Today In History: Happy Birthday Mary Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots depicted in an 1885 engraving

469 years ago today Mary Queen of Scots was born on December 8th 1542. Happy birthday Mary

"Mary Stuart was born at Linlithgow Palace on 7th December 1542, the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. Six days after her birth her father died, and she became Queen of Scotland. From her infancy, Scotland's rival pro-English and pro-French factions plotted to gain control of Mary. Her French mother was chosen as regent, and she sent Mary to France in 1548. Mary lived as part of the French royal family. In April 1558 she married the Dauphin Francis; she secretly agreed to bequeath Scotland to France if she should die without a son. In July 1559 Francis succeeded his father becoming King Francis II and Mary became Queen of France as well as of Scotland. In addition, many Roman Catholics recognised Mary Stuart as Queen of England after Mary I died and the Protestant Elizabeth I succeeded her to the throne in November 1558. Mary Stuart's claim to the English throne was based on the fact that she was the grand-daughter of Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII--Elizabeth's father. To the Roman Catholics, Mary's claim appeared stronger than Elizabeth's because they viewed Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn as illegal. Mary's young husband Francis II died in December 1560 after a reign of 17 months. Mary, who was about to become 18 years of age, was left in a difficult position. Unwilling to stay in France and live under the domination of her mother-in-law Catherine De Medici's she decided to return to Scotland and take her chances with the Protestant reformers".

Mary's bedroom at Holyroodhouse.

At The Palace of Holyroodhouse Queen Victoria made sure that Mary Queen of Scots' bedroom and outer chamber were diligently preserved exactly the way it was left by Mary. It was in the outer chamber that Mary's beloved assistant David Rizzo was brutally murdered by her husband in front of her face. David was ripped from behind Mary's skirts and dragged across the floor before he was murdered. To this day you can take a tour of Holyroodhouse and see these beautiful rooms.

For more on Mary check out this site Marie Stuart  and my previous posts on Mary Queen of Scots:

• Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots Quote Cards: Today in History
• HFBRT Christine Trent A ROYAL LIKENESS Event: Death Masks of Europe
• Book Review, The Royal Road to Fotheringhay by Jean Plaidy
• Today In History, Mary Queen of Scots Looses her Head
• Notorious Royal Marriages Leslie Carroll on Mary Queen of Scots
• Today In History, Happy Birthday Mary Queen of Scots
• Mary Queen of Scots Gets a New Voice
• Book Review of The Other Queen by Philipha Gregory
• Book Review of The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots by Carrolly Erickson
• Today in History, Wedding Bells for Mary
• My own Mary art work of Mary
• Mary Queen of Scots Last Letter goes on display

Lizzie

Today In History: Marie Antoinette and Madame Guillotine

October 16 1793, France

Marie ...you are never far from my thoughts especially on this day. Two hundred and eighteen years ago today you faced the greatest of outcomes and your courage always has given me courage. Thank you for being my inspiration in my darkest hours.

I found it fitting that instead of re-posting the same historical great paintings of Marie that instead we go with the fantastic Vogue photo shoot for the Marie Antoinette movie.

"She faced death with absolute self control and dignity, and stepped gracefully, even with hands tied, to the scaffold".

Today In History: Happy Birthday Elizabeth I

Happy birthday Elizabeth I aka "Gloriana". 478 years later and the people still love you. September 7th 1533 will always be your day.

"There is no marvel in a woman learning to speak, but there would be in teaching her to hold her tongue"
— Elizabeth I
~Lizzy~

Today In History: Loosing Robert Dudley

Sept 4th 1588 Robert Dudley left this life for the after life. Anyone who knows me knows that Robert is by far one of my favorite historical people besides Charles II. Why you ask? He was romantic and a bad boy all rolled into one. He loved his Queen Elizabeth I like no one else could and he even suffered with her before she was queen when no one else could help them. Their story is so tragic and maybe in another life they would have been together the way fate wanted them to be. Alas what is meant to be is meant to be and Elizabeth was meant to be not just any queen but Glorianna herself. When Robert died Elizabeth was not with him. She was devastated when she received his last letter to her. She did not come out of her room for days.

