#this is a henry viii hate blog

[sweetfirebird]

yeah yeah there is no such thing as complete historical accuracy in modern media depicting ye olden times and yeah yeah sometimes shows are more about an aesthetic than any truth but every time I see a glimpse of the Tudors with ever young-looking whathisface as Henry, I feel like that show really, really was doing a disservice to his brides. Like let's bring the horror. And let's show his gross infected pus leg as well in all the sex scenes. just make it clear he stinks of puss, and also that the possible age range for Katherine Howard was I think lowest possible age 15 and highest possible 21 but most place her at about 18 at the time of her death so... 16? when Henry (49) married her. And so on. The Tudors is too kind to that piece of shit man and it's one of the many reasons I hate that show.

[lubdubology]

Get To Know Your Mutuals

I was tagged by @themareverine; thank you!

what's the origin of your blog title? It's a pun on the word cardiology. The sound a heart makes is "lub dub" and -ology means the study of, so the study of lubdub--GET IT. I love the heart, I'm a nerd.

favorite fandoms: I hop around and haven't been active in a fandom in quite some time before Deadpool & Wolverine came out. So currently Hugh Jackman/Wolverine, but I've also been big in Pentatonix before this.

OTP(s) + shipname: My and my bed.

favorite color: the color of dying embers or the vibrant red of fall leaves

favorite game: oh, I like word games! My dad and I compete in Betweenle every day. And I like a good crossword

song stuck in your head: Hurt Somebody by Noah Kahan

weirdest habit/trait? I have a bad habit of picking at the skin of my thumbs. I don't even notice I'm doing it until it hurts.

hobbies: reading, writing, cooking, teaching my daughter not to be an asshole

if you work, what's your profession? I'm a nurse!

if you could have any job you wish what would it be? I honestly don't know what I'd want to do. I briefly thought about being a CSI, so I pick that

something you're good at: being anxious lol. Seriously, um, cooking? I make a mean pie

something you're bad at: anything involving tools.

something you love: reading, time to myself, my mom, my daughter, being with my friends, traveling.

something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: I'm fully of really random knowledge, honestly. But I could talk about reading for eons and anything science/cardiology related

something you hate: the current state of US politics.

something you collect: I have more notebooks than I know what to do with, books.

something you forget: Oh, so many things. How to be kind to myself, mostly.

what's your love language? ACTS OF SERVICE. I LOVE doing things for other people.

favorite movie/show: Not my favorite, but my guilty pleasure movie is Armageddon It's the most ridiculous movie ever and I love every bit of it. Favorite show? Ooh, The Office and New Girl are top contenders.

favorite food: pasta!

favorite animal: lol, see my previous post. But the platypus.

are you musical? I guess technically, but I haven't played an instrument in quite some time. I took piano lessons when I was younger, but quit because I hated doing the recitals. Come to find out I didn't HAVE TO do the recitals. Then in high school I played the oboe and cymbals/percussion during marching band season. I'd like to get back into the piano again

what were you like as a child? quiet, shy, awkward and teased

favorite subject at school? Science! I got to take a human anatomy class in high school and was in heaven.

least favorite subject? Social studies.

what's your best character trait? I'd like to think I'm a generally decent person.

what's your worst character trait? I have the worst anxiety and question myself a lot

if you could change any detail of your day right now what would it be? I'd like to be able to work less, so I can spend more time with my daughter.

if you could travel in time who would you like to meet? King Henry VIII, because he's such a messy bitch; a neanderthal; Betty White

recommend one of your favorite fanfics (spread the love!): Literally anything @joelsgoldrush has ever written; anything @eupheme has ever written, but I absolutely ADORE her Sugar series; @logaenhowlett has some amazing Logan works (still working through their masterlist); @flowersforbucky and her Old Man Logan fic For Always and Ever Is Always For You

absolutely no pressure tags: @logansbaby; @pedroscurls; @princessanglophile; @eupheme; @flowersforbucky; @yxtkiwiyxt and you!

[batbeato]

why i hate six the musical

tldr: milquetoast pop feminism that ends up perpetuating misogyny

...I know this blog is mostly umineko but this musical is so bad I need to share it with everyone. More beneath the cut.

Six is about the six wives of Henry VIII. They have decided to put on a pop concert/competition where they sing about how much their lives sucked in order to determine who had it the worst and should lead their band.

I want to preface this by saying that while I don't think its runtime (about 70 minutes, as it's a one-act musical) warrants Broadway trips / ticket prices, the format of Six is not my issue with it. I love Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which is also a musical in concert(s) format.

I also acknowledge that the creators of Six were university students at the time of first creating this musical and I am not sure that this musical went through much, if any, revisions since then. This does explain some of the issues with this musical, but doesn't excuse them.

I did enjoy a few aspects of the 70 minutes of my life I spent on this musical.

Basing each queen on different pop stars.

Most of the music sounds good and being in a theater getting hyped up over the numbers / audience interaction is probably a blast.

