyn, visits Mary.

? - Anne Hussey, her former lady in waiting and wife to her former chamberlain John, visits Mary for 2 days. During this visit, Anne calls for a drink “for the Princess,” and says "the Princess is gone in walking.”

7th June – Mary writes to Cromwell.

Good Mr. Secretary, I think so long to hear some comfort from the King's grace, my father, whereby I may perceive his Grace of his princely goodness and fatherly pity to have accepted my letter and withdrawn his displeasure towards me, that nature moveth me to be so bold to send his Grace a token, which my servant, this bearer, hath to deliver to you." Begs he will find means that the King may send her a token, which will be her greatest comfort till she is permitted to come to his presence. [From Hownsdon the 7 of J]une.

8th June – Mary writes to her father again.

Begs his daily blessing. Though she understands, to her inestimable comfort, that he has forgiven all her offences and withdrawn his displeasure long time conceived against her, her joy will not be full till she is allowed to come to his presence. Begs pardon for her continual suit and rude writing, for nature will suffer her to do no otherwise. Hopes God will preserve him and the Queen, and send them a prince. Hownsdon, 8 June.

9th? June - Cromwell replies, advising Mary. 

10th June – Mary writes to Cromwell.

I send by the bearer, my servant, "both the King's Highness' letter, sealed, and the copy of the same, again to you." You will see I have followed your advice, and will do so in all things concerning my duty to the King, God and my conscience not offended; for I take you as one of my chief friends next his Grace and the Queen. I desire you, for Christ's passion, to find means that I be not moved to any further entry in this matter than I have done; for I assure you I have done the utmost my conscience will suffer me, and I neither desire nor intend to do less than I have done. "But if I be put to any more (I am plain with you as with my great friend) my said conscience will in no ways suffer me to consent thereunto." Except in this point, neither you nor any other shall be more desirous to have me obey the King than I shall be ready to do so. I had rather lose my life than displease him. I beg you to take this letter in good part. I would not have troubled you so much, but that the end of your letter caused me a little to fear I shall have more business hereafter. Hownsdon, 10 June.

She enclosed another letter to her father with this, based on Cromwell’s advice:

Begs his daily blessing. Has already, she trusts, obtained forgiveness on her suit, with licence to write to him; but hopes for some token or message of reconciliation, and that she may obtain her fervent desire of access to his presence. Excuses her importunity. Begs him to accept his penitent child, who henceforth puts her state and living in his mercy, next to Almighty God, under whatever conditions. Prays God preserve him and the Queen, and send them a prince. Hownsdon, 10 June.

? – Cromwell replies, stating “To be plain with you, I think you the most obstinate woman that ever was.” 

He sends her “a book of articles to subscribe” as well as a draft letter for her to send to the king.

13th June – Mary writes to Cromwell again.

Good Mr. Secretary, I do thank you with all my heart for the great pain and suit you have had for me." I see by your letters that you mislike my exception in my letter to the King. I assure you I did not mean it as you take it, "for I do not mistrust that the King's goodness will move me to do anything which should offend God and my conscience. But that which I did write was only by the reason of continual custom; for I have always used both in writing and speaking to except God in all things. Nevertheless, because you have exhorted me to write to his Grace again, and I cannot devise what I should write more but your own last copy without adding or minishing, therefore I do send you by this bearer, my servant, the same, word for word; and it is unsealed, because I cannot endure to write another copy. For the pain in my head and teeth hath troubled me so sore these two or three days, and doth yet so continue, that I have very small rest, day or night." I trust in your goodness that the King may accept this; for I have no one to make suit to or ask counsel of but you. Hownsdon, 13 June.

14th June – Mary writes to her father again; presumably this is Cromwell’s letter he wrote for her which he believed was more suitable. 

Notwithstanding her submission, and that she has twice written to his Highness, has not yet obtained her fervent desire or any piece of the same, to her intolerable discomfort. Is enforced to cry to his merciful ears, and, prostrate at his feet, implore him to put apart his displeasure. His grace has never been wanting to those who repented, and who did not offend by malice but by youth, frailty, and ignorance. Has no hope but in Henry's blessed nature. Begs him to accept her repentance, and means to use herself henceforth so that he shall have no cause to be displeased with her. Prays God to preserve him and the Queen, and send them issue. Hunsdon, 14 June.

? – Chapuys reports that:

“When the Princess, having written several good letters to the King her father, and to this Queen, expected to be out of trouble, trusting to the hope held out to her, she found herself in the most extreme perplexity and danger she had ever been in, and not only herself, but all her principal friends.”

Henry sends the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Sussex, the Bishop of Chester [Roland Lee] and several others to press her to sign the act bastardising her, calling her a “monster of nature” and “a traitress [who] should be punished”. Finding they could not persuade her, they continued to threaten her. One says:

“she was such an unnatural daughter, he could hardly believe she was the King’s own bastard daughter. Were she his or any other man’s daughter he would beat her to death, or strike her head against the wall until he made it as soft as a boiled apple.”

Mary finds a way to send Chapuys “immediate information of everything.” She begs him “not to leave her without counsel in her extreme necessity.” 

Chapuys tells her that if she finds evidence her life is in danger “to consent to her father's wish.” He assures her that it is Charles V’s advice, and that “to save her life, on which depended the peace of the realm and the redress of the great disorders which prevail here, she must do everything and dissemble for some time.”

Anne Shelton receives orders not to allow Mary to speak a word to anyone, and to watch over so that she should never be left alone day or night. 

The chief servant of Mary “who knows all her secrets” is kept at Cromwell’s house for two days.

Anne Hussey is taken to the Tower and interrogated for the crime of calling her Princess when she visited in early June. She insists she had called Mary Princess “merely by inadvertence.”

