Saturday, October 29, 2016

Question from Arthur - Subsidiary and courtesy titles of heirs

Hi, I been reading up the stuff on this site on courtesy tiles of nobility in the Tudor period...there a couple of things I would like to ask, apologies if it has been asked before but I could not find anything...

i)What happens if the father has no subsidiary title for his eldest son to use? does the heir simply not take one? Or is one invented for him?

ii)Is there any cases where second subsequent sons will use courtesy tiles if they have having a living elder brother? What i mean by that is not when the eldest son has died and the next son becomes the heir, but at the same time?

iii)Slightly off at a tangent but somewhat related at what age was the heir considered to be "of age" and what happened the courtesy tiles when a new heir took over?

This is for a novel I am researching, while its fiction and I have certain amount of poetic licence as it were, I still want get it historically credible...thanks.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Question from EBJohnson - Anne Boleyn's 'difficult' pregnancies

Eric Ives, as well as several other historians, reference Anne Boleyn as having a "difficult pregnancy" in 1533, as well as references to a "difficult pregnancies" later on (which ultimately ended in miscarriage). Does anyone know where this information comes from? Scouring through the primary sources and don't see anything that lead me to believe Anne's pregnancies were anything short of normal. Who or what, specifically, detailed her pregnancies as being "difficult"?

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Question from Kenneth - Anne Boleyn's last days in the Tower

I am thinking about writing a play about Anne Boleyn's last few days in the Tower. How much freedom would she have had, could she move about or was she confined to a room or rooms? Would she be allowed visitors or any other contact with the outside world? Any information or insight you could give me would be appreciated. Thank you.