#nicholas carew

[fideidefenswhore]

Most prominent among Jane's advisers was Sir Nicholas Carew, in whose home Jane lodged while the King secretly paid court to her. On 29 April 1536, Chapuys claimed that Carew 'continually counsels Mrs Semel and other conspirators...and only four days ago he and some persons of the chamber sent to tell the Princess to be of good cheer.' Another intimate of the King whose religious conservatism had put him in opposition to the Boleyns was Francis Bryan. A public spat with Anne's brother George had severed any ties to the family, and it was Francis who brought Jane the news that Anne had been condemned in May 1536.

‘Bound to Obey and Serve’ (2014), Lauren Johnson

[lacharmante]

Hans Holbein d. J., 1497 Augsburg – 1543 London, Werkstatt/ Nachfolge des - PORTRAIT DES SIR NICHOLAS CAREW (1496 – 1539) - Öl auf Holz. Parkettiert. - 91 x 70 cm.

[wonder-worker]

The clearest way in which [Alice Perrers] inverted queenship was through the practice of intercession. Queenly intercession was justified because her actions stemmed from the Marian ideal of femininity by trying to secure peace or mercy for a worthy cause. Even when she was using intercession for political purposes, her appeals should have appeared to be unselfish and to the benefit of the king and realm. Alice’s intercession fulfilled none of these expectations. Instead she turned them on their head, directly inverting the queenly ideal. The most common theme of the criticism regarding Alice’s interventions was that they were often mercenary rather than merciful, carried out for her own profit rather than the good of the realm. According to Walsingham, William Wykeham did not believe that Alice would intercede with the king out of the goodness of her heart, but perceiving that she ‘had the power to do anything she wished … begged her for help, offering her money and promising her his service’. Alice accepted the bishop’s offerings:

and her services being obtained for a sufficiently large reward, she proceeded to find out if there was still a spark of life in the king, and if the wiles of a mistress could still affect him as they once did. He who had long been in thrall to her was softened by her words of entreaty, and thought that nothing she requested should be denied her. The result was that despite the duke’s [John of Gaunt’s] objections the king ordered the bishop’s temporalities to be restored to him.

Interestingly, the ‘softening’ words used by Walsingham to describe Alice’s pleadings to Edward III strongly echo those that Le Bel chose in his depiction of Philippa of Hainault’s intercession with the king at Calais.

The picture of Alice interceding for financial gain also features strongly in the petitions submitted against her after her trial. Thomas Hatfield, the bishop of Durham, complained that he had lent Edward III 4,000 marks for which he had half a dozen tallies from the Treasury. Although he made numerous petitions, he had got nowhere. Knowing this, Alice went to his manor whereupon he begged her to help him recover what was owed to him. Alice agreed, but according to Hatfield, instead of fulfilling her promise she acted in his name, without warrant or authority, and used the tallies to obtain 1,000 marks. Richard Woodville too complained that while he was in prison, Alice persuaded his feoffees to enfeoff men of her choice with a house he held in Northamptonshire. He agreed to do so upon Alice’s promise that she would use her influence with the king to have Richard released and to do him other good. But instead, when she had the house she did nothing. Alice’s practice of intercession, therefore, not only inverted queenship by being self-serving, but also, by not fulfilling her side of the bargain, neglected the virtue and honesty associated with ideal queenly intercession. In some cases, it could be argued that she was acting as any other person close to the king. The practice of courtiers buying up tallies was not actually unusual and indeed was expected. Those who were owed money by the king knew that they were unlikely to get all their money back and getting a percentage back by selling tallies at a loss was often the best option. The 1,000 marks that Alice took was probably her payment from Hatfield. In the hands of Alice, however, this kind of practice was arguably a much greater threat because of the fears of a woman’s influence over the king.

