Sunday, November 23, 2008

Elizabeth I ...

I think we see a valient effort by Elizabeth I to keep the moral of her country and troops focused. Already at this time the stories of valour and victory were spreading through England as the early legends of Arthur and Robin Hood started instilling beliefs of integrity and valour in the people. Elizabeth makes a very wonderful speach which highlights her ability to hold the crown of England in a manner that the English people were familiar with. Her father made many changes to England and in respect to the protestant beliefs it was still very young. She able to express to her people that England was strong even though she, as a women, lead them.

I think her speach is important to remember as we look at the integrity and pride instilled in the british people even to this day. A co worker or mine is a british citizen and while her husband is american and she lives and works here he is determined to remain british until she dies. She loves america and the people here but she is proud of her homeland and hopes to return once her husband can retire. She told me that the stories of the monarchy and words from each ruler since the Tudors have been a key part of the culture and her education. She was very familiar with this passage and found it wonderfully amazing that "an american would pay so much attention to our dear Elizabeth" **add a wonderful accent from just out side of london**

Elizabeth I showed us that she was aware of the wants and needs of her people with these wonderful words. and I think it is amazing to see that she truly was a 'commander and chief' of her troops in a way that only a few think of anymore.

Friday, November 21, 2008

A problem with the Tudor Dynasty...Wikipedia Anaylsis #3

Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey, also referred to as Queen Jane, was a claimaint to the throwns of both England and Ireland. She was the Grand-Niece of Henry VIII. With a great amount of influence from Jane's Father-in-law, John Dudley 1st Duke of Northumberland, Henry VIII's son Edward I willed the crown to Jane under the "Devise of the Succession". Edward made this move as part of his effort to exclude his sisters Mary I and Elizabeth I from succession. In July of 1553 when Edward I died at the age of 15 Jane was declared Queen despite the Third Succession Act of 1543.

However Jane's claim to the thrown was threatened with in 9 days. Mary Tudor managed to find enough evidence to prove her claim and Parliament support her claim by revoking Jane's. mary placed Jane and her husband in the London Tower. John Dudley was executed on 21 August 1553. Jane and her husband her tried and found guilty of high treason. The sentence for Jane was 'burned alive on Tower Hill or beheaded as the queen pleases'. Jane's life was originally spared until the Protestant rebellion in 1554. During this time many of the nobles called for Jane to be restored to the Crown. During 1554 Jane was executed in private as her cousins orders.

Jane is considered to have held the shortest rule of England. She is also referred to as the Nine Days Queen of England. In some areas, where recognized, Jane is considered the First Queen Regent of England.

Jane was the Oldest daughter of Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset. She was born around 1536/1537 and the exact date is unknown. Jane's mother was Lady Frances Brandon the daughter of Henry VIII sister Princess Mary. This made Jane 1st cousin to Edward I. At the age of 10 Jane was sent to live with the Queen Consort Katherine Parr. Several suggestions were made regarding the marriage of Jane, including a union between Jane and Edward I. After many proposed marriages Jane was married to Lord Guilford Dudley. Through many changes in law Mary and Elizabeth had many struggles regarding their status as heirs. However many felt that the Protestant cousin Jane was the more logical and direct heir to the thrown. She was even named heir by 15 year old Edward I as he lay in his death bed. However Mary found enough evidence to have this overturned. Many things effected her Trial and Execution including the Protestant rebellion lead by Thomas Wyatt the younger. It is says that prior to her death Jane recited Palsm 51. Historian Albert Pollard called Jane "the Traitor-Heroine of the Reformation".
  1. This article is 2734 words long and is approximately 8 pages single spaced.
  2. I started by searching for 'Tudor Dynasty' and while reading the article I found the name Lady Jane Grey under the Problematic Succession segment.
  3. This article does not have a disambiguation link.
  4. The discussion page for this article includes information regarding the name change of the House of Windsor, the Issues regarding the accruacy of Lady Jane's Birthday, a debate over Lady Jane vs Queen Jane I regarding her title, and lots of comments regarding the highly inaccurate nature of the article including repeated edits considered to be vandalism
  5. This page listed history starting in July 2003 until November 17, 2008. I had some difficulty with locating the exact number of edits for this page as Wikipedia provided pages and pages of repeated information and I was unable to locate the count function I have previously used.
  6. There are 5 external links provided
  7. This article Contains 17 reference links
  8. There are no further reading links provided for in this article.