All You Wanna Do is a great musical number and, unlike a single song from Mean Girls, has found a place on my musical theater playlist.

The zany concept. I love that.

I watched a 2022 Broadway production of the musical, and will be basing this post off of that.

Songs

This will be brief because I don't have too many issues with the music. It's a very pop-style musical, but that's a fine choice to make. Some of the lyrics are aggressively modern, which is a bit irksome, but it's mostly tolerable, and some of the too-modern jokes/lingos are a bit funny.

I have two main gripes with the music: one is that Heart of Stone is just... boring. It's very different from the rest of the musical and it falls very flat. It's also a song about abuse apologism that downplays Henry's abusive/shitty tendencies in favor of romanticizing him. The singer also precedes the song by blaming Henry's abuse on the other wives... "raging and storming right back". So the song fails for me on an emotional level while it's at it.

The other is that for whatever reason, in the middle of the show, they decide to have a mini-rave with this song called Haus of Holbein to introduce the next queen being from Germany. It adds nothing to any of the characters. This kind of song (a bop / fun to witness but filler) is already bad enough in a normal musical, but in a musical with this short a runtime, you need to make every minute (and every song) count.

Historical Inaccuracy

Musicals are no stranger to historical inaccuracy. I am also no stranger to historically inaccurate musicals. However, the historical inaccuracy of Six undermines its core message, which is that the stories of these women matter and that they should be defined beyond their marriages to Henry VIII.

If the musical itself cannot be bothered to properly relate these women as they were, why should the audience care about these women?

These inaccuracies, combined with the very sexual nature of many of the songs, sometimes even painting these women as shallow and/or catty, completely destroys the musical's intent. Rather than honoring these women, it creates shallow, misogynistic caricatures of them.

I am not a history buff and do not have the energy to go through how each song/portrayal may have butchered each queen. I do think that, for example, portraying Anne Boleyn as a selfie-taking rumor-spreading "I wanna dance and sing / Politics / Not my thing" when a quick google search shows that she did engage with politics, quite a bit... is misogyny. Which, let's get into that.

The Misogyny

So, the premise of this show is that these queens are in a competition. That means that for the entirety of the show, they act very 'catty', they downplay each other's trauma, and they use each other's trauma as a way to insult each other. This is to the point that they start comparing their numbers of miscarriages.

At that point, Catherine Perr tells them they've gone too far, she sings a song about how she had a life beyond Henry (mostly devoted to men with a single verse about her actual life) and then it's revealed that the competition was fake and staged to show the misogyny of such a competition and how defining these women by their husband rather than their actual lives is misogynistic/shitty.

Unfortunately these woman have still spent the past hour tearing each other down and defining themselves solely by their relationships to Henry VIII. The audience has also spent the past hour eating it up and laughing/cheering.

When Samantha Pauly, as Katherine Howard, performs All You Wanna Do, she has a progressive breakdown on stage about the sexual abuse and objectification she experienced over the course of her life. It's an incredibly powerful performance, with a lot of in-character acting/singing as the concert gives way to theater. For a moment, after this very intense song, I felt a lot of emotion about how this historical woman may have been treated. And then the show returned to wisecracking and women being catty.

If SIx had a second act after this twist, where the women support each other and sing about their actual lives, maybe this twist could work. It does not, and so despite this 'message', Six primarily perpetuates what it is trying to deconstruct: erasing the history of women and their many accomplishments in favor of defining them solely by their relationships to men.

The End

This one gets its own section because it pisses me off that badly. You see, after all these historically inaccurate numbers, all of this misogynistic catty banter, all of this sexualization of these dead women for the sake of crowd-pleasing, they have an ending number that amounts to a fix-it fanfiction.

This song is about all of them never getting with Henry (or surviving childbirth) and finding musical careers and forming their band together. They sing the line "Too many years lost in his story" but what is their story. This musical has not shared it with me.

Writing fix-it fanfiction about Henry's wives starting a band together is not how you fight how women have been erased from history. It is not how you recognize the achievements of these women and respect their memories.

What is Six about? It's a musical about how women have been erased from history that erases them further, even as it claims to be about these women speaking their truth and doing themselves justice. That's not feminism. That's fucking misogyny getting a standing ovation from people who don't want to actually unpack the systemic erasure of women from history.

