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This paper re-examines three of the major arguments on the validity of Henry VIII's first marriage, suggesting that, though the king misplayed his cards, he held a much better hand than his contemporary or modern critics have allowed. With a better presentation of his cause, an unbiased court might well have concluded that, on canonical principles and precedents, the union with Katherine should not have been permitted.Unfortunately for Henry, however, even such a favourable verdict could have failed to free him from his Spanish consort.

In this groundbreaking new biography, G. W. Bernard offers a fresh portrait of one of England's most captivating queens. Through a wide-ranging forensic examination of sixteenth-century sources, Bernard reconsiders Boleyn's girlhood, her experience at the French court, the nature of her relationship with Henry, and the authenticity of her evangelical sympathies. He depicts Anne Boleyn as a captivating, intelligent, and highly sexual woman whose attractions Henry resisted for years until marriage could ensure legitimacy for their offspring. He shows that it was Henry, not Anne, who developed the ideas that led to the break with Rome. And, most radically, he argues that the allegations of adultery that led to Anne's execution in the Tower could be close to the truth.

Lanier's verifiable biography is based mainly on the wills of her parents; on the details recorded about her in the diaries (casebooks) of Simon Forman; on some few clues deduced from her book of poetry, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum; on a limited number of events involving her husband, Alfonso Lanier, and the later disposition of a lucrative patent he acquired for the weighing of hay and straw; on records relating to Lanier's attempt to set up a school; on the record of her burial; and on some scattered official documentations regarding the Bassano family as of the reigns of King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I and James I.3 From these we know that: Emilia Bassano was baptized on January 27, 1569 at St. Botolph's Church, Bishopsgate, daughter of a Venetian musician, Battista (Baptista) Bassano and his common-law English wife, Margaret Johnson.4 Baptista was hired in 1539 with his four brothers tojóin the court recorder consort of King Henry VIII.5 He died when Emilia was seven and sometime thereafter she moved into the household of Susan Bertie, Dowager Countess of Kent (1554-C.1596), daughter of the redoubtable Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, by her second marriage to Richard Bertie.6 The timing and circumstances of this are examined in more detail below, but she presumably left that household before the Countess's second marriage, in 1581, when Lanier was 12 (see p. 18). [...]we also learn that her marriage was not a happy one: 'her husband hath dealt hardly with her, hath spent and consumed her goods. The collection was dedicated to nine royal and noble ladies; it may be inferred from these dedications that Emilia was at some point affiliated with Margaret Clifford (née Russell), Countess of Cumberland and was now specifically seeking her patronage, and also that of her daughter, Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset.9 The mother was dedicatee of the title poem of the collection, 'Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum', which is printed with various marginal prompts, steering her to key features, most notably in the climactic section, 'The Passion of Christ'.10 The last poem in Lanier's book is 'The Description of Cooke-ham', a country-house poem eulogizing a royal manor not far from Windsor, which she associates with the Clifford ladies.11 The other dedications - to the royal ladies, Queen Anna, Princess Elizabeth and Lady Arbella Stuart, and to other notable aristocratic ladies - seem rather more speculative.

In the annals of English history, the Tudor Dynasty is one of the most captivating eras. Within this dynastic tapestry, few women figures have left as indelible mark as Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII, and the Virgin Queen---Elizabeth I. One that steps into the sphere of marriage and reproduction, facing the conflict of showing political talent and being the beloved wife of King Henry VIII. The other, a consistent formal dominant of England, remained a virgin throughout her life. Although they had slightly different monarchical roles, they faced similar challenges to the power structure in medieval Tudor. Thus, it is valuable to examine their roles by reconsidering the relations between gender, power, and monarchy. Also, examining how they survive and resist while maximizing their autonomy of power could provide a novel insight into the collaboration of the study of gender history and sociology. This essay attempts historical sociology to scrutinize the role of their queenship in the centre of the patriarchal and monarchical domain of the House of Tudors. There is a notable surge in applying Michel Foucault’s approach to theories of power in gender study by feminists. One of the aims of this research is to fill the vacancy of application of Foucault’s theories into medieval history as well. It aims to investigate the category of gender and its symbolism concerning queenship in the historical period. Most importantly, to redefine, reclaim, and re-evaluate the meanings and values of women figures throughout the traditional historiographical pattern of queenship, which the male chronological historians have largely created at the time. It is found that the two queenships sprouse comprehensive sociological meanings of a parallel considerdation of gender, power and body in such particular political spectrum of monarchial field.

According to several distinguished historians Katherine of Aragon could have averted the Henrician reformation by accepting Cardinal Campeggio's suggestion that she take vows of religion and enter a nunnery, thus facilitating her husband's remarriage. Here it is argued that, even if Katherine had agreed, the fulfilment of such a project would pose serious problems. Once he recognised the enormity of what the legate intended, Henry rapidly lost interest: his craving for an undisputed succession could hardly have been satisfied by adding a second potentially contentious papal bull to that which had allowed his first marriage.

First marriage The divorce of King Henry VIII from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, has, over the centuries, produced a positive paper storm of academic books and popular works, examination papers and essays. [...]he had a legitimate son, Edward, born of the tragic Queen Jane.

By 1527 Henry VIII was convinced that his marriage with Catherine of Aragon was not valid. In the complex net of political relations between Western European monarchies, this was not to remain a private issue; rather on the contrary, it would condition English foreign policy during the late 1520's and the 1530's. In March 1531, the Emperor Charles V wrote a brief letter to the Chancellor of England, Sir Thomas More, as a proof of his Majesty's gratitude to More for being, in Chapuys' words, a good servant of the Queen Catherine in the \"King's Great Matter\". However, the English Chancellor refused to receive the letter (or even meet the ambassador). A year later, More resigned as Henry declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England. In this continuation of a previous paper (Moreana 50.191-192), I will draw a parallel narration of the lives of More and the Emperor - from 1527 to 1532 (the year of Sir Thomas' resignation) -, since both were framed (in different degrees) by three major issues: the King's Matter - and his attitude towards Catherine; the war against the Turks; and the spread of Lutheranism. Chapuys is a central character in my approach, since he was a determinant key in bringing More and Charles closer to each other.