Question from Jacob - Oranges in Tudor England

I'm having trouble finding an accurate answer to the following question: approximately how many oranges, both bitter and sweet, were imported into Britain yearly during the first 50 years of the 16th century?

I'm also looking for an early English description of the orange.

Question from MsMeli - Henry VIII not being buried in Westminster Abbey

I'm wondering why wasnt King Henry buried in W. abbey? Why did he choose to be buried with Jane Seymour when he had a 6th wife?

[Related thread re: burial with Jane linked below. - Lara]

http://queryblog.tudorhistory.org/2009/06/question-from-antonia-henrys-burial.html

Question from Stacey - Documentaries on Mary I

I have 2 questions - one, was Anne Boleyn pregnant when she was executed? I have read & seen several things that say she was & then there are others that don't mention it.
Also, does anybody know of a documentary on Mary I? Other than her parts in other documentaries, I can't really find one on her.

[The first question was addressed in the thread below. I think someone has said that Weir has since changed her mind on the hypothesis. - Lara]

http://queryblog.tudorhistory.org/2008/07/question-from-elizabeth-m-anne-b.html

Question from Jo-Anne - Properties confiscated from Margaret Beaufort under Richard III

Does anyone know the names of the castles and estates that were confiscated from Lady Margaret Beaufort under Richard III and subsequently restored to her by her son Henry VII?

Question from Bron - Practicalities of Fleeing Protestant England

I have been reading about Doctor John Clements, who married Sir Thomas More’s adopted daughter, Margaret Giggs, in 1526. Margaret and John seem to have lived at Bucklersbury in London and, from 1545, to have also had a country house at Hornchurch in Essex. They had one son, Thomas, the godson of More; and five daughters, Winifred, Bridget, Helen, Dorothy and Margaret. The eldest girl, Winifred, married Thomas More's nephew, William Rastell.

Following the accession of Edward VI in 1547 Clement left the country for Louvain in July 1549, being joined there by his wife in October. Clement was one of those who were specifically exempted from the general pardon later granted by Edward.

There are two fascinating inventories of the Clement’s family possessions resulting from various court cases he undertook to regain them, after returning during Mary’s reign. The library at Bucklersbury alone contained 302 books.

It appears the Clements just walked out. That got me thinking about the logistics of such departures.

I note also that in 1550 the wealthy Italian merchant and More family friend, Bonvisi, with his family, "against his allegiance," as the inquisition taken shortly after recites, "went and departed out of England into the parts beyond the sea, without license, and against the force, form and effect of a statute and certain proclamation in that behalf made, published, and proclaimed.'' It would appear also that at the same time Bonvisi’s leaseholders in Crosby Place, the Rooper and Rastell families, were likewise "departed beyond sea," by which means, and ‘in pursuance with the effect of the above-mentioned statute and inquisition, their estates and effects became forfeited.’

So, my questions are as follows:

Was absolute secrecy essential? What would you do with your moveable possessions in such circumstances? (There don’t appear too many options.) How would you survive financially while you were overseas? Obviously you could only carry so much coin and jewellery. Were you searched on your departure? Alternatively, were there ‘letters of credit’ redeemable at your destination? Why the tendency to go to Louvain, and why was Portugal not a popular destination?

Question from Ryan - Book recommendation on details of court life

I am looking for a book and I was hoping someone here could help me. I'm looking for a book that would give detailed information about court life. The various Lords, their duties, the break down of households and how positions were made available. I'm looking for something very detailed and very accurate. I want to understand not only how the goverment broke down but how a royal household broke down for Kings, Queens, Dowager Queens, ect.

I was also looking for a book the gave an overview of all of England during Tudor times. Political and Religious climate, agriculture.

I know these are probably very different books :)

Any help is greatly appreciated

Question from Sara Jane - Scandal of Kathryn Howard's age on "The Tudors"

Also on the show. they make it a mini scandal that Catherine is only 17 but at that time is that really considered that young for marriage?

Question from Sara Jane - Spanish ambassador at Henry's court

On season 4 of the tudors-the spanish ambassador is still there even though the King is on is second to last wife. Is this historically accurate? why is he still there I know he is an ambassador but it seems he was there mostly to help katherine

Question from Taryn - Inevitability of Anne Boleyn's execution

Hi, I'm a long-time lurker first-time questioner. I love the Tudor period of history but I'm very much an amateur, and my question is more opinion than anything else.
Knowing what we know of Henry VIII's personality and behavior (through letters and first-hand accounts and whatnot), can anyone speculate whether there was anything that Anne Boleyn could have done differently during and after the divorce process to save her head (short of having a son)? Or was her beheading inevitable?

