Supplemental: This Week in YouTube January 5
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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.

So today we are going to talk about Anne Boleyn's execution scene in Wolf Hall. The second season of Wolf Hall is playing now in the UK. It started on Sunday. It's been nine years since the first season. Can you even believe that? Nine years. I haven't aged today.

Anyway, I think there were a lot of holdups with the pandemic. And of course, Hilary Mantel hadn't yet written the final installment in the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light. And then the pandemic happened. And so it just took a long time to get it out. But yeah.

It's on now in the UK. So I watched the first episode on Monday and it opens with the execution scene that the first season ended with showing Anne's execution. Of course, the first season was kind of the combination of

of the first two books in the trilogy, and it ended with Anne Boleyn's execution. And then they decided to open the second season with that same scene. So some pieces were reshot, but in general, they reused most of the footage. So we're going to talk about that footage. We're going to talk about...

what was true from the execution scene and what was not, because there were definitely some creative licenses there. So Anne Boleyn executed May 19, 1536, a pivotal turning point in English history. The first time a queen is executed showed how ruthless her husband, Henry VIII, could be, the brutal end if you fell out of power from Henry VIII.

The book, Wolf Hall, and the series are both known for a lot of attention to detail, really staying true to the history. Of course, it is very biased in favor of Thomas Cromwell, but it's from his perspective, right? So it shows events from his perspective. And one of the most accurate pieces of historical fiction, as well as being one of the most beautiful pieces of writing ever. There's a reason why it won so many awards. It's so beautiful. I love it. I'm a big fan, if you can't tell. So...

The execution scene is how season one ended and they recently reintroduced season two with that scene.

So we're going to talk today about how closely Wolf Hall aligns with the historical accounts of Anne's execution, focusing on her final speech, the presence of Thomas Cromwell, the actions of her French executioner, her dress, all of that. One thing, too, there are three main sources that we have for Anne's execution where we get our information. And of course, we're going to talk about the history of Anne's execution.

Those sources are also biased. One of them is from Chapuis, the imperial ambassador who was writing back about what happened. He did not like Anne, but even he in his letters admits that Anne's ending was unfair and she was probably innocent of what she was accused of. Even with all of his hatred, he definitely did not have any kind of soft spot for Anne. So he was probably pretty accurate in his writings, but keeping in mind that he was biased and didn't like Anne.

The other source that we have

is John Stowe, who was an antiquarian, who was writing decades later, but he had access to people who had heard about it and had memories of it. So he wrote about Anne's execution. He's our second source. And then the third is Lancelot de Karl. He was a bishop. He was a French scholar and poet. And he was in London in 1536 and saw everything that was happening as well. So he's our other source. Again,

All of these sources are going to have their own biases. So like anything in history, when you're reading about it, you're reading one person's perspective. So in terms of how accurate the scene in Woolpaw is compared to what was written about it, we're going to talk about that. But then keep in mind that we don't even know if those people who were writing about it, if those were completely accurate. Right. So there's like a lot of filling in the blank that we have to do.

So the first thing we're going to talk about is her final speech. One of the most documented elements of her execution was her final speech. Stowe, de Karl, and Chapuis talked about what she said in her speech. This was a very common thing. Obviously, people who were on the scaffold

gave a speech. There were a couple of reasons for doing that. You wanted to make sure that you were protecting your family because you were worried if you weren't going to be around anymore, if you said something really bad right before you were killed, something against the king, would the king then hurt your family? So you were thinking about them and Anne was thinking about...

Her daughter, Elizabeth, in her final speech, she talked about how Henry had been really good to her, how there hadn't been a better prince anywhere, and she was undeserving of his kindness and all of this. Just praise the heck out of him. And she was doing that to protect Elizabeth and to protect Elizabeth's legacy and her claim and all of that kind of stuff. Chapuis, again, staunchly anti-Belin, reported that Anne raised her eyes to heaven, seeking God's mercy, asking the king for forgiveness.

and depicting her as both penitent and quite fearful. So in Wolf Hall, they don't show a final speech like that. Claire Foy's character is just kind of muttering brief prayers rather than delivering a full address. The original 2015 series did include a more extensive version of her speech, but in this latest installment, the scene is shortened for dramatic effect, I suppose.

While the absence of her full statement sacrifices some of the history, it does heighten the tension and the immediacy of the moment.

So this choice kind of highlights a common dilemma in historical drama, which is the balance between accuracy and the narrative impact. One thing that the series did get right is that she looked composed and resolute, but also praying and asking God to protect her soul and to receive her soul. So my take on whether that part was accurate or not is kind of.

