Wolf Hall discussion continuation thread

[AKnickerfulOfMenace]

Continuing the thread from Telly Addicts, just in time for episode 4

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/2288038-Damian-Lewis-fans-line-up-for-Wolf-Hall-tonight?msgid=52500336#52500336

TC as Olivia in twelfth night (let down by Stephen Fry) www.shakespearesglobe.com/shop/product/2012-season-shakespeares-globe-twelfth-night-dvd/1346

Some music from WH also found in this production.

We've speculated on Henry's physical state during the course of these threads, so I thought I'd add this rather entertaining link on the subject.

Brilliant! I love 'Right, so on to the head injury he got in a moment of temporary stupidity/distraction as he forgot to lower his mask in a game that involves a long, pointy lance.'

And arf at Conor Byrne and his 20 years of research!

You can hunt chipmunks?

I think of chipmunks as squirrel-sized and squirrel-shaped things. Is that right or have I been influenced by cartoons too much? I guess I could google ...

Yeah, that was a bit .

I'm sure the Tudors WOULD have hunted them - they hunted anything that moved. If there had been any in England.

(Countess, are you saying that it might be unwise of me to believe without question everything I read in The Guardian comment section?)

Awesome blog!

I might check out this George Boleyn book

tudortutor.com/2014/05/27/george-boleyn-and-henry-viii-a-royal-bromance/

It looks fun on the title alone

LordC, thread on Richard III

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/history_club/2130125-The-princes-in-the-tower-who-do-we-think-caused-their-disappearance?pg=3&order=

I have JUST watched the final episode (been busy).

Hugo Rifkind in The Times did the TV review on Saturday and
1 - used the word "brittle" about Anne, a word that you'll find I used first!
2 - compared her flirting and bitching and stirring to "your mate's psycho girlfriend" and to "the kind of woman who gets people punched in pubs".

And used his first paragraph to draw a parallel with his father's recent downfall, Trills... Cos resigning as an MP at the age of 70ish IS the same as being beheaded in your mid thirties with the agreement of your husband. Yup.

Humph. They have always blamed the woman. Like Henry is so bloody blameless and wouldn't have beheaded anyone left on his own device.

Hah! That Rifkind.

Yes Trills, the psycho girlfriend line made me cross. Not cool, Hugo, not cool.

Further to what I wrote above:

"I always think it's interesting that if Henry had just waited for K to die, he could've skipped AB altogether and married Jane Seymour - and no break with Rome!"

Of course if K had lived another year, AB might have had another pregnancy since H probably wouldn't have married JS with K still alive.

Good thinking.

If Katharine had lived another year, Anne may have produced a son, and then Henry would have been back adoring her.

Even if she'd had another healthy daughter that may have bought her some more time.

Doe anyone know of any good what-if alternative history books around this period?

I vaguely remember one being mentioned somewhere on MN a while ago...

Was Anne actually keen to marry him, or were her family pushing it?

Or was it just not wise to refuse the king??

He was so awful to katherine & Mary you wonder why anyone would want to bother with him after that!

Diddl, do you mean Jane?

Well both Anne Bolyn & Jane Semyour i guess!

Yes, I think they both were - and also, for aristocrats, the desire for position was always a factor in any marriage decision.

There's a book called The Boleyn King that I've seen recommended, in which Anne has a boy instead of Elizabeth.

LOVE the 'whatifs' about Katharine living longer, because it makes me go 'Ha, if you hadn't been so horrible to Katharine, you evil wanker, things might have turned out better for you and you wouldn't have ended up a great seething mass of self-pity about what bad luck you had with wives.'

My version, though, would involve Anne having to get someone else to father the child, because she might reckon that not having a healthy son was down to Henry rather than her. I don't actually think she committed adultery in RL, but it's an intriguing what-if. She could have picked Thomas Wyatt and we'd have had a king who was very good at poetry.

Ah yes, the well-known poetry gene :o