Henry VIII and Six Wives

Catherine of Aragon (divorced)

 

Catherine of Aragon was the youngest surviving child of Ferdinand and Isabella, the joint rulers of Spain, and as was common for princesses of the day, her parents almost immediately began looking for a political match for her. When she was three year old, she was betrothed to Arthur, the son of Henry VII of England. Arthur was not even quite two at the time.

When she was almost 16, in 1501, Catherine made the journey to England. It took her three months, and her ships weathered several storms, but she safely made landfall at Plymouth on October 2, 1501. Catherine and Arthur were married on 14 November 1501 in Old St. Paul's Cathedral, London. Catherine was escorted by the groom's younger brother, Henry.

Henry Tudor, named after his father, Henry VII, was born by Elizabeth of York June 28, 1491 in Greenwich Palace. Since he was the second son, and not expected to become king, we know little of his childhood. We know that Henry attended the wedding celebrations of Arthur and his bride, Catherine of Aragon, in November 1501 when he was 10 years old.

After the wedding and celebrations, the young couple moved to Ludlow Castle on the Welsh border. Less than six months later, Arthur was dead, possibly of the 'sweating sickness'. Although this marriage was short, it was very important in the history of England, as will be apparent.

 

Ludlow Castle

 

Catherine was now a widow, and still young enough to be married again. Henry VII still had a son, this one much more robust and healthy than his dead older brother. The English king was interested in keeping Catherine's dowry, so 14 months after her husband's death she was betrothed to the future Henry VIII, who was too young to marry at the time.

By 1505, when Henry was old enough to wed, Henry VII wasn't as keen on a Spanish alliance, and young Henry was forced to repudiate (give up, go against) the betrothal. Catherine's future was uncertain for the next four years. When Henry VII died in 1509 one of the new young king's first actions was to marry Catherine. She was finally crowned Queen of England in a joint coronation ceremony with her husband Henry VIII on June 24, 1509.

 

The coronation of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon

Shortly after their marriage, Catherine found herself pregnant. This first child was a stillborn daughter born prematurely in January 1510, but this disappointment was soon followed by another pregnancy. Prince Henry was born on January 1, 1511 and the was christened on the 5th. There were great celebrations for the birth of the young prince, but they were halted by the baby's death after 52 days of life. Catherine then had a miscarriage, followed by a another short-lived son. On February 1516, she gave birth a daughter named Mary, and this child lived. There were probably two more pregnancies, the last recorded in 1518.

 

Henry VIII oldest surviving child, and unfortunately, a girl, Mary.

Henry was growing frustrated because he had no son and heir, but he remained a devoted husband. By 1526 though, he had begun to separate from Catherine because he had fallen in love with one of her ladies: Anne Boleyn.

It is here that the lives of Henry's first and second wives begin to interweave. By the time his interest in Anne became common knowledge, Catherine was 42 years old and was no longer able to have more children. Henry's main goal now was to get a male heir, which his wife was not able to provide. Somewhere along the way Henry began to look at the texts of Leviticus which say that if a man takes his brother's wife, they shall be childless. As evidenced above, Catherine and Henry were far from childless, and still had one living child. But that child was a girl, and didn't count in Henry's mind. The King began to petition (ask)the Pope for an annulment (a divorce).

At first, Catherine was kept in the dark about Henry's plans for their annulment and when the news got to Catherine she was very upset. She was also at a great disadvantage since the court that would decide the case was far from impartial. Catherine then appealed directly to the Pope, which she felt would listen to her case since her nephew was Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor.

The political and legal debate continued for six years. Catherine was adamant in that she and Arthur, her first husband and Henry's brother, did not consummate their marriage and therefore were not truly husband and wife. Catherine sought not only to retain her position, but also that of her daughter Mary.

Things came to a head in 1533 when Anne Boleyn became pregnant. Henry had to act, and his solution was to reject the power of the Pope in England and to have Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury grant the annulment. Catherine was to renounce the title of Queen and would be known as the Princess Dowager of Wales, something she refused to acknowledge through to the end of her life.

Catherine and her daughter were separated and she was forced to leave court. She lived for the next three years in several dank and unhealthy castles and manors with just a few servants. However, she seldom complained of her treatment and spent a great deal of time at prayer.

On January 7, 1536, Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle and was buried at Peterborough Abbey (later Peterborough Cathedral, after the dissolution of the monasteries) with the ceremony due for her position as Princess Dowager, not as a Queen of England.

 

Anne Boleyn (beheaded)

 

Exactly when and where Henry VIII first noticed Anne is not known. It is likely that Henry sought to make Anne his mistress, as he had her sister Mary years before. Maybe drawing on the example of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen to Edward IV (and maternal grandmother to Henry VIII) who was said to have told King Edward that she would only be his wife, not his mistress, Anne denied Henry VIII sexual favors. We don't know who first had the idea of marriage, but eventually it evolved into "Queen or nothing" for Anne. No sex unless they were married first!

At first, the court probably thought that Anne would just end up as another one of Henry's mistresses. But, in 1527 we see that Henry began to seek an annulment of his marriage to Catherine, making him free to marry again.

King Henry's passion for Anne can be attested to in the love letters he wrote to her when she was away from court. Henry hated writing letters, and very few documents in his own hand survive. However, 17 love letters to Anne remain and are preserved in the Vatican library.

In 1528, Anne's emergence at Court began. Anne also showed real interest in religious reform and may have introduced some of the 'new ideas' to Henry, and gaining the hatred of some members of the Court. When the court spent Christmas at Greenwich that year, Anne was lodged in nice apartments near those of the King.

