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Hey friends, welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast. This is the weekly highlight reel of videos that I have put out on YouTube. So in case you don't know, you can go over to YouTube and watch all my videos. The channel is History and Coffee, and you can just search for my name as well, Heather Tesco, History and Coffee, and you will get it. And you can subscribe there. Thank you to the many people who already subscribe. And then what I've started doing is

weekly highlight reels of some of the videos that have gone out on YouTube that would be of interest to the podcast listeners as well. So thanks for listening. And you can also, like I said, go over and join me on YouTube history and coffee and search for Heather. And there I am. So let's get right into it.

Today we are talking about New Year's gift giving. Of course, the Tudors did not give Christmas gifts. They gave gifts on the eighth day of Christmas, which was New Year's Day. For the Tudors, New Year was when they gave their gifts. So all of that kind of

Last minute shopping crunch was all done at the end of December, not like they did last minute shopping crunch. But, you know, the thoughts about gifts and everything like that was for New Year's Day, not for Christmas Day. Christmas Day was the time that was set aside for the religious feast and, you know, the religious observance. And then New Year's was the gift giving time.

And it was very, very important when you were at court to give the right gift. So today we are going to talk about the gifts that Henry VIII gave, the gifts that he received, and just general gift giving at the Tudor court. So the right gift could earn you favor. It could earn you a promotion. It could even win you forgiveness if you had offended sometime throughout the year.

But of course, there was a very fine line that you had to walk to. If you went too flashy, if you gave too much of a fancy gift, you risked offending somebody who was more prominent than you. And so this wasn't just for gifting to the king. This was, you know, if you were lower down the social rank and you wanted to give a gift to somebody who was a little bit higher than you, if you gave something that was too flashy, you might offend them because it'd be like, why is this lower person giving me this gift that's worth so much money? But

But if you did it, if you gave a gift that was too low, too humble, then it'd be like, what? They can't give me a better gift than this. So there was like a lot of backstory behind the gifting at the Tudor court. There was a ton of pressure. I can't even imagine. I don't do well with that. So I would not have coped very well.

So New Year's was the opportunity for courtiers to show their loyalty and their creativity. The practice of giving gifts at this time wasn't just a Tudor thing. Of course, it had very deep medieval roots all the way pagan back even to the Romans gift giving at this time of year. But it did become an art form at the court of Henry VIII.

These gifts were not exchanged in private. No, this was not something where you sat around with your close family and gave your gifts to each other. This was public, and every gift was recorded in a gift log. These rolls say who gave what to whom, sometimes even the weight of the gift or the value of the gift.

For historians, it's wonderful. It's a treasure trove to show the Tudor politics, the relationships, and also the material culture of the period. But for the people themselves, the stakes were very high, like I said. If your gift impressed the king or impressed the person you were giving it to, you might be rewarded with something far more valuable, maybe a gift or a promotion. But if your choice misfired...

You could face anger or worse from the very temperamental monarch.

We're going to talk now about one of the most well-known gift rolls that we have, which is the one from 1532. So this was the year that the political tensions between Henry and Catherine of Aragon were at an absolute boiling point. Later that year, of course, would be the famous trip to Calais where he took Anne Boleyn to Calais and they had their secret wedding. But this is New Year's 1532, so that hasn't happened yet.

But Catherine had been banished from court. She wasn't at court. Anne was kind of, you know, presiding over court. Catherine did give Henry a gold cup as her New Year's gift. And he himself rejected the gift and actually scolded the messenger who brought it to him. But then Henry was apparently afraid that somebody would re-gift the gift to Anne Boleyn.

which of course wouldn't have been good considering Anne was replacing Catherine Baragon. So Henry ordered that the gift be kept, but only temporarily before it was eventually sent back to Catherine.

Chapuis noted that Henry gave Catherine no gift in return and forbade his counsel from doing so, effectively cutting her off from the gift-giving tradition. By contrast, Anne Boleyn was treated very, very differently. That year, she gifted Henry a set of darts of the Biscayne fashion, which some believe were lightweight spears, while others argue that they were boar spears, strong, heavy weapons that were designed for hunting.

henry reciprocated with a luxurious gift fabrics of cloth of gold and crimson satin for her rooms these were the kind of rich royal materials that would be used to furnish a queen's chambers and he was sending a message that he saw anne as his queen

Anne wasn't officially the queen yet, of course, but Henry's gift made it very clear that he intended for her to live in royal splendor. And this is just one example of how gifts like these weren't just exchanging objects. They were statements of power, of favor, and intention. That year, 1532, some of the other gifts that show some real creativity and pizzazz and practicality even of the Tudor court include

The Bishop of Ely gave the king a hawk, symbolizing nobility and the art of falconry, which was a famous pastime of the nobility. Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, presented a gold ball for fume, probably a pomander designed to hold fragrant herbs and spices. These items were both practical and luxurious, masking the unpleasant odors of a pre-modern world. The Dowager Duchess of Norfolk gave a nativity scene.

described as the birth of our Lord in a box.

