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Bit about French female royals or nobility basically pi$$ing right where they stood got me.
When took a tour of Versailles guide mentioned that men at least simply found a corner or another spot and did what blokes have done then and since. At least one Frenchman actually whizzed off a balcony onto ground (including people) below.
The old very narrow streets of London were places that a pedestrian who had any sense walked with great care and attention. Many others who were not so prudent quite often ended up with the contents of a chamber pot on their heads.
We have to have a bit of sympathy for Mary I. Young Princess Mary was busted down the ranks from being second highest lady of land (after her mother, Catherine of Aragon) and favourite of her father Henry VIII to being declared a bastard, seeing her mother put away and the religion she knew (Catholicism) scrapped.
Henry VIII was a thug, bully and tyrant. His parenting skills (or lack thereof) played out in sort of persons HM's three children grew into as adults.
Mary was so warped mentally and emotionally by time she became a young woman and certainly queen there was little hope of changing her views on things, this included restoring the "old religion" to her realms.
Elizabeth I was bit more pragmatic on matters of religion than her brother Edward or sister Mary. Elizabeth largely left matters of religion to people's personal conscious. Catholics were left in peace up to a point; this however changed with events related to powerful Catholic families in the north of England and arrival of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The Tudor Court was a particularly horrible place for women without a doubt. Henry was overall a thoroughly unpleasant individual who regarded women as either objects of pleasure or breeding stock, a man afflicted with a bad leg and by some accounts VD also. Perhaps his attitudes had something to do with the suffering he must have gone through. It's surprising that no attempts were made on his life but it's kinda nauseating from a 21st century view looking at all the fawning and pandering that went on using the Boleyn family as one example, prostituting Anne and her sister in hopes of obtaining a favoured position at court.
The general state of the English population was in pretty bad shape, poverty was widespread. All the loot that Thomas Cromwell got his hands on after seizing and destroying the abbeys/monasteries went straight into the King's pocket. Nuns were cast out onto the highways to starve or become beggars, not that being the obedient servant to Henry really counted for much as Cromwell ended up on the block and the Duke of Norfolk only saved from execution because Henry died the night before it was to take place.
A very interesting period in English history.
Last edited by James Austen; 04-23-2023 at 04:00 PM..
A problem that afflicted most seamen back then until the fruit known as limes were introduced aboard British ships. This seemed to work overall in keeping the affliction at bay.
American sailors nicknamed British sailors "limeys" because of this and the nickname stuck afterwards and referred to all people who were English
The Tudor Court was a particularly horrible place for women without a doubt. Henry was overall a thoroughly unpleasant individual who regarded women as either objects of pleasure or breeding stock, a man afflicted with a bad leg and by some accounts VD also. Perhaps his attitudes had something to do with the suffering he must have gone through. It's surprising that no attempts were made on his life but it's kinda nauseating from a 21st century view looking at all the fawning and pandering that went on using the Boleyn family as one example, prostituting Anne and her sister in hopes of obtaining a favoured position at court.
The general state of the English population was in pretty bad shape, poverty was widespread. All the loot that Thomas Cromwell got his hands on after seizing and destroying the abbeys/monasteries went straight into the King's pocket. Nuns were cast out onto the highways to starve or become beggars, not that being the obedient servant to Henry really counted for much as Cromwell ended up on the block and the Duke of Norfolk only saved from execution because Henry died the night before it was to take place.
A very interesting period in English history.
No, not all of the "loot" from dissolved Catholic churches, abbeys, monasteries, etc.. went to the Crown. Henry VIII doled quite a bit of it out to favourites including various properties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacock_Abbey
As with everything else those who gave into Henry VIII's demands were somewhat rewarded. Religious who willing gave into their properties being confiscated by the Crown were given pensions and other compensation. Those who refused faced Henry's wrath which included not just taking said property but often executions and so forth of those religious who dared to object.