The legal debates on the marriage of Henry and Catherine of Aragon continued on. Anne was no doubt frustrated by the lack of progress. Her famous temper and tongue showed themselves at times in famous arguments between her and Henry for all the court to see. Anne feared that Henry might go back to Catherine if the marriage could not be annulled and Anne would have wasted time that she could have used to make an advantageous marriage.

Anne was not popular with the people of England.

In this period, records show that Henry began to spend more and more on Anne, buying her clothes, jewelry, and things for her amusement such as playing cards and bows and arrows.

The waiting continued and Anne's position continued to rise. On the first day of September 1532, she was created Marquess of Pembroke, a title she held in her own right. In October, she held a position of honor at meetings between Henry and the French King in Calais.

Sometime near the end of 1532, Anne finally gave way and by December she was pregnant. To avoid any questions of the legitimacy of the child, Henry was forced into action. Sometime near St. Paul's Day (January 25) 1533, Anne and Henry were secretly married. Although the King's marriage to Catherine was not dissolved, in the King's mind it had never existed in the first place, so he was free to marry whomever he wanted. On May 23, the Archbishop of Canterbury officially proclaimed that the marriage of Henry and Catherine was invalid.

Plans for Anne's coronation began. In preparation, she had been brought by water from Greenwich to the Tower of London dressed in cloth of gold. The barges following her were said to stretch for four miles down the Thames. On the 1st of June, she left the Tower in procession to Westminster Abbey, where she became a crowned and anointed Queen in a ceremony led by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

By August, preparations were being made for the birth of Anne's child, which was sure to be a boy. Names were being chosen, with Edward and Henry the top choices. The proclamation of the child's birth had already been written with 'prince' used to refer to the child.

Anne took to her chamber, according to custom, on August 26, 1533 and on September 7, at about 3:00 in the afternoon, the Princess Elizabeth was born. Her christening service was scaled down, but still a pleasant affair. The princess' white christening robes can currently be seen on display at Sudeley Castle in England.

 

Anne now knew that it was imperative that she produce a son. By January of 1534, she was pregnant again, but the child was either miscarried or stillborn. In 1535, she became pregnant again but miscarried by the end of January. The child was reported to have been a boy. The Queen was quite upset, and blamed the miscarriage on her state of mind after hearing that Henry had taken a fall in jousting. She had to have known at this point that her failure to produce a living male heir was a threat to her own life, especially since the King's fancy for one of her ladies-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, began to grow.

Anne's enemies at court began to plot against her using the King's attentions to Jane Seymour as the catalyst for action. Cromwell began to move in action to bring down the Queen. He persuaded the King to sign a document calling for an investigation that would possibly result in charges of treason.

On April 30, 1536, Anne's musician and friend for several years, Mark Smeaton, was arrested and probably tortured into making 'revelations' about the Queen. Next, Sir Henry Norris was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. Then the Queen's own brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford was arrested.

 

On May 2, the Queen herself was arrested at Greenwich and was informed of the charges against her: adultery, incest and plotting to murder the King. She was then taken to the Tower by barge along the same path she had traveled to prepare for her coronation just three years earlier. In fact, she was lodged in the same rooms she had held on that occasion.

There were several more arrests. Sir Francis Weston and William Brereton were charged with adultery with the Queen. Sir Thomas Wyatt was also arrested, but later released. They were put on trial with Smeaton and Norris at Westminster Hall on May 12, 1536. The men were not allowed to defend themselves, as was the case in charges of treason. They were found guilty and received the required punishment: they were to be hanged at Tyburn, cut down while still living and then disemboweled and quartered. Ew!

On Monday the 15th, the Queen and her brother were put on trial at the Great Hall of the Tower of London. It is estimated that some 2000 people attended. Anne conducted herself in a calm and dignified manner, denying all the charges against her. Her brother was tried next, with his own wife testifying against him (she got her due later in the scandal of Kathryn Howard). Even though the evidence against them was scant, they were both found guilty, with the sentence being read by their uncle, Thomas Howard , the Duke of Norfolk. They were to be either burnt at the stake (which was the punishment for incest) or beheaded, at the discretion of the King.

On May 17, George Boleyn was executed on Tower Hill. The other four men condemned with the Queen had their sentences commuted from the grisly fate at Tyburn to a simple beheading at the Tower with Lord Rochford. A beheading is much better than being disemboweled.

Anne knew that her time would soon come and started to become hysterical, her behavior swinging from great levity to body- wracking sobs. She received news that an expert swordsman from Calais had been summoned, who would no doubt deliver a cleaner blow with a sharp sword than the traditional axe. It was then that she made the famous comment about her 'little neck'.

 

Interestingly, shortly before her execution on charges of adultery, the Queen's marriage to the King was dissolved and declared invalid. One would wonder then how she could have committed adultery if she had in fact never been married to the King, but this was overlooked, as were so many other lapses of logic in the charges against Anne.

They came for Anne on the morning of May 19 to take her to the Tower Green, where she was to be afforded the dignity of a private execution. She made a short speech [read the text of Anne's speech] before kneeling on the scaffold. She removed her headdress (which was an English gable hood and not her usual French hood, according to contemporary reports) and her ladies tied a blindfold over her eyes. The sword itself had been hidden under the straw. The swordsman cut off her head with one swift stroke.

 

Anne's body and head were put into an arrow chest and buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula which adjoined the Tower Green. Her body was one that was identified in renovations of the chapel under the reign of Queen Victoria, so Anne's final resting place is now marked in the marble floor.