The birth of our Lord in a box. This could have been a painted scene or a set of small figures, perhaps meant for private devotion. One particularly intriguing entry comes from Thomas Cromwell, who gifted Henry a ring with a ruby and mysterious box containing images of the French king's children. Kind of weird. The purpose of that gift is very unclear, but it's interesting to try to imagine why Thomas Cromwell, a man who, of course, was

never made a move without thinking it through politically, would choose to highlight the French king's offspring. Was he trying to remind Henry that he didn't yet have a male heir? Or that if he married Anne, he soon would have a male heir? Or did he want to kind of talk about a potential alliance that he was thinking about? It's very mysterious, this ring.

By 1534, Anne Boleyn was queen, and her gift to Henry reflected her elevated status. That year, she gave him an extravagant gift basin and fountain designed by Hans Holbein. This fountain featured three naked women from whose breasts water flowed, an extraordinary table centerpiece, possibly a functional device for washing hands during meals. That year, Henry also received

A book garnished with gold and containing a clock presented by Charles Brandon. A book with a clock in it. That sounds amazing. Like we said, these New Year's gifts weren't just about generosity. They were deeply symbolic. Handmade gifts, for example, carried personal significance. Elizabeth was known for her thoughtful handmade presents.

She gave her father a shirt one year of cambric that she stitched herself. She also made him a bracer, a type of arm guard commonly used in archery. Mary, Elizabeth's half-sister, often opted for more luxurious commissioned gifts like an embroidered crimson coat she gave her brother Edward one year. These choices reveal differences in personality, in resources, and even in political positioning. Mary was older and likely more aware of court expectations.

so she may have felt more pressure to display wealth and refinement. Elizabeth's handmade gifts, though, show more of a personal connection. At one point, she gifted her stepmother, Catherine Parr, a translation of religious texts, for example, which really shows her personal connection that she had to Catherine.

Catherine Parr herself was brilliant at gift-giving. During Henry's final new year in 1547, she gave Prince Edward portraits of herself and Henry. These portraits weren't just sentimental, they reinforced her status as queen and stepmother to the future king. At a time when Henry's health was failing, Catherine may have been asserting her position in a court rife with intrigue and uncertainty.

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Gifts like this were not exchanged in private. Like we said, they were recorded for posterity. They passed through many hands. They often carried messages meant for the entire court, not just the recipient. Catherine's gift, for example, might have been a subtle reminder of her role as regent in 1544 and her rightful place in the Tudor hierarchy. By the later years of Henry's reign, New Year's gifts

reflected a mix of grandeur and pragmatism the fifteen thirty nine gift roll is now at the folger library and it includes items like a crimson hat thrummed with a band of pearled gold from the king's barber edmund harmond the hat actually might have also been regifted by henry himself which was not an uncommon practice at the time

So these Tudor gifts show us not just presence, but a whole snapshot of life at court. They reveal the intricacies of relationships, the importance of status, and the thoughtfulness or strategy behind the gifts. Even the simplest items like a handmade shirt or a thrummed hat carried layers and layers of meaning. And while gift-giving has changed through the years and the types of gifts we give have changed, the idea of the gift-giving and even the sometimes feeling pressure to find the right gift

certainly has not changed. And that is something that we definitely would have had in common with our Tudor friends. So there you go. A little bit of a talk about gift giving at the Tudor court.

Today we're going to talk about Margaret Lee, aka Meg Wyatt, the sister of Thomas Wyatt, one of Anne Boleyn's closest friends. So I was reading a book by Sandra Bird called To Die For. It's part of the series on Tudor ladies and weddings. It's historical fiction. Super, super good. Highly recommend it. She's also sponsoring Yuletide with the Tudors, I will say. Anyway,

I got curious about this Meg Wyatt and her role because the first book in the series talks about Anne. It shows Anne through the eyes of Meg. And it's Meg's story, but it's also Anne's story through Meg's eyes. So I wanted to do an episode on Margaret Meg. And Margaret is interesting because she married into the Lee family. And we've talked about the Lee family, specifically Henry Lee on this channel a couple of months ago.

and his relationship with Anne Vavasor. Henry Lee was her son, and so later in the Elizabethan period, he had this remarkable romance with Anne Vavasor that was very non-traditional and yet seemed very happy. So it was one of these kind of love stories that worked out from the Tudor period. So we're going to talk about Margaret Lee, Meg Wyatt, same person.

All right, did you know that one of Anne Boleyn's closest confidants was a woman who stood by her through triumph and tragedy? Margaret Lee, born Margaret Wyatt, was a lady-in-waiting to Anne and a witness to some of the most dramatic events of Henry VIII's reign. Despite her pivotal role in history, she's often overlooked. Today, we'll talk about her story very briefly and explore her connections to power, poetry, and heartbreak at the Tudor court.