Nicholas Carew, Francis Bryan and Anthony Browne are questioned by the privy council about their opinions regarding Mary and her legitimacy. 

Henry Courtenay and William Fitzwilliam “being suspected of favouring the cause of the Princess” are dismissed from the council.

The King calls judges “to proceed at once to the legal inquiry, and sentence the case by contumacy, as usual in the culprit's absence.”

The new queen, Jane Seymour, prays and exerts Henry to reconsider, but she  “was rudely repulsed.”

Henry swears “in a great passion, that not only the Princess should suffer, but also the Marquis [Henry Courtenay], Cromwell, and several others.” 

Cromwell “considers himself a dead man.”

The judges, “in spite of threats” refuse to proceed, and “advised that a writing should be sent to the Princess, and that if she refused to sign it, they should proceed against her.”

Mary, “being informed from various quarters how matters stood” finally gives in and signs the following document without reading it:

The confession of me, the lady Mary, made upon certain points and articles under written, in the which, as I do now plainly and with all mine heart confess and declare mine inward sentence, belief, and judgement, with a due conformity of obedience to the laws of the realm; so minding for ever to persist and continue in this determination, without change, alteration, or variance, I do most humbly beseech the King's Highness, my father, whom I have obstinately and inobediently offended in the denial of the same heretofore, to forgive mine offences therein, and to take me to his most gracious mercy.

1. Acknowledges the King as her Sovereign, submits to all his laws like a true subject, and will maintain them to her power.

2. Acknowledges him as Supreme Head of the Church of England under Christ, and repudiates the pretended authority of the bishop of Rome, renouncing every advantage she may claim thereby.

3. Acknowledges the marriage between the King and her mother, the late Princess Dowager, to have been by God's law and man's law incestuous and unlawful.

After signing, Mary falls “into a state of despondency and sorrow.”

The aftermath of Mary submitting to her father would affect her for the rest of her life. In her first parliament as queen she revoked the act declaring her parent’s marriage invalid and made herself legitimate again. She also returned England to Rome and burnt Thomas Cranmer at the stake, the Archbishop of Canterbury who had officiated the marriage between Henry and Anne.

[grumble-all-you-like]

The Tudors Season 1 Episode 4

Gonna start doing these in one chunk - more cohesive that way and less spammy.

"Back to the beginning" EXCEPT YOU DIDN'T. (Yes, I’m still beating this dead horse.)

Margaret, I remain offended on your behalf by that awful headdress. You deserved better.

I highly doubt my boy H8 cares about love.

"Take care of her" Charles, you were supposed to understand that as Don't Fuck Margaret Tudor.

I actually like Henry's doublet? What's happening?

More: uh, well, it wasn't good. Henry: I DON'T THROW TANTRUMS.

I'm curious about what sea travel actually would have been like for a traveling princess. I'm gonna have to do some digging on that account. Also, would Margaret be allowed to travel like this without a proxy marriage first? I Have Doubts.

So, I'm still bitter about Natalie Dormer having blue eyes instead of wearing colored contacts. (I vaguely remember that she tried and it was a problem but that can be totally untrue.) HOWEVER, I love Natalie Dormer and I know she put everything in to playing Anne. I also enjoy the visual symmetry between her and Catherine of Aragon. Coloration-wise, in this show they're the same, and it's almost like Henry is replacing his wife with a younger version of herself - but one with the qualities he admires most in men.

Anne... Clifford.

I am happy they showed their regular correspondence. It was an important aspect of their relationship.

Anddddd Mr. Pace has lost it.

"Sure. Sure I see her." This man has seen some shit.

CROMWELL. MY BASTARD OF CHOICE HAS ARRIVED.

Wolsey: Boring, boring, boring HOT WOMAN, by the wayyy...

Boleyn has all the hot gossip AS HE SHOULD.

Giving More some sass, which I can appreciate.

Henry already being a creep. But why isn't he creeping on somebody she was actually engaged to? Terrible story streamlining.

Random Tallis sideplot. Ladies, he's GAY.

Margaret says: I may have terrible costumes, but I get to admire half-naked Henry Cavill Charles Brandon.

Wolsey and More friendly bitching at eachother is delightful.

HENRY DESERVES BETTER ARMOR. And that's coming from me.

"Grounded affection." George you are also a delight.

Do you ever get mad that an extra has a better costume than the main characters?

Oh, I guess I should care that Henry got knocked on his ass.

Poor Anthony. You know he shit himself just a little bit. And now the poor kid is DOWN. Way to kill bestie #3, Henry.

"French Ruff" sounds filthy.

Charles "Oh she definitely wants the D" Brandon. I mean, is he wrong?

Wolsey is slick. Here's your new secretary AND ANNE BOLEYN.

What is on that child's head?

Anthony don't be a bitter bean. Compton is your bro!

"You never carried a tree." Honestly, nothing else sums up Henry VIII better than that.

That's a very fashionable coif, my dude. Coif, but MAKE IT FASHION.

Why is everybody who follows Luther in black? Ya'll are not the pilgrims.

The drama. The romance. The sociopathic jealousy.

Ugh, that headdress. FOR SHAME COSTUME DESIGNER'S.

Oh god the terrible pearl bodice. I FORGOT.

Natalie Dormer says: Eat Your Heart Out.

Come on, Margaret would have a better poker face than that. Honestly.

Thomas stop being a creep I hate it so much.

"You can't jump this ditch!" Poor Life Decisions Henry, Poor Life Decisions.

Too bad he didn't drown.

Because they would be so utterly obvious. -eyeroll- EVEN REIGN HAD MORE RESTRAINT.

BILEEEEEEEE. Bleed the sonofabitch.

I should have sympathy, I get terrible migraines, but this is karma for being a terrible human being.