Question from Amy - Children of Elizabeth I

Has it ever been established if Elizabeth I ever had a child, because it was rumoured that she had?


[This question has been asked before, but it's been a while and I know that people might still be having trouble searching this blog due to the switch-over last month. See previous thread below. - Lara]

https://queryblog.tudorhistory.org/2006/07/question-from-louise-children-of.html

Question from Elizabeth M - Mentally challenged son of Mary Boleyn

I recently read in Tracy Borman's book, Elizabeth's Women, that Mary Boleyn supposedly gave birth to a mentally challenged son whom his aunt, Queen Anne Boleyn, could not suffer to be at court. I have never heard this before. I believe Anne assumed the wardship of Mary's son, Henry Carey, for a time. Mary was banished from court after marrying William Stafford without permission. There is no evidence that Henry Carey was mentally challenged, and there is some speculation that Mary and Stafford may have had two children--a son and a daughter named Anne. Does anyone know about the supposedly mentally challenged son of Mary Boleyn?

Question from Eric - Catherine of Aragon and the convent

I keep finding it asserted that Catherine of Aragon was advised to enter a convent, in order that she may retire honorably and allow her husband, Henry VIII, to remarry lawfully. I first came across this watching The Tudors, and now again watching the BBC miniseries "The Six Wives of Henry VIII"

I feel this needs to be corrected - Catholicism does not, and never had, taught that a CONSUMMATED marriage might be dissolved by one spouse having entered a convent. Once a Christian marriage is consummated, it may only be dissolved by death - a spouse may consent to his mate entering into religious life, but the spouse "left behind" in the world is not thereby free to remarry. He is still married, if continent, to his wife in religion.

Does anyone know that I am wrong on this, and if so, where is the documentation? I can't seem to find any documentation for Catherine having been told her marriage can be dissolved by entering a convent, just passing references to it, from sources apparently oblivious to Catholic doctrine.

In terms of my own sources, I cite my former seminary education, along with this from St Thomas Aquinas:

http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5061.htm

Also, see the old Catholic Encyclopedia articles, "Sacrament of Marriage" and "Religious Profession".

Religious profession only dissolved a marriage that has not been consummated, which would not apply to Catherine.

PERHAPS it was the case that Cardinal Campeggio and other hierarchs meant simply for Katherine to retire to the convent, take vows, and not dispute Henry's case for annullment? Which IS what happened to her contemporary St Joan of France, and which is something VERY different from saying her religious profession would have dissolved her marriage.

Do I have this right/

Question from Brittany - Martin Luther and support for Katherine of Aragon

I was in the process of writing a paper on my favorite wife of Henry the 8th, Katherine of Aragon, when I searched her on wikipedia to get reference links from the bottom of her page to check out. I would never use anything from wikipedia in a paper because it isnt always reliable, but I came across a part of the page that said that Martin Luther supported Katherine in the king's Great Matter. This little fact did not have a note at the bottom to verify it, so I'm not sure if it's true or not. I tried googling anything about Luther and Katherine to see if anything more would come up, but I'm still not sure. Is there anything that either Luther or Katherine wrote that mentions his support of her? And if so, where might I find it so I can cite it in my paper?

Comments glitch

Blogger seems to be having trouble with comments tonight (I keep getting an error message when I try to approve them), so if you submitted a comment today and it hasn't shown up, that's why. Hopefully it will be resolved soon!

Update: It looks like everything is working properly now.

Question from Elizabeth M - Margaret Lee and Anne's imprisonment

I'm not sure of this has been asked before--if so, please forgive the repeat.
I have just finished Alison Weir's The Lady in the Tower, The Fall of Anne Boleyn.
I am curious about Margaret Wyatt Lee. Weir states there is no contemporary evidence that this lady attended Anne Boleyn in the tower or on the scaffold. I have read several places that Margaret Lee was the chief mourner at Anne's funeral--such as it was. Ms. Weir states that since her coffin was not interred until after noon, mass could not be said, and so only a blessing was said over the coffin. I was just wondering of anyone has any thoughts on whether Margaret Lee was there? It seems so strange that with nearly everything about Anne's days in the Tower being noted so copiously, why the identities of the ladies who attended her in her last few days and on the scaffold are so sketchy.