Dudley always "remained at the centre of [Elizabeth's] emotional life", as historian Susan Doran has described the situation. He died shortly after the Spain's Armada was defeated, and after Elizabeth's own death, a note from him was found among her most personal belongings, marked "his last letter" in her handwriting.

This video I found on YouTube of a British TV Series that I think aired some years back. Either way this really reminds me of Robert and what today we would call his "swagger". Here is the shows info BBC The Virgin Queen


Amazon
A Favorite of the Queen: The Story of Lord Robert Dudley and Elizabeth I (A Novel of the Tudors)
The Uncrowned Kings of England: The Black History of the Dudleys and the Tudor Throne
The Queen's Bastard: A Novel of Elizabeth I and Arthur Dudley
~Lizzie~

Today In History: Happy Birthday Lord Robert Dudley

Happy birthday Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester! Born on June 24th 1532, Robert Dudley loved a woman that he could never have. Queen Elizabeth I locked herself in her room for days when she was told of his death and Cecil had to beat down her door.

"Elizabeth and Leicester miniatures by Hilliard"

Elizabeth and Robert

Roberts Signature

 "Robert Dudley"

Recommended on Amazon:
The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, Robin Maxwell
The Queen's Bastard: A Novel , Robin Maxwell
The Tudor Secret (The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles), C.W. Gortner
The Queen's Fool: A Novel (Boleyn), Philippa Gregory
~Lizzy~

Today In History: Anne Boleyn Crown Queen of England

Today in history: June 1st 1533 Anne Boleyn was crowned Queen of England. Henry VIII moved mountains to be able to marry Anne and even before her death the marriage would be declared void leaving her only child Elizabeth a "bastard".

"Anne Boleyn's Triumphal Entry Into London"

~Lizzy~

Today in History Anne Boleyn Loses her head

Anne Boleyn was beheaded on the tower green on May 19 1536 475 years ago today. Anne is by far leading lady of my heart because she was a smart capable woman who was way ahead of her times. I feel Anne was a victim of the men in her life including her father. I also have throw out there the Rh Negative factor in her numerous miscarriages. For more on being Rh Negative read here but basically it means the new babies blood is not compatible with the mothers and today women would receive a shot to counteract the incompatibility. It has been proven that most woman with Rh Negative can produce at least one living girl child before the incompatibility kicks in, weird I know but from what I have gathered true. Even my own mother is Rh Negative and her first born was a daughter and then the shots began with the second one. In my heart of hearts Anne was a good woman, a brave woman who even in the face of the greatest peril held her head high with the dignity she rightly deserved.

The beheading of Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII Tudor, on the 19th May 1536 at Tower Green. In the background the Tower of London. On the left Henry VIII. On the right Lady Jane Seymour.

"Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul."

Amazon
Mademoiselle Boleyn, Robin Maxwell
The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, Robin Maxwell
Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn
Murder Most Royal: The Story of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard
The Boleyn Wife
The Concubine: A Novel
To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn
The Six Wives of Henry VIII

~Lizzy~
P.S. I want her cloak.

Today In History: George Boleyn's Execution

I really was not going to post this but C.W. Gortner has compelled me to do so because in truth George Boleyn is in my thoughts today. Most of this is a re-post from last year. I think George's story touches a soft spot in my heart because Like Anne Boleyn I too have a brother I am very close to. To me it seems some siblings are just siblings but some siblings share a extra special bond; one that just is a part of your soul. I think George and Anne had a relationship like that more than an incestuous one. Anne Boleyn called him her " sweet brother"

475 years ago today George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford was executed on Tower hill on May 17th 1536. He was brought to trail with four other men for having cardinal knowledge of the Queen of England. It just happened that the queen was his sister Anne Boleyn. During the hearing his own wife testified against him that conniving Jane Parker. George was found guilty of incest by the court judges, his own father insanely being one of them. Everyone had turned their back on him and Anne. No one dared speak out for fear of the kings Henry's wrath.