What even is this nightgown look. I know you thought I was done complaining about costumes but YOU WERE WRONG.

Back the tantrums I love so much!

Honestly, Henry VII would probably be fine with it all dying off if you were in charge of steering the ship bucko.

"I want a divorce" Wolsey: Shit.

I almost wish it ended on that. Episode 5 would have opened much better with a murder. Nevermind the whole 'damning of your immortal soul' bit that they definitely took quite seriously. Although what is this music choice??

[cinephiled-com]

New Post has been published on Cinephiled

New Post has been published on http://www.cinephiled.com/losing-head-anne-thousand-days/

Losing My Head Over ‘Anne of a Thousand Days’

This post is part of the blogathon, ‘TILL DEATH DO US PART: To Love, Honor, and…Murder, hosted by Theresa Brown of CineMaven’s Essays from the Couch.  “I’m looking for a few…good…murders,” Theresa said when she announced the blogathon. “And I’m specifically looking at the bumpy road of MARRIAGE.” While the statistics regarding actual spouse-on-spouse crime in the real world are quite depressing, murderous domestic intrigue in the movies is an important plot point of some of my favorite classic films. But when I first thought of the concept of “till death do us part” in the movies, my mind went straight to the story of one real-life couple who walked down the aisle a mere 484 years ago after altering the course of European history and changing a country’s official religion in order to do so. It was billed as the love match of the 16th century. Who could have predicted it would all go so horribly wrong in such a short time?

Anne of a Thousand Days is a lavish 1969 costume drama, directed by Charles Jarrott, about the relationship between King Henry VIII of England and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. The film was based on Maxwell Anderson’s successful Broadway play of the same name that starred Rex Harrison (who won a Tony Award for his performance) as Henry and Joyce Redman as Anne. So why did it take more than 20 years to get to the screen? Because the themes of the play, including adultery, children born out of wedlock, and incest were major non-starters in the movies thanks to the Motion Picture Production Code. It was only when such restrictions became more relaxed during the cultural shifts of the 1960s that it seemed possible to deal with these topics in a movie.

The film, released by Universal on December 18, 1969, was shot entirely in England and used locations such as the 14th century Penshurst Place and Hever Castle, the actual childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Originally, Hal Wallis wanted Peter O’Toole to star as Henry VIII but the part ultimately went to Richard Burton. I think he captures the spirit of the English monarch perfectly and I’m surprised to read that Burton never liked his performance in this film, even after he was nominated for an Oscar. To play Anne Boleyn, actresses such as Faye Dunaway, Olivia Hussey, Julie Christie, and Geraldine Chaplin were considered but the part ultimately went to 26-year-old French Canadian Genevieve Bujold who had appeared in King of Hearts a few years earlier with Alan Bates and had starred in a few small films that her then-husband Paul Almond wrote and directed.

  Genevieve Bujold gives an extraordinary star-making performance in this film, finding just the right blend of defiance, aristocratic sophistication, and acceptance of her sorry lot. Anne Boleyn had already been portrayed on the screen at this point, by actresses including Doris Lloyd, Merle Oberon, and Vanessa Redgrave, but, based on my own personal obsession with Tudor history and the many books I’ve read about the doomed queen, Bujold rose above the pack by channeling the very qualities that so attracted Henry VIII in the first place but which ultimately turned him against her.

Now that Anne’s ultimate fate had that much to do with her personality that differed so much from the wife that came before her — the pious Catherine of Aragon (Irene Papas), the daughter of Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, or the one that came directly after — the mild-mannered and sickly Jane Seymour (Lesley Paterson). No, what happened to poor Anne Boleyn had everything to do with her bad luck at not being able to give the king what he wanted more than anything in the world: a male heir.

As we see in the film, Henry VIII was never one to shy away from a pretty face. His many affairs during his 20-year marriage to Queen Catherine were well known, including to Anne’s older sister, Mary Boleyn. When the king notices 18-year-old Anne in the Boleyn household, newly returned from her educational pursuits in France, he immediately takes an interest in the girl, enough have his trusted Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey (Anthony Quayle), put the kibosh on her planned wedding to the handsome son of the Earl of Northumberland. But Anne, after witnessing the pros and cons of her sister’s involvement with the king, has no interest in becoming the latest royal plaything. Nope, if she was going in, she was going in for keeps.

Although Henry and Catherine’s early marriage had been a happy one, producing the Princess Mary (Nicola Pagett of Upstairs, Downstairs), poor Catherine’s five other pregnancies did not have a happy result, and all ended in miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death, and included the loss of several sons. By the time Henry noticed Anne Boleyn, Queen Catherine could no longer have children and Henry saw in Anne the possibility of finally getting the male heir that he so desperately wanted. Of course, Henry’s idea of divorcing the much-beloved Catherine was met with total incredulity by everyone at Court, including Anne. But the king would not be deterred, and when the Pope refused to consider the possibility of annulling the marriage, Henry took matters into his own hand, especially after Anne became pregnant, and broke away from Rome, declaring himself the head of the new Church of England. Catherine was exiled and Anne got a big coronation, even though people in the street openly jeered her as “The Great Whore.”

Would world history have changed dramatically if Anne had given birth to a healthy boy on September 7, 1533, instead of a cherubic red-haired girl she named Elizabeth? Yes, without question — on several fronts. Henry’s disappointment at the birth of his new daughter, after everything he had done to secure a male heir, was enormous, but things could have still turned around for the new queen if only her next child had been a boy. Indeed, she eventually got pregnant again and had great hopes for getting back in her husband’s good graces, despite his new interest in one of her Ladies-in-Waiting, the meek daughter of Sir John Seymour.

