Day 8

Friday was a rather uneventful day, on the whole. It started out with class. We learned about the Tudor period of England and then the reformation. The Tudor period is actually pretty interesting. It began with Henry VII coming to the throne. His son, Henry VIII then took over. Henry VIII is a very interesting person. He started off being married to Catherine of Aragon (which is probably not how that’s spelled), who gave him one daughter, Mary, who would later become England’s first reigning queen. Catherine had been married to Henry’s brother, but when his brother died, instead of losing the alliance she presented, his father asked the pope to annul their marriage on the grounds it was never consummated so Henry could marry her. This was granted. After 20 years, Henry began to suspect the marriage was cursed because she couldn’t produce him a male heir, so he went and fell in love with Ann Boleyn. Ann, however, refused to be his mistress, so he went about changing the entire religious system of England so that he could divorce Catherine and marry Ann. The pope excommunicated Henry VIII for denouncing Catholicism and adopting a new religion, one that was very similar to Catholicism but with a few differences. It would later develop more firmly into Protestantism with the help of Ann Boleyn, who was a devout Protestant, and her advisor, Thomas Cranmer. Ann Boleyn, however, wouldn’t produce a male heir for Henry either, only one daughter, Elizabeth, who would also later become a queen of England. Henry ended up getting so mad at Ann and her ways, he had her beheaded at the Tower of London. Henry went on to marry Jane Seymour, who finally managed to produce him a male heir, named Edward, but she died soon after childbirth. It’s rumored that Henry is buried next to Jane Seymour because she was the one who finally gave him what he so wanted all those years. Henry went on to marry three more women in his lifetime. When Henry died, his son, Edward VI became king. Edward was an incredibly devout Protestant because he had become very close to Ann Boleyn’s mentor, Thomas Cranmer. He made Cranmer the archbishop of somewhere and kept him on as his advisor. Edward died without ever having an heir and just before he died he did everything in his power to change the rules of succession so that his sisters wouldn’t be able to become queens. However, when he died, the people of England had a big problem with changing these rules so they decided Mary, Edward’s oldest sister and Henry VIII’s first daughter, would become the first Queen regnum in England’s history. Mary was a devout Catholic, however, and this posed a big problem for England as it had now shifted to Protestantism. Mary did everything she could to bring Catholicism back to England. This include killing numerous of the most devout Protestants. These people became known as the “Marian Martyrs.” Among these was Thomas Cranmer, advisor to Ann Boleyn and Edward VI. Today in Oxford I saw the place where Thomas Cranmer was tried and subsequently burned at the stake after being found guilty of treason to the country. Mary reigned for 5 short years, and died without issue, so her younger sister Elizabeth then took the crown. Elizabeth I reigned from 1558 to 1603, for a very, very long time. She was very popular in London because she was known as a queen who was more about gaining consensus of the people rather than doing what only she thought best. She rode through the city and made more of an effort to be a real influence in her subjects’ lives. There are two movies made about her, in fact. She famously rode out to battle with her troops and gave them a very inspiring speech. She also died without an heir, bringing an end to the Tudor period.

That’s what I learned in class yesterday. After class I walked over to Kensington Gardens and finished my book that I had been reading on the plane, which was excellent, and then I walked to the Victoria and Albert Museum that’s also in Kensington. It was pretty interesting, although there was a lot of stuff in there I didn’t really care about. I got to see jewelry from many different time periods, fashion over the years, “cast courts” (which are giant pieces of grand courts from the centuries, as well as lots of tombs), and some other things. It was a free museum. If there’s one excellent thing about London, it’s that most of the museums are free.
An Elton John stage costume.

A breakfast costume...

Made of 20 bras and a petticoat. Couture? You decide.

After that I came home and Jamie and I tried to head to a ghost walk that started at 7, but we left late and couldn’t get there on time. So instead we came back home because we couldn’t figure out anything else to do and watched Taken. And then I went to bed early for a change because I had to get up even earlier Saturday morning that I do on a school day. So it was an uneventful day, but a day in which I learned a lot.

Love you guys

Jaime