Lady Jane Grey

Politics in the Middle Ages was often a treacherous quagmire of ambition, spheres of influence, and opportunity.  It proved fatal to the Lady Jane Grey, even though she was a daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and her mother was a daughter of Mary Tudor, Queen of France and a younger sister of Henry VIII.  These connections also made her a granddaughter of Henry VII and 1st cousin to Edward VI.

The Streatham Portrait of Lady Jane Grey, Oil
on oak panel, dated c.1590.  Source: Wikimedia Commons

In 1547, about age 11, she was sent to live in the household of Thomas Seymour, who married Henry VIII's widow, Catherine Parr.  Not long afterward, Thomas was arrested by his brother, Edward Seymour, Lord Protector and 1st Duke of Somerset, who is believed to have felt threatened by Thomas' popularity with the young king.  Thomas was eventually executed.

Lady Jane was afterward proposed as a bride for the Lord Protector's eldest son, but nothing came of it.  In the spring of 1553, she was engaged to Guildford Dudley, a younger son of the 1st Duke of Northumberland, who had assumed the role if not the title of Lord Protector while the king was still a minor and was one of the most powerful men in the country.  In June of that year, the teen-age king lay dying of consumption and congenital syphilis, passed down from his father, Henry VIII.  A zealous Protestant, he named Jane as successor to the Crown in an amendment to his father's will, thus barring the claims of his devoutly Catholic half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth.  He died on July 6, 1553, and 3 days later, Jane was informed that she was now Queen of England, and was officially proclaimed as such the following day.  Aware that the nobility resented what they viewed as Northumberland's scheming to get his son on the throne, Jane insisted that her husband would not jointly be proclaimed king.

Immediately after the king's death, however,  Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, set out to begin gathering supporters.  She was extremely popular with the public, and seeing a threat, the Duke of Northumberland left London with troops in mid-July intending to arrest her.  He was defeated and the Privy Council switched its allegiance from Jane to Mary, proclaiming her queen in London on July 19.  Jane was subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London.

On August 3, Mary entered London and 19 days later, the Duke of Northumberland was executed.  In September, Parliament declared Mary the rightful queen and revoked Jane's proclamation, making her an usurper.  She and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were both charged with high treason, along with two of her brothers-in-law and Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury.  Not surprisingly, they were all found guilty and sentenced to death, although an imperial ambassador reported to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, that her execution would be stayed.

Circumstances changed, however, when a Protestant rebellion broke out in January 1554.  Even though she had nothing to do with the rebellion, she was known as a staunch Protestant, and her father and two uncles did join the rebellion.  On February 12, 1554, Jane's husband was executed first.  After his remains were taken back to the Tower, Jane was taken out to the scaffold at Tower Green.  She made a statement, recited Psalm 51, and blindfolded herself.  She couldn't find the block until someone assisted her.  The executioner asked her forgiveness, which she granted, and then Lady Jane Grey was executed.  She was not yet 20 years old.

Ejecución de Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche, 1833, Oil on canvas
Source:  Wikimedia Commons

She and her husband were buried in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula on the north side of Tower Green.  Her father, Duke of Suffolk, was executed 11 days later.  Her mother remarried in 1555 and was allowed to live at Court with her two surviving daughters.

Sources:  The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens by Mike Ashley, Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., New York, 1999, pp 637-638.

Wikipedia.org

Armor Fit for A King

This suit of armor was made for Henry VIII, King of England in the early part of the 16th century, in his older years after he had gained weight and was suffering from various ailments, including gout.  It may have been worn by him in the siege of Boulogne in 1544, his last campaign.  It was almost certainly constructed for use in both mounted and unmounted combat, as it was originally fitted with a detachable reinforcing breastplate that had a rest for a lance attached to it, and a reinforcement for the left the pauldron.

The armor is described in the inventory taken after Henry's death of his belongings, in 1547, as being of Italian making.  Whether it was actually crafted in Italy or supplied by a Milanese merchant who was licensed by Henry to import luxury goods and armor into England is unclear.