But alas, on January 29, 1536, on the very day of the funeral of the former queen and Anne’s former rival, Catherine of Aragon, poor Anne miscarried. This time it was a boy. That sealed her fate. In Anne of a Thousand Days, we see Richard Burton’s Henry explode in a rage of hysteria at his cursed marriage and subsequently order Thomas Cromwell (John Colicos) to find a way to get rid of his fiery albatross of a wife. It wouldn’t be easy. Another divorce was out of the question, so a more severe method would have to be found. Cromwell then proceeds to torture one of Anne’s servants, a musician named Mark Smeaton (Gary Bond) into falsely admitting that he had committed adultery with the queen, a treasonous offense with a penalty of death. But one lover wasn’t enough. Cromwell accused a series of men at court with similar crimes, even Anne’s own loving brother, George Boleyn (Michael Johnson), to add the stink of incest to the queen’s growing charges. At first Anne can’t believe her husband is behind such absurd accusations, but she soon feels the bitter sting of karma as she sees he’ll resort to anything for the prospect of a healthy son.

In a riveting scene that surely never took place in real life, Henry visits Anne in her Tower of London cell to say that he will agree to exile her in peace with their daughter as long as she agrees to their marriage being annulled and Elizabeth being declared a bastard. Anne refuses to consider this, choosing her daughter’s future over her own life, and spews an Oscar-worthy speech to her husband and king that their daughter will one day rule the land with authority and respect. “Elizabeth shall be a greater queen than any king of yours,” Bujold shouts with regal magnificence. “She shall rule a greater England than you could ever have built. My Elizabeth shall be queen, and my blood will have been well spent.” At that, a furious Henry storms out to search out the refreshingly meek Jane Seymour, and Anne’s head meets the blade of the master French swordsman.

Young Genevieve Bujold did get an Oscar nomination for her spectacular performance in this film, as did Richard Burton, Anthony Quayle, the three screenwriters, Hal B. Wallis, and several other behind-the-scenes craftspeople. The only person to win an Academy Award for the film, however, was costume designer Margaret Furse. Bujold did win a Golden Globe that year for Best Actress in a Drama. As for fiery real-life marriages, Richard Burton’s wife, Elizabeth Taylor, badly wanted to appear opposite her husband in this film, but, at 37, was considered too old to convincingly play young Anne Boleyn. Worried about any possible dalliance between Burton and the pretty young actress playing his queen, Taylor showed up on set anyway, and for a fee of $46, appeared in a few scenes as an uncredited extra!

While historians take issue with the way some of the fact were presented in this film, it remains a brilliant, riveting look at a sad chapter of the Tudor period. Of course, Jane Seymour did manage to give the king a male heir before dying herself 10 days later — the sickly Prince Edward, who reigned briefly following Henry VIII’s death, followed by the brief reign of his older sister Mary, Henry’s daughter with Catherine of Aragon. But, as we all know, Anne Boleyn had the last laugh when her 25-year-old daughter Elizabeth took the throne in 1558 and enjoyed a spectacular reign that lasted until her death in 1603. The beloved queen never married…hmm, wonder why? A few years after the release of this film, the BBC came out with a magnificent six-part series called The Six Wives of Henry VIII that remains my favorite depiction of this period. Actress Dorothy Tutin was so brilliant as Anne Boleyn that even though I was just a kid, I wrote her a fan letter which she answered. I was beyond thrilled — at the time I truly felt like I was getting a letter from royalty!

But Genevieve Bujold will always have a special place in my heart…and I’m not the only one. When Princess Diana was asked in an interview what her favorite movie was, her answer would send historians and conspiracy theorists into a frenzy for decades to come: Diana’s favorite movie was Anne of a Thousand Days.

Click here to read the other entries in the ‘TILL DEATH DO US PART blogathon.

[carewyncromwell]

Is that a Cinderella AU part I see? Yes, yes, it is! And one hopefully not as dark and devoid of hope as the last part...

Charlie’s castle carpenter tunic is based on this design; Bill’s castle guard uniform, referenced in a previous part, is based on this real uniform from 16th century France, though with a Royaumanian-worthy blue/red color scheme. My headcanon is that Charlie (who’s described as stocky in the books) is 5′5″, only two inches taller than his “unofficial twin,” Carewyn, while Bill is a friggin’ giant the tallest of the Cursebreaking squad at 6′1″ (one inch taller than Ben Copper at full height and the same height as his actor, Domhnall Gleeson!). The entire Cromwell family is on the smaller side, with Charles as the tallest at 5′10″. Oh, and yes, the Cromwells are all a piece of work, but Charles is indisputably the worst apple in the bushel. 😒

Previous part is here -- whole tag is here -- Katriona “KC” Cassiopeia belongs to @kc-needs-coffee -- and I hope you enjoy! 

x~x~x~x

Carewyn was discovered outside by her aunts Pearl and Claire and uncle Blaise and brought inside. When they interrogated her about why she had returned to the estate in the middle of the night, however, Carewyn was unable to answer them. She was unable to speak at all -- nor was she able to eat, drink, or sleep. Instead she simply settled down in a huddled ball on her old cot by the fireplace and stayed there, her arms around her knees and her eyes devoid of all light or awareness. 

Whatever had happened, Charles seemed to have determined Carewyn would be of no use to him in the palace, the way she was -- and so, at dawn, he sent a messenger to the King and Queen, telling them that she’d taken ill and would have to remain at home in the interim. 

Carewyn’s cousins at first took some vindictive pleasure out of bullying her, now that she was back under their roof. Arsen and Kain actually picked Carewyn up off the ground and pushed her around like some human-sized doll while Elmer sang a mean little song he’d written about her --

“Cindy-Cindy-Cinderwyn, the finest of her class --

The duchess of the dust and soot, her kingdom’s made of ash!

She went to court; oh, did they chortle, snicker, and guffaw --

So Cindy-Cindy-Cinderwyn ran home, crying, ‘Mama!’”