[marythequeen]

I am so happy, that there is another blog that defends Mary I, SHe is honestly the most vilified Queen in English history. She was painted as an evil catholic fanatic ruler even though she executed fewer people than her father and sister. She loved her country. She dedicated herself to fixing the things she thought were destroying her country. She faced Scrutiny and persecution because of her faith. What is your reaction when people compare Mary I to her Father King Henry VIII? What does she feel about her father? does she adore him or despise him?

i agree with you wholeheartedly!! and it makes me so happy that more and more people start to learn the truth about queen mary.

now here's my thoughts on your questions. it may disappoint you and others but i always speak my mind. mary had, indeed, inherited some of henry's personality traits (it's a whole another topic but if you want me to elaborate it, i can do it sometime) it's her father after all, we all, unfortunately, take from our parents. however, the people that compare mary to henry, do it in a wrong way or they have simply vicious intentions (i'm looking at the protestant missionaries)

they mostly compare their ruling styles and again, they have some similarities even there BUT mary had never ever had her own people applied certain torture methods, unlike what henry viii (and the other tudor monarchs) had constantly. so when they claim that mary followed her father's way of ruling, i simply want to gag my own eyes and forget i read. if we really want to compare henry viii to someone in his family, it would be his second daughter, elizabeth tudor (again, another topic but i'm open to discuss it)

and your other questions, well, we'll never know exactly how mary felt about her father but we can have strong conjectures. in my opinion, it is clear that mary knew exactly what kind of a man her father was and what he was capable of. she faced his cruelties at a young age and suffered greatly because of him and his actions. and mary wasn't a naive woman. she knew it was all his choice, though he was sometimes influenced by others.

do i think she loved him? yes, i do. do i think she despised him? yes, absolutely! these can happen at the same time. you can love someone and still be aware of their vile personality traits.

considering the reports and mary's own words, i think mary hated him as much as she loved him. she respected him but didn't approve his actions. she took care of him when he was sick. we don't know what was her reaction to henry's death, it wasn't recorded, but we know that she took offense when katherine parr got married so soon as we can read her letter to thomas seymour.

and most importantly, she grieved him and i don't think she did it just because she was expected to do this. it was because, no matter what kind of a shit father he was, he was still her father who once called her 'the pearl of his kingdom'

father-daughter relationships are complex, speaking with experience. at the end blood runs thicker than water.

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

Is there any royals that you can't stand?

Cowmilla

Prince Andrew

King Edward VII

Queen Victoria

King Henry VIII

King Charles III

Edwina Mountbatten

~

And I don't completely hate King Edward VII & Queen Victoria, but I definitely think that Victoria wasn't the nicest person, and the only thing that makes me hate Edward is that he was a cheating bastard to his lovely wife.

Also, if you don't like who I chose than you can disrespectfully leave my blog! 😘

[unrepentanthistory]

On This Day in 1536: The execution of Anne Boleyn and Her Influence on England.

She was the queen who captivated a king, but also the one who paid the ultimate price. Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife and the mother of Elizabeth I, faced a brutal death on this day in 1536. Accused of crimes ranging from adultery to treason, she was beheaded at the Tower of London in a swift and merciless execution. But who was Anne Boleyn, and why did she fall from grace so dramatically? In this blog post, we will explore her life, her legacy and her role in one of the most turbulent periods of English history.

Catherine of Aragon

Anne Boleyn returned from France in the mid-1520s and caught the eye of King Henry VIII, who was desperate for a son and heir. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had failed to give him one, and he wanted to divorce her and marry Anne instead.

But this was easier said than done. Catherine had powerful relatives, like the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who opposed Henry’s plan. And the Catholic Church refused to grant him an annulment, saying his marriage was valid and sacred.

That’s when Thomas Cromwell stepped in. He was a cunning and ambitious politician who helped Henry break away from Rome and create his own church, with himself as the supreme head. This was a radical and risky move that sparked a religious revolution in England. And many people blamed Anne for it, as she was seen as a supporter of the Protestant reformers who wanted to change the church.

Jane Seymour

Anne became queen in June 1533, when she was already pregnant. But she disappointed Henry by giving birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, instead of a son. She also lost two other babies, including a boy, in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Henry had fallen out of love with Anne and in love with her maid, Jane Seymour. He wanted to marry Jane and get rid of Anne, but he couldn’t just divorce her like he did with Catherine. That would make people doubt his first divorce and his new church.

So Henry came up with a shocking accusation: He claimed that Anne had bewitched him into marrying her, and that she had been unfaithful to him with several men. He also told Cromwell, who was now his chief minister and Anne’s enemy, that he wanted to make peace with the emperor, who hated Anne.

Arrest and Imprisonment

Anne had many enemies who wanted to get rid of her. They started a secret investigation and found a musician who said he had slept with her. They also accused her of having affairs with other men, including her own brother.

On May Day, everything changed. Henry was watching a tournament with Anne and her brother, George Boleyn, and his friend, Henry Norris. But he left suddenly without saying goodbye to Anne. He never saw her again.

He arrested Norris and George Boleyn for sleeping with Anne and plotting to kill him. He also arrested two other men for the same reason. And he locked up Anne in her palace at Greenwich on May 2.

Duke of Norfolk

Anne faced her accusers, who included her own uncle, the Duke of Norfolk. They charged her with “evil behavior” and put her in the Tower of London.

The four men who were accused of being her lovers were tried in Westminster Hall on May 12. They were all found guilty and sentenced to die horribly. On May 15, Anne and her brother, George Boleyn, had their trial in the Tower of London.

