#and catherine of aragon had more claim to your throne than you did

[english-mace]

don't mind me just gonna be out here titling the climax chapter of my book 'dominus tecum' and giggling to myself

#am I bastardizing the lord's prayer to lampshade my villain? yes absolutely #always #i am your king i am your god i have usurped mary and am eating your sacred dead #says henry viiith #me: you are your wives' puppet in all things including this you absolute caricature of a man #and catherine of aragon had more claim to your throne than you did #so sit down #dissolve into ectoplasm #and get your horrid lich fingers out my main character's skull #(he will not) #(that will take two more books to achieve after the events of Dominus Tecum) #(WHOOPS)

[richmond-rex]

It’s Henry VII’s deathday so I’m getting emotional about his marriage – which was, after all, one of the most important parts of his life.

Personally, I think Henry VII and Elizabeth of York probably had one of the most successful royal marriages in medieval England? They were heirs to two warring families and were meant to successfully unite them and they did; and in doing so, they literally began a new dynasty together. They had seven children and seemed to love them immensely. Across their 17-year marriage, there is no recorded estrangement or disagreement between them (apart from that very playful and funny ‘quarrel’ about Catherine of Aragon’s letter). He was faithful to her; they were faithful to each other(*more on that at the end of the ask). Literally every account we have (apart from those ambassadors who are applying generalized belief about the relations between a mother-in-law and a wife to Elizabeth and Margaret Beaufort’s evidently cordial relationship) indicate a harmonious marriage, and we know they comforted each other very gently after their heir’s death. He was utterly grief-stricken after her death and mourned her every year; his reaction was very visceral and shocking to his contemporaries and that speaks volumes.

Idk where the idea of their marriage being dissatisfying or him being “oppressive” (like you quoted in your post from a few days ago) comes from. I don’t think the view is very prevalent currently, thankfully, but it’s still very irritating. Personally, apart from Ricardian nonsense, I think part of it may come from the general idea that he married her to cement and unite their claims, which automatically gives one the general impression of a calculated alliance – which it was! It was arranged by their mothers and beneficial to both their families. Most medieval marriages were like that; Elizabeth’s parents & maternal grandparents and Henry’s paternal grandparents were rare exceptions. I think it’s very lovely that despite this, they managed to build such a solid partnership and loving family. I think people also tend to take the idea that he overthrew her dynasty in a negative context which is ridiculous because, as you’ve mentioned, her vaunted uncle was the one who usurped her brothers’ throne, bastardized her siblings, humiliated her mother, and tried his best to ruin her father’s memory. Henry VII, in overthrowing him, was allied with her father’s supporters to restore Elizabeth to the throne as his consort, and he got immense support because of that. Wouldn’t Elizabeth have been exceedingly well-disposed towards him; wouldn’t she have wanted him to win?

We can’t objectively say that any centuries-old marriage was happy or passionately romantic, of course, but it is clear that theirs was mutually fond, pleasant, respectful and dynastically beneficial. What more can one ask for? I read a quote about Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville (I can’t remember where, rip), and I think it applies for Henry VII and Elizabeth of York just as well: “A happy marriage? Who can say for certain. But it was undoubtedly a successful one”.

In my opinion, I think Elizabeth’s queenship may have been very bittersweet for her at times: by all accounts she loved her husband and children, and her queenship and marriage was a victory for her father and brothers’ supporters, but I think it’s reasonable to speculate if she sometimes mourned about what was taken from her family (by her uncle) and wondered/wished for what could have been (her little brother on the throne and the continuation of their dynasty). This has little to nothing to do with her relationship with Henry (he would sympathize! His uncle was also overthrown, although that’s obviously not the same as two 12-year & 9-year-old boys imprisoned and murdered by their own uncle and shouldn’t be treated as such) and I think that would be interesting and believable to explore in historical fiction rather than inventing random problems for Henry and Elizabeth’s marriage that, more often than not, are directly contradicted by evidence.

(*Personally, I really don’t think fidelity should be a major factor in judging success or love in medieval marriages, tbh, especially considering the fact that couples were meant to abstain from sexual relations during pregnancies, and at least in England, chastity & control were considered hallmarks of masculinity/kingship. I think individual personalities (and libidos, I guess) probably mattered a lot more. I’ve read about lots of medieval marriages which were loving and successful despite infidelities, and many which were faithful but not necessarily passionate or romantic. It depends. In Henry and Elizabeth’s case, though, taken together with everything we know, it’s one of the many reasons why their marriage was a success).

Hi! Belated for his deathday but yeah, his marriage to Elizabeth of York was a major aspect of his kingship and I don't say it only in regard to the fact that her family supporters became his supporters or that her claim legitimised his claim in turn, all of which are true. In my opinion, his relationship with Elizabeth gave a very specific symbolic meaning to his kingship which we can see embodied in the family portrait he commissioned after her death: she was the princess to his St George, a saint he evoked as inspiration from the very first time he stepped back in Britain. Interestingly, Elizabeth seems to have thought of him in those terms too, going by the presents she created for him with her own hands, all related to knighthood and the Order of the Garter. It's so very interesting, especially if you include that poem she may have written!

Their marriage was very significant because it was not just the marriage of someone with Yorkist ancestry marrying someone with Lancastrian ancestry — I'm always saying 'Yorkist' and 'Lancastrian' were political positions of allegiance to Edward IV or Henry VI, respectively, not blood relations — but because their marriage involved people whose close relatives had actively tried to kill each other. Elizabeth's father executed Henry's grandfather and half-uncle. Henry's other uncle publicly swore to get revenge on Elizabeth's father. Their father figures (Jasper and Edward) literally fought against each other on the battlefield. Edward IV marrying Eleanor of Castile or Richard marrying Joanna of Portugal would not be unifying York and Lancaster because no matter their degree of ancestry from John of Gaunt, their families had never fought for Lancaster (Henry VI) in the first place.

Elizabeth's father was the cause of Henry growing up as a hostage in a Yorkist family and then spending his youth imprisoned in exile, surely their union was something else in personal terms? The very fact that he came to her and her family's 'rescue' so to speak was a thing in itself. That was a major movement of reconciliation and healing that dictated their relationship — and collective healing at that as the Crowland Chronicle thought of and that surely other contemporaries thought of too. They got along very well in public and I would say they got along very well privately too, judging by that account of the news of Arthur's death, and the presents they gifted each other. Their dynastic marriage was probably facilitated by this sort of mutual attraction and affection.

It's weird that people use Francis Bacon so much to talk about Henry VII. Bacon, the same person who said Henry didn't even have personal pastimes to amuse himself with (he did.... tennis, gambling, hunting, reading, court revels and music—it's all recorded in his account books), also claimed Henry truly was 'nothing uxurious' and was never able to love his wife because 'even though she was beautiful, gentle and fruitful', she was also a Yorkist and according to Bacon, Henry's aversion to Yorkists was so strong it was also present 'in his chamber and bed'. Bacon was the first one to put forward the theory that Henry didn't want Elizabeth to be crowned until she gave him a son because he disliked sharing the spotlight and didn't want people to think she was a sovereign ruler.... even though at no point did people actually raise her standard in that direction. There is literal evidence that Henry was planning her coronation from the beginning and we know plenty of reasons why she couldn't be crowned before 1487, but most historians still repeat Bacon's jealousy and distrust theory.

Nowadays the consensus seems to be that although affectionate, Henry was dynastically/politically oppressive with Elizabeth of York as though he didn't allow her to meddle in politics—which she did, especially in diplomatic matters and court affairs—denoting a lack of knowledge on what the office of a queen consort actually involved. Although we have voices such as Anna Duch and Michelle Beer who have emphasised Elizabeth's participation in politics, it still seems to be the norm to call Elizabeth of York a 'trophy wife' whose only role was to produce children, even though the very historians who call her a trophy wife also argue she was active in politics so like..... which is it.gif? Bacon said Henry could not 'endure any mention of the Lady Elizabeth' yet her symbols and her image were included extensively along his own so? That theory doesn't seem to ring true.