Before long, though, her lack of a reaction seemed to make it not so fun of a game. Within two days, Tristan, the youngest of Carewyn’s cousins, actually threw a tantrum because Carewyn completely ignored him splashing his paints all over her. 

“What’s wrong with you!?” the boy screamed, beside himself. “Why won’t you get mad at me?! Why won’t you run away and cry?! Why are you so -- so -- WEIRD?!”

Blaise was most perturbed when his son actually burst full-on into tears. Clenching his jaw furiously, he brought an arm around Tristan and swept him back inside and away from the vacant-eyed Carewyn. Then he went straight to the dining hall to speak to Charles.

“Father, something must be done about Winnie,” he hissed. “This is not normal.”

Pearl leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing. “Her behavior is shameful. To think the Cromwell blood runs through the veins of that girl...”

“It’s pathetic, that’s what it is,” said Claire in sycophantic agreement. 

“Winnie may be a pathetic thing, but she is our thing,” Blaise shot back fiercely, “and she’s practically dead as she is.”

He turned to Charles. 

“We’ve already lost Lane and sent Jacob off,” he said in a quiet, cold voice. “Are we to simply let Winnie waste away?”

Charles had his hands folded in front of him on the table. At Blaise’s words, his own almond-shaped blue eyes -- identical to his children’s and nearly all of his grandchildren’s -- narrowed. 

“I must admit, it is a shame that Carewyn has stopped being useful,” he said lowly. “Iris may still be a set of eyes for us inside the palace, but she’s hardly clever enough to do much of anything on her own that’s useful.”

Claire actually looked hurt. “Father...Iris just sent us a letter this morning. Was it not useful to you?”

Charles’s eyes were very cold upon his daughter. “Hardly. She spent a good chunk of it complaining that Carewyn did something to the Prince, before leaving the palace...clearly trying to make excuses for her own failure to hold Prince Henri’s attention.”

Claire’s eyes welled up with shame and she hung her head. 

“It wouldn’t be the first time that Iris has blamed Winnie for stealing one of her suitors’ attention,” said Pearl seriously, “but we have yet to get any explanation about why she’s returned to us against your instructions. And Claire and I did hear a horse galloping away, that night. Could it have been Prince Henri?”

Blaise scoffed. “Doubtful. You think a Prince would ever favor a plain girl with no dowry or status?”

“You warned Winnie yourself that the Prince could want her as a conquest,” Pearl said darkly. “Heartbreak would more than explain her current state...”

The idea made Blaise flush with rage. 

“Whoever rode that horse, it was not the Prince,” said Charles very smoothly. He rose to his feet, picking up his dragon-headed cane and strolling over to the window to look out. “From what my informants have told me...Prince Henri was at the Royaumanian army camp that entire night.”

His children all straightened up, taken aback. 

“At the war front?” said Pearl, shocked. 

“Yes,” said Charles. “It quite upset their Majesties. Even more so when he returned to the palace in the morning dressed like a commoner and declared to them and the entire royal court that he intended to open up peace talks with the soon-to-be King of Florence.”

“Soon-to-be King?” said Blaise, his eyes narrowing to slits. “Then the old one kicked the bucket?”

“Yes...and it turns out the replacement Crown Prince is something of a populist. From what I’ve heard, his very first decision as future monarch was to ask every Florentine nobleman to -- should they wish to remain at court -- donate a portion of their wealth to him, so that he could then use it to buy a feast and custom-tailored clothing for his soldiers.”

Charles was clearly offended by the idea. Blaise was too.

“Uppity brat,” he sneered. “I guess that’s what’s you get, when you choose a bastard peasant as your future king...”

Pearl, however, looked a bit more cynical. “Seems rather unwise, to antagonize those who come closest to you in status...”

“On the contrary,” said Charles. “It’s most shrewd. As Blaise said, the boy was the King’s illegitimate son. That would offend the standards of just about anyone of good breeding...thus it would be foolish to try to court them for approval. A rat can communicate best with other rats -- and sadly, a swarm of rats is just what you get, when they gather: a band of filthy, hungry, disgusting creatures who will eat away at what we hold dear.”

His blue eyes flashed. 

“And now our Prince fancies becoming allies with such vermin.”

Claire looked uncertainly at Pearl and Blaise. Both of them looked perturbed. 

“If the War ends, there’ll be less money in the future for us,” Blaise growled. “Our investments in armaments built this estate...”

“My investments, Blaise,” Charles said in a very cool voice. “Do not forget that even the ones done in your and my son-in-laws’ names were still orchestrated by me.”

He pushed his palm down into the top of his cane, his long fingers trailing over the metallic snout of the dragon-head handle. 

“It’s far worse than that, however. The Royaumanian royal family’s financial troubles was what has lent me their ear from the beginning. Gave me access to their decision-making -- gave me some leverage in coaxing them to join our two families. Should the King and Queen become friends and allies with Florence’s new royal brat, they may get the idea to redistribute their courtiers’ wealth as he has, to alleviate the nation’s debts...meaning we not only won’t be bringing in as much money as before, but that we’ll also have to submit to parting with what we already have, just to indulge in petty charity.”

Charles’s eyes narrowed upon his reflection in the ice-trimmed window. 

“Our family’s chance at ascending into royalty...at the absolute, irreversible power owed us...is slipping away.”

Claire got up and tried to comfort her father by taking hold of his shoulder. “But Father...surely there’s still some hope? If Iris -- ”

But Charles warded Claire off with the back of his hand, sweeping across the room. 

“If your daughter thinks that a mere maidservant was able to captivate the Prince more than her, then perhaps it’s the maidservant who I should enlist in getting our family what we deserve.”

