How To Lose A Queen In Nine Days: Catherine Parr

September 16, 2020

Catherine Parr (1512-1548) is best known for surviving being the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII. She had three other husbands, one of whom was worse than even Henry; she was held hostage; she broke new ground for women writers in England; she was a member of the Renaissance Reformation Girl Squad, AND ALSO she was the guardian to (and role model for) Lady Jane Grey.

References:

Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr, the Last Wife of Henry VIII by Linda Porter

Catherine Parr: Wife, Widow, Mother, Survivor, the Story of the Last Queen of Henry VIII by Elizabeth Norton

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How To Lose A Queen In Nine Days: Katherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk

September 9, 2020

Katherine Willoughby de Eresby (22 March 1519 – 19 September 1580), later Katherine Brandon, then Katherine Bertie, was an English heiress, Protestant rebel, and overall total heroine. From a pretty gross start (being married at age 14 to her adoptive father figure), she wielded her wealth and privilege to support other women and Protestants.

References:

The Six Wives and Many Mistresses of Henry VIII by Amy Licence

Understanding the life of Katherine Willoughby (On The Tudor Trail)

Katherine Willoughby, the Lincolnshire Lady who nearly married Henry VIII (LincolnshireLife)

Katherine Willoughby by Sarah Bryson (Tudor Society)

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How To Lose A Queen In Nine Days: Mary Tudor, Queen of France

September 2, 2020

Mary Tudor (9 October 1514 – 1 January 1515), not to be confused with Queen Mary I or Mary, Queen of Scots, was briefly Queen of France. She then had a secret marriage to her boyfriend, Charles Brandon, and lived an interesting and — dare I say — scandlicious life. She was also the grandmother of Lady Jane Grey, which sets us up for this season’s theme: How To Lose A Queen In Nine Days aka The Lady Jane Grey Scenario.

References:

The Sisters of Henry VIII: The Tumultuous Lives of Margaret of Scotland and Mary of France by Maria Perry

Henry VIII: The King and His Court by Alison Weir

Other stuff:

A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein

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Pandemic Special: Milkmaids, Harem girls, and the History of the Smallpox Vaccine

May 19, 2020

Smallpox was a highly contagious, deadly disease which likely first appeared around the 3rd century BCE in Egypt. From then on, it followed trade routes and colonization, decimating populations in many countries. The development of the smallpox vaccine can be traced back many centuries, to people in India, China, West Africa, and the Ottoman Empire who used a technique known of variolation to inject healthy people with pus from those afflicted by smallpox. In the late 18th century in England, Dr. Edward Jenner popularized and advocated for the injection of cowpox cells to immunize humans against smallpox, leading to the eradication of the disease by 1980.

Crowdfunding site for Dr. Jenner’s House Museum and Garden

References:

Princesses, Slaves, and Explosives: The Scandalous Origin of Vaccines by Kiona Smith-Strickland, Gizmodo

Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes who fought them by Jennifer Wright

COVID-19 May Permanently Shutter Museum Devoted to Vaccination Pioneer (Smithsonian)

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Pandemic Special: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the English sweating sickness

May 6, 2020

From 1485 – 1551, England experienced several epidemics of a mysterious illness known only as the sweating sickness. Unlike other diseases that affected the very young, very old, and the poor, this one seemed to target young, healthy, rich people. And two of the rich people affected were King Henry VIII and his mistress, Anne Boleyn.

EDIT: Two corrections were brought to my attention after this episode published. 1) Henry VII defeated Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth on August 22 1485; therefore, he and his troops did not arrive in England from France on August 28th, as I stated in the episode. What happened is that the first case of English sweating sickness was reported on August 28 1485, and 2) Henry VIII’s BFF/brother-in-law was *Charles* Brandon, not Henry Brandon, as I said in the episode. Charles Brandon’s son Henry died in the sweating sickness.

References:

The ‘Sweating Disease’ That Swept Across England 500 Years Ago is Still a Medical Mystery (Discover Magazine)

The Sweating Sickness Returns (Discover Magazine)

Anne Boleyn and the Tudor sweating sickness (On the Tudor Trail)

The Mysterious Epidemic That Terrified Henry VIII (History.com)

Anne Boleyn: 11 Surprising Facts (History Extra)

How Did King Henry VIII ‘Self-Isolate’ From The Sweating Sickness? (History Extra)

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Joanna of Naples

April 22, 2020

Joanna of Naples (1326-1382) was Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily for thirty action-packed and highly scandilicious years. This story has it all: kidnappings! Revenge murders! Evil popes! Evil husbands! Being trapped in an iron cage for fourteen years! The black plague! But how will Joanna herself score on our scandilicious scale? The results may SURPRISE YOU!!

References:

Queens of Infamy: Joanna of Naples by Anne Theriault on Longreads

The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone

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Anne, Queen of Great Britain

April 15, 2020

Anne I (1665 – 1714), best known as the main character of the movie The Favourite, was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland and then of Great Britain and Ireland for twelve years. Her life story is a gossip buffet of rivalry, death, and resiliency. But how will she score on the scandilicious scale??

References:

Queen Anne: Politics and Passion by Anne Somerset

The Favourite: The Life of Sarah Churchill and the History Behind the Major Motion Picture by Ophelia Field

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Pandemic Special: Eyam, The Plague Village

April 13, 2020

In 1665, the tiny English town of Eyam was beset by the same plague that was affecting London. Under the guidance of the town’s reverend, the villagers agreed to quarantine themselves in order to protect nearby villages. After fourteen months, all but 83 of the town’s 344 residents had died. References:

Eyam Historic Plague Village (the town’s current website): http://www.eyamvillage.org.uk

Did this sleepy village stop the Great Plague? (BBC)

Plague-Infested Village Self-Quarantined to Stop the Plague of 1666 (Interesting Engineeering)

Eyam plague: The village of the damned (BBC News)

Eyam Plague Village Museum – Eyam, England (Atlas Obscura)

The Black Death and the Great Plague: a comparison (Teachit History)

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Pandemic Special: Charles II de Valois And The Pillow Fight Of Death

April 10, 2020

Charles II de Valois (1522-1545) was the third son of the French King Francis I. He died very young from an entirely preventable and ridiculous pillow fight related situation in the middle of a plague-ridden town.

References:

Francis I: The Maker of Modern France by Leonie Frieda

Charles II de Valois, Duke of Orleans (Wikipedia)

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Juana I of Castile

April 8, 2020

Juana I of Castile (1479-1555) was the third child of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. She’s remembered now for being “Juana La Loca/Juana The Mad” but, in fact, that reputation was just part of a larger scheme that found her caught between her ambitious and terrible husband and her ambitious and terrible father.

References:

Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile by Julia Fox

Juana I: Legitimacy and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century Castile by Gillian B. Fleming

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