Jane Seymour (died)

 

Jane Seymour may have first come to court in the service of Queen Catherine, but then was moved to wait on Anne Boleyn as she rose in the King's favor and eventually became his second wife.

In September 1535, the King stayed at the Seymour family home in Wiltshire, England. It may have been there that the king "noticed" Jane. But, it isn't until February of 1536 that there is evidence of Henry's new love for Jane.

By that point, Henry's disinterest in Anne was obvious and Jane was likely pegged to be her replacement as Queen.

Opinion is divided as to how Jane felt about being the new object of Henry's affections. Some see Jane's calm and gentle demeanor as evidence that she didn't really understand the position as political pawn she was playing for her family. Others see it as a mask for her fear. Seeing how Henry's two previous Queens had been treated once they fell from favor, Jane probably had some trepidation, although Anne Boleyn's final fate had not been sealed at that time.

One other view was that Jane fell into her role quite willingly and actively sought to entice the King and flaunt her favor even in front of the current Queen.

However Jane actually felt, we will never know. Henry's feelings were pretty clear though. Within 24 hours of Anne Boleyn's execution, Jane Seymour and Henry VIII were formally betrothed. On the 30th of May, they were married. Unlike Henry's previous two Queens, Jane never had a coronation. Perhaps the King was waiting forJane to 'prove' herself by giving him a son.

It wasn't until early 1537 that Jane became pregnant. During her pregnancy, Jane's every whim was indulged by the King, convinced that Jane, whom he felt to be his first 'true wife', carried his long hoped for son. In October, a prince was born at Hampton Court Palace and was christened on 15th of October. The baby was named Edward. Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, was godmother and Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, also played a role in the ceremony.

 

Finally!  A son.

There has been much written over whether or not Jane gave birth to Edward by cesarean section. It seems unlikely that if she had, she would have lived as long as she did after the birth. Jane attended her son's christening, although she was weak. She died on October 24th, just two weeks after her son was born.

Henry had already been preparing his own tomb at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, which was where Jane was buried. In the end, she would be the only of Henry's six wives to be buried with him.

Anne of Cleves (divorced)

 

Hans Holbein did a great job painting Anne. Because in real life, she was not this pretty. In fact, Henry VIII said she looked like a horse.

Henry VIII remained single for over two years after Jane Seymour's death, possibly giving some credence to the thought that he genuinely mourned for her. However, it does seem that someone, possibly Thomas Cromwell, began making inquiries shortly after Jane's death about a possible foreign bride for Henry.

Henry's first marriage had been a foreign alliance of sorts, although it is almost certain that the two were truly in love for some time. His next two brides were love matches and Henry could have had little or no monetary or political gain from them.

But the events of the split from Rome left England isolated, and probably vulnerable. It was these circumstances that led Henry and his ministers to look at the possibility of a bride to secure an alliance. Henry did also want to be sure he was getting a desirable bride, so he had agents in foreign courts report to him on the appearance and other qualities of various candidates. He also sent painters to bring him images of these women.

Hans Holbein, probably the most famous of the Tudor court painters, was sent to the court of the Duke of Cleves, who had two sisters: Amelia and Anne. When Holbein went in 1539, Cleves was seen as an important potential ally in the event France and the Holy Roman Empire (who had somewhat made a truce in their long history of conflict) decided to move against the countries who had thrown off the Papal authority. England then sought alliances with countries who had been supporting the reformation of the church. Holbein painted the sisters of the Duke of Cleves and Henry decided to have a contract drawn up for his marriage to Anne.

Although the King of France and the Emperor had gone back to their usual state of animosity, Henry proceeded with the match. The marriage took place on January 6, 1540. By then, Henry was already looking for ways to get out of the marriage.

Anne was ill-suited for life at the English court. Her upbringing in Cleves had concentrated on domestic skills and not the music and literature so popular at Henry's court. And, most famously, Henry did not find his new bride the least bit attractive and is said to have called her a 'Flanders Mare'. In addition to his personal feelings for wanting to end the marriage, there were now political ones as well. Tension between the Duke of Cleves and the Empire was increasing towards war and Henry had no desire to become involved. Last but not least, at some point, Henry had become attracted to young Kathryn Howard.

Anne was probably smart enough to know that she would only be making trouble for herself if she raised any obstacles to Henry's attempts to annul the marriage so the marriage was dissolved and Anne accepted the honorary title as the 'King's Sister'. She was given property, including Hever Castle, formerly the home of Anne Boleyn.

Anne lived away from court quietly in the countryside until 1557 and attended the coronation of her former step-daughter, Mary I.

She is buried in a somewhat hard to find tomb in Westminster Abbey.

Kathryn Howard (beheaded)

 

Kathryn Howard was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard, a younger brother of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. She was also first cousin to Anne Boleyn, Henry's ill-fated second Queen.

Kathryn came to court at about the age of 19 as a lady in waiting to Anne of Cleves and there is no doubt that the spirited young girl caught Henry's attentions. Kathryn's uncle probably encouraged the girl to respond to the King's attentions and saw it as a way to increase his own influence over the monarch. The Duke of Norfolk also took advantage of the debacle of the Anne of Cleves marriage as a chance to discredit his enemy, Thomas Cromwell. In fact, Cromwell was executed shortly after the marriage was nullified.

Sixteen days after he was free of Anne, Henry took his fifth wife, Kathryn Howard, on July 28, 1540. Henry was 49 and his bride was no older than 19.