He shot a look over his shoulder at Pearl. “Fetch Carewyn and bring her to me.”

Pearl dragged Carewyn up to the dining hall by her arm. The ginger-haired Cromwell hadn’t changed clothes or washed since she’d returned home, so her face was covered in cinders and her forest green and white dress was still splashed with the paints Tristan had thrown on her. 

At the start, Charles feigned concern, saying he hated seeing his granddaughter looking so ill and unhappy, but his words barely penetrated Carewyn’s mind. They were just more lies -- just like everything else out of his mouth. She should know...being a liar herself. So she didn’t say a word in response. She made no response at all. And soon enough, Charles did come around to what he really wanted. 

“His Highness is set to make a fatal error...but you have his ear. We need you to return to your duties in the palace and ensure that he does not trust the Prince called Cosimo.”

Carewyn’s lightless, empty eyes ran over her grandfather’s face for a long moment...but she did not answer. 

“This is a noble duty, child,” said Charles. Although he put on a smile, it did not touch his eyes. “This is your chance to protect both your family and your country. The Florentines have been our enemies since before your mother was born...and now they seek to feign honor long enough to lure our Prince into their jaws...”

He brought a hand down onto Carewyn’s shoulder. 

“Jacob would be proud, knowing you were helping him in his fight against them.”

Carewyn stared at Charles. Her almond-shaped blue eyes were as dark and turbulent as two miniature hurricanes. And yet, she did not speak.

Charles tilted his head, raising his eyebrows and considering her expression with that cold, detached smile. “Come now, my dear...will you not speak to your grandfather? I do so hate to see you like this.”

Carewyn’s gaze drifted away as Charles’s eyes bore into her -- and yet the silence dragged on with neither breaking it.

Pearl, Claire, and Blaise, for their parts, were becoming all the more unsettled by Carewyn’s lack of a response. Blaise actually strode forward and shouted at her.

“You will speak when spoken to, you ungrateful little -- !”

He made as if to strike Carewyn, but Pearl grabbed his forearm and held it back, flashing him a warning look before turning her righteous anger onto Carewyn. 

“Your grandfather requires your services, Winnie,” Pearl said very sharply. “Don’t you have something to say to him?”

Even with this, however, Carewyn didn’t say anything. Then, with as much energy and emotion as a ghost, she stepped back and out of Charles’s grip and turned to go. 

Something flickered in Charles’s expression. 

“I did not give you permission to leave,” he said very softly. 

But Carewyn didn’t answer or turn around. Claire had to block the doorframe to keep her from leaving the room. 

“Your grandfather said you’re not allowed to go,” Claire said, her voice trying to be sharp but instead sounding rather unsettled. 

Carewyn stared at Claire with those hollow, empty eyes in silence as Charles approached her from behind. 

“You will do your duty to this family, child,” he said. It was striking how much scarier his voice sounded, when it was quieter -- Charles Cromwell was the sort of man who didn’t need to shout in order to be intimidating. “After all...that is the pact we made when I took you and your brother in, is it not?”

He took hold of Carewyn’s shoulder, whispering in her ear.

“Do not forget that everything you have is because of my charity. I have no desire to punish you...but I shall withdraw my kindnesses, if I must.”

Carewyn was very still. Then she once again broke out of Charles’s grip and tried to move past Claire. 

Before she could get far, however, Charles snatched her up by the hair. With a strangled cry of pain, Carewyn was thrown to the ground with astonishing force, Charles’s fist clenched fast around her hair. 

“Your head is not the only thing in my hands, Carewyn,” he reminded her very coldly. “I hope you remember that.”

He wrenched her up onto her feet by her hair, and Carewyn had to clench her teeth to keep herself from crying out again. 

“I have been very patient with your theatrics...but I grow weary of coddling you. Should I send some message to Jacob, so that you behave? Perhaps if your head is not one you will defend, perhaps his is...”

“Liar.”

The word escaped Carewyn’s mouth as a wispy, hollow rasp, and yet it was enough to make everyone in the room stiffen. Somewhere out in the hall, one might’ve caught a quickly stifled intake of breath. 

Carewyn’s eyes, although so dark, seemed to have gained an odd gleam in the back of them, like flaming cinders in a dying fire, as she stared up at Charles. 

“You’re a liar,” she said again, her broken voice as rough as sandpaper in her throat as it rose in volume. “I know your life isn’t bound to Jacob’s. Any spell you could’ve had cast on him would have broken at midnight, the very night you sent him away -- the very night you ripped him away from me and sent him off to War against his will!”

Her blue eyes flared with hatred. 

“That’s why you’ve never once gotten word from him -- because there’s no word you could receive from him at all! Admit it!”

There was a horrible silence. Pearl, Blaise, and Claire all looked from Carewyn to Charles and back. 

Charles bore down upon his granddaughter, his face as cold as some ivory mask with hard, diamond-like eyes. 

“So that’s what this is about,” he said softly. “Assigning blame. Very well, Carewyn...let us discuss this. You came to me as a child, sobbing and distraught beyond words...begging me to save your brother’s life when he was already on death’s door. You had nothing to offer me at that time, nor did your brother -- and yet I, out of the goodness of my heart, agreed to take you in. All I asked was that you show proper gratitude...a term you accepted at the time, and yet now have seen fit to break.”

He yanked Carewyn up by her hair and threw her into the table with a WHAM. Carewyn cried out in pain, before crumpling to the floor in a heap. 

“I spent a good deal of my own money and discarded my own honor to try to find someone to save your brother’s life, if only to bring the light back to your eyes. Jacob was brought back to health and you were reunited with him, just as you’d hoped. And yet now you seek to demonize my wish that you show gratitude? That I collect on the debt owed me?”

He brought the heel of his shoe down on Carewyn’s shoulder with force, slamming her face down against the floor. 