Now, Thomas Cromwell is seen at the execution scene. It's interesting, though, they had to reshoot his part because in the original Wolf Hall from 2015, in that scene, Tom Holland played his son. Tom Holland has now become quite famous. And I don't know whether there was an issue with his schedule or whatever, but he's not. He's been replaced. The character of Cromwell's son is now played by another actor. So they had to reshoot the part where Gregory, the son,

asks Thomas Cromwell why does she keep looking up and it's a different actor so they had to reshoot that part Cromwell was at the execution he was there with the Duke of Suffolk and other members of Henry's inner circle they were there as witnesses none of the sources say anything about how Cromwell appeared or you know the inner turmoil that he might have been feeling at the fact that he was bringing Anne down when he had also been so pivotal in her rise

And now how he was becoming entrapped in all of these different schemes and the royal drama. So, of course, nobody was going to write about that. They couldn't know how he was feeling. So the series does make it look like he's a little bit detached, a little bit aloof. But also there's a lot happening inside his head. And you can kind of see this potential. I don't know. His emotions are definitely there when you're watching the series.

How accurate that is, I don't know. I'm not Thomas Cromwell. But presumably, Hilary Mantel spent a lot of time communing Cromwell, one might say. So I'm going to trust her take on that. One of the most distinctive elements of Anne's execution was the unusual choice of a French swordsman instead of the traditional axe that the English had always used.

supposedly Henry VIII had granted Anne this mercy, such as it was, recognizing that a sword would result in a quicker, cleaner death than an axe, which could require multiple strokes, as we saw with Margaret Pole when she was executed. I think it took at least 11 strokes for her to be finished.

So a sword is much quicker, much cleaner. Anne's execution was actually delayed because there was a delay in the French swordsman coming over. And so she was prepared to die. I think it was the day before and she was all ready. And they said, oh, no, it's not time yet. So then she had a whole other day that she had to wait, which, you know,

It would have been quite, quite terrifying. So according to the historical accounts, the swordsman did request Anne's forgiveness before he executed her, which was also quite common for people to do. He also did wear soft shoes. This was another kind of mercy for people to keep people calm.

Thought was that if you heard shoes clunking around on the scaffold, it would make people much more tense because they'd be just kind of waiting. And so they wore these soft shoes to kind of muffle the sound so that they wouldn't be able to hear them. Also, the show is accurate in portraying the death the way he apparently had made a noise over on this side and then went jumped really quickly over to this side because he wanted to get her head to turn.

So he was an expert in what he was doing and was able to make the death as quick and clean as possible. So that part is pretty true. Now, what about Anne's clothing? Accounts of her clothing during her final moment vary, but they do provide some insight into the visual details.

John Stowe did not talk about the dress, but other observers said that she wore a black damask gown with a white cape. Also, DeKarl said that she wore a white collar and hood, both removed before her execution. The blindfold was noted in several sources. According to Chapuis, her ladies helped her cover her hair with a linen cap and

And this is how they show it in Wolf Hall. So that is very accurate. That's probably what it would have looked like. Now, what about the size of the audience? In the show, there's just a lot of close-ups. So they don't show a big crowd. So you don't know exactly how many people they think are there.

But in reality, it was a small group. Henry didn't want this to turn into a mob. He knew Henry knew that this was a really big deal. He knew that this was the first time a queen was being executed and there was the potential for people to protest and for things to get out of hand. So he did keep it quite private. He also limited access.

foreigners from attending. They wanted to limit any ability for people to take home accounts to a home country that might be used as propaganda against English. And also the date wasn't publicized, so even prominent people at court probably would have had difficulty arranging attendance, getting there because it wasn't something that was announced very far in advance. Woolpaw shows this. Like I said, they just show a lot of close-ups, so you don't really see a large crowd

It makes it feel like it is quite an intimate experience. And I think visually that contrasts with Anne at her power when she was surrounded by people who loved her and all of these people who were praising her and saying wonderful things about her. And...

In her moment of death, she was by herself, largely, with a very small group of people there to witness it. And then what they did with her body. Wolf Hall is very accurate, showing Anne's ladies being quite emotionally shaken. Getting engaged can be stressful. Getting the right ring won't be at BlueNile.com. The jewelers at BlueNile.com have sparkled down to a science with beautiful lab-grown diamonds worthy of your most brilliant moments.

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A way for us all to try and do a little bit better than we did last year. And my resolution, unlike big wireless, is to not be a raging a** and raise the price of wireless on you every chance I get. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited. See mintmobile.com for details. Over the past 75 years, more than 10,000 chemicals have entered our food supply.

