Writing a novel, forgetting my blog

Hello!

I am back after an extremely long absence. I have been working on a new novel and am so excited about it that I forgot to continue my blog. My first novel Coffins for Cradles is in the editing process as I type, and my second novel is a sixth of the way complete. I will get back to the Ice Man eventually, but for now I want to share with you all a villain that dominated 14th century Europe, and killed in places over 90% of the population. This villain is communally known as the black death. I know, I know, its not exactly a person, but its so interesting and its also something that people have a lot of ideas about but are not certain on any facts. New information is coming out all the time, while scientist still try to understand what caused so much havoc and brought down an entire way of life. I am concentrating on this villain now, instead of the iceman because the novel I am working on is set during a plague outbreak.  Please note that all my energy is on my novel at the moment, the first draft takes up all my time, so the continuation of Villainous History will commence in June.

Happy Journeys

Lady Thiessen

Richard Kuklinski

We have finished our discussion on Mary Tudor so now I think its a good time to find a more modern villain. Thanks to the writing group that I used to meet with.... come on guys get it together ;), I heard about "The Iceman". Another title for a notorious evil doer. Unlike Mary I don't know anything about this Iceman so I am excited to learn all about it and spew the information to you. What I have found out so far is that the iceman's real name is Richard Kuklinski. Now I'm off to do some research! More tomorrow!

Happy journeys,
Lady Thiessen   

Absenteeism

For those of you concerned, I did not die. I simply got drawn away from my passion and wasted many weeks doing things such as checking Facebook, and watching movies, while wondering why I have been so bored. Its funny how one can get into such a state of apathy. It becomes the usual to sit around, and think about doing something, only to leave it until the tomorrow that won't ever come. Well no more I tell you! I will not do it. I am never happier then when I am busy and so I am getting back on this blog, poor Mary has been waiting to continue her marriage, and I have been denying her.

:) 

I guess it is fitting that I had such a long state of absenteeism before I started talking about Phillip. For Phillip spent most of their marriage away from Mary. But we will get there.  Because the marriage caused panic in the country, a marriage contract was drawn up to try and ease the peoples minds. This contract allowed for Phillip to have the title of King of England but only while Mary I was alive. Everything he proposed had to be accepted by her first, and England would not be required to spend money on wars to benefit Phillip and his family. Obviously these restrictions were not the most appealing to Phillip but the benefits of such a marriage outweighed these cons and so he conceded.

Coin used in Mary's time
Photograph by Lara E. Eakins 

Phillip was in the marriage purely for political reasons, while Mary had fallen hard for Phillip based on his portrait before she even met him. She was searching for a loving husband, who could perhaps fill the void, that had been empty of love for years. After it was decided that she would marry the spaniard plots to put Mary's sister Elizabeth on the throne started propping up endlessly. The main participants of these plots included Sir Thomas Wyatt the younger, and Henry Grey. Yup you read that correctly, the same Henry Grey who had been released from the tower after plotting to put the nine day queen on the throne. Mary realized that she perhaps was to lenient with those involved with Lady Jane Gray, and so she went to the other end of the spectrum. She had around 100 traitors hung, her sister arrested, and Lady Jane beheaded. Although it should be noted that she forgave over 400 of the other people involved in these plots.

Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger

Eventually the marriage took place, July 25th 1554 to be exact, and Mary reached one of her goals. And like many women her other main goal was to become a mother and continue Catholicism in England. It did not take long for Mary's doctors to announce that she was pregnant. The happy queen began to swell in September.  Thinking she had her successor in her belly Mary turned towards her final big want, to bring England back into Catholicism.

Mary I and Phillip II

The heresy laws were reinstated, meaning that anyone could be declared a hieratic and burned at the stake. And in January the first three men were found guilty and condemned to their toasty fate (yes, I know that was distasteful). However, England had many protestants who did not want to ever return to Rome's teaching. Instead of the burnings causing fear and subjection in her subjects they simply increased their hatred. But even if her country hated their queen she still had the child on the way. Or so she thought.

