Tudor Fools: The Courtiers Who Made Fatal Mistakes

These courtiers were all incredibly foolish in an age where one’s head could be smitten of by one careless word or deed, those especially who lived in the reign of Henry V111, his daughter was more merciful but even she imprisoned several of her relations and it cannot have been a pleasant existence being incarcerated in the gloomy Tower of London, with one not knowing how long he or she was to be held there, both Katherine Grey sister of the doomed Jane and Margaret Douglass daughter of Princess Margaret Tudor knew as heirs to the English throne they had to seek permission from the sovereign to marry, but really their crimes were little compared to the utter folly of Queen Catherine Howard and her alleged lover, Thomas Culpeper, the disgrace and fall of her cousin Anne Boleyn should have served as a warning to the feckless Catherine, but her passion for Culpeper was too great for her to heed the seriousness of her situation, when faced with the enormity of the terrible consequences of her actions, she became a complete hysterical wreck and her nightly companion Culpeper, what did he do? As if to further endanger them both he could not resist bragging of how they both intended to sleep together, as if they hadn’t already which has always been open to question, as for Dereham he was condemned for taking her virginity for only the king was allowed that, faced with the realisation of the betrayal of the wife he had adored, Henry V111 condemned him to the most agonising death of all, even though he had not dallied with the queen after her marriage, however had he not come to court and not accepted a post there, he could well have lived, as it was he indulged in obnoxious behaviour towards the queen, lording over the fact they had once been lovers and had called themselves husband and wife, it was Culpeper who was more at fault, and this was the king at his worst, no mercy but utter revenge this was the same king who had ordered the executions of the pitiable Carthusian monks, who had abandoned both Wolsey and Cromwell to their fates, who had sacrificed his second queen for a longed for son, did this young queen and Dereham and Culpeper think they would be spared? And Lady Jane Rochford who was the queens cousin in law she to had lived through the fall of the Boleyn’s, her folly in not reporting to the king about his queens romping condemned her also, there was Sir Thomas Seymour widow of the kings sixth wife, he had behaved inappropriately with his step daughter the young lady Elizabeth which had come to the ears of the council, greedy for power and resentful of his elder brothers position as protector of the realm he made a futile attempt to abduct the young king his own nephew, and in the process shot Edwards beloved pet dog, Edward known for his cold heart was possibly more fond of his pet than his august relations and thus Seymour went to the block, he had tried to wed himself to both the Lady Mary as well as her younger sister something the council would never have allowed, and it was obvious he was after power, that elusive gift so many strove for, he was beheaded for treason another colourful character who gambled and lost, there are many whose names I can mention, Jane Greys parents and Robert Dudley who arranged a failed coup to place the unfortunate Jane on the throne and which cost them the lives, except her mother, Queen Mary’s beloved cousin Frances Grey who could have shared her daughter and husbands fate but was granted clemency but also, had to live the rest of her life out haunted by the memory of her young clever eldest child, Sir Thomas Wyatt grandson of the poet he also behaved recklessly when he tried to put Elizabeth on Mary’s throne and lost his life, treason was a serious crime and punishable by death and also he endangered the life of Elizabeth who was under suspicion by Mary and her council and was sent to the Tower and later, she was under house arrest for a whole year, the young Earl of Surrey a gifted poet immensely proud of his heritage, married with offspring who could not resist baiting the old suspicious king by having the arms of his regal ancestor, Edward the Confessor entwined with the arms of his own family, by this time in his life Henry V111 was becoming ever more tyrannical in nature and therefore this was an incredibly stupid thing to do, the old Plantagenet blood knew of his paranoia over his frail dynasty, they all knew of the fate of the Duke of Buckingham who had suffered for his own arrogance, yet Henry Howard seemed to care not why were these people so reckless in an age where they paid the ultimate price ? Did the danger imbue them with a sense of euphoria the fact they diced with death? Today lengthy prisons sentences would suffice but in the grim old days of the Tudors mercy was rare, it depended on the seriousness of the charges, both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were much more merciful than their father who ruled mostly by fear, all these people who died were wealthy some had titles, their lives were comfortable enough they had positions at court, lands and riches and families, why risk what they already had in the name of power and religion, the 16th century mind is both complex and baffling, but I cannot judge by my own standards today, it seems inconceivable that people would worry over whether a catholic or Protestant would sit on the throne, however with Jane Rochford she was merely caught up in the blood thirsty vengeance of the king, both Margaret Douglass and Katherine Grey simply wanted to be with they men they loved, including tragic Catherine Howard, but Tudor politics decreed otherwise, but love surely the most strongest emotion of all, next to hate, drives those on regardless to commit folly.