#doesn't seem like it made a damn lick of difference wrt henry's fidelity and eventual (altho with vastly different results)

[fideidefenswhore]

"She had found it difficult to make the transition from a mistress with the upper hand to the submissive wife that Henry, a conventional husband, now expected her to be, and her tantrums sorely tried him, driving him to seek solace in other beds"

Interesting quote and a common sentiment, so let’s unpack this:

we know henry also had mistresses while married to c/oa, but...

w/eir et al insist she was the perfect wife, that she never argued with him (the latter of which is not even true, we have contemporary observation otherwise, even before the GM, but accepting the premise for the sake of argument)

so... was it in response to ' tantrums' or was it just henry and a pattern already established?

bcus in the very limited way they acknowledge her upset (which is generally just limited to the elevation of his mistress' son)

the infidelity is offensive but not the central point of the anger, not enough to risk loss of influence to fight against it 

it is not written about as a 'tantrum' (nor should it be, i’m merely pointing out the double standard), it is the noble, righteous purpose of her wanting to preserve her rights and that of her daughter

these incidents don’t receive the same treatment even though their context is similar, bcus...at least two of henry's mistresses while he was married to anne were supporters of her opponent (mary, also a threat to her daughter’s status)

so... was it 'tantrums' or was she also not going down without a fight because she viewed them as risking her and elizabeth's security ?

but it doesn't get the same treatment.

and the anne hastings thing with catherine does seem more personal but i digress , it is definitely not spoken of as a 'tantrum' either (nor should it be, again, i’m just pointing out the different language that tends to be used, and the blame cast upon anne & not her predecessor)

what i find really gross here is the implication and double negative inherent within

henry would not have taken mistresses while married to anne if she had more submissive, calmer

dignified even

but catherine was the perfect wife and model of queenly dignity and never said a harsh word to or against him

so... interesting to imply to avoid this she should have been 'more like catherine ' (again, whatever that means) when...it also happened to catherine?

we have a disrespectful comment but no actual record (altho it was a very short space of time) of henry taking mistresses while married to jane s/eymour

but no one says shit like coa should have been more like JS

yet i have seen people argue JS was emulating catherine and that's why he didn't cheat on her..... while forgetting he did cheat on catherine??