I think the most laughable arguments I've seen as to Henry's oppressiveness was Laynesmith's claim that he chose to crown Elizabeth on St Katherine of Alexandria's day to make people remember female rule was bad—not, mind you, because St Katherine was the most popular female saint in medieval England, a particular role model for women, or because of St Katherine's special role as the bride of Christ, symbols that were much likelier to jump to people's mind. Another laughable claim I've seen is that Elizabeth was never a patroness of Queen's College because Henry didn't allow her due to Richard's participation as a patron there—nevermind that the college's very founders were Henry's aunt Margaret of Anjou and Elizabeth's mother, Elizabeth Woodville. If there was someone who was associated with that college, it certainly was those two, not Richard! The fact that Elizabeth didn't become a patroness most likely had nothing to do with Henry's approval and was probably a personal choice, for example, to support monasteries and nunneries—which she did—instead of colleges.

Do you see what I'm talking about when I mention Henry's historical reputation as a miserly and oppressive husband? Facts, big or small, are read under that light to corroborate the idea.

Elizabeth's queenship might have been bittersweet at times, such as the times she rewarded one of her late brother's former servants, but it was also a very personal victory that put her into an enviable position compared to other queens consort. She never had to leave the places she grew up in, she was surrounded by her own family, old servants and people who spoke her native tongue. Unlike so many queens who had to say goodbye to their personal retinue after their marriage, which happened, in varying degrees, to Anne of Bohemia, Joan of Navarre, and even her own daughter Mary Tudor in France, Elizabeth increased the number of positions her personal servants could occupy, including the Prince of Wales' own household. She was able to support her sisters to a degree that would be impossible if she had not become queen of her own birth country. I think Elizabeth would very much be aware of that, that her life in France for example would have been much more isolating, as Charlotte of Savoy's was.

Those are all political aspects that were also personal ones, and when we compare them with other personal aspects such as her own intimate relationship with the king, I think it's safe to say she got a good deal in the end, even though her husband's reign was not an easy-breezy time either. She, of course, was not shy to show her support for him, from vouching for him with the pope and other sovereigns to personally consoling him in difficult times. As one historian said, Henry seems to have drawn great strength from her support. In my opinion, their marriage is quite an extraordinary story of love (from duty-bound to familial to romantic) in difficult times.

P.S.: yes, Henry was nothing special in not taking mistresses—that was the default option for medieval English kings who were moulded on St Edward the Confessor's example, and Henry would have been very much aware of the expectations involved in the office he sought. He seems to have blended his performance of kingship with his personal piety, bringing back public acts associated with sacred kingship such as the touching for the king's evil. Henry would have been aware that kings of England were expected to be chaste, and again, politically speaking would know it was not in his best interests to disrespect his wife. All of that not counting his personality, which might indeed have been genuinely monogamic.

#sorry for rambling! #ask #henry vii #elizabeth of york #anon

[catholic-character-tournament]

concerning the propaganda for Catherine of Aragon, currently on the losers poll, it says something like "refused to get a divorce because it's a sin." well I mean she wouldn't get a divorce anyway, but she wasn't refusing a divorce because that's not what Henry VIII was even looking for!

What was on the cards was an annulment, which is different than a divorce and allowed by the Catholic Church if you and your spouse never consumated the marriage, or in this case if your spouse (who you were related to by marriage) and their ex spouse (your sibling or other close relative) had consumated the marriage. it basically meant Rome and the Catholic Church said yeah! this marriage doesn't count, it's null.

Basically what happened was like 18 year old Catherine and 17 year old Arthur (H8's older brother, heir to the throne) were married but then Arthur died like 5 months later! And then blah, blah politics, issues, dowry... But the main question was *did they fuck.*

But Henry then came to the throne and to settle the issue (which had been a problem between their dads for like 7 years now.) Catherine had claimed she and Arthur had not consumated, so he went with that to brush everything over, but they did need a special agreement from Rome. (we don't know if they did consumate because maybe they were young and waited? maybe they did do it? Catherine would likely have denied it no matter which way because that's her best interest.)

But flash foreward to Anne being on the scene, and Henry wants an annulment. He claims that Arthur and Catherine actually *did* consumate so Henry and Cath's marriage has basically been not actually existant in the first place and doesn't count because he married his brother's wife (as supposed to his brother's not wife, with whom nothing happened which would be the case they'd been arguing originally.)

And probably honestly he would have got that annulment! if not for Catherine's nephew, who had just sacked Rome and *had taken the Pope prisoner and then like put him on house arrest and was basically controlling him I think.* And he doesn't want his aunt to have to get the annulment, oh no! that would be bad for her *and* the family.

I don't know if you or anyone else care but here's some timeline about one of the poll options and clearing up the misbelief that there was a divorce! I supposed Divorced, beheaded and died rolls off the tongue more but Henry had 2 annulments not divorces

oh very interesting, thanks for sharing~ 😊

#asks #anon #history facts #six the musical #catherine of aragon

[myths-n-legends]

Bloody Mary.

We need some classic legends at this point, coz I have been writing about random legends and myths... (°u°;) anyways enjoy now.

The woman behind the infamous Bloody Mary story and childhood game is more sad than she is scary.

We used to summon her by standing in a dark bathroom, lid by a single candle, you simply look into the mirror and chant the name Bloody Mary three times . A ghost is then said to appear, sometimes holding a dead baby, other times trying to attack you as you look at her. It is recommend to close your eyes while summoning her or she will kill you or pull your eyes out for the lest, it is also said that she too grants wishes.

While the folklore may be fabricated, the woman behind the mirror and the story of Bloody Mary was as real as can be, and a royal figure at that.

The origin of the Bloody Mary story lies with Queen Mary I, the first queen regnant of England.

The legendary monarch now known as Bloody Mary was born on the 18 of February in 1516 in Greenwich, England at the Palace of Placentia. The only child of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Mary’s lifetime of shame over her own femininity began at the young age of 17 when her father annulled his marriage to her mother, frustrated by the lack of a male heir to the throne. This left the young Mary totally separated from her mother and forbidden from ever visiting her again.

The king went on to marry his now ex-wife’s maid of honor, Anne Boleyn, who disappointed him with yet another daughter, Elizabeth I. Worried that Mary may interfere with Elizabeth’s succession, Boleyn pressed Parliament to declare Mary illegitimate, and succeeded.

Of course, Boleyn was later beheaded by her husband for treason, but by this time the damage to Mary’s name had been done.

Anyhow the origin of the bloody Mary legend started since her teen years, Mary had been plagued with terrible menstrual pains and irregularity in her cycles, which would be attributed to her eventual physical and psychological stress later in life.

She was also known to be struck with deep and frequent periods of melancholia, depressive spells which would stay with her throughout her relatively short life.

Despite all the odds and afflictions stacked against her, Mary did eventually take the throne in 1553 at the age of 37 and promptly married Philip of Spain in the hopes of conceiving an heir. It’s here where the origin of the Bloody Mary legend begins to take shape.

Starved for love and forever seeking the approval of her father, Mary would replay this codependent pattern with her new husband, whom she was "ready to lavish all her frustrated emotions on"

Ten years her junior and in no way as excited to reciprocate her amorous feelings, Philip fulfilled the negotiated duties expected of a royal marriage, and two months later Mary’s greatest wish came true, as she was with child. (a/n: if you didn't understand the phrase 'she was with child' it basically means she was pregnant)

Despite displaying the usual symptoms of pregnancy, including a swelling of the breasts and an ever-growing abdomen, the public remained suspicious of the queen’s recent good fortune, and it didn’t take long for  rumors of a false pregnancy to start spreading.

In a time without pregnancy tests and in which doctors could not examine a sitting monarch, only time would tell if these rumors bore any truth. Until then, the people of England and Spain kept tabs on Mary with a watchful eye.

And so they waited. In customary fashion, Mary went into a private chamber where she was confined for six weeks before her expected due date of May 9.

Although the big day arrived, the baby didn’t, and both she and the servants around her proposed that perhaps a miscalculation of delivery dates was to blame, now settling on a new one in June, a month later.

False reports almost immediately spread across the country, however, with some claiming their Queen had delivered a boy, and others stating she had simply died in childbirth, or that her swollen midsection were symptomatic of a tumor, rather than a pregnancy.

June and July came and went as her doctors extended the birth date even further. By August, Mary finally left the confines of her chamber, childless and alone like never before.

She believed that God was punishing her for failing in a mission she set out to achieve just months earlier.

Despite the world of gossip growing around her, one thing could be confirmed Around late May, Mary’s belly began to shrink.

Unable to explain or understand what was happening to her body, she continued to wait as those around her slowly lost hope.

