Ok watched the first episode of The Tudors, loved it, but i was a bit confused by Henry calling the man who was assinated at the beginning of the episode as his Uncle. I don't think Henry VII had any syblings. Did Margaret Beauford gain any stepchildren with her other two marriages? How can Henry call the man who was his ambassador in the episode his uncle? Or was it just an honorary title he gave this man?
I think all of that was just 'artistic license' but, Margaret did have some stepchildren through one or both of her marriages after Edmund Tudor. I don't recall which of them were still alive by the early part of Henry VIII's reign though.
ReplyDeleteThere might have also been some uncles from Elizabeth of York's side (some husbands of Elizabeth's sisters) still alive at that time as well.
I think it was a complete creation by the writers of the series.
ReplyDeletemost of the information on that show is a complete creation by the writers...but the costumes are just gorgeous :Þ
ReplyDeletei thought the same when he mentioned 'uncle', thought there may be some other significance to getting the first episode underway?perhaps he'll shag wolsey in the next episode...
ReplyDeleteby the way, I think Arthur Plantagent (Viscount Lisle during much of the reign)might technically be considered an Uncle of Henry VIII. He was arrested during the faction struggles surrounding the Cleves/Howard marriages and died under arrest, with his titles going to his stepson John Dudley.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Beaufort had a huge number of half-siblings by her mother's first marriage, whose children would have qualified as Henry VIII's uncles and aunts "a la mode de Bretagne" (first cousins, or first half-cousins, could be addressed as "Uncle" or "Aunt"); hence Philip II addressing Mary I as his "well-beloved aunt," is usually taken as insulting by modern readers, but actually indicates that he thought of her as a very close relative.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in this case, I thought the most likely candidate would be the husband of Elizabeth Woodville's sister Catherine (Elizabeth was Henry's grandmother). Catherine's third husband was a Wingfield (Robert or Richard, I can't remember which), who was a diplomat in the service of his grand-nephew by marriage, Henry VIII, and died in Madrid in the 1520s. I think the writers actually made up this character, but if they based it on fact this might have been the person.
Don't know if you're still checking this out, but I just got the book of "The Tudors" series and in it the uncle assassinated at Urbino is William Courtenay, husband of Henry VIII's aunt Katherine Plantagenet. The real William died in 1511 of "pleurisy" and seems not to have been involved in diplomacy abroad, so evidently the writers took some liberties with the historical figure.
ReplyDeletei don't know. i don't think he ad any. I av the tudor bk, it is rubbish, there is nothing about it.
ReplyDeleteHenry VII had no blood male uncles alive at the time, and I have found no historical record of who they are suggesting. Unsurprisingly, he had very few biological male relatives at all. He had great-uncles through Elizabeth Woodville's first marriage, and step-uncles through Margaret Beaufort's later marriages. Of course, his two most famous uncles were the "princes in the tower", and they had a younger brother George but he died before Henry was born. In fact, his closest male relation was his father's illegitimate son, Henry's half-brother Roland de Velville, to whom he gave titles and very prestigious positions at his court (even made him a servant of the body, which if you watch the show you see this position being held by either the highest-ranking courtiers or the ones he favored). Like much of the show, this "uncle" seems to have been plucked out of the writer's imaginations. Makes for an interesting idea, but there's little history to back it up.
ReplyDeleteKatherine Woodville was never maried to a Courtney. First Buckingham, then Jasper, Tudor and as mentioned W......
ReplyDeletewhat about Thomas Grey he was a half uncle.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Buford had a brother that could’ve been his uncle
ReplyDelete