Poor George entangled in a web of deceit, known as the rat race but, in the court of Henry VIII it was a deadly game to play with very high stakes, your head. The higher they are raised, the harder they fall, this applies to George. He was a scape goat for king Henry, someone to blame for Queen Anne's terrible miscarriages & wild antics. George was a avid politician and henchman for Henry during his campaign urged by Anne, to the dissolution of the catholic monasteries. It was also rumored that he was gay, and one of the other men executed, a musician named Mark Smeaton could have been his lover. Mark is also accused of being the later Queen Elizabeth's father. It was a vicious slander on Anne set in place by the supporters of the catholic faith. In the end George met a terrible end, & when I watched him executed on Tudors on showtime, I cried for him and mark.

George's execution speech,

" I was a great reader and mighty debater of the word of God, and one of those who most favoured the gospel of Jesus Christ. Wherefore, lest the word of God should be brought into reproach on my account, I now tell you all Sirs, that if I had, in very deed, kept his holy word, even as I read and reasoned about it with all the strength of my wit, certain am I that I should not be in the piteous condition wherein I now stand. Truly and diligently did I read the gospel of Christ Jesus, but I turned not to profit that which I did read; the which had I done, of a surety I had not fallen into so great errors. Wherefore I do beseech you all, for the love of our Lord God, that ye do at all seasons, hold by the truth, and speak it, and embrace it; for beyond all peradventure, better profiteth he who readeth not and yet doeth well, than he who readeth much and yet liveth in sin"

"George Boleyn’s signature. It was written inside the book ‘Les Lamentations de Matheolus’ and ‘Le Livre de Leesce’ by Jean Lefevre. George Boleyn wrote inside:

‘Thys boke ys myne, George Boleyn 1526’.

It appears that the book was passed around the Boleyn circle. George seems to have passed it on to Mark Smeaton who added ‘A moi M. Marc S’ at the end of one page. Then the poet Thomas Wyatt owned it and he scribbled down proverbs in Latin, French, Spanish and Italian on the back flyleaves.George was deeply interested in religious texts and when abroad for various diplomatic reasons he purchased books for his sister Anne. Anne amassed a great number of religious books and greatly enhanced the royal library. The fact that both George and Smeaton had access to this book was used by historian Retha Warnicke as the sole piece of evidence to suggest the two men were involved in a homosexual relationship, whilst ignoring the fact that Wyatt had also endorsed the book. This seems to be a case of making the evidence fit the theory rather than the other way around".

My favorite book that has more of my view of George is The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. Also with her follow up book The Boleyn Inheritance you can follow the demise of George's wife Jane Parker other wise known as Jane Viscount Rochford. Jane played a major key role in George's down fall and later in Queen Catherine Howard's death also. My favorite Jane Rochford novel is Brandy Purdy's The Boleyn Wife because it is wild and defiantly falls under "historical entertainment". Brandy focuses on the crazy side of Jane and she EVEN gives a very logical explanation of where that famous Boleyn necklace went. But that is a whole different story for another time. I wish it were different but there is no existing or surviving portrait of George Boleyn. I imagine that he was handsome because his sister has to have had some beauty to lure Henry VIII all those years.
~Lizzy~

Today In History: Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI Wedding bells

241 years ago today Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI wedding bells rang out on May 16th 1770

Much has been written and portrayed about the marriage relationship of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. Here are historical facts about their lives together from about.com

• Ages at Wedding: Marie Antoinette was 14; Louis XVI was 15.
• Wedding Date: On April 19, 1770 Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste were married by proxy in the Augustine Church in Vienna. Marie Antoinette left for France two days later. She crossed the border into France on May 7, 1770.
• On May 16, 1770, their French wedding was held at Versailles in the Chapel Royal.
• Her wedding dress was decorated with diamonds and pearls.
• After a formal dinner and the blessing of their bed by the Archbishop of Reims, Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste were escorted to their bedroom. They did not consummate their marriage until August 1777 according to a letter she wrote to her mother on August 30, 1777.
• Marie Thérèse Charlotte about Marie Antoinette after Louis XVI's death: "She no longer had any hope left in her heart or distinguished between life and death."
• PBS about Louis XVI: "Louis XVI was the first French king in two hundred years not to have a royal mistress."

For some of your own Marie Antoinette inspired wedding ideas check out this lovely link. Also check out this video of a really cool Marie Antoinette inspired bridal shower and wedding it is to DIE for beautiful plus what is a wedding with out a delicious cake?
~Lizzy~

Happy Birthday Jane Austen Lets Celebrate with Free eBooks!