Largest reason why Mary I failed to reestablish RC church in England (along with most other subsequent efforts) was largely due to avarice. The families or persons who acquired all that "loot" were in no mood to give any of it back. This included various properties along with treasures and so on.
Indeed it was the efforts of Protestant nobles that guided events for decades after Henry VIII. Everything from Lady/Queen Jane, beating back efforts of Mary I, Elizabeth I (up to and including murder of Mary, Queen of Scots) and slotting her son James as new king of England to succeed Elizabeth I.
If the Protestant elite had anything to say about matters (and they did) England was now and going to remain firmly C of E.
Many noble families today still have those properties or other treasures.
In the Medieval period, one out of every four people in Europe were French. France was the superpower on the continental land mass with a very large population. What was Elizabethan England in the 1500s? Two million people. It was regarded by the rest of the world as being on the outer edges of barbarity. The English stood up to King Philip of Spain - who also owned the Netherlands. In 1588 Philip sent the largest fleet ever assembled of 197 ships, only being surpassed in WW1, to invade England. It was ravaged by the barbarous English, with not one English ship being sunk. But within Europe Britain will become one of the great civilizing powers of the world.
Last edited by Dave Davis; 04-24-2023 at 02:37 AM..
In the Medieval period, one out of every four people in Europe were French. France was the superpower on the continental land mass with a very large population. What was Elizabethan England in the 1500s? Two million people. It was regarded by the rest of the world as being on the outer edges of barbarity. The English stood up to King Philip of Spain - who also owned the Netherlands. In 1588 Philip sent the largest fleet ever assembled of 197 ships, only being surpassed in WW1, to invade England. It was ravaged by the barbarous English, with not one English ship being sunk. But within Europe Britain will become one of the great civilizing powers of the world.
England had help in defeating Spanish Armada on a few fronts.
First and foremost Philip II appointed the worst choice to lead his "Enterprise of England " and that lack of skill showed. Next the weather didn't exactly help with a strong storm causing loss of Spanish ships.
Still a win is a win, but Elizabeth I treated things very badly. She refused to pay surviving sailors and or widow's pensions. In fact Elizabeth refused to pay for basically anything to do with countering Spanish Armada. It fell to nobility (who were officers in command of ships) to do what they could financially for sailors and crew.
Note England lead a subsequent attempted naval invasion of Spain which failed spectacularly.
England had help in defeating Spanish Armada on a few fronts.
First and foremost Philip II appointed the worst choice to lead his "Enterprise of England " and that lack of skill showed. Next the weather didn't exactly help with a strong storm causing loss of Spanish ships.
Still a win is a win, but Elizabeth I treated things very badly. She refused to pay surviving sailors and or widow's pensions. In fact Elizabeth refused to pay for basically anything to do with countering Spanish Armada. It fell to nobility (who were officers in command of ships) to do what they could financially for sailors and crew.
Note England lead a subsequent attempted naval invasion of Spain which failed spectacularly.
The Armada sailed up the English Channel in a crescent formation in view of the English coast. It must have been odd for Spanish sailors to see church spires in this land of barbarians. This coast was known as the Saxon Wall, as there are few landing beaches of any size being adorned with cliffs (something the Germans found out in the bluff invasion plans in 1940). The English Militias were alerted by the early warning system of fire beacons on hills. Militias were moving up the coast following the slow moving fleet, sending supplies ahead as the fleet slowly moved, in case they made an invasion attempt. The Armada sailed at the speed of the slowest gallias, which taking into account currents, was walking speed.
All this time time the Armada was being harassed by the smaller, agile, English ships on the crescent's peripheries. The two fleets could not really get at each other as the larger Spanish ships, with larger guns, kept the English ships away, while the nibble English ships manned by skilled sailors kept the Spanish confined to the Armada (convoy), for protection.