Another problem was the private and secret nature of Alice’s intercession with Edward. Nowhere is this more evident than in the examples from her trial, which demonstrate how Alice’s form of intercession exemplified backstairs and bedroom politics. To summarise the most relevant points, while giving evidence regarding the pardon of Richard Lyons, Nicholas Carew stated that upon being ordered into the king’s chamber, he and Lyons found Alice seated at the head of the bed. He was then told of the king’s desire to restore Lyons, in response to which he requested that he call Sir Alan Buxhull and other knights and squires, ‘inside the curtain’, so that they might witness what was being said. Having taken to the stand Buxhull himself then added that from her position on the bed, Alice ordered him to communicate the orders of the king regarding Lyons. Buxhull said he would only do this if the king ordered him to, which ‘at the instance’ of Alice, he did. Similarly in the Ireland case, John of Gaunt told parliament that Edward III had agreed to call Wyndesore and Dagworth to the council in order to determine if there was any enmity between them. The next morning, however, he had changed his mind, the clear implication being that overnight Alice had used her personal charms to convince the king of her preferred outcome.

The prominence of the state bed in this situation is important. Ormrod has highlighted that ‘because of the similarity to a canopied throne, the king’s state bed was an item that was closely associated with sovereignty’. As the state bed of the queen was most readily associated with her childbearing and churchings, Alice’s presence in the king’s state bed of governance directly inverted the balance between the masculine and the feminine that the king and queen upheld. With Edward and Alice there was no sense of ‘balance’, and because their conjugal relations took place within the state bed, sex and politics were being constantly mixed. Moreover, this private, sexual, nature of Alice’s intercession contrasts with the openness and transparency of ideal queenly intercession.

All these examples build upon the most striking literary example of Alice inverting queenly intercession in The Bridlington Prophecies. In the Calais story, by presenting her as ‘Diana’, Erghome is not only placing Alice into the role of queen but he is also portraying her as inverting the most famous example of effective intercessory queenship of the entire late medieval period. Instead of coming to Edward as the Virgin intercessor, begging for mercy for others in a selfless act of humility, in Erghome’s version the ‘queen’ Diana is a sexual temptress, distracting the ‘Bull’, who threw his testicles ‘at the legs of the wild Diana to have full enjoyment of his lust at that time’. Having been overcome by love for the wild Diana, the Bull abandoned himself to these ‘forbidden works’, and was therefore not able to be wise. Alice was, therefore, inverting ideal queenly intercession on two fronts. First, by her behaviour, which broke the gendered constructions of how effective, non-threatening intercession should be performed, and second, by performing intercession not in public but in private. By operating in the backrooms of power Alice could not be controlled in the way that a queen was through the supposed boundaries of her office, and consequently she fulfilled the worst fears of society about a woman at the heart of power with an exclusive level of intimacy with the king. So, while a queen’s intercession was essentially based upon the power of mercy, Alice’s was much more like that expected from a male courtier, if not worse. This was the inherent problem with Alice’s behaviour: politically she acted like a man.

— Laura Tompkins, The Uncrowned Queen: Alice Perrers, Edward III and Political Crisis in Fourteenth-Century England, 1360-1377 (PhD Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2013)

[blackbirds-on-the-marsh]

Thank you! I made sure to reference real suits while designing it— I like it when fantasy armor looks somewhat realistic, as opposed to the more nonsensical stuff you tend to see.

The creature, tentatively called a Bryophyte for now, is a creature that dwells in still or slow-moving bodies of water. They’re sedentary, only ever going on land if the water they’re in becomes contaminated or otherwise unsafe to stay in, and that’s to find a new water source. They use their claws to anchor themselves to rocks or logs at the bottom, and keep their top above water. Plants grow on their bodies, and they have in a sort of symbiotic relationship with them, gaining nutrients from the plants while providing them a solid base to grow.

They’re harmless to humans outside of the occasional drowning if someone gets stuck under one, and don’t even have mouths, getting all their nutrients from the plants that grow on their bodies. Because of this, and the fact that they only live in healthy waters, they’re believed to cleanse the waters and are a sign of good luck.