At the time of Mary’s pregnancy, the people of England were divided between Protestants and Catholics. Mary, determined to unite her people under “the true religion” of the land, took action by signing an act shortly before Christmas in 1554 that would result in the Marian Persecutions, in which an estimated 240 men and 60 women were sentenced as Protestants and burned at the stake, earning her the name “Bloody Mary” forevermore.

To this day, the tale of Bloody Mary, Queen of England, remains one of the most infamous cases of supposed pseudocyesis, or “phantom pregnancy.”

A rare and mysterious condition, pseudocyesis occurs, to put it simply, when a person so determined to become pregnant actually “tricks” their own body into believing that it is, hence the appearance of physical symptoms, and even a discontinuation of the menstrual cycle.

Another possibility in Mary’s case could be endometrial hyperplasia, often a precursor to uterine cancer, which can be backed by reports of Mary’s low appetite and a lifelong history of menstrual irregularity.

Years later, Mary announced herself pregnant again, although this time even her own husband remained unconvinced. Assured by the sure signs of pregnancy, she was later confirmed to have entered menopause, and yet again did not deliver a baby.

She died the next year at the age of 42, presumably of uterine or ovarian cancer. Her name can still be heard today, chanted by children in dark bathroom mirrors the world over, all hoping for a terrifying glimpse of the ghost with no understanding of the real story of Bloody Mary.

Claims have also been made saying the spirit of Mary still to this day looks for her baby, rumors has it that while summoning bloody Mary if you say 'I have your baby' in the end of the chanting, it is said that Mary will come to you to get back her child and if you manage to escape the first time she will promise you to come after you till she gets her baby back.

Here are a few pictures of Queen Mary the first.

A/n: Disclaimer !! I don't own these pictures I got it off of google, so if the owners of these pictures want me to take the pictures off please just tell me.

Anyways thats it for today hope you enjoyed the story of bloody mary, her story is rather sad but I couldn't cover the whole story today, * honestly I wrote this at like 10:45 11:00 in the night because I lost track of time reading a whole blog page in like 4 hours ;p

Well then take care and and see ya'll on Saturday Byeee!!

#legends & myths #legend with origin #legend #Bloody mary #Queen Mary the first #summoning #spirite #legendary story #historical story #old legend

[jane-fucking-seymour]

Legend of the Six has now been updated!

Chapter 23: Daughter of Shadow

Words: 5032 

AO3 Link

When we are little, we are taught that the darkness is scary.

Children hide from it under the comforts of pillows and blankets, men shield themselves from it with torches and lanterns, and the general public escape it through dreams and sleep. From the day we are born to the day we die, we are told to fear the Dark, and the creatures that live amongst it. It’s personified as the unknown, as the wicked, as the evil. The Dark, many claim, cannot be trusted, nor can it be utilized without misfortune.

The many, to Anne Boleyn, are considered fools.

Ever since she was a little girl - even with the scary stories of the Darkness being evil and Light being good - Anne Boleyn constantly sought for a second opinion. It’s not that she didn’t trust the stories; far from it, as she had seen what the dark could do. But she’s also seen it do wonders: it hides her from an ambush when she’s younger, it reveals foolish enemies positions that don’t know how to control their shadows, and it is a comfort, still, when late at night. After all, Anne argues, the darkness is the reason why we are in awe of the stars. That’s got to count for something, right?

As she continued down this path of Darkness, she came to befriend it in a unique way. Shadows would race to her to say hello, like old friends. The Darkness often wrapped around her like a cloak, a better shield than the ones the finest blacksmiths of the Realm could make. She extended a hand to the dark and found that it not only accepted, but embraced her as their own. And she was happier for it.

Of course, her friendship didn’t go unnoticed; it’s what started the rumors in court to begin with. Many in the court would talk ill of her friends, of the comforts she held that were so unique and against the grain that people thought it scary. She was shunned by many in the courts - all afraid of this girl that could control the darkness, calling her a Servant to it, a thrall. To many, Anne was cursed, and her regency should never had seen the light of day.

Unluckily for them (and, eventually, for her), Henry wasn’t afraid of the dark either.

Anne came to understand this as she was on the run from a particularly unyielding suitor. She hid in the shadows, in the garden, waiting for the man to pass. He hadn’t seen her, and in his drunken stupor, had started calling for her quite loudly. This resulted in unwanted attention. Anne had chuckled as the man was immediately yelled at by the King himself, thoroughly embarrassed and berated in the middle of the night by such an important figure in the Realm. She expected the guy to turn tail and run, which he did.

What she DIDNT expect was for the King himself to suddenly turn and face her. Her, hidden by the darkness that she knew so well.

He looked curious, as if struggling to see her, but seeing her all the same. He called for her to appear, to not be afraid. He wasn’t afraid of the dark either, he said. He knew she wasn’t either. Perhaps they could make a habit of finding each other in the shadows in the night, perhaps they could chat about their experiences with the Dark, perhaps they could be friends.

It didn’t take too long for Anne to realize he meant something a little more than just friends.

The marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII was going rather swimmingly, at least according to anyone that looked: Catherine had just saved the world from evildoers in the South, and Henry had applauded his wife’s work. The Realm rejoiced in such a decisive victory over the enemy that day, and had even strengthened their allyship with Holbein in the process; a two for one victory that the history books were to celebrate for centuries, if all had gone to plan.

But, as Anne would later find out in their midnight rendezvous, he thought he could do more. His wife was, of course, a formidable person in battle, but the Darkness isn’t that scary. It got a bad reputation because of the Blessed that defeated the enemies in the South, he said. Why couldn’t his wife see that the darkness wasn’t something to banish, but to wield? 

To Anne, this made perfect sense because of the darkness that she knew, the darkness she assumed they were talking about. It resulted in resentment towards the (at the time, current) queen, especially when Henry finally gave her the chance to be the Blessed Aragon’s lady in waiting not too long afterwards. Anne didn’t see then that it was a way to groom her for the throne; instead, she simply thought he wanted someone in his corner, someone that understood the Dark for what it really was.

And she played right into his hands perfectly.

At least, for a while.

It was later, when Catherine was “killed,” when she saw Jane Seymour enter the picture, that Anne realized that maybe he wasn’t a friend of the dark like she thought he was.

For one, he never was able to hide well, not from anyone. The darkness that was easy to sink into when she was alone or with Maggie or even with Catherine and Maria was not as such when he was around; it was like the Darkness rebuked him, didn’t want him near it. Didn’t claim him as their own the way that they had claimed Anne all those years ago. In her want to be queen and in her want to have someone that understood her, she ignored it; there was just something about Henry that made her want to ignore what she thought she knew. He had that way about him, a way that made her want to believe in what he said.

So when he told her to go on the road that fateful day, she had no idea what was coming.

Maria hadn’t been acting any different than usual, for example, and it was in the middle of the day when it happened. Anne was completely unsuspecting until just before the ambush occurred; at that point, her shadow gave her away. For a while, it was the shadows that was her most trusted ally as she hid, refusing to be found until she absolutely had to. 

She survived because of the Shadows. They had given her so much. But now, it seems, they were asking something of her.

Who was she to refuse?

So she sits, in front of the woman, head bowed respectfully. The woman smiles softly at the girl in front of her, as if greeting an old friend. Anne suspects she knows more about Anne than she lets on, but it’s disrespectful to ask.

“I see that you’re ready now,” she says. “To become my champion.” She nods, standing up. “It’ll be a tough road ahead of you, if you choose to embrace my gifts.”

“You have given me so much, my lady,” Anne says quietly, respectfully. “I am but an agent of your will.”

The woman looks over at Maggie, who is still bowing with her head down. She gently lifts the girl’s head up with a soft grin.

“You won’t be needed here,” the woman says, “but I won’t deny you the opportunity to observe the trial. No, you’ve done just as much as her, and I like you almost as much, but she is the Champion for a reason.”

Maggie doesnt dare look the woman in the eye, instead nodding respectfully. “I am in awe of your graciousness, my lady,” she says, a bit of a tremble in her voice. She’s a bit nervous. 

The woman smiles and offers Maggie her hand. Maggie takes it. “You may look me in the eye, you know,” the woman says. “We’re all friends here.”

Maggie does so after a moment, and she’s a bit calmer now. This doesn’t feel as formal as she thought it was going to be, but then again, the Shadows have always been somewhat misleading. 