The Duke of Norfolk was the judge, acting for the king. The worst evidence against George Boleyn was his own wife’s claim that he was too close to his sister.

Anne was probably innocent of the charges against her. She never confessed to anything, the evidence against her was weak and it makes no sense that she would cheat on the king or try to hurt him, when she needed his love so much.

But Anne and Rochford were still found guilty, and Norfolk sentenced them to death by fire or by the king’s choice.

On May 17, the five men who were accused with Anne were killed on Tower Hill, but Henry was kind to his queen. He sent for a skilled executioner from Calais who could cut off her head with a sword instead of an axe.

Received message. Here is one possible way to rewrite the paragraph: Anne was probably innocent of the charges against her. She never confessed to anything, the evidence against her was weak and it makes no sense that she would cheat on the king or try to hurt him, when she needed his love so much. But Anne and Rochford were still found guilty, and Norfolk sentenced them to death by fire or by the king's choice. On May 17, the five men who were accused with Anne were killed on Tower Hill, but Henry was kind to his queen. He sent for a skilled executioner from Calais who could cut off her head with a sword instead of an axe.

Anne Boleyn Execution

Anne Boleyn wore a grey dress and a fur cloak as she walked to her death on Tower Green. A few people watched as she spoke to them. She said: “Masters, I obey the law as the law has judged me, and I don’t blame anyone for my offences. God knows them; I leave them to God, asking Him to forgive me.” She also prayed for Jesus Christ to “protect my king and master, the most godly, noble and gentle Prince that is, and may he rule over you for a long time.”

The executioner cut off her head with one stroke of his sword. Anne Boleyn was gone. The next day, Henry got engaged to Jane Seymour; they married soon after.

Jane gave Henry the son he wanted, who became King Edward VI when he was only nine years old. But it was Henry’s daughter with Anne Boleyn who would become the greatest Tudor ruler: Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England for more than 40 years.

Thank you for reading this article I hope you enjoyed it and learned something new. If you want to see more of my work, please follow me on Instagram @unrepentantmasculinity, where I share photos and stories from my travels and adventures. And if you appreciate my journalism and want to support me, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-fi. Your donation will help me keep writing and exploring the world. Just click on the link below and choose how much you want to give. Thank you for your generosity and kindness. Until next time, stay curious and informed.

[abwatt]

It's sometimes helpful to point to a few core ideas and then build outward from those.

That φ thing, that mathematicians and "mathematics is the secret code of nature, and the Golden Ratio is the secret code" underlies a lot — like, A LOT — of temple construction around the world. Even five hundred years after England's era called "The Dissolution of the Monasteries" when Henry VIII stole most of the wealth and all of the land from 95% of England's abbeys and friaries and nunneries, it's often possible to identify the site of old churches by the shape of the courtyard left behind after the building was completely removed. It's easy to lay out a Rectangle in the Golden Section, and thus to make a Rectangular Prism for a temple... or a tower... or a dome... but other shapes are possible, like nested octagons (Dome of the Rock) or nested hexagons and triangles (common in a number of shrine types across the Bantu regions of Africa)

So does the Golden Rule, phrased differently in different religions, but usually the same basic core ideas: "do to others as you would have them to do you." Or, phrased negatively, "Do not do to others what you would find hateful when directed at you."

These have been used in the past to advance the cause of something called Perennialism — the idea that all religions, everywhere, are simply variations or fallings-away from the One True Religion -- that there is some True Religion that underlies all these others, and that all the other religions are simply efforts to capture, or re-capture, those essential truths. This is a blog post, and really a response to someone else, so there isn't much cause to go into why Perennialism is a Bad Idea™ in modern cultural and historical studies... but it's enough to say, for the moment, that certain elements of Mathematical Precision ("these proportions are beautiful and useful") and certain elements of Cultural Meaning ("be nice to each other") are found in every religion.

You can also take a leaf from astrology. Your world has a time-keeping system of some sort, with a Sun and maybe a Moon, and maybe 4-8 visible planets. If you reach far enough back in your world's time, there was an era when humans or elves or dwarves looked upon those moving bodies as extraordinary phenomena... and each of those planets (or two of them together) may have captured religious attention to launch a religious movement. In shorthand, here's what each planet might contribute to that conversation:

Saturn: Death, Solitude, Austerity, self-reliance

Jupiter: Generosity, Law, Abundance, Wealth, Gifts

Mars: conflict, contention, battle, war, force,

Sun: excellence, glory, light, leadership, rulership

Venus: beauty, love, aesthetics, women, delight, music, dance

Mercury: expertise, business, trade, fraud, communication, LGBTQ issues, debate, argument, medicine, money

Moon: children, motherhood, imagination, storytelling, community

Every religion is going to have Opinions® and Theology™ and Scripture/Doctrine© to cover these topics... so you can use the planets to make a kind of "checklist" of things each religion feels.