Children will often jump on their backs, and even though that does injure them, they rarely react beyond shaking or sinking a little. They’ve got no natural predators as adults both because of how well they blend in and the plates on their back, though they’re a hot spot for all sorts of parasites both mundane and magical. Most warn their kids not to touch them with ungloved hands because they will get bit by an unbelievable amount of things.

Most of the population of this setting lives by or on the water, so they’re a regular sight, and have many names depending on the region. For some cultures, fishing season only starts once they’ve been spotted once again, as it means the water’s good. If one is ever seen leaving the water, it’s considered an extremely bad sign. This is because they only ever move to relocate, which is either due to growing too big for their current depth, or because the water is bad. People don’t know exactly why, but they do know that they never nest anywhere the water’s bad. People who drink or fish from the places they’ve abandoned usually end up sick.

This one’s a male of his species, for now at least. Much like anemones, they can change their sex depending on what’s convenient, and are capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction depending on the situation. Juveniles are much slimmer, without any of the plates seen on the adults, and are migratory for a few weeks before eventually settling down to grow their scales and get some plant buddies. It’s common for babies to be caught and placed in various bodies of water in hopes they’ll make it safe, which never works.

Because of their lack of predators and status as a beloved species, outside of their first few months of life where the mortality rate is astronomical, they tend to live very long lives. Nobody actually knows just how long they live, because it’s very hard to estimate their age. Most people believe they don’t die naturally, and the death of one is viewed as a sign of impending catastrophe and is reason to seal up wells and change fishing locations.

Most cities built on lakes or rivers incorporate them into their iconography, because of their status as a symbol of luck and safe waters. Fishermen will carve them onto the prows of their boats, or keep little figurines of them for a good catch.

I’ve nicknamed this one Jim! The size comparison knight is named Elijah.

[ID: digital art of a knight in ornate gray and brown plate armor standing next to a monster. The monster’s body is long, made up of bark-shaped scales and covered in blue, green and red moss. It hunches on its hind legs, having no other limbs, with dark moss dripping from its underbelly and bugs sitting on its body. Its face is round with no features other than two large, round eyes with dots for pupils. Even hunched over, the monster is slightly taller than the knight. End ID.]

Art for a roleplay setting I’m working on.

[edwardseymour]

“Jane was not in attendance at the May Day jousts and both she and Henry took great pains to ensure that her name was kept out of the fall of Anne Boleyn. A few days before the arrest [2 May], Jane moved to Beddington, the large country estate of Nicholas Carew at Sutton in Surrey. Jane found it a comfortable house and, as an honoured guest, she was lodged in far better rooms than she would ever have been used to. For Jane, the stay at Beddington was a precursor to what she could expect as queen and she was treated with all the deference due to a future queen as she waited anxiously for news.”

— Elizabeth Norton, Jane Seymour

[ednyfedfychan]

“Her brother Edward Seymour, the future Protector Somerset in the reign of Jane’s son Edward, seems a somewhat unlikely ‘conservative’, even in the mid-1530s. If these conservatives were really dangling Jane in front of the king, could they be sure that she, and her family, would be their allies? Were there no young ladies from the families of those named by Chapuys? And how sound a scheme was it? How confident could Sir Nicholas Carew be first that Henry would be interested in Jane Seymour and secondly that if Jane became Henry’s mistress, that would lead on to political advantages for the conservatives, especially the downfall of Anne Boleyn?”