The woman turns back to Anne, who hasn’t moved from her spot. “My Champion,” she says, sitting down in front of Anne. “You will start your Trial immediately. Should you pass, you shall become my Keeper. Should you fail… well, the outcome depends on how you do that.” She shrugs, a hand wistfully circling in the air, forming some sort of bowl with smoking black substance in it. “Drink. And you shall begin.”

Anne nods, looking back at Maggie with a smile. “I’ll be back.”

Maggie nods, still a bit nervous. “I know you will.”

And with that, Anne takes the bowl and drinks it down.

It doesn’t taste like a lot of anything, but the texture of it is vile to say the least; it feels like something is fighting to go down into her stomach, as if it had a mind of its own. She winces at the feeling, squeezing her eyes shut as the bowl, too, dissolves into the substance and enters her.

She steadies herself, feeling how the substance affects her. Her hands, now empty, fall to her sides, and she focuses. She can feel everything else falling away, can feel herself sinking deeper and deeper and deeper…

… until she’s nowhere at all.

She’s floating in nothing.

It’s dark, and it’s comfortable. She opens her eyes and sees nothing. She floats aimlessly, like in a calm river of sorts, and smiles softly; this was nice. Not really what she expected, if she was being honest, but she’ll take what she can get.

Just as she thinks that, however, she immediately feels herself drop. Now, she’s freefalling into nothing. It’s nothing too terrible, but there seems to be something… darker… just below her now. She yelps, tenses, gets ready for the impact-

-but it never comes. Instead, she’s standing still, on the darker darkness.

She looks around, curious about what’s  happening.

“Hello?” she asks. She doesn’t hear anything - no echo, no voice returning her call. It’s getting a bit cold, too, as she walks further and further into this new darkness. The shadows from before, when she was floating, were what she was comfortable with. This… was not.

Not bad, just different, and incredibly unsettling when she wasn’t used to it. 

She continues through, unseeing, and she wonders if she’s missed something, if she’s already lost the trial. There’s no real purpose to this at the moment, she realizes, and she thinks maybe she needs to do something. Maybe she’s waiting on herself.

With a deep breath, she stops walking, extending a hand above her. She closes her eyes, takes another big breath, and summons the darkness she knows so well.

Usually, it would result in the room getting darker… but that’s not the case. Not now. Her darkness is brighter than this darkness, and the comfort she’s felt for over two decades returns to her. And now, with a smile, she listens to her goddess:

“Your trial begins now, oh contested Champion. I hope you are prepared.”

Anne nods, feeling herself being tugged away and pulled impossibly fast to an impossibly far distance in the shadows - lightyears away from where she was, but also right next door. She eventually stops where she is, and her eyes adjust to the light in front of her.

She’s got solid ground below her. She’s in a hallway. It’s dark and cold and wet. It’s clear that the only light in this area has been the blue torches that dimly illuminate the area. She’s not sure where she is, but she knows she needs to continue. 

She moves forward steadily, but as she does, she starts to hear things - a voice?

“Hello?”

Not her goddess’, either.

Her hand goes to her side, where her trusted daggers would be, but they are not there now. She instead moves to the side, using her shadows to protect and cloak herself as she pushes forward. She hears the voice again, this time coming from the end of the hallway.

Someone’s here. Someone that’s definitely real.

She turns into the room, warily at first, but then she realizes who it is and raises and eyebrow.

“Catherine?!?”

Catherine is indeed there, looking around, very confused. When she spots Anne, though, she instantly rushes over to her.

“What’s going on?” Catherine asks, frowning. “I was just headed into the town we were headed into before you left and… and now I’m here.”

“You were Claimed for a time,” says a voice, one that isn’t either of theirs. “You have been Unclaimed. But now you’re Claimed again.”

Catherine seems to recognize the voice, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “In what way?”

“The Light knows what is happening,” says the voice, reassuring in tone. “And they know why you’re here. They know I won’t keep you any longer than necessary, and they know you won’t be harmed.”

Catherine seems to relax a bit then, but she’s still a bit confused. “I don’t know why I’m here, though.”

“You’re… well, I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Anne mumbles, a bit embarrassed. “But you’re my guide.”

Catherine blinks. “Your what?”

“In the Trials of the Shadows,” Anne explains, “we get a person that can’t be seen by the Trial, but the Chosen can see and interact with them. Someone that we have a strong connection with. Someone that’s important in our life story. Someone that the Woman chooses.”

“And… she chose me?” Catherine asks, tilting her head.

“We both did, it’s kind of a mutual agreement decision sort of thing,” Anne replies. “Well, most of the time. It’s my soul choosing who it is, and the Woman consenting to manifest it- it’s a long story. Not enough time, if we want to get out of here before the Festival in a few weeks.” Anne sighs, a hand running through her hair. “What you need to know is that I need someone to guide me, to help me through the tough road ahead.” She doesn’t dare look Catherine in the eye for the next part. “It seems that both myself and my mistress are in agreement that if anyone can get me through this, it’s you.”

Catherine smiles. “Well, seeing as I’ve nothing better to do-”

But the jokes stop, suddenly, as the room around them changes.

They’re suddenly in a chamber, one that’s familiar and not at the same time. It’s clearly night, but the moon is not the moon; it’s moreso a ball of energy, as if it was made of arcanic magick rather than a celestial body.

Anne moves into the room a bit more, observing quietly.

“Isn’t this the castle?” Catherine asks quietly, looking out the nearby window. It’s a town made of shadows, but a familiar town nonetheless. “This is Henry’s castle in the Capitol… but I don’t know this room.”

Anne frowns. “Me either, at least, not yet,” she looks around and tilts her head, looking down at the nearby desk. She looks at the papers, picking some up and looking through them, just in time for Catherine to meet her there.

“Anything?” Catherine asks, tilting her head.

“Just notes about certain military movements and plans,” Anne says, continuing to look through. “These look to be from my time as queen, or at least near that time-”

They both look up, however, when they hear someone unlocking the door.

“They can’t see me, but-” Catherine starts, though Anne is already ahead of her. She instantly moves to the shadows, hiding herself. Catherine simply watches as the door opens. She cringes a bit - the person is covered with shadow, their true form unable to be seen. 

They walk towards the desk, looking through papers before eventually picking up a blank one and writing on it. They continue to write, and Anne gets a better look at the paper. She narrows her eyes and, while avoiding detection, moves towards the back of the room, farthest from the door. 

Just as she does, another person enters the room - this time, Catherine gasps.

“Maria!”

Maria can’t hear her, of course, and the scene continues without interruption. 

Maria stands in front of the shadowed figure, bowing slightly.

Both Anne and Catherine wince when the shadowed figure starts talking - their voice is cloaked in a thousand others, distorted and underwater and barely even hearable yet blaring all at once. 

Maria, however, doesn’t seem to have an issue hearing them, resulting in a one-way conversation that Catherine and Anne can hear.

“Of course, I understand,” Maria says with a nod. She looks down at the paper that is handed to her, studying it carefully. Maria sets her jaw a bit before she nods slowly. There’s a moment before she tenses, looking up at the shadowy figure, clearly angry.

“I have not forgotten the promise I made,” Maria growls. “Not to her. Catherine shall not have died in vain.”

The confliction on Maria’s face makes Catherine’s heart break. 

Maria nods, salutes, and leaves the room. As soon as the door closes, the shadowy figure suddenly snaps their attention straight to Anne.

Anne’s gasp is only for a moment, as the figure rushes her, and suddenly she’s consumed by it.

“Anne!” Catherine yells, but the world is turning again, and despite her concern, another scene is playing out.

Anne, barely on her feet, moves to hide again, but… something’s changed. Something’s starting. Anne is more tense as the next scene happens, this time with the shadowy figure and a eerie green light.

Another person arrives - a magick practitioner in the castle, Catherine assumes - and speaks:

“Once we have someone to accept the terms, necromancy will be firmly in our war arsenal,” he says, looking down at a paper. “We’ve managed to connect the dots on this fairly quickly, thanks to the research at the Heart. And because of that, we may be able to control corrupted Light and Shadows easily enough in a few years.”

“They what-?” Catherine asks, but suddenly Anne is once again attacked by a shadow, once again forced to absorb it. “Anne!” Catherine yells, moving over to the girl as she falls to her knees.

Anne is gasping for air, but is clearly furious. “I can feel it,” she growls out. “The frustration, the anger, the power… it’s all here.” She holds up her hand. “This is how it would feel. To go unchecked. To be consumed… by the rage… of the past…”

Catherine frowns. “But that’s not what the Darkness is, is it? It’s not rage, it’s not power. It’s something else, isn’t it?” It’s something Catherine doesn’t totally understand, but she gets this much; it’s very similar to her own understanding of the Light.