Burning at the Stake 

For some reason people thought that a pregnant woman, of royal blood, needed to sit in a dank room for the final months of her pregnancy and Mary followed this custom. The babies due date came and went and still Mary lay there waiting to give birth. Soon another month passed and no signs of a delivery were to be seen. It is believed that Mary, wanting to be pregnant so much, caused herself to have what is known as a phantom pregnancy. Her body displayed all the signs of being pregnant but no child was within her. Mary was heartbroken and her spanish husband didn't help matters. That August, after those at court were well aware of Mary's failed pregnancy, Phillip left the country. A distraught Mary would write to him, almost daily, in order to beg for him to return to her.

False Pregnancy 

Eventually Phillip did return, but shortly afterwards another war against France was declared. I think they should never have declared peace between the two countries, for it would have saved a lot of time. And as if the hatred for Mary was not enough, it would only increase when England lost Calais there last bit of land in France. Mary's reign was now officially regarded as a complete failure. Mary did have some good news, however, she announced that she was pregnant once again. This time convinced it was the real deal.

It wasn't. Another phantom pregnancy took place, but this time Mary would not recover. Her health deteriorated until she had no choice but to declare her half sister, who she had imprisoned for treason, and who was a stanch protestant, as her heir. On November 17th 1558 Mary died, ending her short reign and sorrowful life.

Queens' Mary I and Elizabeth I Tomb 

And finally one final slight occurred to Mary when her tomb became so covered in rocks that her half sister was placed above her and they now share a tomb, rivals even in death.

*Most of these pictures are in the public domain. If I have failed to give credit where credit is due, please let me know. The first cartoon has an artist that I don't know of.  

Queen Mary I as a Single Lady

Hello five day weekend! I am so happy to have the next five days off of my day job so I can concentrate on my writing! I am being a little to loose with the explanation marks, so let me get them all out of the way!!!!!!!!!! Okay. It is time to start Mary's reign as queen! (One slipped in and I can't be held responsible! Drats.)

Mary as Queen 

Mary had her coronation on October 1st, 1553 at Westminster Abbey. No one can say she wasted any time learning the ropes of being queen, for she got involved in political matters only days after becoming official.  Her first act that she wanted passed was one that made the marriage between her mother and father valid. No one disputed this act and it passed relatively quickly. I doubt many people ever truly believed that the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon wasn't valid. The king's reasoning behind declaring it invalid was full of cracks, in an almost comical way. But Mary wasn't going to stop at this simple victory, she wanted to help bring her subjects back into the Church of Rome.

Westminster Abbey

Now there is perhaps nothing more annoying, then someone trying to force their beliefs on you. I live in a state where this type of shenanigans are happening all the time. What one must try to remember, while your contemplating punching a religious fanatic in the face, is that they truly believe that they are doing what is 'best' for you. Mary was doing what she thought was the best for her subjects, she wanted to save their souls for all eternity--the problem was that many of them didn't want to travel that road to salvation, but another. The second act that Mary wanted to pass would discontinue all religious reforms made during her younger brothers reign. Unlike the act revolving her parents, this act met with some resistance. Eventually, however, the act passed.

Edward Courtenay

The next thing that Queen Mary needed to do was find a husband--'stat'. An unmarried queen would never be able to rule, or so people thought, before Mary's younger sister, Elizabeth I took the throne. The people of England largely wished for Mary to wed Edward Courtenay, an interesting choice as he had been imprisoned in the Tower for most of his life. He was the popular choice because he was one of the last living members to the house of york, making him an englishman and not a foreigner. Mary, however, fell in love with the portrait of another man--Phillip of Spain. Going against the wishes of her subjects, not the best choice since she was already unpopular at the time, she would marry Philip.

Phillip II of Spain

Next post we will go through the ups and downs of their marriage, if you can even call it that, and end with Mary's death--making our first study complete. Be thinking about who you would like to hear of next, and if you have any opinions feel free to comment!