For all that can be said against this match, Kathryn did manage to lift the King's spirits. Henry had gained a lot of weight and was dealing with the ulcerated leg that was to pain him until his death. The vivacious young girl brought back some of Henry's zest for life. The King lavished gifts on his young wife and called her his 'rose without a thorn' and the 'very jewel of womanhood'.

Less than a year into Kathryn's marriage, the rumors of her infidelity began. In a way, one couldn't blame her for seeking the company of handsome young men closer to her own age. But to do so, even if only in courtly flirtations, was dangerous for a Queen, especially one who came from a powerful family with many enemies. Kathryn didn't help matters much by appointing one of her admirers as her personal secretary.

By November 1541, there was enough evidence against the Queen that Archbishop Cranmer informed the King of Kathryn's misconduct. At first Henry did not believe the accusations, but he agreed to allow further investigations into the matter. Enough evidence was gathered that the Queen had been promiscuous before her marriage and may have had liaisons after becoming Henry's wife. She was executed on the Tower Green on February 13, 1542 and laid to rest near her cousin Anne Boleyn in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London.

Katherine Parr (survived)

 

Katherine Parr was the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Parr and his wife Maud Green, both of whom were at the court of Henry VIII in his early reign. Maud was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon and named her daughter, born in 1512, after her. So, Henry VIII’s last wife was named after his first.

Katherine Parr’s first marriage was to Edward Borough, the son of Thomas, third Baron Borough of Gainsborough in 1529 when she was 17 years old. Edward died only a few years later, probably in early 1533. It was during this marriage that Katherine’s mother Maud died, in December 1531. Katherine’s second marriage was to John Neville, third Baron Latimer of Snape Castle in Yorkshire, whom she married in the summer of 1534 when he was 41 and she was 22. But he got sick also and died in March 1543, leaving her a widow for the second time, now at the age of 31. It was around this time that Katherine was noticed by not only the King, but also Thomas Seymour, brother of the late Queen Jane Seymour. Katherine expressed her desire to marry Thomas Seymour after Latimer’s death, but the King’s request for her hand was one that Katherine felt it was her duty to accept. Katherine and Henry VIII were married on July 12th in the Queen’s closet at Hampton Court Palace in a small ceremony attended by about 20 people.

Katherine was interested in the reformed faith, making her enemies with the conservatives of Henry’s court. It was Katherine’s influence with the King and the Henry’s failing health that led to a plot against her in 1546 by the conservative faction. Katherine and her ladies were known to have had banned books which was grounds for arrest and execution on charges of heresy. To gain evidence against the Queen,Anne Askew, a well-known and active Protestant, was questioned and tortured, but refused to recant her faith or give evidence against Katherine and her ladies. However, there was enough other evidence against the Queen to issue a warrant for her arrest. The warrant was accidentally dropped and someone loyal to the Queen saw it and then quickly told her about it. This is a well-documented incident that has made its way into many historical fiction accounts. Sometimes the history itself is the best drama! After learning of the arrest warrant, Katherine was said to be very ill, either as a ruse to stall or from a genuine panic attack. Henry went to see her and chastised her for her outspokenness about the reformed religion and his feeling that she was forgetting her place by instructing him on such matters. Katherine’s response in her defense was that she was only arguing with him on these issues so she could be instructed by him, and to take his mind off other troubles. Playing to Henry’s ego no doubt helped and Katherine was forgiven.

 

Katherine was close with all three of her stepchildren as Henry’s wife and was personally involved in the educational program of the younger two, Elizabeth and Edward. She was also a patron of the arts and music. Katherine’s own learning and academic achievements, as alluded to previously, were impressive, and in 1545, her book “Prayers or Meditations” became the first work published by an English Queen under her own name. Another book, “The Lamentation of a Sinner”, was published after Henry VIII’s death.

Henry VIII died in January 1547 and Katherine had probably expected to play some role in the regency for the new nine-year-old king, Edward VI, but this was not to be. Only a few months after Henry’s death, Katherine secretly married Thomas Seymour, but the quickness and secret nature of the union caused a scandal. Katherine was still able to take guardianship of Princess Elizabeth and Seymour purchased the wardship of the king’s cousin, Lady Jane Grey.

After three previous marriages and at the age of 36, Katherine was pregnant for the first time and in June 1548, she moved to Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire to await the birth of her child. On August 30th she gave birth to a daughter named Mary. Katherine soon fell ill with puerperal fever, which was to claim her life in the morning hours of September 5th. Katherine was buried, with Lady Jane Grey as the chief mourner, in the chapel at Sudeley Castle, where the tomb can still be visited today.

 

 

**This information was found at ... http://tudorhistory.org/wives/

The Renaissance, A Reawakening

During the 1300's, life in Europe had been affected by wars, peasant revolts, and the Black Death. Remember the Black Death? 1 out of every 3 Europeans died from this horrible disease brought to Europe from Asia on flea-ridden rats. Yuck! The old order was dying, and people were seeking something new. In medieval times, the Church had dominated the arts, education, and learning. People had accepted what they were told without asking questions. Then, in the 1300s, Italian scholars began to take an interest in the writing of the ancient Greeks and Romans – ideas that arrived in Europe from Byzantium and the Arab world. This interest grew when, in 1397, Manuel Chrysoloras, a scholar from Constantinople, became the first professor of Greek at the University of Florence in northern Italy. Scholars (people who like to study) became fascinated by the questions that ancient philosophers dealt with. From these studies grew a belief system called humanism. Suddenly people, not God, were considered responsible for choosing the course of their lives. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire and Muslim Spain in the 1400s, many scholars moved to Italy and northwestern Europe, taking many old manuscripts and ideas with them.

