Lady Tudors’ Fun Facts About Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light – Ep 4 Jenneke

Welcome back to Court and to episode four of “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light”

This week I thought we would look at the birth of Henry’s son Edward, his christening, and the death of Queen Jane, along with other fun facts about this week’s episode “Jenneke”.

The episode opens to Henry admiring an enormous portrait of himself (and Jane) that is on display at the Palace of Whitehall. Henry wants Holbein to make copies to send abroad, and copies of this portrait were made which is why this portrait is one of the most known of Henry. This portrait shows Henry at fine health, and we know that is not the case. This portrait projects what Henry wants the Court and the world to see, not necessarily the reality. Fun fact about this portrait: when Henry’s daughter Elizabeth becomes Queen in 1558, she prominently displays this portrait in her Presence Chamber. This would be the first thing a courtier would see when entering, reminding everyone who her father was and her lineage. She wanted to make sure each person in her presence knew she was a Tudor and the legitimate Queen. Unfortunately, the portrait was destroyed in a fire in 1698.

The joyful day is finally here, and Henry has a son! Edward was born on October 12, 1537 at Hampton Court. His father, and the whole of England celebrated this joyous occasion.

What we did not see is that Jane has an extremely difficult labor. She struggled for two days because the baby was not in the correct position for an easy birth. When we see her with Cromwell looking out at Edward’s christening procession, she was most likely exhausted, but she was not ill yet. Edward was christened on October 15^th, with his sister Mary as his godmother, and his sister Elizabeth carrying his train. (This goes against what Norfolk says to Cromwell about Mary “looking sour”. Mary and Edward were quite close until he became King in 1547.)

There are conflicting reports on whether Jane was at the christening. It was common at that time that a woman would not be seen again in public after giving birth until she was churched which was about 40 days. However, there are accounts that an exception was made for Jane because she was the Queen. Either way, the King was not there, as was customary.

Jane became ill not long after the christening. She died at Hampton Court on October 24, 1537, only 12 days after giving birth. There are several theories on what caused her illness and death, with the most likely being an infection, either from puerperal fever or not all of the placenta being expelled. Hygiene in Tudor times was non-existent so it would be very easy for bacteria to infect a new mother. As there were no antibiotics at the time, childbed fever was usually fatal. So, Cromwell was wrong when he believed Jane’s diet or her being cold had anything to do with her death. It was probably due to one of her midwives not washing their hands.

Jane was buried at Windsor Castle on November 12^th, with the Lady Mary being the chief mourner. She was the only one of Henry’s wives to receive a Queen’s funeral.

The death of Jane sends Henry into a downward spiral. Although we don’t see it in the episode, this is when Henry really starts to get obese and his health, including his leg ulcers, really begins to get worse.

Although Henry’s cradle is now full, one male heir is not enough. Henry himself knows how important it is to have an heir and a spare – he was the spare! Also, there was a high infant mortality rate during this time. Henry’s first son with Catherine of Aragon, Henry Duke of Cornwall, was born on January 1 1511 and died on February 22 of that same year; there was no guarantee that the healthy Edward would make it to his first birthday, so another wife with the possibly of another son was needed.

The Privy Council wanted Henry to look to France or Spain for a bride while Cromwell wanted one that would be an ally against the Catholic powers of Europe.

Henry might have thought he had many choices, but by that time he had garnered somewhat of a reputation around Europe. One of his choices, Christina, Duchess of Milan, was not at all interested. She supposedly said, “If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England’s disposal.” Yikes!

When Spain and France sign a 10-year peace agreement known as the Treaty of Nice, England becomes isolated and under threat of invasion. Not only could England be invaded from across the Channel, but they would also be invaded from the north, as Scotland and France were close allies. This gives Cromwell the opportunity to suggest a bride from Cleves.

Cleves was part of the Schmalkaldic League which was an alliance of principalities and cities that supported the religious Reformation, and pledged to support one another against Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. A marriage to a princess from this League would help Henry and England not be isolated against Spain and France and would help Cromwell have a Queen on the thrown who would support the Reformation.

Cromwell tells Henry that Duke Wilhelm wants to send a portrait of his sister Anne for Henry’s consideration as a bride. The real story is that Cromwell convinced Henry to send Hans Holbein to Cleves to paint portraits of Anne and her younger sister, Amalia. After seeing both portraits, Henry chose Anne.

We see Henry publicly debate John Lambert about religion. You would think that Henry wouldn’t have an issue with a Protestant priest, as it was Henry who broke from the Catholic Church, dissolved the monasteries, and brought the Reformation to England. However, Henry was still a conservative when it came to religion. He still attended mass that was mostly in the Catholic manner, still believed in most Catholic doctrine; Henry was never the Protestant that Cronwell was, or that his son Edward and daughter Elizabeth would become. Henry broke from the Church because the Pope would not annul his marriage to Catherine. If the Pope had, Henry would have never broke from Rome.

It is funny we see Gardiner saying “burn him now”. Gardiner, while serving as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I, goes on to burn approximately 280 Protestants during her 5 year reign.

Cromwell sends Thomas Wyatt back to the court of the Emperor to try and break the alliance between France and Spain. Fun Fact: the son of Thomas Wyatt, Thomas Wyatt the Younger, in 1554 will try and lead a rebellion against Queen Mary I and her returning England back to the Catholic faith. This becomes known as Wyatt’s Rebellion. The plan was to replace Mary with her half-sister Elizabeth who was a Protestant. The plan fails, and Thomas Wyatt the Younger is hung in 1554. Elizabeth was not involved with this plot, similarly like Mary was not a part of the rebellion in the North. The rebels in both cases used the names of the daughter’s of Henry as a rallying call without their knowledge or involvement.

Also, series one of Wolf Hall implies that Thomas Wyatt was a “lover” of Anne Boleyn. This is not the case. Wyatt was raised in Kent and his family were neighbors of the Boleyns were lived at Hever Castle. Anne and Thomas knew each other from childhood. When Anne returns from the court of King Francis of France in 1522, Wyatt is already married. If Anne would not sleep with the King until marriage, there is no way she would have with a man like Wyatt. There probably was a flirtation and they may have played the game of courtly love but that was about it. Anne was actually in love with Henry Percy before she became involved with the King.

Because I have PBS passport, I have already watched the entire series. I will say that the next two episodes are probably the best television I have seen in a very long time. If you haven’t seen the episodes, you are in for television at its finest.

See you at Court next week!

Author: Lady Trader

"Lady Trader" is a Brooklyn girl, and a Wall Street lifer! Recently fought cancer, and won! I love heavy metal, history, sci-fi, oh, and blogging about Billions and it's great lead actor, Damian Lewis! View all posts by Lady Trader