Anne growls out, looking down at her hands as they burn with darkness. She feels it crawling around her skin, no longer the comfortable calm that she’s used to, but with newfound purpose. Anger. Betrayal. All of it. It’s feeding into her emotions, into her magicks.

Catherine sees the trial for what it really is, just in time for the scene to change again.

They’re in a room, and now Maria is back. Catherine ignores her feelings for the time being as she hears the conversation.

“It’s done,” Maria says bitterly. “She’s dead.”

The shadowed figure turns around, says things they don’t understand, and Maria nods.

“I’ll be sure to keep this in mind,” she says quietly. “For the Realm.”

Again, the shadow figure snaps her attention to Anne… but this time, Catherine steps in, quickly shielding Anne from the figure.

Catherine yelps as she absorbs it instead… but now, her Light seems to overpower it.

For now.

“Anne,” Catherine says, a bit winded by the event. Anne, for her part, is glaring at Maria, but Catherine breaks the line of sight. “Anne. Remember. This is a trial. What are all of these things doing to you?”

“They’re…” Anne growls a bit. “They’re making me angry. Angrier than I’ve ever felt.”

“Okay, and why would they want to do that? What is happening with the Darkness you’re feeling?”

Anne focuses on it, only for a moment, before her thoughts immediately go to the Maria in front of her. She’s right there, for the taking, easily killed at this angle…

“Anne, answer me.”

She looks back at Catherine. “It’s not actually Darkness,” Anne growls out. “It’s not comforting. This energy, it enhances your darkest thoughts. Your fears. Your anger-”

Anne tries to pulse towards Maria, but Catherine quickly stops it.

“Anne, focus.” Catherine says. “You can’t let this overtake you. Focus on me: why are they showing you these things? What’s the goal?”

“To make me angry,” Anne growls, struggling in Catherine’s grasp. Maria’s so close, she could almost touch her.

“Is that all?” Catherine asks, raising an eyebrow. She’s struggling to keep Anne at bay, but she’ll do it for as long as it takes to help her.

“What the fuck do you mean, is that all, it’s-!” she starts, but then her eyes go wide. “Oh. Oh, shit, oh-”

“What?” Catherine asks, clearly confused, but then the shadowed figure appears again. Anne immediately turns her attention to it, quick to suddenly pull Catherine behind her with some unseen shadows, and instantly moves to grab the shadowed figure.

Anne narrows her eyes as the shadowed figure whips their head around to face Anne, but Anne shakes her head.

“Not this time,” she says, smirking. “It was a distraction. You were always good at those. And you’re here, because you’re my weakness. You’re the reason I can’t move on, you’re the reason I can’t grow. You, and what you stand for to me.”

She grabs a torch nearby, and this time throws it at the shadowed figure.

The shadows retreated from the form, and the true terror appeared. 

Her hair as blonde as before, blue piercing eyes now tinted with green energy as the new staff she wielded resulted in a pulsing energy that made Anne want to run. She looks on with wide eyes as the woman, over and over again, summons monstrosities, clearly attempting to overrun Anne right then and there.

Anne practically growls.

“Jane fucking Seymour.”

The figure in question certainly looked like the Keeper of Necromancy, but with one distinct difference - her eyes were not normal, but instead pulsing with darkness, with eerie energy that Anne had to look away from at the moment. She shivers at the coldness that’s so apparent she can feel it, but then a warm hand holds on her shoulder and she looks up at Catherine.

“This is the trial, then.” Catherine says, so matter-of-factly that it helps calm Anne somewhat. Anne looks up, managing to overcome her own fear of the corruption before her, and nods. Catherine nods back. “Go on, then.”

Anne moves away, towards the corruption, taking a deep breath as she does so. She suddenly pulses forward, moving past the shadowy monstrosities and immediately to Jane, but the girl dodges so fast that Anne can’t react to the counterattack. Suddenly, Anne has a knife through her stomach, though it quickly dissolves into shadows as she’s released. She falls to the floor, huffing in pain, as she practically growls at Jane, who backs up and readies herself for another onslaught.

“Direct attacks won’t work,” Catherine says.

“You think I don’t know that?” Anne asks, right as she pulses forward again. This time, instead of straight on attack Jane, she uses the shadows to dissolve into cover…

… or at least, she thought she did, right before Jane plucks her out of the darkness and once again stabs her with a dagger that fades into shadows.

Anne yelps again, and this time, she falls to her knees. She holds her abdomen, coughing up blood, before she looks down at the wound. It’s festering with corrupted darkness.

And that gives her an idea.

“What else do you have?” Catherine asks, at the woman’s side as Anne shakily stands up. Anne seems to be focused, so Catherine steps aside. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I don’t think you can take another one of those stabs.”

“Don’t worry,” Anne says. “I won’t need another chance.”

She pulses forward, straight on. Catherine’s heart drops; did Anne suddenly forget this was what she did at first?

Jane readies her dagger, and just as she thrusts it into Anne… it suddenly stops. It all stops. All the monsters, all the magicks Jane conjured. They all just… stop.

Catherine looks over to find that Anne’s eyes are not her own - they’re filled with darkness. At first, Catherine thought the girl had lost, that she was corrupted like Jane’s magicks, but when Anne suddenly thrust her hand into the sky and Jane immediately did the same thing, Catherine realized what was happening.

Of course, Catherine thought, feeling a little stupid for not realizing it before. She can control shadows!

Indeed, Anne was now controlling Jane’s movements, Jane’s actions, all of it. The darkness around them was no long being passive in the fight; Anne was forcing it to move with her, at her command, and Jane was powerless to stop it.

This, Catherine realized, was the true power of a Keeper of the Shadows. This was the potential of the Queen of Shadows.

Anne immediately pulses backwards, but Jane still can’t move. Anne lifts her hands - Jane doesn't follow this time, Anne’s holding her in place - and Anne suddenly has chains connected to Jane’s wrists. The end of the chains are in Anne’s hands, and she smirks as she suddenly slams them into the ground, making Jane fall as well. Keeping the chains in one hand, Anne uses her other one to command the shadows to clear out the monsters around them, wiping them into oblivion, before focusing back on the Jane in front of her.

With a final wince, Anne takes the energy that she could feel around the wound and harnesses it herself. Instead of it infecting her body, she now controlled it as she formed it into a spear and threw it back at Jane, cracking her heart and thrusting them all into pale moonlight that blinded the area for a second.

The corrupted dark gives way to pale moonlight, and that Jane is on her knees. She looks up and her eyes are her own. 

Anne’s blade pulses with the warm type of darkness that Anne is familiar with.

Anne looks down at the girl, and Jane looks up. She’s crying, eyes wide at the blade. She doesn’t say anything, however, as she bows her head.

“What is this?” Anne asks, but she keeps her gaze on Jane.

Catherine looks around. “Looks like the forests near the castle in the Capitol, honestly,” Catherine says. “I recognize this clearing. The bridge to the courtyard is only a few yards away.”

“And why is she giving herself over to me?” Anne asks, her hand tightening on her blade as her body stiffens.

Silence. Then, Catherine:

“I think you’ve a choice to make, Keeper of the Shadows.”

Anne continues her focus on the neck. She continues to remember. She continues to feel.

And she raises the blade and thrusts it down, hitting her mark. 

Instead of a scream, or a head rolling, the figure immediately bursts into darkness, fading into the darkness around it. There’s suddenly a stronger darkness - a Void of sorts - and Catherine and Anne are pulled into it. The darkness is suffocating for Catherine, whose light suddenly is snuffed out, but Anne seems to revel in it, like it’s a cool refreshing drink. 

When she opens her eyes again, however, she finds the Woman and Maggie standing over her.

Maggie smiles, but she’s clearly scared. “Annie?”

Anne takes a deep breath, then smiles. “I’m ok. We’re all ok.” She looks up at the Woman. “Was that satisfactory, my lady?”

“Just about what I expected,” the Woman replies. “But I think you’re ready regardless.”

Anne stands and, just as she goes to bow again, the Woman puts her hand on Anne’s heart and mind. Suddenly, Anne can feel a cool yet warm sensation coming from the hands that pressed against her, and her eyes faded into darkness for a moment before they returned to normal. She takes a deep breath and, suddenly, she feels more alive than ever.