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lifting her body and her remains and preparing them for burial. The contemporary accounts say that her ladies-in-waiting gathered up her body and put her in the chapel of St. Peter Advincula in the tower and that she was buried near her brother George who had been executed several days earlier. The biggest issue that I had with this scene in the second season is that they juxtaposed

Henry VIII getting married to Jane Seymour with Anne's execution. So it made it look like it was happening at the same time. And in fact, there was quite an interesting visual showing Anne's clothing being taken off of her, her cape and her luxurious gowns being taken off of her on the scaffold.

While Henry was getting dressed in gold for his wedding, people putting clothes on Henry as Anne's clothes were coming off, which visually was a really poignant kind of dramatic scene. But it's not true. Henry didn't marry Jane Seymour until May 30th. And during the time that Anne was executed, he was actually spending time on the river, on boats in the river, entertaining other ladies. He was...

praising God that he had been rescued from this witch who had bewitched him. There were a lot of things happening, but he was not getting married to Jane Seymour at that time. So season two makes it look like he was marrying Jane Seymour at the exact moment that Anne was executed, which he wasn't. So that is one inaccuracy. But I do think it makes for a really interesting visual to show these layers being put on Henry as they're coming off of Anne.

So there you go. That is my take on the execution scene from The Mirror and the Light. Of course, it's also how season one ended. So you can, if you're going back and watching season one, you can check that out. Apparently, The Mirror and the Light will be on officially in the U.S. in the spring on PBS. So U.S. viewers have to wait till the spring. Today, we are going to talk about was Thomas Cromwell ever really seriously thinking about marrying Mary Tudor?

Let's discuss. So I use Google Analytics on my website, of course, and, you know, can see what people are searching for and visiting my podcast site. And I noticed that I got a lot of visitors in the last couple of days with the search term, was Cromwell going to marry Mary? That's interesting, thought I.

And then I watched Sunday's Wolf Hall. And I realized that, of course, there was the rumor that Cromwell was going to marry Princess Mary. And that's probably where you lovely folk who were visiting my website were coming from. So I decided to, you know, make a video about it. Which was quite convenient because I can just go back to that blog article I had written in 2019.

The blog article was entitled, Was Cromwell Going to Marry Princess Mary? Question mark, exclamation point. So let's discuss.

So on the surface, it would appear like, you know, a bit of a weird match, given Cromwell is a lot older and also had been working so hard, so diligently against the interests of Princess Mary, working to have Anne Boleyn replace Catherine of Aragon as queen. So, you know, it would look like a weird match. But by the summer of 1536, things were actually looking a bit better for Princess Mary. Her mother was gone.

But so too was Anne Boleyn. So was Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, who had also died about a month after Anne Boleyn's execution, her half-brother. There was Princess Elizabeth, and then there was Mary, and there was no Edward yet. So she was, you know, second in line to the throne, really. Also, there's a new queen, Jane Seymour, who really wants to try to work to bring the families together.

Cromwell was working to bring Mary back into the fold by having her acknowledge that her parents' marriage was illegitimate. And the show does show, the show shows Cromwell working on having Mary sign that document saying that her father was the head of the church and that her parents' marriage was invalid.

After Mary had signed that document, her father welcomed her back into the fold. Now, the rumor that there was a potential match between Cromwell and Mary came to us, as so many wonderful juicy rumors do,

by Chapuis. He wrote a letter to the French diplomat Thomas Perrineau de Granville on the 23rd of July, 1536. And it opens with a pretty funny jab at the English where he says, I have always thought the more these people are pressed, the more they grow stubborn like donkeys.

I think that's kind of true for humanity, though, isn't it? The more you're pressed, the more you kind of dig in. So not sure that that's just generally English people, but just kind of humans. Anyway, later in the letter, Chapuis says, "...of late Cromwell got a gold ring made, on one side of which is, in relief, the figure of the king and queen, on the other that of the princess, and round about was a writing in Latin, which..."

which you will see by the enclosed bill cromwell meant to make a present of it to the princess but the king wishes to have the honor of it himself and cromwell will have to find other presents

The king is also getting his goldsmith to make a little two-headed eagle with plenty of jewels. I know not what he means to do with it. They have begun appointing the household of the princess, and I think she will be magnificently provided for. The inscription of the ring said, Obedientia unitatum parit, unitas anime quietum et constantiam, which basically urges her to be humble and obedient to her father. And it went on,

you know, to say be humble and obedient to Queen Jane. This isn't normally something that one would write in a ring that one was planning to give to one's

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beloved or a person that one wanted to propose to. I think it's reading a lot into the inscription of a ring. However, rings, of course, then, as they are now, are symbols of kind of promises and of romantic love, right?