The Renaissance affected art and science, architecture and sculpture. Ideas became more realistic, more human, and less dominated by religion. Paintings and statues were more lifelike, music explored new feelings, and books asked real-life questions. Rich families such as the Medicis and the Borgias in Italy and the burghers of Holland became patrons of the arts and sciences. Printed books helped spread new ideas. The Renaissance reached its peak in the 1500s, mainly in cities such as Venice, Florence, Antwerp, and Haarlem. People looked closely at the world, made detailed scientific observations, collected exotic objects, and considered new ideas.

Some people studied plants and animals. Others investigated astronomy and geology. Sometimes their findings brought them into conflict with the Church. When Nicolaus Copernicus realized that the Earth moved around the sun, he dared not publish his views until he was actually on his deathbed. He feared the reaction of the Church, which continued to insist that the Earth stood at the center of the universe.

What?!?!?!  The sun does NOT revolve around the Earth, Nicolaus! Are you kidding me?

This new spirit of inquiry and interest in humanity eventually led some people to question the authority of the Church. Thinkers such as Jan Hus in Bohemia and John Wycliffe in England began to question the Church openly. People's own opinions became more important – rulers and the Church could no longer do just as they pleased.

John Wycliffe, a brazen spokesman for reform of the Catholic church. He was at the forefront of the reawakening of European civilzation, and one of the very early leaders of the Reformation.  Wycliffe wanted the Bible translated into English!

Demand for change led to advances in science and art, and even caused some people to set sail for unexplored lands. New universities encouraged new ideas. Money and trade also became significant. Foods and products such as coffee, sugar, tobacco, potatoes, pineapples, porcelain, and cotton were imported to Europe from Africa, America, India, and China.

No longer bound to the land by feudalism, people began to move around. Many of them went to cities to seek their fortune. Northwestern Europe grew in importance, and power shifted slowly from the nobles and clerics to the bankers and politicians. These changes marked the beginning of a modern world that was to develop rapidly over the next 400 years.

**Excerpt from The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, Houghton Mifflin 2004, p. 202-203

Our studies this semester put us right in the middle of this big change, this great awakening. Europeans had been in a deep, dark sleep for centuries, but now was the time to wake up! Yes, the Black Death was a horrible tragedy and it forever changed the world. You can definitely say it was bad, but then again, it was a good thing as well. Because this is when the rebirth of humanity began. And one thing is for sure, people who have power and are sitting at the top looking down on everyone DO NOT like change. You just wait and see what kind of change was coming.

But change was inevitable, and just like it says in the introduction, one thing that was huge in promoting change started with a man from Mainz, Germany, named Johannes Gutenberg. He invented a way to print books quickly and cheaply. Before Gutenberg, books were written out by hand. It was so expensive, that only the very rich, like kings, could actually afford to own a book. But it all changed by the end of the 1400s. Ideas began to spread quickly around Europe because books became available for common people. Johannes Gutenberg's invention was called moveable type, kind of like Scrabble letters put together, but really small. And if people could spread ideas and communicate with one another, they would start to figure things out and demand change. And they did. They would be able to advance new ideas that would make life better for everyone.

Yes, the medieval times of the past were quickly fading. And one of the reluctant leaders of this change was a bigger-than-life figure in the annals of history. His name was Henry VIII, King of England.

The Bubonic Plague

It was a sad, sad class last week.  Unfortunately, most of our classmates didn't make it through the plague. They all dropped DEAD!  


You see, I, the horrible teacher, had some "infected" lotion (full of red glitter) that I put all over my hands. Some of the kids wanted to know what it was and they touched it, too. Then we played some games like Ring Around the Rosies, London Bridges, and Round the House. 


When we sat down, and I checked everyone, there were only THREE kids who did not have any germs (red glitter) on them. They were the lucky ones.  Everyone else perished.


Okay, they didn't really perish, but what was it like to get the plague? How did you get it? Where did it come from?


Think of chickenpox, mumps, and measles with flu, fever, whooping cough and really, really bad acne and you still haven't got anywhere near the yucky, scary horridness of the dreaded Black Death.


In 1348, when the dreaded bubonic plague first sailed into London from China there weren't any microscopes or scientists in white lab coats. They didn't know what had hit them. In England a million people died, about on in every three people. In some poorer areas of London the plague could come knocking on every door in the street.


Life in the Middle Ages was an ideal breeding ground for diseases: and London life, where families were packed together like sardines, without a nice field or forest to use as their toilet, was even dirtier.


Most families squashed in together in one smelly, filthy room. Often their pigs and chickens or cows might keep them company in the house. The mud floor would be covered with a greasy, slimy mess of scraps from the family dinner, decaying old bones, ancient straw, and assorted garbage. The roofs of their homes were made of mud and straw and the whole structure was made of wood. They didn't have toilets so they would use their living room as one! (Even the rich didn't mind pooing in the corner of their banquet room and getting a serf to take it away!) 


But these houses were great for rats and fleas. In fact, it couldn't have been better.


Here is how you would have caught the Black Death in 1348.


A flea carrying the deadly plague bacillus visits one of the rats living in your filthy house. The flea infects the fat, which dies horribly. Then the flea jumps to another rat. Soon all the rats are dead so the flea jumps to you. It finds a fleshy part of your body, like the groin, armpit, or neck.


Now what happens?