— G. W. Bernard, Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions

[boleynqueenes]

Mary was sufficiently recovered by late September to write to Sir Nicholas Carew, a gentleman of Henry's Privy Chamber, and an old friend of the king's. Mary had known his for many years, and he was her loyal supporter. This immediately aroused suspicion and Lady Shelton was asked by Henry to [investigate]. Mary told Lady Shelton the letter had been taken by her servant, Randall Dodd, and a response had been received from Carew's wife, Elizabeth. [...] Lady Carew had sent an open letter, urging Mary 'for the Passion of Christ' to obey her father, or she would be utterly undone. Lady Bryan confirmed the truth of the statement. Nevertheless, Henry was right to be suspicious. Lord Hussey and Darcy had both told Chapuys that an invasion by Charles V would have much popular support and Carew was no friend to Anne [...] The mention of Dodd, who had been in Mary's household since 1525, suggests she was not as isolated as Chapuys claimed.

the king's pearl / melita thomas

[historicconfessions]

[queenmarytudor]

I am told the cause of [Nicholas Carew's] arrest was a letter found in the coffer of the Marchioness [Gertrude Courtenay], by which he informed her of some conversations held in the King's chamber. [...] I know not what letters of mine could have been there for I never wrote any to anyone in this realm that I would not like published, except to the late good Queen and to the Princess, who would take good care to burn them. And seeing that of late, they wished to blame the said Marquis [Henry Courtenay] and others executed because they had found no letters in their possession, saying that they had burnt them lest the wickedness therein contained should be discovered, it might easily be suggested that I had several times written to the Princess. To avoid that suspicion I have sent her a dozen letters which she can show if necessary; and for my part I should like if some occasion offered for the King to see and read them.

Eustace Chapuys to Charles V, 9th January 1539

[marriageandthecrown]

Dan jones:

"But Anne grew too confident and paid for the crown with her life."

It just makes me roll my eyes so hard when historians still point the finger at Anne for her own downfall, as if she wasn't surrounded by enemies, (including her own kin - fck you very much Norfolk, Carew, Bryan etc - ), had a husband who had changed towards her, had lost two likely male heirs and all this in an extraordinarily short amount of time.

No, you're right, all her own reckless and stupid fault. How dare she rise so high, right? Like it was only down to her that she was even able to in the first place and no one else had anything to do with it as well either 🙄

[fideidefenswhore]

Whilst Mary's and Elizabeth's supporters nailed their colours to the mast, Richmond's activities give little clue as to his inclination. At the Chapter of the Order of the Garter held in April 1536, Richmond voted both for Anne's brother, Lord Rochford, and for Sir Nicholas Carew, who was no supporter of the Boleyns. His action probably reflected the mood of much of the court as they waited to see which way the die would fall.

The Life and Political Significance of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, 1525-1536. (Murphy, A. Beverley)

[wonder-worker]

"Fundamental to Alice's ability to increase her perceived influence in this fashion was her position at court. Continuing the pattern that had emerged towards the end of the 1360s during Philippa’s illness, after the death of his wife Edward III became even more politically inactive as his own health declined and he sought greater privacy with a restricted group of trusted companions at his favoured residences of Sheen, Eltham and Havering, leaving the majority of the royal household at Windsor. This created a royal court that was very much separate from the royal household. At the same time there was a marked decline in the number of members of the aristocracy amongst the king’s companions and, with the exception of the earl of Arundel, all the lords of Edward’s generation had either died or stopped attending council meetings by 1373. Of the king’s surviving sons, the Black Prince virtually retired from public life after returning from Aquitaine in 1371 debilitated by illness, Thomas of Woodstock was still too young to take an active role in government, and John of Gaunt and Edmund of Langley attended court when they could, but they, together with the young earls of March, Suffolk, Warwick, Oxford and Stafford, were too busy on the continent following the resumption of the war with France in 1369 to have any consistent presence at court.

