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Re: UtahJ,
If she is, then she's a distant relation to my husband's family who claimed a distant link with the Royal Stuarts.
posted by
Ciel
on February 27, 2014 at 3:02 PM
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My wife tells me she is a distant relative of Mary Queen of Scots, and yes, life is in the eye of the story teller.
posted by
UtahJay
on February 27, 2014 at 11:44 AM
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I can't imagine what both of these women went through...
posted by
Annicita
on February 2, 2014 at 5:36 AM
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Ciel
Very interesting post and discussion. In the most general sense, historians know that we are never done with the past, unless and until it is collectively forgotten...But currently the problem is not only that many people don't know their history, but have a disdain for knowing something so 'useless'...
posted by
Nautikos
on January 30, 2014 at 5:46 PM
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Re: Re: Kabu,
We could discuss history for hours I am thinking. I don't always put things clear when I write. I expect the reader to be in my head with me. LOL...I suppose I was thinking of Tudor times, of people like Sir Thomas Moore when i said that there were decent people back then. I think that Elizabeth was very reluctant to behead another Queen and if Mary had had an ounce of common sense and not allowed herself to be a pawn for the Catholics and for Spain she probably could have lived in great style at Court.
I do know that her half brother and sister from Mary Boleyn, Elizabeth ensured that their lives were comfortable and safe. xx
posted by
Kabu
on January 29, 2014 at 12:35 PM
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Re: Kabu,
I can't think of any saintly Tudors, actually. And the world was itself pretty bloody-minded and monstrous. Elizabeth was, too, now and then, but it's interesting she rarely used the axe... I think I've heard that she beheaded only three times: Mary of Scots, Essex... and I can't think of the third. I don't think she burned anyone, after Bloody Mary did such a thorough job of that. But the execution for treason was pretty dreadful, as anyone knows who has watched BRAVEHEART, and she didn't shrink from that.
You're quite right about politics influencing what gets recorded and remembered. The King James Bible is a case in point.
posted by
Ciel
on January 28, 2014 at 8:12 PM
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Re: FormerStudentIntern.
She was, and the whole drama of her family was, too. The Tudors were a wild bunch!
posted by
Ciel
on January 28, 2014 at 8:01 PM
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Re: CCT,
They do say that the winners write the history books, but I contend that everyone writes the history books, it is the winners' books that are taught in school.
Yes, Mary's execution was a botch, it took three ungentle strokes of the axe to get it done. And from what I have read, Elizabeth saw the practical and political necessity, when Mary would not stop encouraging plots against Elizabeth. But she also dreaded the whole business of killing an anointed Queen, which had nothing to do with politics. Except for the part that executing Mary prompted the Spanish Armada.
As to the wig... The executioner clearly wasn't a thinker.
Elizabeth was probably not very pretty in her own hair, either, or under the horrible makeup she wore when she got older.
posted by
Ciel
on January 28, 2014 at 8:00 PM
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I agree completely with your concept of history...and polical influences play their roll as well. The Tudors were a most interesting dynasty of monsters, with a few real saintly folk. Just begging to be rewritten in each generation. They did really put that misty little Isle on the World stage though.
posted by
Kabu
on January 28, 2014 at 7:15 PM
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Reading your entry reminds me just how fascinating she was.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on January 28, 2014 at 11:58 AM
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You love history Ciel. I suppose it is formed by the victorious. There after acknowledged
by sympathizers and is eventually distributed in print suitable for our time.
l I did not like the way she had Mary executed, poor old girl was wearing a wig and she was grey beneath. Nevertheless it shows you are an intellectual, reading history instead of your E,book. Sadly I am unlike Arthur who is a Mensa member.
posted by
C_C_T
on January 28, 2014 at 10:47 AM
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