Question from Dale Rice - Prince Henry William Tudor

We are awaiting the DNA confirmation that our Father is descended from one John Rice 1624...Who is believed to be the son of Perrott ap Rice son of John Rice II and Katherine Perrott. John Rice II is the son of William ap Rice 1521 and Elizabeth Lattimer. William ap Rice aka known as Henry of Newton is according to my father who was 94 at his passing the Son of Beatrice Tudor Gardiner, Rice and Henry VIII. She was the laundress of Field of Cloth of Gold fame and was herself the grandaughter of Jasper Tudor making she and Henry VIII 2nd cousins. Her husband was Groom Daffid ap Rice of Carew fame and both were assigned to the household of Princess Mary Tudor 1519 until her death 1558. While Queen, Mary Granted little Henry William 1521/22 a coat of Arms with the Pommegranite upon the standard acknowledging his birth by her FATHER Henry. The Pomegranite with a cut revealing multiple seeds being the symbole of Katrin of Castile.

All that to say, is it possible that Henry VIII was kept in the dark of Prince Henry William Tudor as punnishment from both Katherine Queen and Mary's Dynastic plans? The DNA we have in hand is quite clearly a TUDOR match for John Rice 1625, and should have my brother's DNA for comparrison by mid June at the latest. Thankyou. 14 GGrandson of Henry William ap Rice son of Beatrice and Henry Tudor King.

Question from Mary Kate - Character of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York

I keep hearing conflicting reports regarding the marriage of Elizabeth of York and Henry Tudor and also regarding their characters. I am very confused. Things really do not add up. I am sorry if this is long, but bear in mind I am very, very mixed up.

One source I have read, Bacon, says he was not "uxorious" towards his wife (uxor in Latin I know means wife, but I do not know if the source means he was not particularly deferential toward her and rightfully asserted his authority over her as husband, or if he genuinely just didn't give a damn what she thought, or if he just wishes to infer Henry was Mama Margaret Beaufort's boy and hers alone.)


Another source I have read states that Henry was just a mean, miserly, and nasty personality who spent the remainder of his life post-1485 killing off members of the House of York, and his meanness extended to his wife, using her as a baby factory while he and Mama Beaufort ruled England. And still other historians, some just after mentioning the above, emphasize them clinging to each other when Arthur died. I have even read one account where Henry VII is alleged to have had very low near asexual desire, something about low testosterone or some psychiatric disorder....and the man somehow managed to father many children (how did any historian come to this conclusion?!)


So, what gives?!! Was Henry Tudor really so vicious of an SOB that nobody liked him while he was alive, not a single friend; was he basically so foul that even his pet monkey had to be kept on a chain to keep from running away from him if afforded the opportunity?! ( I ask this in part because the curious thing is that pet monkeys require a lot of attention and fail to thrive without affection, yet no historian looks to this as potential evidence that there might be more to the popular image of Henry as a latter day Ebenezer Scrooge.) Did Henry have any redeeming qualities? ( I keep hearing lots of reports of there being much music at his court and we know his son and both daughters had some skill in this area. No report of Elizabeth of York ever playing a note-did they inherit the gift from dear old Dad's side of the family?) It is true he would have had a very busy schedule-did he ever get time away long enough to be with the rest of his family?

It is clear that Elizabeth and he were married for dynastic reasons, but even the wikipedia article says it is presumed that she had a happy marriage with Henry. She is also said to have had a sweet temperament. Question-how does a sweet tempered lady like that manage to have a good relationship with a sour ill tempered old goat and why is it that historians presume such an outcome is feasible?

Question from Ryan - Prince Arthur and archery

I've read online (on google books) that Prince Arthur was an expert at archery, that whenever he was in London he would join the archers on Mile End and practice with them. He came to be so good, that whenever there was a great archer he was nicknamed "Prince Arthur" the book I read was over a hundred and fifty years old, and I've never come across this in any modern biography, I was just wondering if anyone had come across this and if it was true? Or it was mistake from the Victorian age? I was under the impression Arthur was no athletic and that he was weak

Question from GregP - Greenwich Palace waterfront

I am a lover of late medieval and Tudor architecture, though by no means any kind of expert.

For years I had thought that the odd appendage jutting out from the Thameside facade of Greenwich, was some sort of watergate, as was used at Westminster, Whitehall, Hampton Court, and others.

Now as I have been looking closer at numerous prints, it definitely seems to have been more of a porte-cochère.

From what I have been able to determine, it sat right in front of the Sovereign's bedchamber and privy chamber on the second floor. On the ground floor there seems to have been a small doorway into a wardrobe (guardroom?) Then adjacent to that on the NW tower of the Donjon was spiral to second floor privy chambers.

Then supposedly on the second floor above the porte-cochere, was our royale privye closet. Apparently Henry wanted his best view of the Thames to be the view from the "throne"

Interesting thing is that the porte-cochere is offset from the Donjon. It half overlaps the privy chamber and half the privy bedroom.

Does anyone know if there is history of the Donjon predating the rest of the architecture?

Thurley says that H7 left nothing of Gloucester's Bella Courte when he rebuilt Greenwich in 1501. But the central Donjon seems to be significantly medieval, with towers, turrets and crenelation. The "towers" of the rest of the facade are faux fascia, bay windows on the interior, as had been becoming common. The York's had done the same at Nottingham lower ward.

Also, if everything was rebuilt in 1501, the odd angularity of the different ranges seems odd to me. Richmond was extremely rectilinear. With the Burgundian sensibilities taking such currency, it seems odd for 1501 to have such angularity, if it was built from ground up.

Rambling.... babbling...... Comment as you will.

Question from Madison - Henry VIII's spare time activities

Hello. I'm Maddie, a year 8/ 13 year old student at Guernsey Grammar School. Recently, in history, we were set the task of writing an essay on How the Royal Job Description changed between the 1500s and the 1800s. We were told that we had to compare a monarchs reign, so I chose three different monarchs. The monarch from the Tudor period that I chose was Henry VIII, as I thought that there would be a lot to find out about him. I was wondering if you could give me any pointers as to what he did in his spare time or possible links to good websites for information? Thanks.

Question from Laura - Impact of Katherine Parr on Henrician court

I'm a second year history student at University and I am starting to think about my third year dissertation. My question for my dissertation is "What impact did Katherine Parr have on religion and politics in the Henrican court?" But I seem to have hit a stumbling block.

The sources about Katherine Parr seem limited compared to the other tudor Queens and I was wondering if someone could suggest good books, articles, primary sources I could use.

I thought the Act of Six Articles was useful to look at but my tutor said it wasn't.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!