On this day in history, the 16th July 1557 (some sources say the 15th), Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves died at her home, Chelsea Old Manor, the former home of Catherine Parr. She was only 41 but she was the last surviving wife of Henry VIII and on the 3rd August 1557 Anne was taken from Chelsea to Westminster to be buried. She is the only one of Henry VIII’s wives to be buried at Westminster Abbey and her tomb is on the south side of the High Altar. It is decorated with carvings of a crown and her initials, AC, skulls and crossed bones, and a lion’s head. It is a sad fact that Anne, as Elizabeth Norton points out, “is often portrayed as the least significant of Henry’s wives” but that she was actually “an international figure of some prominence” and a woman who used her intelligence to survive the English court and become an independent woman. Just like Catherine of Aragon, she did not accept the annulment of her marriage and still thought of herself as Henry’s wife and Queen, and subsequently his widow, but she made the best out of the situation. [x]
Reserve some hours daily to examine yourself and fortune; for if you embark yourself in perpetual conversation or recreation, you will certainly shipwreck your mind and fortune.
Philippa of Hainault was born in Valenciennes, in the Low Countries, on the 24th of June, most likely 1314-1315. She was the second daughter of William the Good, graaf van Hainaut (modern Belgium) and Holland, and her mother, Jeanne de Valois, was the granddaughter of King Philip III of France. She spent her early years at her father’s court, renowned for its culture. At a young age she found learning appealing and was an enthusiastic reader.
She was married to Edward III in October 1327, nine months after he ascended the English throne. Philippa accompanied him on his expeditions to Scotland and sometimes to France during The Hundreds Years’ War. At times she ruled as regent when he went off to fight. She raised twelve children, including five sons who were renowned warriors and three who were also intellectuals, and daughters who were reputedly well educated and beautiful. The queen provided a necessary contrast to Edward, a great king, but one whose impulsiveness and tendency towards violence and vengefulness needed her calm, rational influence.
Philippa was a kind and generous woman, highly intelligent and a competent administrator, with an impeccable pedigree (four of her great-grandfathers were kings), she appears in some ways the ideal queen. She won universal respect for her gentleness, compassion and her patronage making her a popular queen, something that she used to help maintain peace in England and elsewhere.
THE SUN AND ITS RAYS - LOUIS XIV AND HIS MISTRESSES.
Many women of the upper echelons became mistresses for almost any reason other than financial benefit. Often they were married, socially well-placed and with a certain degree of independance. Once started, tact and iscretion were essential to the smooth running of the affair, especially in retaining a domestif status quo. And no one would deny that intrigue added glamour - and the thrill of danger - to the liaison.
“i did not take it by the advice of any man in the world.” the tales of joan of arc
requested by @brooklynstevies
Having suffered greatly for more than two months because of a difficult pregnancy; as it has pleased God on the 14th of this month at dawn I had a daughter, and I hoped that having given birth my illness also must be alleviated but the contrary happened, so that I must yield to nature: Our most clement Creator has given me so many gifts, that I recognize the end of my life and feel that within a few hours I shall be out of it. [x] [x]
Lucrezia Borgia d. 24 June 1519
history aesthetics: marie antoinette
born maria antonia josepha johanna von habsburg-lothringen and child of the holy roman emperor francis I, it is her painting that holds more influence than the woman, representing to the people of france all that was corrupt with the second estate.
requested by anonymous
♔ The will of Elizabeth Woodville + mentions of her beloved ones8th of June 1492: Elizabeth Woodville dies at Bermondsey Abbey
“The queen gave birth to a very handsome daughter, which rejoiced the king and all the nobles exceedingly, though they would have preferred a son.” (x)
On the 20th of March 1469 Cecily of York was born at Westminster, third daughter to Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. She was forced to flee into sanctuary with her mother and sister twice, once in 1470 when she was only one year old and secondly in 1483 after her father’s death. Her uncle Richard of Gloucester seized the crown for himself and declared her and her sisters illegitimate.
Upon leaving sanctuary in 1484, her uncle, now Richard III, promised safety and good matches for his nieces and thus in 1485 Cecily was married to Ralph Scrope. Later that year, when Henry Tudor was victorious at the Battle at Bosworth, he became king Henry VII, the York sisters were declared legitimate again and Cecily’s marriage to Scrope was annulled. Her older sister Elizabeth was married to the new king. By 1487 Cecily was married to the John Welles, half-brother to the king’s mother Margaret Beaufort.
Cecily was a prominent figure at court for most of her life, often playing part in ceremonies and festivities, such as her nephew prince Arthur’s christening, she was also chief lady-in-waiting to her sister Queen Elizabeth.
Her husband John Welles died in 1499 and neither their daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, lived till adulthood. About three years later, in 1502, Cecily married to Sir Thomas Kyme, without seeking royal permission. This, and the fact that her husband was far beneath her in rank, angered king Henry and he seized her estates and banished her from court. Margaret Beaufort, the king’s mother, intervened on behalf of Cecily, the two had always been on friendly terms. Margaret allowed Cecily and her husband to stay in her residence until the King returned their lands. Eventually some of their estates were reestablished, but Cecily was not allowed back at court and reportedly she did not attend her sister Elizabeth’s funeral in 1503.
When Cecily died on the 24th of August in 1507, Margaret Beaufort continued to show her affections towards Cecily and payed most of the funeral expenses. Due to her banishment from court, there is little known about Cecily last marriage but it was likely a love match and may have resulted in two children, Margaret and Richard.
“I wish you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not push such unlimited power in the hands of husbands.” — Abigail Adams in a letter to her husband. [March 1776]
“She was the wisest woman that ever was, for she understood the interests and dispositions of all the princes in her time, and was so perfect in the knowledge of her own realm, that no councillor she had could tell her anything she did not know before.”
Around ten o'clock that evening, with heavy rain pattering against the windows, Elizabeth turned her face to the wall and fell into a deep sleep from which she would never wake. With Dr Parry, who ‘sent his prayers before her soul’, and her old friends Lady Warwick and Lady Scrope by her side, she passed to eternal rest, ‘mildly like a lamb, easily, like a ripe apple from a tree’, shortly before three o'clock in the morning of Thursday, 24 March, 'as the most resplendent sun setteth at last in a western cloud’. – Alison Weir, Life of Elizabeth I
March 16, 1485 | Death of Anne Neville, Queen consort of England - Age 28
Anne Neville (June 11, 1456 - March 16, 1485) was Queen consort of King Richard III and mother to Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales who died eleven months before her.
Anne died on 16 March 1485 [from an illness, likely tuberculosis], on the same day that England experienced a great eclipse of the sun. She was just three months short of her twenty-ninth birthday. She was buried in Westminster Abbey ‘with honours no less than befitted the burial of a queen’ (Crowland, p. 175.). [x]