Related to this, Saturn and Jupiter have a conjunction with one another every 20 years, and for about 240-280 years those conjunctions take place in signs of the same element — Earth, Air, Fire, Water. We're all familiar with the idea of eras of time in which one Great Power is dominant over others, of course — Avatar, the Last Airbender has got some of this idea, right?

But... both for out-of-world planning, and in-world consciousness, some astrologers and wizards may be aware of this cycle, known as the Great Conjunction Cycle — and know that when a Fire Age begins, (called the Grand Ingress), that a period of wars, conflagrations, and unseasonable heat is upon us, and mountain nations thrive. When the era shifts to a Water Age, then naval powers predominate, whirlwinds and waterspouts and tidal waves and sea-quakes trouble the oceans; and exploration and trade are common. When an Earth Age follows, infantry forces from the rolling hills conquer territories and build roads, and earthquakes cause terrors and collapse cities, while volcanic activity buries them. In Air Ages, horse-lords from the steppe sweep out of the northern realms to raid and pillage and collapse the land-claiming empires of the Earth nations; and the tundra expands southwards into grasslands, while windstorms and tornadoes shake down palaces and cities. Many ancient astrologers were of the opinion that many forms of magic became abrogated or obsolete after one Elemental Age ended and another began — and that the start of a new cycle meant that new magics had to be learned and studied; and that new prophets and new gods would be born into the world as old ones passed away.

Two cycles of 240-280 years is nearly 2000 years... Four such cycles, or 4000 years, is more than the lifetime of the oldest elves in Tolkien's framework or in Dungeons and Dragons... and provides an elegant plot hook. If your world is right at the transition point from one age to another... or even at the Grand Ingress when one Air Age ends and a Fire Age begins ... the world is about to get a lot more tumultuous, and your players (or protagonists) are in a good position to slow down the change, or speed it up, or be themselves the heralds and creators of the change.

I get a lot of questions about religious world building. I tend not to answer them (because I charge by the word) but lemme give y'all some advice:

Make sure your religion would still be interesting if gods and magic weren't real. The real-world Catholic Church is interesting because of how social and political power flows through it. Judaism is interesting because of the history and culture it represents. Islam is interesting because of the non-religuous innovations that it fostered. Et cetera et cetera. Real world religions are varied and complex in a thousand different ways.

[northern-lights-book-blog]

Book: The Highlander’s Untamed Tempest

Author: Heather McCollum

Series: Brothers of Wolf Isle , Book #5

Release Date: 09/30/2024

Publisher: Entangled 

Book Length: 242 Pages

Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Blog Rating: 5/5 Sláinte Flags

Isle of Mull, Scotland, 1550

In this final book of the Macquarie Brothers on Wolf Isle you think that the youngest brother Eagan will fall in love and meet his soulmate. Except he has all his bags packed ready to see the world and the last thing he wants is to get married! The  Macquarie clan is cursed by an old crone who is Grissell’s ancestor. As the first Macquarie Chieftain, got a lass pregnant with no offer of marriage and married another due to a clan alliance. Well this lass was so brokenhearted she took her own life but her mother cut the baby out so it would survive. 

So her powerful witch mother cursed the entire Macquarie clan to stop creating illegitimate children forcing them in a cruel world alone. Now they won’t be able to populate and get any lass pregnant, not until the clan really comprehends what true love really is! This goes to everyone on the Isle, even the livestock. Now everyone and their Uncle knows of the curse and the stipulations. Naturally every unmarried woman and their mama are offering their daughters or female relations on a silver platter to Eagan. If Eagan leaves or gets a lass pregnant out of marriage the clan will be cursed forever!

Everything changes when Eagan has to help a midwife who is a French woman, Claudette Tempest Ainsworth known as Tessa. A woman who was hidden on wolf isle for the past year by Grissell whose ancestor committed the curse on the Macquarie family. She had been teaching Tessa how to care for the orphans she cared for, even the animals too. Eagan and Tessa fall for each other quickly nor realizing that danger is centering around Tessa and the man she loves.

Now Tessa is missing her sea captain father who promised to come retrieve her. Of course she is also falling for the youngest Macquarie. Something Tessa has never felt especially from her mother who never trusted any man and for good reason too! Tessa is wonderful with animals, children and is a healer too. All of Macquarie's instants fall in love with this lass from her beautiful singing voice to her dance instruction being a midwife and her other healing talents. 

However one mother whose child was not born perfect is accusing her of being a witch due to a birthmark. Sadly it is when a witch hunter from Edinburgh comes to Wolf Isle just to start trouble for innocent young women. Will Tess be tortured and executed too? Especially now when she has fallen in love for the first time! Everything changes for Eagan when meets the bonny Tessa and all his careful plans are swept out the window! He is being swept off his feet, feeling things he has never felt for any lass ever before! However he also sees a threat and like all Macquarie men. They will do anything for the woman they love. 