“And worse,” he whispered, “you wish to demonize the fact that, all these years, I was too grief-stricken to tell you of your brother’s passing?”

Blaise, Claire, and Pearl all stiffened. Only Claire, however, looked shocked. 

“Jacob is...dead?” she whispered shakily. 

“I knew such a revelation would be crippling to a fragile, weak heart such as yours,” said Charles, his diamond-like eyes very hard upon the back of Carewyn’s head. “I knew that the knowledge that your brother died the morning after his departure, and that his body had to be burned with every other prisoner in those barracks instead of receiving a proper burial...would break your heart.”

Carewyn had started to shake. Her face had lost all of its color, and the flicker of rebellion she’d shown mere moments ago had gone out. 

“You’ve never been a stupid girl, Carewyn. You really should have figured it out years ago...and yet, like a child who believes in Yuletide gift-givers, you latched onto your brother’s memory even when all logic said you shouldn’t. I’m certain everyone else in this family saw through my pretense -- knew that it was merely something to placate you, soothe your temperamental emotions. They always have made it difficult for you to see things clearly.”

Charles's eyes narrowed. 

“You were the one who disregarded your duty to the man who put a roof over your head, clothed you and fed you. Perhaps the truth wouldn’t be so crippling if you had simply done as I wished...rather than chase after a ghost.”

Tears streamed down Carewyn’s face. Although her eyes were so hollow and she shook so badly, however, the grief inside of her was not just numbing. It had grown to such an extent that it for a moment made her lose her head completely. In a violent move, she wrenched herself off the ground with a mad scream and threw a fist right at Charles’s face. Unfortunately Carewyn had never been particularly strong -- and so Charles was able to seize her wrist, twisting it away from him and holding her back with little difficulty. 

“Blaise,” said Charles icily. “Fetch the whip.”

Blaise looked stricken. “Father -- ”

“The child requires discipline,” he said without looking at his son. “I will not have her thinking that following her brother’s example is acceptable behavior.”

Blaise closed his eyes and bowed his head. Then, with a grim look on his face, he swept from the dining hall. 

When he entered the hallway, he found all of Carewyn’s cousins (excluding Iris, who of course was still back at the palace) huddled up against the wall. They’d clearly been listening to every word...and for once, none of them looked the least bit amused. Their faces were all very pale. 

Blaise considered them all for a moment in silence. Then he brought an arm around his son and led him away. 

“Come, Tristan. You will return to your room and stay there until I come fetch you.”

Everyone at the Cromwell estate tried to block out the screams of pain that echoed out of the dining hall. After just under an hour, Charles finally stopped, whether out of physical tiredness or just having finally spent his temper, and bid Pearl and Claire to carry Carewyn up to the tower room at the back of the estate. Charles didn’t want her to leave that room again until she was prepared to behave appropriately. 

Carewyn had expected Pearl and Claire to simply throw her on the floor and leave her there. Instead, however, Pearl sent Claire to go fetch some towels and cold water, and she hoisted Carewyn up onto the worn feather cot on the far end. Her aunts then removed her torn dress so that they could clean the open gashes Charles’s whip had delivered to her back. 

As far back as Carewyn could remember, her aunts had never liked her. Her mother Lane had even told stories about her siblings and how Charles had pressured his children to compete against each other their whole lives. When Carewyn had moved in, Pearl had refused to look her in the face for over a month...and thanks to her daughters’ dislike for Carewyn, Claire had always treated her niece just as coldly. And yet, now...for some reason, they sat with her.

“...Why are you doing this?”

Carewyn couldn’t see either Pearl or Claire’s faces while she was lying on her stomach, but she heard the mattress give a light squeak, as if Claire had shifted slightly to look at Pearl. 

“Don’t you think you’ve questioned your elders more than enough already?” said Pearl in a very hard voice. 

She brought a cold cloth up to the largest gash on Carewyn’s shoulder, dabbing at it lightly. 

“You may be a stupid, arrogant, pathetic girl, Winnie,” she said quietly, “...but I know the pain of losing one’s sibling.”

Carewyn felt some pity in her heart despite herself. 

“Thank you,” she murmured. 

Pearl scoffed. “Thank me by doing as your grandfather says.”

Carewyn closed her eyes. Then she turned her head away from her aunts and didn’t reply.

Taking her silence as a refusal, Pearl withdrew quickly and hoisted herself up off the worn mattress. 

“Come, Claire.”

Claire hesitantly inched herself up off the mattress too, fetching the bucket of water from the floor as she went. Carewyn could see her glance back at her, when she reached the doorframe. 

“Your grandfather bid you stay in here until you behave,” said Claire, and her voice sounded almost reproachful. “Please don’t make him punish you further.”

But Carewyn did not make any move or sound. And so Claire closed the door behind her, and Pearl locked it with a loud CLACK behind them. 

Once Pearl and Claire descended the stairs of the tower, however, they caught the sound of raised voices from outside the open manor door. One of the voices they recognized as Blaise’s -- the other, they couldn’t have known, belonged to Charlie Weasley.

When Carewyn’s friends learned that she would not be returning to the palace, they all reacted with concern. They knew how crippling the revelation of Jacob’s death had been, but the knowledge that she was back with her family, rather than at the palace where they could help her heal, well...that only made the whole affair worse. Clearly, as KC pointed out, the King and Queen probably wouldn’t have been that lenient toward a servant who was unable to work and had no reason to suspect anything malevolent in Charles wanting to “take care” of his granddaughter. After all, Andre himself had also presumed Carewyn was well-treated by her family, before he’d been forced to conclude otherwise. 

“I’ll tell them the truth -- ” Andre had said forcefully, but Badeea only shook her head sadly.

“It won’t help, your Highness,” she murmured. 