Some Dutch ships joined the English fleet once the Armada reached Flanders, where it lay at anchor to board troops from the Spanish Netherlands for the invasion. The invasion beaches were to be North Kent and Southern Essex, where beaches are wider and flatter. By the time the Dutch joined the English fleet it outnumbered the Armada. The Dutch and English sent in fire ships to the anchored Armada, causing chaos with ships weighing anchor moving away for protection - with many then being prey to the nibble English ships.
When the Armada set sail for England then the English ships had a field day. They chased the Armada up the east coast of Britain, where it met rough seas they were not accustomed to, and in unfamiliar uncharted waters for the Spanish. The Spanish decided it was lost then decided to head back to Spain sailing north then around the British Isles. A few were wrecked in Scotland. Scotland was an independent country at the time repatriating the Spanish who landed on their shores. Many ships were wrecked on the shores of Western Ireland. Those men that made it ashore were captured being executed, as collectively the wrecked troops and sailors could muster a strong force. Not one English, or Dutch, ship was sunk in the engagement.
The response was a flop indeed, but at least English troops landed on the Iberian peninsular. The only Spanish to land in the British Isles from the Armada were wet and wrecked.
Last edited by Dave Davis; 04-26-2023 at 04:10 AM..
Apart from the Armada, there's another often-overlooked Elizabethan episode. There was the ill-fated Papal invasion of Ireland in 1580 made up of an army of maybe 700 mercenaries from Spain and Italy, including some with wives. The numbers vary. This is known as the Siege of Smerwick. The Papal troops were in Ireland to support a rebellion (2nd Desmond Rebellion) against the English overlords. It didn't go well, and the Irish forces never showed up. The invaders landed on the far end of Dingle peninsula and dug in just in time for the English to arrive. The English force included Walter Raliegh and Edmund Spenser, the poet. About 600 of the invading force were beheaded -- only the officers and gentlemen were spared. The locals now call the area the "field of heads" (Gort na gCeann). Raliegh, one of Elizabeth's favorites, was a willing participant in the massacre. Once Elizabeth died (1603), he fell out of favor and later faced criminal charges for his actions at Smerwick. That was one part of the trials that led to his eventual execution in 1618, also beheaded.
Robert Dudley or Robert Devereux may have been privy to that little mystery although there is no evidence of any kind that she ever had a lover even though she had many friends who were men. I doubt she looked her best later in life because she had a very sweet tooth which over the years caused her teeth to turn black
Probably most adults had black rotten teeth.. she was its said flirtatious with some men.. and had given orders that when she died there was to be no post mortem.. some think to hide that she wasnt in fact a virgin... times were cruel and I wonder if Prince Harry would have survived after all hes did to the Monarchy.... Unsolicited advice could at times be dangerous: when in 1579 a pamphlet was published vehemently denouncing the queen’s proposed marriage to the Catholic duke of Alençon, its author, John Stubbs, and his publisher William Page were arrested and had their right hands chopped off.
Probably most adults had black rotten teeth.. she was its said flirtatious with some men.. and had given orders that when she died there was to be no post mortem.. some think to hide that she wasnt in fact a virgin... times were cruel and I wonder if Prince Harry would have survived after all hes did to the Monarchy.... Unsolicited advice could at times be dangerous: when in 1579 a pamphlet was published vehemently denouncing the queen’s proposed marriage to the Catholic duke of Alençon, its author, John Stubbs, and his publisher William Page were arrested and had their right hands chopped off.
Her early life wasn't exactly pleasant. I think she was sent to the Tower at one time. If she hadn't sworn loyalty to her half sister Queen Mary she might have ended up meeting the same fate as her mother did on Tower Green. The relationship with her bloodthirsty father cant have been very good either. It could be that having a father like Henry was enough to put her off in having any relationship with men other that platonic or in the matters of business.
Harry wouldn't have survived at all if he had done the same to the Monarchy back then. Head stuck to a pikestaff on London Bridge. Dead cert.
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