When you think of the mid sixteenth century you think of  a “Rough Wooing.” It was a series of wars where England wanted to force a marriage between Henry VIII and Mary Queen of Scots…well we know France won that wooing war! Also Witch hunts began in Scotland around 1550, and the Church of Scotland's view of witchcraft as a threat to Christianity heavily influenced the witch hunts. So if any of the farm animals or even if there was an illness among the villagers they would blame it on witchcraft and innocent women were executed! It was a very horrific time for women in this time period.

As always my go-to-author Heather McCollum pens another beautiful story. I especially loved how all the issues in this series were tied up in perfect bow. A very satisfying conclusion to the series finale where all the brothers are in this book with the women who captured their hearts! As much as I hate when a series I have enjoyed so much ends I loved how this author wrapped all the loose ends up perfectly. You can read any of the books in this series as a stand alone book, but I highly recommend every book in this series as they were all brilliant! I also loved the story of Eagan and Tessa so much!

Disclaimer: I received an advance reader’s copy from Entangled Publishing. I voluntarily agreed to do an honest, fair  review and blog through netgalley. All thoughts, ideas and words are my own.

[thepromisedbride]

A few people seem to be saying that Henry should get a role in the musical so here’s my suggestion!! A cutout of him is brought on, after the show’s over. The queens take turns throwing things at it. After they’re done they stand back and it explodes into glitter and confetti. Everyone’s happy

[sweetfirebird]

I saw an article about that new Catherine Parr movie that was like, "Jude Law's Henry VIII is a Henry for the Me Too era." And... no Henry was always like that.

[animeandcatholicism]

I think for a hot second that the English are sane and rational people and then remember they abbreviate mathematics to maths.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Lol I was watching the series finale of The Tudors with someone and we reached the scene where Henry said goodbye to Catherine Parr and his daughters and as soon as he’s gone Elizabeth just walks off.  And my friend was like “oh, she’s sad”.

And like...  I never interpreted that as sadness?  I mean, the girl who played Elizabeth on The Tudors was Not Good by any stretch of the imagination, but I kind of interpreted that scene as Elizabeth being like “WELL HE AIN’T GETTING ANY DEADER” and dropping the pretense of the loving daughter as soon as he was out of sight.  (Whereas Mary actually did love Henry on the show--in part, I’m sure, because as much as he abused her she had memories of him as a loving father, whereas Elizabeth pretty much just treated like shit starting from that time he killed her mom and declared her a bastard when she was a toddler.)

Obviously, Elizabeth I likely had very conflicted feelings about Henry irl; but the cynic in me, the part of me that always tends to remember that our concepts of emotion and familial love didn’t necessarily apply to peoples of the past, tends to wonder how much Elizabeth’s public feelings towards her father corresponded to her private emotions.  Elizabeth is famously for that Tudor temper, for losing it every now and then in fits of anger towards Robert Dudley or Lettice or whoever was annoying her at the moment.  But ultimately, many of these incidents were often highly performative--people didn’t see Elizabeth bursting into tears or getting into a catfight.  They saw Elizabeth shouting at people--as her father did--because she was a sovereign and she was not just acting in anger, but displaying authority (often accompanied by actual political acts of authority).  Things like that famous portrait ring might hint at Elizabeth’s private feelings towards people, but it’s not as if she wrote a grand diary full of her honest to God emotions.  Elizabeth PERFORMED as the daughter of this sort of Tudor lion she built Henry up to be, because she inherited the throne as HIS daughter first and foremost.  Anne’s family certainly didn’t help her claim to the throne, and at any rate, regardless of Elizabeth being restored to the succession, her parents’ marriage was iffy in the eyes of... most of Europe, at some point or another.  She could at least trumpet her status as a LEGITIMIZED daughter of a king--which was still questionably to many, of course--if not her status as a princess born legitimate.  That status relied entirely on her father, and not at all on her mother.

The fact is that no matter what public displays of affection Henry showed to Elizabeth when he felt like it, he put her in a constant place of political and probably emotional turmoil beginning when she was little more than a baby.  He came dangerously close to denying paternity of her altogether.  He killed her mother, destabilized her life--as a king’s bastard, she was even more dependent on his favor than she had been as a princess.  Legitimate members of the royal family had rights that bastards lacked.  No matter what sort of different responses to emotion people in Tudor England may have felt compared to those of the twenty-first century, Elizabeth would have grown up well aware of her status as a living reminder of Anne Boleyn; that’s something she would have had to fight against if she wanted her father’s favor.  And whether or not she wanted to be a daddy’s girl in private is irrelevant.  She needed to be Henry VIII’s daughter in public, even after he died.  Before she was queen, she had to curry favor from two siblings connected to her through a shared father--one of which had many reasons to hate Elizabeth’s mother.  If Mary I had been able to prove that Elizabeth wasn’t Henry’s daughter; well, what would have happened then?

