Tea at Trianon: Young Mary Tudor

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, May 22, 2009

Young Mary Tudor

It is forgotten, in the light of everything that followed, that the daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon was in her golden youth the most sought after princess in Europe. At one point her father betrothed her to the future Henri II of France, which would have had interesting implications had the marriage ever taken place. But when Mary fell from grace at the time of her parents' separation, she was no longer considered eligible, and Henri married Catherine de Medici instead. The blog Mary Tudor: Renaissance Queen discusses what might have been. Share

5 comments:

Kass said...: Thanks so much for that..I have been giving her much thought of late. First off, thank goodness she didnt marry her first cousin.What a horrible life she had. I have been watching The Tudors, which tales much artistic license, but Mary is in it much this year. and her dignity and beauty is evident. It is unfortunate that she is often remembered for being Bloody Mary.; May 22, 2009 at 8:17:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, I think her life is one of the most tragic of all and one which many children of divorce can probably relate to in some measure.; May 24, 2009 at 5:14:00 PM EDT
Michelle Therese said...: I've been telling Erlend about the fate of Catholic monarchy and nobility during and post-Reformation. I pointed out to him that there was, basically, a systemetic slaughter of Catholic monarchs and nobility in order to make Europe a Protestant landscape and thus destroy the Holy Roman Empire.

And history has been re-written in order to depict the Catholic Church as the bad guy and the Protestant reformers as having saved the world.

Now look at Christendom. Dying a death. :-( So much for all of that so-called "reform."; May 25, 2009 at 5:19:00 AM EDT
Michelle Therese said...: Oops hit send too quick:

Now even the staunch Church of Scotland is taking a nosedive with the appointment of an openly gay minister.

Behold, the fruits of the Reformation and the slaughter of Catholic monarchy and nobility.

Meanwhile people remain anti-Catholic. It totally boggles my mind!; May 25, 2009 at 5:20:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Those are all great points! thank you!; May 25, 2009 at 9:14:00 AM EDT