KC nodded grimly. “Carewyn is Lord Cromwell’s ward, Andre. Her only possible legal guardian and benefactor. That means she belongs to him, whether we like it or not. No matter how badly she’s treated, or what she’s told you about him, he’ll still have that power over her. And as long as he’s a Lord with more financial capitol than our entire family does combined...the King and Queen won’t want to discipline him.”

Bill and Charlie, however, just couldn’t accept this. So after their scheduled duties, they visited the Cromwell estate themselves, requesting to see Carewyn. When Blaise tried to turn them away, the exchange got more heated.

“I’ve already told you that Winnie will not see you,” Blaise said, his blue eyes flashing at the two brothers. 

“We’d like to hear that from her, please,” said Bill, but his politeness had a noticeable edge to it. 

“She is in no condition to entertain anyone, least of all a pair of peasant boys who presume to trespass on our land and make demands. Now get out.”

“We’re not leaving until we see Carey!” Charlie said fiercely. 

“You will leave now, or I shall see to it that you are thrown out,” snarled Blaise. 

“Go ahead and try it!” said Charlie, getting right up in the blond man’s face. 

“What’s all this now?”

Charles Cromwell had emerged from the open door of the manor. Dashing out after him were Pearl and Claire. 

Blaise’s eyes flared. “A couple of troublemakers who’ve come looking for Winnie. ‘Westley,’ they call themselves -- ”

“Weasley,” corrected Bill. His eyes were narrowed as he faced Charles. “Bill and Charlie Weasley. We worked in the palace with Carewyn -- we heard she was sick and came to see her.” 

Charles glanced at Pearl and Claire out the side of his eye, before his eyes swiveled back over to the two Weasleys. 

“...I’m afraid my dear Carewyn is resting upstairs.”

“May we see her, please?” Bill said. Once again, his words were polite, but his voice was very firm and pointed. 

“No,” said Charles. “You may not.”

His eyes narrowed upon Bill’s freckled face. One could wonder what he saw in Bill that day -- whether it was the protective “big brother” affect that reminded him of his deceased grandson Jacob, the sincere devotion Bill felt for his granddaughter Carewyn, or simply the pure distrust and dislike toward him -- but whatever it was, it served to make the Lord’s face that bit more mask-like as he considered the ginger-haired castle guard.

“‘Bill Weasley,’ you said your name was? Well, Mr. Weasley...you can be rest assured that Carewyn is being quite well taken care of, here with her family, where she belongs.”

Charlie’s eyes flashed. “Somehow I doubt that.”

Charles raised his eyebrows very coolly. 

“We know all about what you did to Carey, Cromwell,” said Charlie. “We know full well how you ‘take care’ of your family...unless you think Jacob would actually speak on your behalf, if he were still alive?”

Charles, amazingly, didn’t react at all to this, but it only served to make his mask-like face that much more unsettling. 

“No one feels Jacob’s loss more than I. And I should thank you not to question that, boy.”

His eyes flickered from him to Bill. 

“I don’t know what Carewyn has told you...but I’m afraid I must apologize for it, all the same. The child has always had a difficult relationship with the truth...she’s often spun tales to...try to make herself seem more appealing, to the people around her.”

“Takes a liar to know one, I guess,” spat Charlie. 

Pearl’s eyes flared. “You have some nerve to speak to a nobleman thusly -- ”

“Pearl,” Charles soothed her, but his voice was hardly warm or comforting. Instead his eyes bore into Charlie with a darker glint. “You do yourself and your brother no favors in insulting me. I could have been kind and offered to send word, when Carewyn was well enough to see you...but I can see clearly that the both of you would be a toxic influence on my granddaughter, should I allow you to associate with her.”

“Toxic?” repeated Charlie, his voice rising. “You son of a -- !”

“Noble bloodline, unlike you,” Charles Cromwell said in a very low, foreboding voice. “One with enough money and influence to force you to comply with my wishes, if I must.”

Charlie wasn’t intimidated. “You do that, and we’ll tell the whole world about what you did. Reckon you won’t have quite so much respect from everyone, once they learn you used magic to trick Carey into staying under your thumb -- ”

“A dangerous accusation for anyone to make,” said Charles, his foreboding voice deepening further. “More still for a boy relying solely on the flawed testimony of a maidservant...and belonging to a family so impoverished by its size that they’d have no means to rebuild, in the event of some unforeseen tragedy...”

Charlie’s eyes widened dangerously. He looked like he wanted to punch Carewyn’s grandfather right in the face, but Bill took hold of his brother’s shoulders from behind, in a gesture that seemed to be both holding him back and expressing support. 

Charles’s eyes -- the same color and shape as Carewyn’s, but infinitely crueler -- flashed up at Bill.

“I can tell that you -- like me -- are the sort of man who wishes to protect his family, Bill Weasley,” Charles said coldly. “If you wish to do so...then you will ensure that neither you nor your family comes near mine again. Do I make myself clear?”

Bill and Charles glared at each other for a very long moment, silently burning brown on icy, diamond-like blue. 

“Crystal,” Bill murmured at last. 

Charlie looked up at Bill, horrified. “Bill -- ”

“Come on, Charlie,” Bill cut him off quietly. “Let’s go.”

Bill steered Charlie away and off of the Cromwell estate. Once they’d cleared the gate, Charlie whirled on his brother.

“Bill, you can’t be okay with this! If old Lord Cromwell won’t let us see Carey, then something’s gotta be wrong! We can’t just -- ”

“I know,” said Bill.

Glancing over his shoulder, he walked with Charlie a few more feet to make sure they were out of earshot. Then he said quietly, 

“Charlie...make up an excuse for the King and Queen about why their carriage is going to need more time to fix than you thought. We’re going to need it.”