When the Woman steps back, Anne instinctually puts a hand on her heart and head, just before she summons a shadow dagger in her hands.

“Oh, that’s cool,” Anne says. She then takes a deep breath and focuses on the energy; it forms into a darkened fireball of sorts, then a gauntlet, then an arrow. She smirks as she then puts the energy into her other hand, back into the dagger, and takes a step back into the shadows. She completely disappears then; not even Maggie could sense her.

She ends up behind the Woman, who doesn’t seem surprised to see her, but smiles. “I trust your new arsenal is to your satisfaction, my champion and my Keeper of Shadows?”

Anne’s eyes go wide at the title and she smiles widely, but she immediately shows respect, bowing deeply. “Thank you, Mistress.”

The Woman nods. “Pray you continue to do my will, though you are not bound to it. That’s not how I operate, unlike some others.”

That got Anne thinking. “Where did Catherine go?”

“The Blessed? She’s back in her body. She had some issues with a Fae, but I saved her.” The Woman smiles. “She helped my Champion in her trial, I saved her from being stolen away by the Fae. I consider us even - well, myself and her Goddess.”

Anne nods. “I’ll be sure to tell them to be careful moving forward. Thank you, my Mistress.” She looks back over at Maggie, who nods. “We need to go. The place where they are, it’s a Fae Lands. They’re going to need all the help they can get.”

Maggie nods. “After you.”

They rush off.

#six the musical #six the musical fanfiction #six fanfic #six ff #sixff #sixfiction #sixfanfic #sixfanfiction #six the musical fanfic

[kiitsume]

a few thoughts on six the musical because nobody asked for them

(also excuse any historical inaccuracies, i've done only cursory reading thank you)

let's start light. the costumes are pretty but they completely take away any sense of historical context, unintentionally minimizing the degree of awareness the audience has of the culture surrounding the women at the time, which is actually pretty important to the message the writers are trying to construct.

the music is good. like, it's catchy and generally well written, and of course well performed. but the writers giveth and the writers taketh away. mostly they take away. all of the songs are reductive and collapse six people-- who they claim to attempt to honor the memory of-- down into platitudes and general notions of people, caricaturizing them into something that's barely recognizable.

the set up the musical to be a "competition between these six women to get the respect the deserve for the amount they suffered" and then they turn around at the end and shame the audience for doing that-- for picking favorites along the way and actually considering which ones they empathize most with.

the opening song, "ex-wives" uses modern lingo and whatnot, but it's not any more jarring that the costumes, so it's not until "don't lose your head" that the text speak really throws you off. it was honestly uncomfortable to watch in context of the musical, at least upon my viewing.

do i know they went chronologically? yes. will i ever forgive them for putting the most jarring joke of a song, "haus of holbein" right after arguably the most heartfelt song of the musical, jane seymour's "heart of stone"? absolutely fucking not.

haus of holbein has it's merits. i won't lie. it addresses the beauty standards of the time and the way that women were expected to destroy their bodies and give up their lives in order to appeal to men, which contributes to the larger narrative the writers were trying to build in saying that all these women would've led remarkable lives if they hadn't been forced to give themselves up to a life that made them miserable. but all of that is erased by the fact that it has air horns in it, i'm sorry, that can't be overlooked. literally die.

katherine (we're going with the musical's spelling okay) howard's song? a fucking bop. "all you wanna do" is iconic. but it has been brought to my attention by my girlfriend, who is much more knowledgeable on the six's actual history and writings, that pretty much the entire song is a complete disregard for who she was in life and her actual feelings, and that's especially irritating because they did it specifically for the purpose of constructing a much more simple narrative and, in the process, did the exact thing they claim to condemn: writing over her, and all the others, with what they think they know and bending them and their lives to fit their ideal message. how so? my girl k howard actually did have feelings for thomas. you know, the one person in the song she's like, "just mates, no chemistry/ i get him and he gets me/ and there's nothing more to it." they just throw that out to make thomas look like a nice guy and like people were just constantly taking advantage of her, which to some extent was true. but it also strips all the agency out of her life, and ignores the fact that "serious, stern and slow/ gets what he wants and he won't take no," francis dereham was the one who got jealous of her and thomas' relationship and snitched to the king and got her executed. there's literally no acknowledgement that he was anything other than just another fling or something. and, by omission, it implies that her music teacher, henry mannox, was the one and only one who groomed her (and molested her at 13). in reality, dereham's relationship with her started when she was 15 and he was 32. oh, and she was 17 when she married the 49 year old king. if the musical is supposed to form a cohesive narrative around how these girls were taken advantage of and thrown out by history as a joke, her story is literally ideal for that purpose. but instead we got naive girl uses sex to get ahead and then it backfires and she's killed for it.

not that thomas is innocent in all of this-- when the affair was brought to public light he blamed everything on howard and continued to deny ever sleeping with her, though he eventually admitted to intending to. there's some debate over whether their private meetings were actually an affair, but howard's writings on it make it seem as if she did have feelings for him, so. we may never know. but again, this is just to show the disservice the musical did to her.

i don't know as much about the other queens i'll admit, but here's just a few things that would be useful for the narrative the musical tries and fails to build: catherine parr was 15 when she was married to henry's brother arthur, who she couldn't speak to because they'd corresponded in latin but had different pronunciations-- this marriage was to give arthur greater legitimacy, because she was considered more strongly royal by blood; anne boleyn resisted henry's attempts to make her a mistress-- she was extremely smart, which was desirable in a mistress but not a wife!-- as her sister mary had been, and her daughter, unlike parr's is never acknowledged by the musical, the subjects called her "the king's whore" and blamed her for his tyranny, and-- oh, did i mention? historians debate whether there were any actual grounds for the charges brought against her that led to her execution, and most scholars regard it just something the king did so he could move on to seymour; jane seymour was married to henry the day after anne boleyn's execution, and she was never publically coronated in part because of a plague (woo!) but some also theorize that henry didn't want her to be coronated until she'd done her "duty as queen" and bore him a male heir; anne of cleves was described as extremely beautiful, so when the king met her and described her as "plain" he was incredibly let down, and immediately decided that he wanted to avoid the marriage altogether-- she was not considered ugly, as the musical makes it sound, just not good enough for the kings "selective" tastes (you know, the same henry who had a festering, ulcerated wound on his leg from a jousting accident); catherine parr is done the most justice, actually acknowledging the work she did in education and writing, the role she played in the establishment of the Third Succession Act which allowed her daughters access to the throne, and her two previous marriages (one of which was to someone twice her age) but it fails to acknowledge that her protestant sympathies got her targeted by arrest warrants before she reconciled with the king, and she was able to marry her lost love thomas seymour (different thomas, different seymour) in secret four months after the king's death, only to die a year and four months later.

also this: catherine of aragon was the only wife older than henry when they married, with her being 24 when and henry being 18; boleyn was 32 while henry was 42; seymour was 28, married to a 45 year old henry; anne of cleves was 25 and henry was 49; i repeat, howard was 17 when she was married to the 49 year old king; and parr was 31 and henry was 52.

and they were all flawed individuals, too, don't take my defenses of them to mean otherwise. in fact, as historical figures, i don't necessarily like all of them. but despite their flaws, they didn't deserve what happened to them, which is something the musical fails to portray in every way. it glosses over everything so quickly, which i understand is to be expected to a degree when you give each queen a six minute song to tell the story of their entire life, but the writing distorts them so badly they're hardly recognizable, and their stories are changed willy-nilly to fit the lazy empowerment theme rather than addressing them as they were.

the final song, "six." boy do i have thoughts. it's meant to seem empowering, and to an extent it is, because the characters they've given us get to talk about having a happy ending and making something of their lives that made them happy to have a legacy. but none of it's true, and it feels incredibly forced, especially because they take the concept of these women and pay no attention to them historically or what the figures they're based on would've actually wanted, and instead just says, "they all sing and dance and have a great time! question nothing!" and it just feels so hollow. it honestly made me feel even worse about the historical figures themselves and the suffering they endured, because it felt minimizing and shallow, like a platitude to make you stop thinking about how horribly they were treated. it was genuinely upsetting from that point of view, and despite how uplifting it's meant to be in the context of the show, it acknowledges that it's only a dream by giving a time limit to their happiness-- five minutes. and after that point you're supposed to go on continuing to be happy, having connected with these people and been empowered by their stories, when you are given very little of their actual stories and are shamed for analyzing things through the lens they gave you at the opening of the show. not to mention how horribly they trample over their message of how restrictive and repressive their lives were by nature of their station and says that, "well, if they could've just made different choices they would've been happy!" ignoring how the culture gave them no other choice and there's a pretty good chance that, even if they had made the choices they wanted to, they would've still been held back by virtue of their gender and station. the story behind six is not empowering, and it feels horrible to have it twisted around that was to make it seem empowering. i understand not wanting to beat down your audience and make them miserable, but rather than reducing these women down to such simplified caricatures and then having them all bond and have a girl power moment, it would've been much more impactful to have their actual concerns be what they bonded over-- being forgotten, talked over, held back, so on-- and talking about the people they actually were. having them write their own stories is fun and all, but having them actually tell their stories and feel heard, even if it's in a time they'll never see, is a much less reductive sentiment.

tl;dr: so basically i thought the musical was badly written for the message they were trying to send, and no amount of good music or talented performance can save a boring or badly written musical, and the six queens still deserve better.

