Newcastle Local History Group: Meeting Notes September/October

Meeting Notes September/October

Apologies for the late arrival but I have been moving house and have not had Internet for some time. Either the notice did not go out or everyone was busy in September but The Hancock Museum Cafe was sadly empty of members this month. However I will attempt to inform you of what has been happening.

Notorious Kings and Queens of England

Michael's class at the City Library started Thursday 21 September and had a good return of our members. We have looked at King John, Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, The War of The Roses (War of the Cousins) and had some good discussions on truth and fiction. One week because of problems with City Learning and the City Library not booking us into our normal room, we had to improvise and do some individual research in the main library with the help of Michael. We chose from a selection of books guided by Michael and read and wrote up notes which were presented to the class the following week. I have include some work I have done and look forward to any work you might submit.

Issues with City Learning and City Library

As mentioned above we have had more issues with the room we use in the library. The first week we were relocated to an I T room full of computers where we could not see Michael clearly. We were also not informed of the move. Michael had no idea either, clearly both ourselves and tutor were kept in the dark and not for the first time. Iris has had a word with the library management and is currently draughting a letter with our concerns on this occasion and on previous occasions. Recently matters have become worse, for the first two weeks of the second part of the course commencing on November 2 we can only get a room in the Gosforth Centre causing great unrest and inconvenience to many of us who have to travel further; yet when enrolling were informed that the venue would be the City Library. It has been my experience that Michael and tutors who work in out-reach centres, are often alone, unsupported and uninformed by their management team, using their own time and resources to back up a failing system of incompetence.

The Year that Changed Henry the VIII 1536 by Susannah Lipscomb.

Susannah Lipscomb is A Research Curator at Hampton Court Place. She was previously Royal Historical Society Marshall Research Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research and read her doctorate in early modern history at Balliol College, Oxford. She is currently hosting a historical series called Hidden Killers on BBC Channel Four and on iPlayer.

I chose this book because of my interest in the Tudors and the charismatic Henry the eighth. His many depictions in books and films which are often at odds with each other, seem to reflect a public option between love and hate and romance and tyranny. It is no wonder that the media should take interest in Henry in what Tom Chatfield, Arts and Books editor, Prospect describes as someone who succumbed to the strange, familiar passions of age, arrogance and insecurity.

Susannah Lipscomb takes a unique view that the year 1536 was pivotal in the reign of Henry the VIII. She tries to show the how and why Henry changed from a handsome Prince Charming into a fat and loathsome Bluebeard. She cites Derek Wilson who describes 1536 as being Henry's annus horriblis and R.W.Hoyle as the 'year of three queens'. Henry is 45 and reaching what in Tudor times can be described as old age from this date his bloodletting of those close to the crown became more and more frequent.

His annus horriblis began on January 7 with the death of his estranged and denied wife, Katherine of Aragon. They had been married for 24 years but were estranged since 1526 when Henry took Anne Boleyn as a mistress. A few weeks before Kathrine's death he fell from a horse while jousting and was unconscious for 2 hours. The fall may well have cause neurological problems leading to psychological changes but it exacerbated problems with a previous tumour in his leg which effectively prevented him from jousting and limited his mobility for the rest of his life. As a result he became obese, a great come down for a man of athleticism and good

looks.

On January 29 Kathrine was buried and at the same time Ann Boleyn suffered a miscarriage with a male foetus. This contributed to Henry's state of mind. The king was known to have shown 'great distress and 'great disappointment and sorrow, and his second marriage to Anne Boleyn was, made worse by the allegation of Anne's adultery with Mark Smeaton an organist and player of the spinet in the queen's household. As a result of an investigation conducted by Cromwell , Smeaton confessed to adultery. Henry then took charge of the investigation where members of his privy council were arrested. The perceived betrayal, suspicion and loss of face and honour would push Henry along his bloodletting path beginning with the execution of Rochford, Norris, Brereton, Weston and Smeaton. On the same day as the executions, Anne's marriage to Henry was annulled. On May 19th of this year Anne was executed after reigning as queen for 3 years. Henry married Jane Seymoor on May 30 after a dispensation by Archbishop Cramer. After Anne's death parliament passed the Second Succession Act declaring his marriage to Anne invalid and her daughter Elizabeth illegitimate and removed from the succession. This would make Henry in a worse position than he had ever been and more desperate to gain a male heir.

Things were made worse by the marriage of his niece Margret Douglas in June where she secretly married the Duke of Norfolk's younger brother; Lord Thomas Howard creating an opportunity for him to become future king, both were sentenced to execution but Thomas died in prison and Margaret was excused death.

On July 23 Henry's illegitimate son Henry Fizroy died of tuberculosis at the age of seventeen. Henry was devastated by this as it was possible by the Second Act Of Succession which allowed the king to designate his successor whether legitimate or not, to proclaim Henry Fizroy his heir. There is no evidence that Henry intended this but in theory the Act would have permitted him to do so if he wished. In the same month Thomas Cromwell was given powers over all ecclesial affairs, to stop extremist preachers, cut the number of holy days and begin the process of making Henry preside over the dissolution on the monasteries. This would eventually lead to a large uprising in October in Lincolnshire followed by armed rebellion in Yorkshire known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. The largest rebellion ever raised against an English monarch at the time. It was the single crisis of his reign.

In summary this was indeed a horrible year for Henry, a year of threats both internal and external of things going horribly wrong, of betrayal, rebellion, grief, age and ill health. To quote Susan Lipscombe

'Henry changed from a virile man in his prime to a man who suddenly perceived he was growing old and tried to fight this in a way that made him a caricature of virility'