Tea at Trianon: New Image of Henry VIII

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, October 26, 2012

New Image of Henry VIII

The illustration of a little red-headed boy weeping at the bed of the deceased Queen Elizabeth of York is thought to be one of the earliest portraits of Henry VIII. Interesting that it would show Henry grieving over the death of a Queen of England, in this case his mother. To quote:

Dr Maredudd ap Huw explains, “The manuscript contains an illumination showing the presentation of a volume to a monarch. Two girls wearing black head-dresses are shown in the background, together with a young boy weeping at a black-draped bed. Preliminary investigations suggest that these background figures may be the 13 year old Princess Margaret (later wife of James IV of Scotland), 7 year old Princess Mary (later wife of Louis XII of France), and 11 year old Prince Henry (later king Henry VIII), shortly after the death of their mother in February 1503.”

“We know from other sources that Henry VIII had a cold relationship with his father, but was very close to his mother, ” Dr ap Huw added. “We know that the young Henry was devastated by the death of his mother. This is probably one of the most vulnerable depictions of Henry. It has him in mourning and is different to the later images of him as a swaggering warrior king.” (Read entire article.)