#long post #this took me all morning and i still feel like i didn't address everything i thought about it #but if i think about it any more i'll start crying because it distresses me to that degree that it didn't do them justice #and for other reasons but. staying on theme that's the reason we're going with. #not gonna put hate in the tags though have fun #i still listen to the soundtrack it's great it's just a bad musical when it's all put together

[olivia-longueville]

A royal speech pulling at everyone’s heartstrings

On the 21th of June 1529, Catherine of Aragon spoke her famous speech at the Legatine Court at Blackfriars.  After years of Henry VIII’s unsuccessful attempts to annul his union with Catherine, Cardinal Wolsey convened an ecclesiastical court in England with a representative of the Pope presiding – Cardinal Campeggio.  The Papal Legatine court was held to determine whether the king’s first marriage was legal and valid.

Catherine of Aragon appearing before the Legatine Court at Blackfriars in 1529

The monarch was the first to speak to the court and people.  Despite his burning desire to get rid of his consort, he cheered her as she entered.  Then Henry pronounced a speech about his “love” for his wife, stressing that his conscience was badly troubled over the fact that he had married his elder brother’s widow.  The faux sweetness of his tone must have been obvious, for he was so obsessed with Anne Boleyn at the time that he wanted Catherine out of his life forever.

However, the court at Blackfriars turned quite surprising for Henry.  His queen circumvented the king’s plans by appealing directly to her royal spouse in the most dramatic way that made all those in attendance sympathetic to her cause, whether she told the truth or lied.

According to contemporary sources, Catherine said:

“Sir, I beseech you for all the love that hath been between us, and for the love of God, let me have justice. Take of me some pity and compassion, for I am a poor woman, and a stranger born out of your dominion. I have here no assured friends, and much less impartial counsel…

Alas! Sir, wherein have I offended you, or what occasion of displeasure have I deserved?… I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife, ever comfortable to your will and pleasure, that never said or did any thing to the contrary thereof, being always well pleased and contented with all things wherein you had any delight or dalliance, whether it were in little or much. I never grudged in word or countenance, or showed a visage or spark of discontent. I loved all those whom ye loved, only for your sake, whether I had cause or no, and whether they were my friends or enemies. This twenty years or more I have been your true wife and by me ye have had divers children, although it hath pleased God to call them out of this world, which hath been no default in me…

When ye had me at first, I take God to my judge, I was a true maid, without touch of man. And whether it be true or no, I put it to your conscience. If there be any just cause by the law that ye can allege against me either of dishonesty or any other impediment to banish and put me from you, I am well content to depart to my great shame and dishonour. And if there be none, then here, I most lowly beseech you, let me remain in my former estate… Therefore, I most humbly require you, in the way of charity and for the love of God – who is the just judge – to spare me the extremity of this new court, until I may be advised what way and order my friends in Spain will advise me to take. And if ye will not extend to me so much impartial favour, your pleasure then be fulfilled, and to God I commit my cause!”

Just imagine!  Catherine stood on her knees before Henry as she gave the speech of her life.  It was a posture of absolute submission to her husband, but not surrender to his wishes.  Had this speech been prepared in advance by Catherine?  Had she planned to make it so emotional?

Catherine’s dramatic speech before Henry VIII and the Legatine Court

Catherine was a very educated and smart woman, who was truly a political animal.  She was destined to become herself as a daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon.  The purpose of planning a speech is to discover what should be said to an audience so that it has the most profound impact possible; preparation is also necessary to learn what should be omitted from the completed speech.  I believe that Catherine had made every effort to ensure that at the court, her speech would be so moving that it would pull at everyone’s heartstrings.

Henry gave his stubborn consort the option of entering a convent.  At the time, history knew precedents of royal annulments.  In 1498, Louis XII of France had claimed that his first spouse, Joan of France, was physically deformed, which had prevented him from consummating their union.  His marriage to Joan had been childless.  Louis had needed a fertile young wife (Anne of Brittany) to bear him sons in order to secure the Valois line, which had become highly important after the death of Charles VIII of France.   At first, Joan had resisted this charge, but the Pope had granted the annulment.  Then Joan had stepped aside and turned to the spiritual life.

Nevertheless, Catherine of Aragon seems to have never considered allowing Henry to marry Anne or any other woman.  Could Catherine act differently?  Her strong opposition to Henry’s annulment was caused by her steadfast desire to remain his wife for the rest of her life.  She seems to have believed that it was her destiny to be Queen of England.  She defended her right for the crown, as well as her daughter’s right to inherit the Tudor throne.  If only Catherine had gone to a convent, how everything would have been different for England and for Henry, as well as for Mary Tudor, who could have been much happier in this case than she was in history.

Catherine and Arthur, Princes of Wales (from the Spanish Princess Series)

Had Catherine really been a virgin when she had married Henry?  Or had she consummated her marriage to Arthur, Princes of Wales, before his death in 1502?  The subject of Arthur’s health has been debated by historians over the years: some say that he might have been sickly, while others suppose that he had been a robust, healthy young man.  Regardless of his health, Arthur was old enough to have reached his puberty by the time of his wedding to Catherine at the age of 15.  Although the couple had been subjected to a standard bedding ceremony, later Catherine swore that she had never known Arthur carnally.  Many historians and fans claim that Catherine’s famous piety proves the truth of her words, for such a religious woman could not endanger her immortal soul by lying.  But wasn’t Catherine her parents’ daughter?  The truth is shrouded in mystery.

#Catherine of Aragon #King Henry VIII #Henry VIII #Tudor period #Tudor history #the Tudors #English history #royals

[charlottehopesource]

Think you know the story of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII? Think again.

“By the time we meet Catherine in most [stories], she’s already the frumpy, grumpy ostracized wife stuck in exile,” notes The Spanish Princess co-showrunner Matthew Graham. “What people don’t realize is that he was married to her for twenty-plus years, and they were in love.”

Graham and co-showrunner Emma Frost wanted to show a fierce, passionate Catherine (Charlotte Hope, Myranda on Game of Thrones), a younger and more determined version of a Queen than the one we so often see in popular culture. “No one has written about her when she was a young woman, and she is always characterized as the unwanted old bag, but she was an incredible character,” notes Frost. “She’s actually a very modern character…It was exciting to tell the story of this woman who was so determined to forge her own destiny.”

Frost and Graham were energized by a figure who was told from a young age that God had ordained her to be Queen of England. When tragedy struck, potentially throwing Catherine from that path, she refused to back down, but instead found a way to claim what she believed was rightfully hers – a story that gets its full due in The Spanish Princess.

The story feels pulsing and alive partly because they shot on location in England and Spain at real properties inhabited by the Tudors and Catherine herself. The production team had rare access to Spain’s Alhambra and Alcazar palaces. “We were allowed in for just two hours prior to the Alhambra opening to the public,” says Graham. “To see Catherine of Aragon running around in the gardens of the Alhambra knowing that 500 years ago she did do that is really [extraordinary].”

Based on Philippa Gregory’s novels The Constant Princess and The King’s Curse, the series continues Frost’s interest in adapting the work of the bestselling historical fiction author, having previously brought The White Princess and The White Queen to television. “She is excavating untold women’s stories and if you look at the history books, the women are completely eliminated,” says Frost of Gregory’s work. “History is a story of what a lot of successful white men did, and [Philippa] does the legwork and really digs into these forgotten stories. For most of these women, all that exists are tiny fragments. All that we know is when they were born, when they died, how many children they had, and who they married. But what she does from those scant details is spin a narrative.”