You get a high fever (105 F), followed by aches, vomiting, and convulsions.


Black boils appear in your groin, neck and armpits. They start olive-sized, then grow to egg size, and can get as large as an apple.  You start coughing and sneezing.


The boils (or buboes) soon begin to spread over your arms, thighs, legs and stomach.


They ooze with blood and putrid pus.


You start to stink. Your breath, sweat and spit are so rancid that your family can't be near you without the urge to vomit. Your urine forms a thick blackish red liquid.


You start coughing up blood. This means that the bacillus is now in your blood stream. You are probably dead within three days.






No one knew what to do. They had a lot of strange ideas on how to cure you, but of course nothing worked.  Doctors would wear these strange costumes when they visited patients.






The beaks would be full of sweet herbs, to avoid catching the plague.  One doctor complained that the head-to-toe robes he wore to keep the infection off were useless as they only kept off the fleas!  Ha!

Here were some of the doctors theories on how you got the plague...

Poisonous gases let off by the belly of the earth


Looking at an infected person


Dogs and cats (In London thousands of dogs and cats were rounded up and killed. There was even an official dog-killer. Unfortunately it meant that all the rats the cats and dogs might have killed were left scot-free)


Drinking from poisoned wells. Prejudices flourished in times of fear and in many places they blamed Jews for poisoning the wells.


God's vengeance for their wicked ways.

**This is an excerpt from a fascinating book on plagues called The Black Death and Other Putrid Plagues of London by Natasha Narayan.




And now, not to be outdone, here is a Horrible Histories plague song.  Take a look.


Bring out your dead!  Bring out your dead!

Knights and Chivalry

Norman Rules for being a knight...


1. Go to church often.
2. Choose his friends carefully
3. Be brave in battle
4. Always be ready for battle
5. Spend his money wisely
6. Not go hunting too often
7. Take revenge if his is insulted
8. Take revenge if his sister is insulted
9. Do brave deeds for his lady
10. Die for his lady


How did someone become a knight?





Becoming a knight could take up to 14 years to accomplish. This is what you had to do...


1. Age 7 - Work as a page to a knight (sort of a cheap servant)
2. Age 14 - Become a squire, and a knight teaches you how to ride and kill.
3. Clean the knight's armor because it was always going rusty.
4. Help the knight dress and undress himself, down to the smelly socks.
5. Protect your lord sometimes by sleeping in front of the door, on the floor.
6. Help the knight during tournaments and battles by handing him weapons and fresh horses.
7. Go with your master into battle and fight at his side.
8. Bandage your lord's wounds.
9. Sometimes move your knight away from danger.
10. Make sure he gets a good funeral.




**This is an excerpt from the fun book, Knights (Horrible Histories Handbooks) by Terry Deary.


Enrichment Activity


Make a coat-of-arms.  I ordered blank coat-of-arms from Oriental Trading. They come in packets of twelve and are a good size. Then I used decals from the book The Big Book of Medieval Activities.  They designed their own coat-of-arms.

Knights and Chivalry

We are going to learn about knights and chivalry this week.  Take a look at this silly knight song.

Illuminated Complaints

 Do you remember how books were made in Medieval times?  Well, monks didn't always like illuminating books and they would put their complaints in the margin of the books they made. Take a look at some of the things they wrote, way back then.


This is pretty cool.

The Medieval Church

The Christian Church was at the center of medieval life. There were two main branches in the West: the Catholic Church based in Rome, and the Orthodox Church based in Constantinople. With its own laws, lands, and taxes, the Catholic Church was a powerful institution. It governed almost every aspect of people's lives, from the practical to the spiritual. Most men and women, rich and poor, were baptized and married in church and attended mass every Sunday of their lives. When they died, their priest read them the last rites, and they were buried on church grounds. For many, life on Earth was hard and short, but the Church stated that if they followed the teachings of Christ, they would at least be rewarded in heaven. This idea gave the Church great power over people's hearts and minds.

Archbishops were powerful men who sat on the king's council and played a leading role in government.

The Church taught that when a person died, the good and bad deeds of their life were literally weighed in the balance by God. Their soul was either carried to heaven by angels or dragged off to hell by demons. 

Last Judgement, this would have been above the door of a cathedral

Hell was a real and terrifying place for people in medieval times, and its torments were pictured in vivid detail by numerous painters.

The Last Judgement: Hell (Fra Angelico 1431)

Descent to Hell, detail (Duccio, 1308)

Few people challenged the authority of the Church, but those who did were severely punished. People who disagreed with the Church's teachings were called heretics. They faced being brought to trial in a Church court and, under its special laws, could be condemned to be whipped or burned at the stake. The Cathar sect of southern France rejected the beliefs of the Catholic Church by claiming that everything on Earth was created by the devil. In 1208, the Pope ordered a crusade against them. Over the next 26 years, thousands of Cathars were tortured and burned in huge bonfires until they were completely wiped out.

This image depicts the eradication of some Cathars.

 Until 1200, books were rare and were usually found only in monastery libraries. Everything was written by hand and monks spent many hours in the "scriptorium" copying out religious texts. 

A monk copying a manuscript in a scriptorium.

 A long manuscript such as the Bible might take a scribe a year to complete. As a way of glorifying God, many manuscripts were beautifully decorated, or illuminated, with jewel-like paints and precious gold leaf. After 1200, books became more common, especially when the first universities opened in Paris and Bologna. Professional scribes and illuminators started producing books as well.

