Ways of Dying in 1665

I'm part way through The Mysterious Affair at Styles as an audiobook, takes me back, think I was 10 when I first read it :o

I'm also part way through Year of Wonders as an ibook, thanks to this thread. I already own a hardcopy of Connie Willis's Doomsday Book, which is definitely an excellent read.

And now I want to visit Eyam. And the Museum of London. And Bodyworks.

I blame you lot :o

I have a Poirot ready for when I go to bed Rue

Agree with Cazboldy, fascinating thread. I've bought two of the books mentioned, and see I'm not alone in this.

(Oops, forgot am incognito with a Dickens namechange) :o

Excellent, clearly not as demented as I feared then! The little grey cells are still sparking, albeit feebly... :o

I like the way we've meandered through the plague, Little Women, Romans, sympathetic treatments and are now stuck into the Tudors! It's a nice wander-y thread.

I'd be surprised if many girls of the upper orders still had an intact hymen by the time they were married if they rode horses, as it's not unusual to rupture the hymen while horseriding. Of course, if they only walked at a sedate pace, it wouldn't rupture it but a good open gallop might do the job. :)

This has got to be one of the most fascinating threads there has ever been on MN!

They definitely were, two years before she came to England. I actually know that, because we had to do a project about various stages in their lives, and I had Catherine of Aragon's childhood.

"The two were married by proxy on 19 May 1499 and corresponded in Latin until Arthur turned fifteen, when it was decided that they were old enough to be married."

I suppose Anne's family did encourage her, but H8 had had affairs before, and as soon as he'd 'caught' the woman, he'd go back to Catherine. Anne wouldn't let herself be caught. I see her as a marriage wrecker I'm afraid.

Although I thought it was very hard of him to put her through a coronation when she was very pregnant.

I could have sworn Arthur and Catherine of Aragon were married by proxy, as children, but wikipedia says not. Hmm.

I do wonder what things would have been like if Catherine had been able to take the throne as her own, rather than marrying the king - she had the stronger claim, thanks to Henry VII's claim being "disallowed" due to illegitimacy.

Ring

rig ring obviously!

Nah, Anne Boleyn rocked. Feel sorry for her, she was a bit mouthy but was used by her family for advancement and then when henry lost interest her family deserted her.

She would have been so proud of her daughter i'm sure.

I've posted this before but when Elizabeth 1st died a rig she always wore was found to open and inside was a picture of her mother

Yes, you're right. Ok, she started and ended badly, but had a good bit in the middle! And a fair bit of England would agree H8 was a twat.

(Mind you, I think Anne Boleyn was too.)

H8 stupid EVIL twat.

Or so they said anyway, about the black tumour...

The so-called Dark Ages were actually a time when much was being done to preserve knowledge (from this period we get the Book of Kells and other fabulous manuscripts, the founding of monasteries all ever western Europe, many by Irish missionary monks who spread writing and writing technology paper making, inks, quills, and Latin an international language makes the dissemination of knowledge of all kinds possible). What cropped up later didn't all just appear out of thin air.

Forbidden to write letters?

He really was a stupid twat. Not that there is any doubt on the subject.

IT'S ^^up there somewhere. A black tumour on her heart, found when they embalmed her.

Did i read on this thread or in a book that catherine of aragon may have been poisoned? she was thought to have died from some sort of tumour but then a recent autopsy found that it may have been poison I find that fascinating. We need to dig up more famous historical figures and autopsy them! gets carried away--

Or have i completely made that up?

I love this thread but it's veeerrry long, can't remember what i've read here and what i knew already iyswim! eejit

No, Catherine of Aragon didn't end well! She died alone at Kimbolton Castle, forbidden to see her only child, forbidden to write letters and abandoned by her husband!

If you're having unwanted sex with someone who is too young for it, like in some of these dynastic marriages, the chances of them bleeding are clearly increased, though

I'm not sure what the average age of losing one's virginity would have been - I remember that in 16th c England most people didn't marry till their mid-twenties and it was only the very top and very bottom of the social scale that tended to marry young.

Well, I never knew that Tunip! I thought nowadays it was down to people wearing tampons etc.

I remember reading Henry VII wanted to marry her. If I remember correctly her mother sent him a letter strongly suggesting someone else didn't she?

And wasn't there some problem with merchants in the meantime? That Spanish merchants shouldn't pay high taxes in England and vice versa then it all went wrong. Not a nice place for a teenager to be stuck.

Mind you, she did well in the end didn't she? I though the English were much fonder of her than Anne Boleyn (who was probably a bit too like them ).

Don't they do that with animal blood in Fanny Hill? Of course, there they're trying to convince the male partner of the woman's virginity, rather than both partners colluding so everyone else thinks they've had sex.

And also they used to stuff up some kind of small animal's bladder containing pig blood so it would go POP when prodded