After Henry's death, the armor was given to William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke (c.1507-1570), who was Henry's esquire and also the executor of his will.  It is recorded at the seat of the Pembroke family from 1558 until it was sold in early part of the 20th century.  Sometime around the end of the 18th century the origins of the armor were mistaken and it was believed to have belonged to Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France.  This error was not discovered until recently.

The armor is an early example of the “anime” type, in which the breastplate and backplate are constructed of horizontal overlapping plates connected and made flexible by rivets and internal leather straps. The decoration and ornament is typically Italian.  It is made of steel, blackened, etched and gilded, and leather, and weighs just over 50 pounds.

Source:  The Metropolitan Museum, http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/23936

Cloughoughter Castle, Ireland

The ruins of Cloughoughter Castle stand in what used to be the Irish Kingdom of Breifne (what you DAoC players may recognize as “Breifine” from the Kingdom of Hibernia) and what is now the County Cavan.  It is built on an island in the Lough Oughter.

Photo courtesy of Conde-Nast Traveller

The castle was believed to have initially been constructed c1200-1225, possibly under the control of the Anglo-Norman William Gorm de Lacey.  But by 1233 it came under the control of Clan O’Reilly, who held it for a considerable length of time.  When Britain established the Plantation of Ulster, Hugh Culme was granted control of the castle.  Perhaps a little too spartan for his taste, he built a residence on the mainland shore and used the castle on the island as an armory.

Photo Source: flickr.com/photos/naomimiki

During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Philip O’Reilly and several other conspirators captured Culme and imprisoned him and several other “plantationers” in the castle, where they were held for several years.

The castle was attacked by British forces under Cromwell after the Irish were driven off the mainland and forced to take refuge in the castle.  The castle was bombarded from the shore, and in March 1653, it was the last stronghold of the rebellion to fall.

Interior of tower showing stairs from base to top.
Photo source: www.360doc.com/content/12/1209/10

The Church and Science

The dichotomy between religion and science, particularly Christianity, did not always exist as it currently does.  In fact, as the Church was the primary vehicle for education in the Middle Ages, many scientists of that era were ecclesiastics.  In fact, David C. Lindberg, in his 1986 publication "God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science" describes Jesuits as, "the single most important contributor to experimental physics in the seventeenth century."

The pursuit of science, however, was not limited to monks cloistered away in monasteries.  Parish priests and bishops, such as Tiedemann Giese who was Bishop of Kulm and later Prince-Bishop, were also among those who zealously pursued scientific knowledge.

Other well-known scientists who were also ecclesiastics of various echelons within the Catholic Church include Copernicus, Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Gregor Mendel, Theodoric Borgognoni, and Francesco Grimaldi, to name a few.  These men conducted research and published papers on subjects ranging from astronomy to physics to medicine.

For example, Albertus Magnus, who lived from about 1206 to 1280 AD, was a Dominican friar and Bishop of Regensberg.  He is considered the patron saint of natural sciences, completing works in physics, logic, metaphysics, biology, and psychology.  He was beatified in 1622 and canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1931.

Albertus Magnus
Painting by Joos van Gent

Or, how about Theodoric Borgognoni, who lived from 1205 to 1298.  He was also a Dominican friar and the Bishop of Cervia.  He was a medieval surgeon who made important contributions to antiseptic practices and the use of anasthetics.

Anatomical drawing by Theodoric Borgognoni
showing circulation of the blood.  Image from
Wikipedia Commons

And of course, let's not forget Copernicus (1473-1543).  He was mostly just a canon of the church with ecclesiastic connections through his family rather than serving as an active priest.  He was well-known in his day as a physician, but is remembered primarily because of his work in astronomy and his publication of works on heliocentrism.

Copernicus Self-Portrait

Not until the Renaissance did the partnership between Church and Science begin to weaken.  Learning was no longer strictly centered within the Church.  As scientific pursuits called into question some of the early assumptions about the natural world that the Church, in the absence of any real knowledge, had embraced, the partnership began to dissolve.