Margaret was born around 1506 to Sir Henry Wyatt and Anne Skinner, a family deeply embedded in the Tudor political landscape. Her father, Sir Henry, was a close confidant of Henry VII, whose loyalty earned the Wyatt family significant wealth and influence. This connection positioned the Wyatts among the elite, granting Margaret and her siblings an upbringing filled with privilege and opportunity.

margaret's older brother thomas wyatt would become one of the most celebrated poets of the english renaissance his works some of which immortalize the court intrigue and unrequited love reflect the intellectual and artistic environment in which margaret was raised

Her younger brother, also named Henry, tragically died in infancy, leaving Margaret and Thomas as the family's prominent siblings. Growing up in Arlington Castle in Kent, Margaret was surrounded by the rolling countryside and the intellectual stimulation of her family's social circle. It was here that she likely first met Anne Boleyn, whose family estates were nearby Hever in Kent. This early proximity laid the foundation for a relationship that would shape Margaret's life.

By the 1520s, Margaret had made her way to Henry VIII's court, where she became a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn. At that point, Anne was not yet queen. She was queen-in-waiting, I suppose. Margaret's relationship with Anne wasn't just professional, it was very personal. Described as a woman that Anne loved as a sister, Margaret was one of Anne's closest confidants during her meteoric rise.

Margaret accompanied Anne to Calais during the 1532 famous trip where Anne and Henry solidified their plans for marriage, had their secret wedding, started sleeping together. This journey was, of course, a very critical moment in Anne's ascent. The fact that Margaret was included shows just how close she was, a part of Anne's inner circle.

As a lady-in-waiting, Margaret's duties extended beyond personal service. She also played a role in maintaining Anne's image and her presence at court.

this included her work as the mistress of the queen's wardrobe managing anne's elaborate gowns and jewels which were key to her projection of power and status court life during anne's queenship was a spectacle of wealth and indulgence around the time of her service to anne boleyn margaret married sir anthony lee a respected courtier and landowner

The couple settled at Corringdon in Buckinghamshire, a prominent estate that later became the centre of the Lee family's influence during the Elizabethan period.

Margaret and Anthony had nine, count them, nine children, ensuring the Lees family's legacy for generations. Among their most notable descendants is Sir Henry Lee, their eldest son, who became Queen Elizabeth I's champion and master of the royal armories. Henry was renowned for his elaborate tilt-yard displays and his role as a symbol of Elizabethan chivalry.

Another son, Cromwell Lee, left his mark as the compiler of an Italian-English dictionary, a rare achievement in the Tudor period. Margaret also had daughters, and they all married into influential families.

So in May of 1536, Margaret's loyalty was tested in a way that few could imagine. Anne was arrested on charges of adultery, incest, and treason, and Margaret remained at her side, attending her in the Tower of London as she waited trial. This act of unwavering support reveals Margaret's steadfast character and the depth of their friendship.

On May 19th, Margaret was present at Anne's execution on Tower Green. Anne was calm and composed in her final moments and gave Margaret a small prayer book as a token of her remembrance. Inside, Anne had written a short farewell, Remember me when you do pray that hope doth lead from day to day.

This was a very poignant gift that symbolized the bond between these two women. It was much more than just lady-in-waiting and mistress. It was friendship. It was almost sisterhood. Despite her relatively short life, Margaret is believed to have died around 1543, her children's achievements were her legacy. Through her marriage and family, Margaret not only survived the tumultuous court politics of Henry's reign, but also ensured her family's place in history.

Margaret's story is preserved not only in historical records, but also in art and literature. A portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger is believed to depict Margaret around the age of 34. Her literary legacy is also tied to her brother, Sir Thomas Wyatt. A pioneer of English poetry, Thomas immortalized the Wyatt family in his works, some of which feature in Totals Miscellany from 1557, a groundbreaking anthology of English verse.

One poem within the collection, an elegy by Nicholas Grimald, honors Margaret's virtues, praising her beauty, loyalty, and intellect. These tributes reveal the high regard in which she was held both by her family and her contemporaries.

Margaret's life shows the precarious balance of loyalty and survival required of Tudor courtiers. Her steadfast friendship with Anne Boleyn placed her at the heart of one of England's most transformative and dangerous reigns, but she managed to survive the aftermath of Anne's fall, securing her family's future and avoiding the political pitfalls that claimed so many of Anne's supporters.

So there you go, a little bit about Margaret Lee Meg Wyatt. If you would like to explore her story further through historical fiction, check out that Sandra Bird book. I will put a link in below and you can explore that a little bit. Thanks so much for listening to this week's YouTube highlights. Remember, you can go over and subscribe. History and Coffee, Heather Tesco, you will find me there.

And we'll be back again next week with more highlights from what went out on YouTube throughout the week. Thanks so much. Have a great week.

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