I think this is an incredibly fascinating article. The idea that one person had had such and impact but also gave up so much. After all 9 days to be Queen seems to be hardly worth the cost paid. I think this article is a wonderful insight into the happenings of England after Henry VIII and the problems caused by his mulitple marriages. Henry VIII seperated England from the Catholics to facilitate his Divorces/Annulments however the long term impact of this is usually seen only in the aspect of England being Protestant. I found this article wonderful and informative to show that more was at stake then just the religion of England. I highly recommend this article as further reading into the House of Tudor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Jane_Grey

Sunday, November 16, 2008

the Ideas of Luther

It amazes me as I read the words of Martin Luther how much like a modern translation of the bible it sounds. In making his points regarding the main teaching of Christianity at the time he explains the verse in what was seen as lay-man's terms. To me it seemed to read very similar in nature to the NIV version of the bible. It seems that while Luther was trying to express his views he actually gave us a very basic modern translation of the bible.

In explaining about the freedom of the christian man it is also very evident that it is a man's world and that to be a christian woman does not give you any of these freedoms. At this time we see that the views of Christianity were very geared towards men not only in right but also in beliefs. Even though the world has advanced to allowing women more freedoms and rights many christian churches still view their beliefs in this respect. This is very evident not only in the writings of Luther but much of the history of the church we have studied up to this point.

Although i think the reading of Luther is just as intriguing when you substitute woman for man and little of the meaning is lost. However it is also fascinating to see how many of Luther's ideas have survived all of the different religious movements to now.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

so much trouble just for a divorce

i find it incredible how Henry VIII set out just to get a divorce from an act forced on him and he ended up being the key factor in the division of England from the Catholic Church. Honestly Henry just wanted to marry the Girl of his dreams Anne. Instead he had to marry her in secret while waiting for Parliament to decide that he was divorced from Catherine. Sure he probably went about things in the wrong way and looking for the fast way out but in the age of thoughts and questions his action allowed for a change that needed backing to make it work. Many of the British people wanted to be independent of Rome. They wanted to have the powers and the lands that the catholic church did without all the hassles. So these reformers slipped in when Henry made a stir and set out to change England. I think that when it comes down to it that is was a huge headache to Henry to have to deal with all these changes and all the politics just to get a marriage fixed. and when it came to it his daughters were both seen as illegitimate. They both eventually became queen but What was Henry thinking? he really just wanted a new wife and instead he sparked a religious revolution.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Upset in Europe.

At the end of the Hundred Years' War we see many new and notable monarchies come to the for front. On of these is Henry the VII the first Tudor King of England. He came to the thrown after a time known as the War of the Roses. These Symbols of a white rose vs a red rose have played many parts in our culture today, including Alice in Wonderland. The York and Lancaster families were very prominate predessors to the Tudors and the legacies of each of these families had a long lasting impact on England. The Tudor Rose is a combination of the York white rose and the Lancaster red rose. I think it would have been very interesting to discuss the War of the Roses more in our reading but it is important to remember that England was not the only contry having wars over throwns.

France was struggling and ultimately Louis XI became the winner. Germany eventually gained control of Burgundy, Belgium and Luxembourg as well as many other regions. The Duke of Moscow, Ivan III, declared himself Tsar of Russia. and Spain fought the Trastamaran Wars.

Each region of Europe was in strife and change. These changes started to show us the first divisons of the regions of Europe. I think this period of time was influencial in the divisions of Europe and we still see the Effects of these monarchy changes in Modern Europe today.