Anne arrived in England to be greeted by 6 burly disguised middle aged men. 1540 was a year neither Anne of Cleves nor Thomas Cromwell were to remember – with affection in one case, or at all in another.
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Thomas Wyatt poem on the death of Thomas Cromwell.
The pillar perish’d is whereto I leant;
The strongest stay of mine unquiet mind:
The like of it, no man again can find,
From east to west still seeking though he went.
To mine unhap; for hap away hath rent
Of all my join the very bark and rind;
And I, alas! by chance am thus assign’d
Dearly to mourn, till death do it relent.
But since that thus it is by destiny,
What can I more but have a woeful heart;
My pen in plaint, my voice in woeful cry,
My mind in woe, my body full of smart,
And I myself, myself always to hate
Till dreadful death do ease my doleful state.
David,
I much enjoy your podcast but have a slight quibble re the latest episode. When talking about the traditionalists plotting against Cromwell (c. 15-16 minutes in) you refer to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. He wasn’t created a Duke by Henry VIII and basically created himself a Duke when Lord Protector for Edward VI. At this point of our story, 1540, he was Earl of Hertford and ought to be referred to as such.
PS One has to feel sorry for Anne of Cleves. She did nothing wrong. At least she was treated well subsequently.
Sorry, correction accepted. And yes you do indeed, very sorry. She was cheated, effectively.
Dear Mr Crowther
as you may have guessed I am a great fan of yours but I must know I simply must know! I must why is it that Henry married 6 different women but in his hearts of heart knew he was merely an oppressed pansexual trans-non-binary woman who was dying to escape from the English repression of contemporary society that shunned expression of such desires.
i must apologise that the other comment belongs to me but I was too scared to ask it under my own name so i used someone else’s name soz boz
Now you are revealed…What can I say? Theory-wise, it probably has to join a reasonably long list of theories…!