I don't know, there's just something kind of societally that we associate with rings, right? And that was true for the Tudors as well. So just the idea of giving a ring is quite a personal kind of gift and not just something that you would just give to a random person. But the inscription talks about being humble and loyal to your father and to the queen. Not really romantic in nature, right?

Then there's also the question of what Henry would have thought about Cromwell marrying the princess. And of course, Cromwell was clever enough to know what Henry would have thought. In the footnotes of Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell by Roger Bigelow, there's a note that says the episode should have been sufficient to show that even if Cromwell had any idea of marrying the princess, the king's opposition to the plan would prove insurmountable. The

The inscription on the ring, moreover, surely indicates that the gift was intended rather as a reminder of the princess to her duty towards her father than as a preliminary to a matrimonial proposal. Can you imagine, Henry, if Cromwell, his servant who came from Putney, had proposed to his daughter?

I don't think that would have gone very well. And then there's also the idea that maybe this wasn't a ring at all, but there was a problem with the translation and it was actually a metal. So in Dermot McCullough's biography of Thomas Cromwell called Thomas Cromwell, A Revolutionary Life, he says that the translation was incorrect and it had to be some type of metal, like a metal, which makes...

sense with that amount of inscription and the detailed carvings. I mean, that's a lot of inscription to put on a ring, isn't it? Like how thick was the ring to hold all of it? I didn't actually read you the whole quote. Let me go back and read you the whole quote.

My Latin is not very good, so, you know, I'm going to butcher it. But it says, the whole quote is, Obivientia unitatem parit, unitas anime quietem et constantiam. Constans vero anime quies thesaurus inestimabilis, respexit umilitatem, qui in filio nobis relequit, relequit perfectum umitatis exemplar.

So that's a lot. And actually, I have a personal funny share about this when my husband and I were getting married many, many years ago. 19 years...

18 years ago, a long time. We were, he got his ring made and had an inscription put on it.

He was doing it online and he didn't realize it just didn't occur to him. He put a lot on his, like it's a lot. I forget. He put all this stuff about, you know, we found each other and we're so in love and now it's time to start a family. And now we're going to have, you know, our love. We'll bring about children and the magic of a family and this new family that we're building together. It went on and on and on. Anyway,

So, you know, he's very happy with it. He sends, he hits submit and away goes the form to get this ingraving on. He gets the ring. He couldn't read any of it. And I just laughed. I was looking at it. I was like, didn't we think? He's like, no, we didn't. So my point is,

That, if it was a ring, that's a lot of text for a ring. And I don't know how that could all fit. So maybe there's even the idea that it wasn't a ring at all. It was a metal and there's just a problem with the translation.

Later rumors about Cromwell and Mary would actually come out during Cromwell's downfall, when his old friend Thomas Risley, who in the show in Wolf Hall he calls Call Me Risley, turned on him and gave evidence to the council that not only did Cromwell make jokes about Henry's inability to consummate his marriage with Anne of Cleves, but he also wanted to marry Princess Mary and make himself king himself.

That seems kind of out of character to me. Cromwell seems a lot smarter than that. But it also was part of what helped bring him down. So it doesn't really matter if it was out of character or not, if people believed it or if they at least pretended to believe it. So there you go. So I don't think that Cromwell ever thought seriously that he could marry Princess Mary.

The idea might have struck him for like a second. It might have crossed his mind like, ooh, that would be a fun match and maybe that would be fun. But do you honestly think that Cromwell would be dumb enough to think that that would work? Now, I will say for Cromwell, he managed to have his son, Gregory, marry Elizabeth Seymour, who was the younger sister to Queen Jane Seymour, which made sense.

Thomas Cromwell, the father-in-law to the sister of the queen, which made him related through marriage to the king. So that was, you know, an exciting marriage for him. I think he probably would have been content with that, a blacksmith's son from Putney. 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.

Over the past 75 years, more than 10,000 chemicals have entered our food supply, but the EU allows just 300 additives. At Thrive Market, we prioritize quality, banning over 1,000 ingredients found in conventional grocery stores. Our healthy swap scanner helps you find better versions of your pantry essentials without the junk, dyes, or fillers, and everything is delivered right to your doorstep. So shop at a grocery store that actually cares about your health.

at thrivemarket.com slash get started for 30% off your first order and a free $60 gift.

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