Question from Elizabeth M - Boiling of Cromwell's head

After his execution, why was the head of Thomas Cromwell boiled before being put up on a spike?

Question from Bettina - Anne of Cleves' household after the divorce

I'm wondering about Anne of Cleves after she was divorced and retired to Richmond, or more specifically, her household. It seems her old household was dissembled after the split from Henry and some of her ladies went on to serve Katherine Howard. But what about Anne? Did she still enjoy the full household a member of the royal family would have, just made up of new people (or a mix of old and new ones), at Richmond? And what happened with that huge castle after it became her residence? Even with a full-size entourage and the number of servants that entailed, wouldn't a big part of it have simply stood empty?

Question from Jessica - Mary Seymour

This is a question about Mary Seymour.
There is some information on your site about her. Alison Weir wrote in the Six wives of Henry the Eighth that she more than likely died in infancy. As someone else asked, why wasn't her death officially recorded then? Even if she did reach adulthood, her death wasn't recorded. Why not? Given the friendly relationship between Queen Mary I and Katherine Parr, (hence the namesake of Mary Seymour) it doesn't seem like she would be a target needing to live a secret life as someone had suggested. Queen Mary also enjoyed a warm relationship with Mary Seymour's aunt, and Queen Mary's step-mother, Jane Seymour.
Can you point me in the right direction about where to find more information?

General Curiosity.


Previous related thread:
http://queryblog.tudorhistory.org/2006/09/question-from-hayley-mary-seymour.html

Question from mobrien - Cleves and Anne's dowry

H8's fourth wife Anne of Cleves -- where exactly is Cleves? Was any sort of dowery involved with this marriage?

Question from Bron - Alice More

Where can I find out more about Alice More/Middleton nee Harpur, please? I have just read R. W. Chambers' biography of Sir Thomas More and Alice simply disappears from the account just prior to his execution.

Question from Elizabeth M - Questioning of Jane Seymour in Anne Boleyn investigation

During the investigation into Anne Boleyn's alleged crimes of infidelity before her trial and execution, was there any contemporary source that mentioned whether or not Jane Seymour was asked questions? She was a lady-in-waiting to Anne. I have never seen anything that says she was questioned. Was that because she was known to be King Henry's paramour and it was decided it was best to leave her alone? As a lady-in-waiting, she would have been in a position to know if Anne had had liaisons of the intimate kind. Is there any evidence she offered what she may or may have not known to anyone?

Question from Shirley - Sir Walter Raleigh's head

Hi!
I am writing a piece about Sir Walter Raleigh's head! After he was beheaded his wife was given his embalmed head. She kept it at her side for 29 years.
What I want to know is how would it have been embalmed? What would it have looked like? I can't find anything about emmbalming in the 1600s.
Can anyone help please?
Thanks,
Shirley

Question from Michelle - Letters and Papers

Hi, I have a question about 'The Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII', 1910 (?). I've searched online, and am a bit confused as to what this is. While I know this, or at least part of this is available for view online/National Archives, I've seen references to it as a 21 volume set of books. Does anyone know if this exists? If so, is it basically a volume of copies of the primary sources, etc.? Also, is it available for purchase?
Thanks in advance!

Question from Antonia - Law and history dissertation ideas

I am currently in my second year of a law degree and needing to think of a topic for my dissertation next year. i thoroughly enjoy english legal history especially the tudor period and would very much like to do my dissertation on this area but i am struggling to find a topic that is going to be relevent to law and not just history. i would be greatful if anyone had any ideas for me thanx Antonia

Not everything went as planned (big surprise)

Emma already mentioned this in a comment to the previous test post, but I discovered that not all of the recent comments have made it over to the new address. I'm looking through the Blogger help to see if anyone else has reported this. I have a back-up of everything though, so I can manually restore them if necessary.

Update: Blogger's migration FAQ says that it might take a while for comments to migrate through the upgrade, so I'll check back later tonight to see if that's the case. Right now everything after April 21, 2008 seems to be missing.

Update to the update: I've found posts after April 2008 now showing up with comments, so perhaps everything is working its way over. I'll give it a little more time before I totally freak out. :)

Yet another update: Looks like the comments are showing up correctly now and the ability to comment on old posts seems to be working okay (it wasn't working at one point yesterday). I noticed that the new search box isn't returning results for the new address yet (queryblog.tudorhistory.org) so it probably hasn't been indexed yet. The whole site search box will still give you results from the old address (tudorhistory.org/queryblog) so just use that for now.