Most people in the Middle Ages hoped to go on a pilgrimage to a holy shrine at some point in their lives. They went for many reasons - proof of their devotion to God, as an act of penance for their sins, or to find a cure for an illness. The holy city of Jerusalem was a favorite destination, as were Rome, where both St. Peter and St. Paul were believed to be buried, and the Canterbury Cathedral in England. On the road, rich and poor traveled together and, for many, pilgrimages were a sort of vacation. To pass the time, people sang songs and hymns, played the pipes, and told stories over their evening meals in roadside taverns.

 

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales was set with this premise: a variety of people going on a pilgrimage telling each other stories.

**This excerpt was taken from the book Medieval Life by Andrew Langley. It is a great book to get a visual image of things medieval and would be a great addition to any personal library.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

People in the Middle Ages were pretty suspicious. They believed in almost anything supernatural, including...

Relics

Monasteries collected religious articles. They attracted visitors and were often said to perform miracles. Relics like...

    - a tooth of Saint Apollonia, the patron saint of toothache. Hundreds of monasteries had a tooth from her mouth.

St Apollonia is the patron saint of dentistry

 

    - fingernail clippings said to belong to St Edmund

    - a piece of St Eustace's brain

St. Eustace head reliquary, c. 1200, made in the Upper Rhineland, on view in "Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe," 

 

    - wood from the manger in which Jesus was born and the cloth that the baby Jesus was wrapped in

    - the coals on which St Lawrence was roasted

     - one of the stones used to stone St Stephen to death (bloodstained, naturally)

    - a piece of the stone on which Jesus stood as he ascended to heaven

    - a piece of bread chewed by Jesus

    - the head of John the Baptist (Angers and Amiens Cathedrals both had one!)

Crusaders brought this back to Amiens Cathedral, the supposed head of John the Baptist

 

    - the crown of thorns placed on Jesus' head at his crucifixion

    - a piece of wood from Jesus' cross (thousands of these)

Genuine fakes, but the believers took them seriously. Dead seriously. The monks of Conques stole a saint's body from another monastery!

One saintly monk was terrified to hear that a monastery was planning to kill him and boil his body down so they could have his bones as relics - he changed his mind about visiting them.

Pay as you pray

In 1303 King Philip of France argued with the Italian Pope Boniface about who people should obey - kings or popes. Philip decided the matter by kidnapping 86-year-old Boniface from Rome. The Pope never recovered from the shock and died.

Pope Boniface VIII

The next pope was a Frenchman called Clement. Wise Clement decided to stay in France - after all, the Italians might get their own back and kidnap him if he went to Rome.

Once the Pope and his headquarters moved to France they set about cashing in on their power. If you ever become Pope then here are a few measly Middle Ages ways of making money...

1. If you commit a sin (like stealing a penny or pinching the bum of the girl in front of you) then the church can "pardon" you...if you pay.

2. If you want to be important in the church (say, a cardinal because they get to wear a red cloak and you think red suits you) then you can have the job... if you pay.

3. If a church owns some very holy object (like the toe-nail of a saint of the feather from an angel's wing) then you can have it...if you pay.

4. If you give a gift to your local church (maybe money so the church will say prayers after you are dead), the Pope will take a share.

5. The Pope may raise a tax to pay for a Crusade (to fight against the non-Christians in the Holy Land)...you fork out, but he won't actually spend it on a Crusade.

6. If you want to be buried in two places at once (your heart in one place and your body in another, like Richard III) then you can have permission...if you pay.

7. If you want to marry a close relative (like your dead husband's brother) then you can have permission...if you pay.

8. If you are a nun and want to keep two maids (one to do your cleaning and one to do your praying, maybe?) then you can have permission...if you pay.

9. If you want to trade with those 'awful' non-Christian guys from the East (and after all we do want their delicious spices, don't we?) then you can have permission...if you pay.

Potty Plays

The local craftsmen formed themselves into groups called guilds. Around Easter the guilds came together to produce plays for the people - the masses. These plays were based on Bible stories: Miracle Plays and Mystery Plays. That doesn't sound too measly - yet. The guilds performed the plays depending on their own mastery - so they called them mystery plays. Mastery-mystery, geddit?

At first these were performed at the altar of the church - but they became too popular and the churches were full of smelly people. So the plays were moved into the churchyards. But people began trampling on the graves to get a better view. In the end they were taken out of the churches and on to the streets.

The plays were always religious - but that didn't stop them being fun and horribly dangerous! In those days there was no one to give a 'rating' to the plays. Nowadays you know a film is a bit scary if it has a PG rating. In the Middle Ages a lot of the plays were PG - Pretty Gruesome! Which of these horrors could be seen on stage in the Middle Ages?

1. John the Baptist having his head cut off. (true, at the last moment the actor was switched for a dummy. The fake neck was chopped, splitting a bag of ox blood that splashed the audience.)

2. Jesus being crucified. (true, nails through hands was fake but the actor who played Jesus almost died because he was on the cross for like 3 hours!)

3. Jesus rising from the dead and ascending into heaven (or the roof of the stage). (true)

4. The tigers eating the hamsters of Noah's Ark. (false)

5. The donkeys of the Three Wise Men leaving piles of dung droppings on the stage. (true, the 'donkeys' were actors and they pushed piles of manure out from under the tail!)

6. The Roman Emperor Nero slitting open his mother's stomach. (True, fake stomach, but they used pig guts that would spill onto the stage)

7. Adam and Eve appearing naked in the garden of Eden. (false, all the actors were men.)

8. Judas hanging himself from a tree. (true, and the actor almost died because he did it so well!)

In 1326 the people of London turned against the Church because of the taxes it collected. They grabbed a bishop, cut his head off and left his naked body in the street - that was for real; no acting involved!