This idea of Elizabeth as a daddy’s girl in private is ultimately a bit irrelevant, because we’ll never get to know what her private feelings were.  Even the words of her close companions are ultimately secondhand pieces of information that could very well serve as political propaganda.  If you played with Elizabeth, even as one of her ladies, you were a political person.  She WAS politics embodied, as a ruling queen.  Therefore, I feel as if the myth of Elizabeth as Henry’s loving daughter--his proud daughter--must be acknowledged as a myth, and separate from whatever she felt about him in private.  Maybe she loved him.  Maybe she didn’t.  It seems more likely to me that Mary I would have had reason to feel close to her father on an emotional level in real life--as I mentioned regarding her Showtime portrayal above, she actually lived a portion of her childhood as a beloved princess, whereas Elizabeth likely had few memories of that.  For that matter, Elizabeth seems to have been much better at keeping her emotional truths close to the vest than Mary I--who, let’s be real, perhaps suffered from mental illness--and Mary Queen of Scots.  It’s harder to discern what her private emotions were.  

No doubt, she was proud of being a Tudor.  (The status her father tried to rob her of.)  Being a Tudor let her be queen, after all.  No doubt, she was proud of being the daughter of a king.  But was she proud of being the daughter of Henry, the man?  I don’t know.  I’m not sure about the degree to which she would have thought about it.  Perhaps she was genuinely sad when her father died--she had good reason to be genuinely sad and concerned for herself.  But there’s a part of me that just can’t help but love the idea of a young Elizabeth putting on the :( at hearing of her father’s death, only to :| once the courtiers disappeared.

[elegantwoes]

The only reason why you hate Lyanna is because she wasn’t an obedient and demure proper lady who did her duty and sacrifice by marrying Robert. That’s literally it. You may hide behind the omg we actually only hate Rhaegar because he humiliated his wife, but you don’t even try to hide your disdain for her 😭 You’d rather have her marry Robert (he cheat on her and fathered Bella when Lyanna was allegedly sequestrated) whom she doesn’t want, endure his humiliations, cheating, rape, and beating (Robert would turn towards it the second he could) and given the repeated pattern on here, the fandom think she’s evil because she wasn’t mindful of her duty and wasn’t doing her duty and sacrifice or any other of the conservative ideas. And that's what you expect from women. To submit to their fates, to men. Only those women who stick to the patriarchal norms and perform their patriarchal duties (accepting and silently endure abuse) are worthy of their sympathy. And then yall call yourselves feminists.

Anon are you okay? I haven’t talked about Lyanna in ages. Unless you are counting the one about who my ideal fancast for her is. Secondly you are stupid if you believe I want Lyanna to marry Robert and put up with his degenerate behavior. Newsflash I stan Cersei Lannister. In my opinion killing Robert is easily the greatest deed Cersei ever did. No woman would ever put up with his trifling ass. In fact I would argue that any woman would plot against him to enjoy widowhood and I would cheer each one of them too. And please let’s not act like Rhaegar isn’t the same person like Robert. He’s a rapist just like Robert. As far as I am concerned they are the two sides of the same Henry the Eight figure. Robert fits the more well known side of him:

Fat

Indulges in pleasures way too much

Extremely cavalier to women

A pedophile (ex. Barra’s mother and Catherine Howard)

Rheagar fits the younger version:

Married to a Catherine of Aragorn figure (Elia)

Sees women as incubators

Obsessed with a prophecy just like Henry was obsessed with having an heir, to the point of disregarding their wife so ruthlessly.

Pursues an Anne Boleyn (Lyanna) figure to get a third head like Henry wanted an heir.

Anne Boleyn didn’t want his advances just like Lyanna who probably didn’t want Rhaegar’s advances either

Rhaegar plunged the entire kingdom into a civil war because he needed the third head. Very much like Henry VIII who flipped the bird at the Catholic Church which caused an uproar, all because he wanted a son.

A pedophile (ex. Lyanna and Catherine Howard)

Lyanna wouldn’t be better off with either of them. That’s the tragic part about her story. Her life would be miserable no matter what choice she made.

In this house we despise both Rhaegar and Robert, anon. You would know that if you actually bothered to go through my blog. Most likely this is a copy, paste type of anon hate. Pathetic. Next time be smarter on who you send your garbage to.

A 0/10.

[aphroditelovesu]

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With who I write:

This is my fandom list for now, but I can always add new ones if you want.

ANIME

Attack on Titan, Amensia, Death Note, Demon Slayer, Diabolik Lovers, Fruits Basket, Haikyuu!!, Hakuoki, Hunter x Hunter, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kamigami no Asobi, Naruto, Mirai Nikki, One Piece, Blood of Zeus, Castlevania.

BOOKS

Percy Jackson series/Rick Riordan Universe, Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire, Pegasus and The Flame of Olympus (series), IT., A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR), Throne of Glass, Crescent City, The Bridgertons, Twilight, The Lord of the Rings, The Cruel Prince: The Folk of the Air, The Hunger Games, The Phantom of the Opera.