Today December 16th is Jane Austen’s 235th birthday! Happy Birthday Jane!

Sourcebooks, the world’s leading publisher of Jane Austen fiction, is offering a unique deal to readers who want to celebrate Jane by reading special editions of all six of Austen’s beloved novels in a 21st century format.

Special e-book editions of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion and Mansfield Park will be available for free for one day only. These celebratory editions include the full novels, plus the legendary color illustrations of the Brock brothers, originally created to accompany the books in 1898.

In addition to the Jane Austen classics, readers can also enjoy these bestselling Austen-inspired novels. The following bestselling e-books will be free on December 16th in honor of her birthday:

Eliza’s Daughter by Joan Aiken
The Darcys & the Bingleys by Marsha Altman
Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll
What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
The Pemberley Chronicles by Rebecca Ann Collins
The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview
Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange
Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan
Lydia Bennet’s Story by Jane Odiwe
Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy by Abigail Reynolds

Available wherever eBooks are sold. If you own a reader this is the perfect time to snag yourself a collection of Jane Austen free eBooks.

UPDATE:

First off let me sincerely apologize for all the confusion regarding the free offer of Jane Austen special edition titles as well as the 10 Austen inspired novels. Please extend this apology to your readers and followers as well.

We have been trying to fix the problem all morning. It takes a lot of cooperation from different parties to make the offer happen and it unfortunately it took some extra time to iron out the kinks.

Let me tell you know that iBooks and Google books currently has everything correct.

Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Sony are currently working to get their prices adjusted. They should be correct shortly.  Sourcebooks.com will also have our books and the illustrated versions available for free within the next hour!

Because of this confusion we want to celebrate Jane Austen’s birthday an extra day! This offer will be good tomorrow as well.

Again I am sorry for the confusion and thank you for being patient!

Amazon

Today in History, For the love of Anne

All For the love of Anne Boleyn today in history will always be her day in my heart. I drew her in pen and color pencil then scanned her in, added a few backgrounds and a bunch of pretty butterflies. Before I shrunk her down I took a close up below.

Anne's Memorial, breath taking a glass pillow on a pedestal. On the rim of the pedestal are the seven names of the nobility that were beheaded for treason. Anne's name is right next to Margaret Pole some where on there is Jane Grey, Catherine Howard see list below. 

"Seven nobles (five of them ladies) were beheaded privately on Tower Green, inside the complex, and then buried in the "Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula" (Latin for "in chains," making him an appropriate patron saint for prisoners) next to the Green. Some of the nobles who were executed outside the Tower are also buried in that chapel. The names of the seven beheaded on Tower Green for treason alone are:

• William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (1483)
• Anne Boleyn (1536)
• Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (1541)
• Catherine Howard (1542)
• Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford (1542)
• Lady Jane Grey (1554)  
• Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1601)"

Today In History, Lent and Eleanor of Aquintane

I felt it was just the perfect time to cover this for all the avid historical fiction fans. Just like the Eve of Saint Agnes, Lent is also another part of historical novels. To truly grasp a character you have to experience as a reader all aspects of this person. One thing that tends to be glossed over sometimes in reading is that the person might just be a spiritual person. Lent has always been the dreaded event in some reads and in others it is merely a brief mention of fish for dinner. For this particular issue I went straight to the source and got some real awnsers courtesy of my local Paster "Karl" from Emanuel Lutheran church. He was kind enough in walking me through the explanation of Lent. Lets all just get this off the table and settle it down once and for all and clear up any misconceptions. 

Q: What is Lent? 

A: It's the 40-day period of repentance and renewal preceding easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with the Easter service. Holy Week commemorates Christ's last week of life on earth. It's the final, most important part of Lent. 

Q: Why is it important? 

A: The Lenten period allows us time to recall the easter story and absorb its meaning.  Christ lived and died to redeem the world from sin. Because of Christ's death and resurrection, our lives can be renewed: we can renounce sin and begin to live for god.

"Lent During the middle ages: Strict 40-day fasts (abstinence from meat and other foods), not attending festivities, etc., were obligatory for Christians. Gradually these practices became less rigid". 