Batty Beliefs

Medieval people believed that in faraway lands there were...

- forests so high they touched the clouds

- tribes of people with horns who grow old in seven years

- men with the heads of dogs and six toes

- trees that grow wool

-cyclopeans with one eye and one foot who moved faster than the wind (when told to hop)

- 100-meter snakes with jewels for eyes

Miserable Monks

Life was unpleasant for peasants. As the Middle Ages went on, some were able to move from the land to the towns which were starting to grow. After the Black Death the Feudal System began to fall apart. Peasants became free to sell their labor or to move.

In towns they could become craftsmen or traders. They weren't tied to the land by the old Feudal System and some grew rich as merchants. But for others the only way out of the measly miserable life on the land was to join the church. Boys and girls as young as seven could be taken on as monks or nuns.

 

At first the young trainee monks were called novices - a bit like learner drivers in cars today, they weren't allowed to go out on their own. But it was a very hard life ... even harder than school today! Some of the mini-monks must have had a miserable time...

Dear Mom,

Hope you can get someone in the village to read this to you. The fact is, I want to come home. It's horrible here and I miss your rabbit pies.

It all starts at 2 in the morning. First prayers. That awful bell wakes up, and I have to put on my sandals. I don't have to dress because we sleep in our robes - and they're rotten and itchy. Last night I stumbled into the back of old Brother Benedict. He whipped me with a cane. Have you ever tried praying for two hours with a burning backside?

I got back to bed at 4 and slept 2 hours - on my face, of course - then that bell's ringing again to call us off to Prime service at 6. Brother Benedict breaks the ice on the water trough and makes me wash. He says it will stop me falling asleep. It just freezes my cheeks. Did you know the Benedictine monks pray at least 8 times a day? I asked old Benedict if God wouldn't want us to stop so he could get some sleep. He whipped me - Benedict, that is, not God.

We get breakfast at 7. It's usually porridge. Thin, cold, gritty porridge. Except this morning brother Edward stood on my toe and I cried out. We aren't allowed to make a noise at meals. I was whipped and told I'd eat bread and water for three days. I'd rather have your rabbit pies.

At 8 it's the meeting in the Chapter House - but the novices don't get a word in while the old goats groan on about money and work. It ends with prayers for the dead. But Mom...I don't know anybody that's dead. I sometimes wish I was dead though. Heaven has to be warmer than this place.

After Terce service at 9 we work. It was writing practice in the scriptorium for me. Brother Eamon makes us write on vellum - that's skins taken from the bellies of calves. I wonder why God wants us to do that? This letter's written on the belly of a calf, but I didn't kill it. I can't hold the goose-feather pen in my cold hands. I make smudges and Brother Eamon beats me.

It's High Mass at 11 then off to the fields to work. I had to dig cow much into the soil. The smell would have made me sick, if I'd had any food in my stomach. 

I'm almost glad to get indoors for the None service at 3 then it's lessons till Vespers at 6. I had to sit next to Anthony and I argued with him. He gets beaten as hard as me so I didn't feel too bad. Just hungry.

Compline at 7 and I have bread and water while the other monks eat peas with herbs. That tastes worse than bread and water. Every day, peas and herbs, peas and herbs. Sometimes I imagine I have herbs and peas for a change.

At 8 I have a little time to write this before I go to bed and it starts all over again at 2 tomorrow morning. Just let me come home, Mom, and I promise I'll be the best son you've ever had. I'll walk all the way, I'll pay back the gift you gave to the monks when they took me in. Just let me come home Mom. I do miss your rabbit pies. Please, Mom.

Your loving son,

Arthur

Mischievous Monks

The monks can't all have been saints because rules were written down to say what monks must NOT do. So somebody must have done these terrible things or they wouldn't have had the rules! Some of the rules look rather similar to school rules!

A good monk...

- will not think too much of his own comfort

- will not be tempted by rich food

- will not make a noise in the cloister

- will not argue with brother monks

- will not be disorderly in church

- will not be careless

- will not disobey senior monks

- will not become lazy as an old monk

- will not want his own way

- will not think of the world outside

Rules for nuns were very similar. How would you have survived?

St Roch

St Roch

 People who caught the plague used to call upon the spirit of St Roch for help. Roch caught the plague when he was a young man and went to a wood to die. A dog brought him food and he recovered. When he returned to the town, however, he was suspected of being a spy and thrown into jail where he died. A strange light filled the cell as he died and his captors believed it was a miracle. They decided that if you called for his help then you'd be cured of the plague. On the other hand you may not be cured of the plague! This was not St Roch's fault. This was because God decided you had been too wicked.

St Charles

Charles of Blois (in France) was a saintly man. He...

- never washed his clothes so he carried crawling with lice, put pebbles in his shoes and knotted cords tightly round his body so he suffered pain at all times.

- slept on the straw at the side of his wife's bed.

- made a pilgrimage to a holy place, barefoot in the snow. When his admirers covered the path with blankets he took another road and walked till his feel were frozen and bleeding.

Charles of Blois was a vicious and cruel man. He...

- used large catapults to hurl the heads of dead prisoners into an enemy city.

- massacred 2,000 men, women, and children when he captured a town called Quimper.

Cruelty alongside saintliness. That pretty well sums up the measly Middle Ages. 

**This passage was copied almost verbatim out of a fabulous and funny book called The Measly Middle Ages by Terry Dreary