GAMES

Time Princess Dress Up (TP: characters), Yandere Simulator, My Candy Love (Amour Sucré), Arkyos Angel, A Plague Tale, Baldur's Gate 3, Dead By Daylight, Friday the 13th, Civilization VI, Baldur's Gate, Stardew Valley.

K-POP

BTS, BLACKPINK, GOT7, EXO, BIGBANG, TWICE, AESPA, Stray Kids, ITZY, Hyuna and Dawn, Red Velvet, NCT, Monsta X, Taemin, Dreamcatcher, LE SSERAFIM, (G)I-DLE.

SERIES/TV SHOW

Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, The Originals, The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf, Supernatural, Outer Banks, Friends, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Euphoria, Reign, Bridgerton, The Flash, Supergirl, Outlander, American Horror Story, Wednesday, Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Sandman, Lucifer, Winx Club, Ragnarok, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Invisible City (Cidade Invisível), Shadow and Bone, Adventure Time, The Witcher, Rebelde MX (RBD), Heartstopper, Rebelde (Netflix), The Spanish Princess, The White Princess, Hannibal, Criminal Minds, The Last Kingdom, The Boys.

MOVIES

Disney Universe, Marvel Universe, DC Universe, Maze Runner, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Transformers, How to Train Your Dragon, Miraculous, Ever After High, Monster High, Barbie Universe, Christmas Movies, Maze Runner, Avatar, Twilight, Star Wars, Gladiator 1 and 2, Wicked.

K-DRAMAS

My Demon, Bussiness Proposal, Doom At Your Service, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, Crash Landing on You, My Name, Mr Queen, King the Land.

MYTHOLOGY

Greek, Egyptian, Norse Mythology and Brazilian Folklore.

HISTORICAL CHARACTERS

Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Caesar Augustus, Julius Caesar, Baldwin IV, Henry VIII, Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Brandon, Anne Boleyn, Catherine of Aragon and others.

Among many others, just ask and I will do it. If you're unsure about some fandom or character in particular, feel free to send me and DM or an ask! ❤️

taken anon's: O-, 👀, 🌓, 🪷, 👒, 🧚‍♀️, 🧋, 💻, 💌.

[voluptuarian]

So like not really a "worst history" post, but rather an examination of one of the most bizarre history blogs I've encountered and which I felt like I had to share. I want to study this blog like a bug

So they're basically a fan blog for historical/fantasy shows that have a major female rivalry (Magnificent Century/The Tudors). All their interests seem to be rooted in madonna vs. whore-ing female characters. But beyond all that they're a Anne Boleyn anti.

I'm not making this up. Whoever runs it is just, up their own ass about Anne. This is literally their blog description

They seem to just watch tv so they can pit female characters against each other, and to rate their morals (not even kidding, they have lists of characters ranking them by goodness and badness, which is... interesting) They apparently watch HOTD for just this reason

But most of their content is about historical figures, and the vast majority of that is anti-Anne Boleyn, Anti-Elizabeth I, or both. And, as in their blog profile, these are all either a. interpreting the motivations behind factual events in the worst possible way b. referencing Spanish/Catholic propoganda or just blaming Anne for shit Henry did c. just not true

Like the aforementioned "seducing Henry VIII with witchcraft"

(Like, dear blog-owner. It is 2021. Are you blogging from the Renaissance somehow?)

Here are some examples

First off I love the idea that Elizabeth had Essex killed because he saw her without makeup. Like, the man was so closely tied to his rebellion against Elizabeth that it's fucking named for him. Clearly that had nothing to do with his execution. It was because Elizabeth was Big Mad about her looks.

(Also the idea of Anne-- who had to work hard to appear legitimate both personally and as a supporter of Protestantism-- calling herself "harlot", "whore", etc. is always so comic, like that Definitely happened)

But secondly

like. You passed over serial killers. Nazis. child-murderers.

Ok.

(Like I'm legitimately wondering if OP is Catholic. The obsession with these 2 in particular just seems so perplexing, I'm like... are you butthurt about Anglicanism??)

But maybe my favorite part of this is the multiple posts they reblogged from Tudors/History confessions that are anti-Anne Boleyn, and all marked by the same, let's say... awkward English? as op's own. So they're very clearly submitting stuff to these blogs and then reblogging it to make it look like someone else agrees with them. (And being hella obvious about it). And none of their own posts has more than like 5 notes-- desperate behavior.

This whole blog is so fascinating, like who is out there so annoyed by a historical figure to do the whole fandom-anti-hysterics angle over them? (And if you really were so bothered by Anne, wouldn't you be more concerned with Henry-- give us a Henry VIII hate blog, that would be much more fun). I'm convinced op is actually Ambassador Chapuys, reincarnated in the 21st century as a tumblrina...

[nightnightsweetprince]

@darcylightninglewis

Woodcut print showing a caricature of Henry VIII (1491-1547) surrounded by his six wives, ca. early 19th century. Harry Beard Collection.

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