"Todays Lent: The emphasis has shifted from long periods of fasting to prayer, meditation and reflection on the meaning of Easter. Lent remains important as a time of preparation for and renewal of baptism". 

"Fontevraud Abbey, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire, France. Nave of the abbey church of St. Mary. In the foreground, the effigies of Richard I of England, Isabella of Angoulême, Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine (from right to left, front to back)".

Besides being Easter Sunday today it is also the day that Eleanor of Aquitaine passed away in the year 1204. I am just starting to cultivate my love for Eleanor but it has been a long time coming. I really can not wait to read "The Queen's Pawn" by  Christy English to go further with her. "The Greatest Knight" by Elizabeth Chadwick was a great way to sprout the little obsession I had inside me. Plus I am officially in love with William Marshal and he was her greatest champion ever, ... sigh.

"Eleanor died in 1204 and was entombed in Fontevraud Abbey next to her husband Henry and her son Richard. Her tomb effigy shows her reading a Bible and is decorated with magnificent jewelry. By the time of her death she had outlived all of her children except for King John and Queen Eleanor".

Today in History: Catherine Howard, The Rose with out a Thorn

As many of you remember the Historical Fiction Bloggers Round Table event this past year this is my feature post that went up on historical-fiction.com. I know your thinking it is a recycled post but I can not help myself today. Today in history was the day that Catherine Howard made the exhausted walk to the block some 468 years ago.























Catherine Howard the "Rose with out a Thorn" was fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was also a first cousin of Anne Boleyn. She was executed after less than two years of marriage to Henry. The grounds for her execution were treason, in other words she cheated on Henry during the marriage. It has been implied in many novels that Catherine herself was a "silly girl" type caring only for herself. The age difference between them was probably an issue because of maturity. Catherine being in her late teens and Henry was well in his forties.

She was one of the only three women taken through the "Traitors Gate" to the tower. Anne Boleyn being the first, Catherine next, and later Elizabeth by her half sister queen bloody Mary. Upon her entry through the gate her executed lovers head were on pikes above her on the bridge. The night before her execution she had requested that the "block" be brought to her so she could practice her own beheading. Leaving her exhausted for her date with death.

Catherine was a very young woman. I believe was a victim of Henry VIII, granted she did cheat. I am not excusing that but she was a product of her environment and growing up with her grandmother the duchess was a very bad situation. The duchesses’ house was a notorious breeding ground of loose morals and since Catherine had spent the bulk of her childhood there doing pretty much as she pleased. It would become her downfall that her past at the duchesses home would follower her to the court of Henry VIII. This is the "Transcript of Catherine Howard loses her head" it is the original letter that ended her life and crushed Henry VIII love for her, making her no longer "the rose with out a thorn".

"Master Coulpeper, I hertely recomend me unto youe praying you to sende me worde how that you doo. Yt was showed me that you was sike, the wyche thynge trobled me very muche tell suche tyme that I here from you praying you to send me worde how that you do. For I never longed so muche for [a] thynge as I do to se you and to speke wyth you, the wyche I trust shal be shortely now, the wyche dothe comforthe me verie much whan I thynk of ett and wan I thynke agan that you shall departe from me agayne ytt makes my harte to dye to thynke what fortune I have that I cannot be always yn your company. Y[e]t my trust ys allway in you that you wolbe as you have promysed me and in that hope I truste upon styll, prayng you than that you wyll com whan my lade Rochforthe ys here, for then I shalbe beste at leaysoure to be at your commarendmant. Thaynkyng you for that you have promysed me to be sogood unto that pore felowe my man, whyche is on of the grefes that I do felle to departe from hym for than I do know noone that I dare truste to sende to you and therfor I pray you take hym to be wyth you that I may sumtym here from you one thynge. I pray you to gyve me a horse for my man for I hyd muche a do to gat one and thefer I pray sende me one by hym and yn so doying Iam as I sade afor, and thus I take my leve of you trusting to se you s[h]orttele agane and I wode you was wythe me now that yoo maitte se what pane I take yn wryte[n]g to you. Yours as long as lyffe endures Katheryn One thyng I had forgotten and that hys to instruct my man to tare here wyt[h] me still, for he sas wat so mever you bed hym he wel do et"