It was under these circumstances that a small group of royal favourites, collectively identified as the court covyne or clique, came to dominate the person, policy and patronage of Edward III during the final years of his life. At the heart of this intimate circle was Alice. The other leading members were the chamberlain, William Lord Latimer; the steward, John Lord Neville of Raby; the chamber knight Richard Stury; and the financier, Richard Lyons. They were followed by a broader circle of household members and London merchants, who included: Helming Leget, receiver of the chamber; Sir John Ipres, controller of the king’s household; Nicholas Carew, keeper of the privy seal; Sir Robert Ashton, treasurer from 1375; Sir Alan Buxhull, chamber knight and constable of the Tower of London; Philip la Vache; John Pyel; Adam Francis; John Peeche; and Adam Bury. The supremacy this group maintained over the king was self-perpetuating; just as Edward, in his desire for his mistress and to be surrounded by a small number of intimates, came to be dependent on Alice, Latimer and their associates, so the members of this close-knit group reinforced their disproportionate amount of influence by supporting each other’s position.

This is not to suggest that Alice was dependent on the court covyne for her position. On the contrary, it could be argued that the king’s infatuation with his mistress made her the personal linchpin without whom the rest of the group would have fallen apart. This put Alice in a position of enormous power, as she was able not only to cajole and flatter Edward into giving her gifts of land and jewels, but also to make great demands of those who sought favour with the king and who came to her in the knowledge that, where Edward III was concerned, Alice could achieve whatever she desired. The queen’s death, her position at court, and her consequent visibility: these are the three reasons for Alice’s extraordinary rise to power after 1369 and her dramatic fall from grace in 1376, when she and her fellow courtiers came under attack from the Commons in the Good Parliament."

— Laura Tompkins, The Uncrowned Queen: Alice Perrers, Edward III and Political Crisis in Fourteenth-Century England, 1360-1377 (PhD Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2013)

[artist-holbein]

Portrait of Sir Nicholas Carew, 1533, Hans Holbein the Younger

Medium: wood,tempera

[alilyamongroses]

How much do you wanna bet Jane Seymour wrote and distributed pamphlets around court called “how to steal your mistress’ husband in a god honoring way”

[ednyfedfychan]

“While Anne was in the Tower courageously facing her judges, Jane was staying with Sir Nicholas Carew in a house a few miles from London. She was one of the first to learn of the Queen's condemnation and sentence; Henry sent her childhood friend and protégé, Sir Francis Bryan, with the news shortly after he received it, and himself called upon her in the afternoon. The ten days that elapsed between her betrothal to the King and the marriage in Whitehall were spent by Jane at her family home. The legend that the wedding festivities took place in the great barn at Wulfhall, which stood close to the house, may have had its origin in celebration parties given in honour of the future queen by her parents, for we can imagine the excitement among the Wiltshire neighbours and the pride of the jubilant Seymours. We do not know what dazzling gifts of jewellery Henry may have given to his bride as a wedding present - surely they must have included the precious stones that we believe she so demurely rejected a few months back - but in the matter of property he was certainly not ungenerous. No fewer than one hundred and four manors dispersed throughout nineteen counties were transferred to Jane, with five castles and a number of chases and forests, including Cranborne Chase, then a vast area of open forest concealing tiny hamlets, and still one of England's most beautiful stretches of down and woodland. In London she was given Paris Garden, a somewhat unattractive piece of land on the south bank of the Thames that took its name from a previous owner, Robert de Paris, and when not used for bearbaiting was the favourite venue for women of easy virtue.”

— William Seymour, Ordeal by ambition: An English family in the shadow of the Tudors

[bforbetterthanyou]

Do you know any friends of the Boleyns in general, not just Anne? I think Richard Sampson was a friend of Thomas.

Well, a lot of the people who were loyal to Anne were friends of the whole family.

Thomas Cranmer, the Wyatt family, Thomas Wolsey (yeah in the early days he apparently liked Thomas very much).

I know that’s not much but those are the people I can think of off the top of my head. Francis Bryan, in the beginning, and I think Nicholas Carew as well (although he also turned against the Boleyns eventually).

There’s an episode of Talking Tudors about supporters of the Boleyns, I want to say it’s episode 75, so if you want to know more, I’d check that out.