Tag: Suzannah Lipscomb

Elizabeth I Episode 1 Starring Lily Cole

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Episode 1 – Battle for the Throne, aired 09.05.2017

Elizabeth I coronation portrait c.1610 copy of a lost original
Elizabeth I coronation portrait c.1610 copy of a lost original

Elizabeth I was England’s greatest queen – strong-willed, passionate and brave

Vulnerable woman surrounded by danger

Enemies scheming for her crown and plotting against her life

Would never know a moment’s peace

From the minute of her birth she was thrust into a bloody game – life and death

Never knew who to trust and who to fear

Hopes, fears, enemies who stalked her at every turn

What drove her enemies? Risks? Plots? How close they came to destroying Elizabeth

Elizabeth fell prey to a ruthless lord, sister’s love turns murderous

Continue reading “Elizabeth I Episode 1 Starring Lily Cole” →

Documentary Notes – ‘The Last Days of Anne Boleyn’

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Anne Boleyn National Portrait Gallery.
Anne Boleyn National Portrait Gallery.

Framed? By whom? What reason?
Weir “Anne burst upon [the English court] with a certain brilliance.”
Gregory “sexiest girl at court.”
Mantel = too detached and intelligent to stake everything on love – did Anne ever love Henry?
Lipscomb “Anne as a usurper.”
Starkey = “Anne changes all the rules” but Henry is a failure without a son.
Mantel = Henry thinks of annulling his second marriage due to lack of consent.
Gregory – malformed foetus. Adultery, incest or witchcraft – Mantel disagrees, sees above as Catholic propaganda.
Mantel – Jane was Anne’s opposite.
Starkey – Jane was plain “she doesn’t really exist.”
Lipscomb – Henry didn’t want to annul his marriage, he saw Jane as a mistress.
Walker = Anne wasn’t like Katherine and was involved in politics – John Skip sermon “wonderful satirical sermon.”
Mantel – Cromwell was Henry’s first minister “clever as a bucket of snakes.” Continue reading “Documentary Notes – ‘The Last Days of Anne Boleyn’” →

Documentary Notes – ‘Henry and Anne: the Lovers Who Changed History’, Part 2

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Part 2 27.02.2014

Suzannah Lipscomb
Suzannah Lipscomb

May 31 1533 Anne Boleyn parades through London to her coronation – climax of a passionate love affair driven to divorce his first wife
Henry had gambled with his kingdom’s future “set England on a collision course with much of Europe” but in three years she would be imprisoned
Seven years to actually marry and three years to fall apart
Anne was already pregnant when she became queen – 7 September 1533 Anne gave birth to a daughter – Elizabeth
Failed to give Henry a son – massive disappointment
Katherine of Aragon had been discarded for this exact reason
Henry needed to continue his dynasty – “image was everything in the Tudor court”, broad shoulders and splayed feet, bulging codpiece (NPG) masculinity, virility, potency
Intense pressure on their marriage from the beginning. Everything depended on a male heir
“Under such pressure Anne’s increasing desperation began to show”
In mid-1534 there were rumours of a pregnancy but no report of miscarriage or birth – phantom pregnancy? Continue reading “Documentary Notes – ‘Henry and Anne: the Lovers Who Changed History’, Part 2” →

Documentary Notes – ‘Henry and Anne: the Lovers Who Changed History’, Part 1

~ Helene Harrison ~ 2 Comments

Suzannah Lipscomb, historian.
Suzannah Lipscomb, historian.

Hever Castle “vale between past and present has become thin”
Book of Hours – treasured possession, importance of faith – wrote in it “le temps viendra je Anne Boleyn” (the time will come I Anne Boleyn) Christ raised above the Earth, day of judgement? Destined for greatness?
Henry VIII – handsome sportsman, well-loved, kind, charismatic
Erasmus “gentle friendship”
Henry tormented by his lack of a male heir
February 18 1516 – Mary I born – women not fit to rule
Henry’s relationship with God, lack of a male heir judgement from God? Married his brother’s widow Leviticus 18:16 20:21 childless means no sons
Anne brought up in Netherlands and France – huge influence, educated, art of love?
Chateau de Blois lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude, fashionable, great architecture, arts, Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, intellectualism, piety
Came of age, “native-born Frenchwoman” Continue reading “Documentary Notes – ‘Henry and Anne: the Lovers Who Changed History’, Part 1” →