Happy Journeys,
Lady Thiessen
    

Edward VI and The Nine Day Queen

Edward VI

Edward, son of Henry and Jane Seymour, became king when he was nine years old. He would become Edward VI and his reign would be very short. Edward was a supporter of the new church that his father established and Mary tried but failed to get him to see what she thought was the errors of his ways. Because Edward was so young a lord protector was needed and that job fell to Jane Seymour's brother Edward Seymour. Later Edward Seymour was overthrown by John Dudley. During Edwards short reign the Act of Uniformity was passed which abolished Catholic mass. Mary openly defied this act and continued to practice her religion. Edward would soon grow sick, at only 15 years old, with what many believe to be tuberculosis. The nation was set into a panic because many feared what Mary would do if she was to become queen. They believed she would take away the protestant religion and return England back to the church of Rome. And where there is fear, there are plots, and where there are plots, innocent parties usually pay the price.

John Dudley

Edward and his advisors drew up a new line of succession in which Edward named Lady Jane Grey (his cousin), as his next heir and left both of his sisters completely out of the document. And thus when Edward died Jane took the throne. This was to be an even shorter reign than her cousins had been. Jane was young, either 16 or 17, when she was declared queen and most likely had no desire to take the throne from Mary I. Her parents, Frances Brandon and Henry Grey, were the ambitious ones and wanted to rule the country through her daughter. It didn't help matters that Jane's husband's parents were just as ambitious. Her husband was Guilford Dudley, son of John Dudley who had become lord protector after Edward Seymour. This put John Dudley in a good position to move the plot to put Jane Grey on the throne.

Jane's Signature as Queen

Unfortunately there are no confirmed portraits of Jane, probably because her life was so short and she was only in the lime light for little over a week. Anyways Jane accented the throne on July 10th 1553. Mary meanwhile was building up supporters for her cause. Mary took quite the risk in staying in the country, her life was in danger if she was caught by the wrong hands, but she believed strongly in her right to become the next queen of England. Mary went to Farmlingham Castle for protection and watched as her support grew. She sent a proclamation across the land proclaiming herself as the rightful queen and within nine days the Privy council placed their support in Mary and she was able to come to london and claim the throne.

Farmlingham Castle 

 
This is when we start to see Mary's true colors. Mary was wronged, her right to the throne was clearly stated by her father in his line of succession. Obviously someone had to be punished for committing treason. John Dudley was executed rather quickly for his acts in the plot, and many wanted Jane to share her fathers fate. Mary however, who in my belief had a soft heart and a good head on her shoulders, refused to execute either Jane of her husband Guilford. Mary understood that these children were pawns in the adult's treason and she could not bring herself to order their execution. Unfortunately less then a year later another plot was hatched to put Jane back on the throne, which had nothing to do with her because she was imprisoned in the tower, and thus Mary could no longer leave the young girl alive if she was ever going to feel secure in her throne. Jane was executed on February 12th 1554 at the Tower of London.

Me Gleefully Exploring The Tower of London

Thats all for this post. Next time we will finally learn about Mary as she was as a queen. Im looking forward to it!

Happy Journeys,
Lady Thiessen  

 

Wives 4, 5, and 6

For those of you thinking of the Henry the 8th song and wondering why I won't be talking about wives 7 and 8 that is because they did not exist. It is a common misconception that he had eight wives when in reality he "only" had six. You can best remember what happened to each wive by remembering this saying, 'divorced beheaded died, divorced beheaded survived.' Catchy isn't it? When you go to Hampton Court in England there is a room where this saying is said over and over in a creepy child's voice in the back ground, which frankly I thought was awesome.  With that being said lets delve into the last three wives of Henry and their relationship with our dear Mary.

Anne of Cleves 

Poor Anne of Cleves was chosen to follow Jane Seymour but she would not be around for long. Anne was picked for various reasons but one was because she was raised as a Protestant and many people wanted to ensure that England continued to move towards the beliefs of the protestants rather than revert back into catholicism. It is said that Hans Holbein, a painter in the Tudor days, misrepresented Henry's bride-to-be in the painting he did of Anne of Cleves. Almost as soon as the couple was married in January of 1540 Henry wanted a divorce. He famously called his newest wife a horse, and their marriage would end six months later in July. But even though his fourth marriage was rather short, and Anne was a Lutheran, Mary would become great friends with her fathers disregarded wife. Anne was a source of support to Mary and would be until her death.

