I recently joined the Tudor Wiki and I am really enjoying meeting people who get as geeky as I do about Henry VIII's dysfunctional family. But people are VERY passionate about their favorite wives. I get worried that I am going to offend someone if I point out flaws in any of these ladies...especially Saint Anne Boleyn or Saint Katherine of Aragon.
I get asked this one a lot but - who is your favorite wife?
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Great illo, your blog is fantastic! Very interesting indeed
ReplyDeletegreat illos and I like your blog a lot. I also find the tudor dysfunction facinating and their propaganda about Richard III.... but that's another subject :)
ReplyDeleteI love your blog- it's a witty as it is interesting an informative. But, seriously, who is your favourite of the wives?
ReplyDeleteLucy
If I had to rank them:
ReplyDelete1) Anne Boleyn
2) Katherine of Aragon
3) Catherine Parr
4) Anne of Cleves
5) Katherine Howard
6) Jane Seymore
I assume you've heard the poem that British children learn to memorize the fates of the six wives -
ReplyDeleteDivorced, Beheaded, Died.
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.
oh yes, that's how I learned my wives.
ReplyDeleteYou do amazing illustrations.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing piece! The color, the different facial expressions, the realism, the texture... Top notch! :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work and such a perfect style for the subject matter. Outstanding.
ReplyDeleteI just love that axe spinner! And the lively likenesses are great.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't even noticed the spinning axe! Fabulous touch.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite used to be Anne Boleyn but lately I've been fonder of Catherine of Aragon.
wives...I love them all but if I had to put them in order, it would be
ReplyDelete1. Anne of Cleves - the woman gets a palace and gets to keep her head. What's not to love?
2. Anne Boleyn – Because she could dance and didn’t make her ladies wear those crazy church steeple hats.
3. Katherine Parr – 1 point for being an author and 2 points for not getting squeamish around a little laudable pus.
4. Catherine of Aragon – 2 points for standing up to Henry but loses a point for wearing the hair shirt.
5. Katherine Howard – duh?
6. Jane Seymour – zzzzzzzz total lack of originality when it comes to the ole’ “I am too chaste to be your mistress” ploy. Anne B. played that card first and with much more flair.
This is great!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that my favorites are:
ReplyDelete1) Anne Boleyn
2) Katherine Parr (if only for surviving)
3) Katherine of Aragon (for her dignity)
4) Anne of Cleves
the other two I can't even bother mentioning!
I know I'm late answering this, but my favorite is Catherine of Aragon (she was the first wife I read about, so she won my sympathy), followed by Catherine Parr (because she was smart and spunky) and Anne of Cleves (because she was a survivor). I guess my fourth favorite would be Anne Boleyn (at least she was brainy) and fifth, Catherine Howard (at least she wasn't boring). My least favorite is Jane Seymour because she seems so colorless.
ReplyDeleteCatherine Parr
ReplyDeleteJane Seymour
Anne of Cleves
Catherine of Aragon
Katherine Howard
Anne Boleyn
Jane and Catherine P were good women who helped in bringing his family back together. Jane was kind and tried to save people's lives, whilst Catherine was intelligent, being a good influence on Elizabeth I. She was her key influence rather than her own mother. She was a good stepmother to all the kids.
AOC was just kind of there, but was friendly and nice. She got off lightly.
COA was loyal and brave but too stubborn for her own good. She unintentionally caused problems for the country and her daughter.
Kind of feel sorry for Katherine Howard but she was stupid. You don't sleep around when your cousin was killed on false charges of adultery!
Dislike Anne B because she wanted people dead, including COA and her daughter. She even celebrated when COA died. What sort of woman does that?
My favorite wife is Anne Boleyn of course!
ReplyDeleteOMG i really love your blog, i have a lot of fun reading the posts! :D
very interesting
please keep adding more articles!
I think it's easy to guess who my fave wife is!
ReplyDeleteAnne B. was my favourite from the first time I read "The Concubine" by Norah Lofts. I thought, "Wow, she's a brunette AND she gets the king? That rules!" (I hadn't reached the false accusations of witchcraft and incest yet, of course) At the time, I was hating my un-Barbie like looks and was desperate for a brunette role model. I still love Mistress Anne, but I have sympathy for the rest of the ladies for very obvious reasons.
ReplyDelete