Frost admits sometimes having few historical details about a character is essential for creating a compelling character. “It can be quite a gift to not have too much,” she explains. “There are letters that still exist [from Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII], so you can get a sense of their voices, but you still always have to distill that through a lens and make it feel very fresh and immediate instead of an alien thing.”

That drive for immediacy also meant including more stories than those of the nobility vying for power. “The other thing we were really keen to explore was a slightly more upstairs-downstairs [story],” says Graham. “Running the ladder from the ladies-in-waiting down to the common soldiery up to the middle classes like Maggie Pole (Laura Carmichael, pictured here) hanging around in court at the whims of the King.”

This more egalitarian approach to the narrative led Frost and Graham to diverge from Gregory’s source material in a major way. “We discovered very early on that this was an incredible opportunity to tell the stories of people of color,” says Frost. Here, we see the true story of crossbow maker Oviedo and Catalina de Cardones, an African Iberian woman who served as Catherine’s lady-in-waiting for 24 years.

While working on The White Princess, Frost was eager to tell more inclusive stories, but a historical advisor informed her that would be anachronistic. “The most cursory Google search will tell you that isn’t true,” she remarks. “There are records of people of color right through from the Roman times in England. In the last couple of years, there have been a couple of extraordinary books written that have gone back to parish records and the real source material to chart through the lives of people of color.”

Working with historian Onyeka Nubia, Frost and Graham excavated stories erased from history to uncover people like Lina and Oviedo, who came to England alongside Catherine of Aragon and faced similar challenges to the Queen in assimilating to English culture and the cold, dreary climate. “[It was an] opportunity to tell stories about people of color in Tudor England that weren’t based around race. For the Tudors, it was more [about] cultural wariness,” says Graham. “The worst thing is if you suddenly have Lina and Oviedo and their issues [are only] about being black. Instead, it’s about being in love and being in a foreign country.”

“This is a story about immigrants, and it was a wonderful opportunity to put those people of color centrally in the show,” says Frost. “Our job is to stand on the shoulders of the facts [to] create characters who will work for a 21st-century audience.” Particularly when those characters are a surprisingly modern 16th-century Queen and her diverse court.

The Spanish Princess debuts on Starz in Spring 2019.

#news #the spanish princess #television #charlotte hope #tsp

[jane-fucking-seymour]

I've been a huge fan of LoTS for a while now, and one thing that I really admire about it is how you've built a world steeped in history both inspired by our world and unique to LoTS' world. How did you go about balancing both history and magick throughout the story alongside the characterisations from Six? As well as that, with Skyrim and FFXIV being noted influences on LoTS, in what ways, in your view, are concepts such as Light and Dark different in LoTS compared to said influences?

Tudor History helped to form the relationships between each of the characters, what type of magicks and abilities they had, and how they fit into the story.

I’ll make this a Read More since there’s a lot to cover here!

The Queens, History, and Afigmia

Catherine of Aragon was the most religious and led the country through war, so it made sense for her to be the one closest to (a) god and one of the strongest people in the Realm, let alone Afigmia (the name of the world btw; the Realm is a country in the world of Afigmia). She was also the one that survived the longest marriage with Henry, which only served to bolster her strength and have her naturally lead the party, as she was the one that was the most in tune with Henry’s tricks (even if she is shocked and horrified by the information she’s constantly getting).

Anne Boleyn was seem as a sneaky temptress and while she did have her charms, her knowledge and beliefs are what seemed to drive her in history, so she was more based on that. Plus her extremely tense relationship with Catherine (at first) made her being a shadowmancer a really nice foil to Catherine’s light-based Blessed abilities.

Jane Seymour was always in either a good or a “plain jane” sort of vibe and I really didn’t want her to be boring. At the time of first writing the story, Jane was always seen as a good person (through my own fault as well) when I knew she had just as much bite and coldness to her as a “Heart of Stone” would suggest. I also still see her as bound to obey and serve her husband regardless of what she truly thinks about him; I don’t think she really understands just how manipulated she was. Her necrotic magicks were a direct reflection of how she’s not a angel by any means, though I think people can hopefully have some sympathy for her; if this was another life, she could have been an incredible cleric and healer, if only she hadn’t been so manipulated.

Anna of Cleves was one of the toughest for me to write, but at the end of the day the musical and research taught me how badass she was, so I figured she should have the most badass powers of being wielder of a dragon’s literal soul. She was highly underestimated despite being more than capable to take on the duties required of her. She also is a really quick thinker and knows when to engage and when not to (see: historically, Anna of Cleves knowing when to leave when she’s fucked over by Henry), so she made a really good second in command of the Six outside of Catherine. I’ve got more plans for her, but she is, I would argue, the one that got away with more than she parted with when she left Henry’s side (historically speaking as well!).

Katherine Howard was a child but also seen as a temptress like her cousin historically. In LotS, she’s simply really good at illusion and charm magicks because she needed them to survive. She had a coming of age arc in LotS (kind of, it’s still ongoing) because she was just a kid. She’s not fully grown into her powers yet. She was at first a Druid because I think she’d want to just chill and watch everything and enjoy the time she had if she hadn’t been roped into what she was forced into. 

Catherine Parr is one of if not the most brilliant of mages in Afigmia, and a lot of her background is based in the fact that she literally talked her way out of being executed historically. I, like a lot of the fandom, would consider her to be the most progressive of the Six, though her historical and LotS parallels haven’t completely finished yet.

The Ladies are moreso reflections of their main queens - Maria is extremely close to Catherine, Maggie would follow Anne to the edge of the earth (and to another realm heh), Joan is very much in Jane’s corner (more than Henry realizes) and Bessie is being trusted with, essentially, the fate of the Holbein troops in the area. They all compliment their queens in ways we haven’t fully seen yet.

It should be noted that the only actual OC of the entire piece, Avril, also compliments her “assigned” queen and current partner, Anna. Avril originally started as a OC from another story I did, where she played the major villain. The idea to include her was because I wanted to bridge universes in my own stories. I also think her relationship with Anna allows for some depth that would help with making the queens a bit more human, while also avoiding any queen/LiW shipping of any kind. I was hoping that it would help to flesh out the world, too, as Avril could be anything I wanted, and could lend some feeling of “other stuff is happening too you know” in the world.

The Light, the Dark, and the Inspirations

The Light and the Dark being not so black and white was always a concept that appealed to me for a majority of reasons. I really dislike how “light means good” and “dark means bad” in traditional stories, so I wanted to turn it on its head.

You see that through the majority of our “bad” characters being somehow associated with the Light - Mary used to be a Blessed, Malus Vir (the guy that tried to take over Hidden Gem - was a Light priest. Necromancy is a corruption of LIGHT, not of Dark.

That’s not to say that the Dark can’t be bad either - obviously it can - but we’re currently in a period of history in Afigmia where the mask is being torn off of the “light is good” norm, and we’re seeing the cracks starting to shine through. Henry claims to be doing this for the good of the realm, and many believe that he is Light incarnate. They’re blinded by their own faith and the stereotypical norms; they cannot see the truth.

Final Fantasy’s Lifestream and the lore around that also helped with creating Katherine’s return as a Blessed in particular, as well as helped to bolster what necromancy could do.

I have only written two chapters since starting and finishing up Shadowbringers (well, up to 5.3) and while I’m happy to be validated in the “turn it all upside down” sort of strategy with the light and the dark, the main inspiration where FFXIV is concerned is the Fae Lands arc. There’s a big reveal coming that, if you’ve played the game or know of Il Mheg, you might be able to clue into early. It’s not the same by any means, but it’s in the same vein.

That being said, if I had to equate one of the six to the FFXIV main cast, I’d say:

Aragon: Y’shtola

Boleyn: Alisae

Seymour: Urianger

Cleves: Thancred

Howard: Ryne

Parr: Alphinaud

But again, I only just started playing that game a few months ago, whereas LotS has been in development/actively updating for over a year now.

Skyrim helped with the magicks, the dragons, and how the gods play into each other and interact. They’re a bit more human than what people think they are, basically. A lot of the magicks that you see in LotS are what I wish I could do in Skyrim, and of course the dragons are kind of very much in tune with that game as well.

There’s other inspirations as well: Runescape, Game of Thrones, Avatar: The Last Airbender, etc. 

#lots #legend of the six