Thursday book club is back. Yes, I know it’s Friday! Give me a break, I had a bad day yesterday. Also making a return appearance: the six wives of Henry VIII, or Henry teh 8 as the Googlers like to say. The mnemonic device for Henry’s wives is “Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.” So far I’ve done Divorced #1 and Beheaded #1. If you’d like to catch up, here are the previous posts.
- Katherine of Aragon (divorced)
- Anne Boleyn (beheaded), post #1
- Anne Boleyn, post #2
- Anne Boleyn, post #3
Now we’re ready for Jane Seymour.
No, not the Jane Seymour of Dancing With the Stars! Henry’s third wife. The one who died.
Jane Seymour portrait via WikipediaHenry, being a class act, became engaged to the somewhat mousy Jane on May 20, 1536, one day after the execution of his second wife, the alluring and tempestuous Anne Boleyn, on trumped-up charges of incest, adultery and witchcraft. He and Jane married after a suitable mourning period of 10 days. Jane had beaten Anne at her own game. Just as Anne had served as a lady-in-waiting to Katherine, so had Jane served Anne. Just as Anne had enticed Henry by denying him, Jane too played hard to get until the king became determined to marry her. Unfortunately for Jane, she failed to quit while she was ahead, so to speak, because just as Anne’s wedding to the volatile Henry marked her as not long for this world, so did Jane’s.
Jane’s brother Thomas Seymour was executed in 1549. The future Elizabeth I noted, “Today died a man of much wit, and very little judgment.” Historians seem to lean towards seeing Jane as a pawn of her ambitious brothers Edward and Thomas, and the anti-Boleyn political faction, rather than as someone in control of her own destiny. But I think she was capable of coming up with performance art such as her refusal of Henry’s gift of gold lest it tarnish her honor; after all, she’d studied under an expert.
Unlike Anne, Jane did her job as a royal wife and produced the longed-for male heir, Edward, in October 1537. She went out on a high note by dying two weeks later and thereby guaranteeing Henry would always remember her quite fondly. The consolation value of Henry’s kind postmortem thoughts is debatable, but he did have her painted into a lovely family portrait eight years after her death. If that isn’t romance, I don’t know what is.
Click to enlarge the imaginary family get-together.Via tudorhistory.org
Poor Jane hasn’t really gotten a lot of book action. As far as literary legacies, it’s better to live fast, die young and leave a beautiful headless corpse than to merely die young. Of course, Jane has her place in the books on all six of the wives. In addition, she’s the focus of the historical novel Plain Jane by Laurien Gardner. I was simultaneously entertained and annoyed by this book. While it’s generally agreed that Jane wasn’t cover girl material, she wasn’t hideous to look at, and Gardner has Jane constantly worried about her terrible looks. I think it would be more realistic for a lady of the time to obsess about her lack of dowry rather than the length of her eyelashes. Marriage among the upper class was all about money anyway.
Also, we all have our tics, both in the physical and the writing world. We twirl our hair and overuse words. In a picturesque combination of the two tic varieties, Gardner has Jane gulping when she’s nervous. The words “Jane swallowed” appear often enough to make me wonder if whether the action was taking place in a palace or a brothel.
“This week’s guest star: Jane Seymour!”Still, the book gives Jane a back story and moves along well. By the way, the baby prince that Jane sacrificed herself for grew up to be a right royal pain in the ass who died quite young. And, as we all know, after all of Henry’s marital and reproductive shenanigans, it was Anne Boleyn’s daughter who grew up to be the beloved and long-reigning Queen Elizabeth I.
Next Thursday (really!), we’ll meet Henry’s fourth wife (and my recent favorite), Anne of Cleves.
“Gardner has Jane gulping when she’s nervous. The words “Jane swallowed” appear often enough to make me wonder if whether the action was taking place in a palace or a brothel.”
LOL!!!
Yep, I agree with Evie–LOL! Thanks for the creative and interesting intertwining of Dancing With the Stars and Jane Seymour–not a bad result for the tease for us DWTS addicts, not bad at all.
Hello!
The funny thing is, that I had to study about Henri VIII his clothes in class yesterday.
I really like your blog, i’ll put you in my list of favourite blogs!
Greetz,
Imelda
I’m going to third the LOL… what a great line, Wendy!
Sometimes (this case) I scan the pics before reading the text, and was so excited to see how you would work in the Best Little Whorehouse…
Well done, madam.
Interesting post!
Thanks for your visit and comment to Blogtrotter.
You know, I’ve never really gotten into historical fiction as a genre – you are motivating me to explore it. It seems like there’s a lot more to it. If you could recomend 3, for someone who just wants to begin to explore – what would they be? You’re the expert!!
I came onto your site simply by wandering around (one of the dangers of working from home is the siren call of the web) and I have to say how wonderfully surprised I was to stumle upon your site! Anyone who takes the time to discuss history and historical novels with wit and humour is someone I need to keep reading.
Looks like my plans to get some writing of my own done today may have to get shoved to the back….
Dare I hope you have read any of the books concerning the rehabilitation of King Richard’s character?
Last night I couldn’t fall asleep till the wee hours so I went through the Plain Jane book and counted 8 usages of swallowed/swallow which is about 8 more than appear in books normally. I didn’t count the times she cleared her throat, had a knot in her throat or couldn’t get the words out. Really, Jane needs an ear/nose/throat specialist. She has some issues! @ Jenna, usually I stick to reviewing books about the ladies but thanks to Anne Neville, I WILL do Sunne in Splendour. @ Riz, I recommend The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, Katherine by Anya Seton and Legacy by Susan Kay. Start with Katherine!
Your historically-involved posts are absolute crackers!
Liking your blog!
Wendy –
Thank for stopping by my blog — your’s is fabulous — a little bit of everything! I’ll be putting this on my list of favorite websites!
Adele
Hello Wendy,
Forget Oprah, I am joining “Wendy’s Real Chic Lit Book Club.” I am going to the library with your Katherine of Aragon list. I feel like I have a casual acquaintance with Henry’s wives. With your reading list I can get to know them in depth. And, there’s jewelry too…deep sigh of delight! Thanks for turning me on to your brilliant book club.
Thanks – I love British History – and therefor British costume dramas
Funny post! I wonder how long Jane would have lasted if puerperal fever hadn’t gotten her. To me, she’s always been the most elusive of Henry’s queens. My fave is Katharine Parr, for her intelligence and level-headedness. I think she, of all the women in Elizabeth’s life, had the greatest influence as a role model. I can’t WAIT to see what you say about Anne of Cleves…. I can feel the laughter already 🙂
@GG, I used to be more fond of Katherine Parr but upon further consideration…she almost got herself killed! She was smart enough to talk her way out of it but still….well, I’ll get into it when it’s time for her book 🙂