Henry VII of England

Palace in Oxford, England. He was the third of five sons of king Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard's father was an energetic and ruthless ruler, who managed to take control of large parts of Wales, the eastern half of Ireland and the western half of France (from Normandy to the Pyrenees, including, among others, the duchies of Gascony and Aquitaine, the counties of Anjou, Poitou, Maine and Touraine) , what would later come to be called the Angevin Empire. Henry II also held…

Remaining onstage at the end of Act V, Scene I of Shakespeare’s The First Part of King Henry IV, Sir John Falstaff delivers a rumination on the meaning of honor that reduces the noble human ambition to nothing more than an empty symbol of the dead. In doing so, Falstaff resists the aims and motivations of the most influential and powerful characters of the play; Falstaff’s passions—for life, for living, for joy—are undervalued by the courtly culture Prince Hal is joining. In this speech,…

The Act in Restraint of Appeals in 1533 was the start of a political process that effectively transferred the power of the Catholic Church to the king, Henry VIII and his advisors and the government. The Act was passed by a Parliament and had listed its grievances against the Church as early as 1529. Rather than have a king foist the act on the people at a time when religion was a major factor in the lives of all people of the town, Thomas Cromwell came up with the idea of giving the act a…

Elizabeth I came to the throne during a time of religious confusion in England. This was due to her older sister, Mary’s role as the preceding Queen who decided to convert England back to Catholicism. This would totally abolish the need for the Church of England and would force England back to the Roman Catholic Church. In order to re-establish what had been done by her father, Henry VIII, and undone by her sister, Elizabeth I, a protestant, established a religious compromise known as The…

kills the other and marries his brother wife. This is some twisted shit! Could it be that “Shakespeare’s” son Hamnet, experienced similar tragedy in his life? But how could a son of a poor uneducated man become the prince? Edward de Vere had one son Henry de Vere. Who when reading into, he had similar conflict with power and marriage and gaining status. Could it be that “Shakespeare” or the Earl of Oxford was portraying what it was like to be important figure, or someone of…

knowingly marry a serial killer? In the most recent installment of Philippa Gregory’s Tudor Court series, The Taming of the Queen, the answer to that question becomes all too clear: because he is the KING! Kateryn Parr, the final Queen in the reign of Henry VIII, is the subject of this latest piece of historical fiction. Picking up shortly after the execution of Katherine Howard, King Henry’s fifth wife, this book introduces the world to the little known Queen Kateryn. With most of the…

Shakespeare’s Henry IV part I follows the transformation of numerous characters. The King of Wales son, Prince Hal, is seen going through one of the most apparent transformations, a form of self redemption. Initially, Hal is introduced as a thief, associating with the gutter of Wales. He completely disregards any responsibility given to him by his father which provides as a huge disappointment to the King. Eventually it seems as if Hal’s bitterness towards his fathers admiration for Hotspur, a…

The writers of the Magna Carta or The Great Charter, King John and Stephen Langton were trying to get themselves and the public associated with the rebelling barons. The purpose of the Magna Carta was for the community to understand how the public dealt with the barons in an orderly manor. In 1215 the Magna Carta was also called the Great Charter in Latin. The charter was signed in 1215 by King John at Runnymede near windsor castle. In 1214 it was a disastrous year for King John which…

Jackson Lovorn Mrs. Hearn English IV 22 November 2016 Magna Carta, the Start of Constitutional Government The Magna Carta is an ancient document that was signed at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. King John of England signed the after he was forced to sign the document by his barons who had had enough of his tyrannical rule. The document puts a check on the power of kings and rulers like King John. Under the Magna Carta, kings and other rulers are treated as citizens like anyone else under and…

While Henry IV Part I (Henry IV) may seem only a quintessential medieval tale of revelry and victory in battle, as we delve deeper into Shakespeare’s representation of the motivations and actions of its characters we begin to appreciate the latent political messages at play. The story of Henry IV Part I is fundamentally driven by a quest for legitimacy and an examination of what is required of a political leader. These personal and political ideas are similarly present in Peter Jackson’s film…