Kathryn Howard 

Anne of Cleves didn't get to bad of a settlement in hindsight--at least she was able to keep her head and live comfortably. Henry VIII's next wife would not be so lucky. Enter Kathryn Howard, Henry's "rose without a thorn". At the time of their marriage, which was only sixteen days after Henry's divorce to Anne Kathryn could not have been older than 19. Henry was 49 at the time. Mary wasn't a fan of her father marrying a girl younger then herself and many fights broke out between Kathryn and herself, but Kathryn would not be around for long. Perhaps Henry was looking for his youth when Kathryn started to pull at his heart strings, and an ambitious family members helped to push Kathryn into his arms. Ambition seemed to sun in the family because Kathryn Howard was a first cousin to Anne Boleyn and ironically would share her same fate. Perhaps the poor girl just was to young to understand that you don't 'play' behind a king's back, but enough evidence soon piled up about her promiscuous behavior that she was tried and convicted of adultery. She was beheaded in February of 1542.

Katherine Parr

And with that we drive at the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, Katherine Parr. Katherine was older than Kathryn Howard but she still seemed to attract the attentions of both Henry and Thomas Seymour (brother to Jane Seymour, Henry's Third wife). In reality Katherine wanted to mary Thomas but she wisely did not think that refusing Henry his wishes would be a wise decision. So Katherine married her third husband that she would out live. Mary and Katherine did get along even though she was a supporter of the new church of England. At this time all of Henry's children were invited to court and the wedding, meaning that bonds were being mended. When Henry was dying he produced a will that put the two princesses back into the line of succession stating that Edward would get the crown first, Mary second if Edward produced no heirs, and finally Elizabeth third if Mary too did not produce an heir.

So there we have it! The part of Mary's life when her father was around. Very exhausting and time consuming, but I believe that this information is all relevant to analyze Mary's actions later in life that would give her such a villainous name. Next time we will talk about Edwards reign and one of my personal favorites, Lady Jane Gray the nine day queen.

Happy Journeys,
Lady Thiessen

Wives one, two, and three...

Hello!

Sorry I have been MIA the past couple of days, the husband and I have just been lounging and not doing much of anything. But I am back and ready to delve into more historical fun! We left off with Mary losing her title of princess and being separated from her mother, well things don't look very bright for Mary in the near future either. Lets analyze her life through each of Henry's consecutive wives and that of her brother Edwards reign!

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn, the woman who replaced Mary's mother, obviously did not have much of a chance in building a friendship with Mary. Anne always felt that she never could truly be queen while Catherine was still alive but Henry refused to do more then banish Catherine to a castle out of the way of most human interaction, including that of her daughters. Mary was not even allowed to go to her mother when she was dying and thus extreme distain built up within Mary for Anne. And when Anne gave birth to Elizabeth I, Mary was forced to attend the 'new' princess. However Mary didn't have to do this for long because Elizabeth herself would be declare a bastard shortly and fall into the same position Mary held. The difference perhaps being that Elizabeths mother was beheaded on charges of incest, adultery, and witchcraft.

Jane Seymour

Out with the old and in with the new! That seemed to be King Henry's motto because he hardly waited for Anne's head to hit the ground before he married his third wife Jane Seymour. Jane set out to reunite Henry with he two daughters and finally Mary was allowed to return back to court after she signed a letter that stated that her mothers marriage with King Henry was not valid. Later she would send a secret letter claiming she was forced to write the previous one, which I believe would be quite true.

Edward Tudor 

 It is said that Jane was the only true love of Henry VIII but I am not sure I believe that. Love is to hard to analyze and I am sure he had love for a lot of his wives, but Jane did the thing no other wife succeeded in--she gave Henry a son. The happy couple named the boy Edward but that happiness was met with sorrow when Jane died due to complications with the birth.

Now in an effort to keep these posts short I will leave wives 4-6 and Edward for the next post (hopefully tomorrow).

Happy Journeys
Lady Thiessen