 |
Reply
| | | From: jbrown (Original Message) | Sent: 2/3/2008 4:26 AM |
Am I the only one who wonders why anyone would WANT to be royalty or have anything to do with court life? Granted life outside of court had its problems but when it seems that you could be thrown into the Tower because someone happened to be in a bad mood at the moment or lose your head over something that a relative did... Wow. I think personally I might have to choose the country life. |
|
 First
Previous
2-7 of 7
Next
Last
|
Reply
| |
People at court didn't always have the luxury to be able to come and go at will. Most needed the Monarch's permission to retire from court. If called to court, they could not ignore the summons...or if they did it was at their peril. |
|
Reply
| | | From: jbrown | Sent: 2/3/2008 6:47 PM |
For the most part that makes sense to me. It's the part where for example, Henry could seemingly be talked into some story (false or not) about one of his wives for which he would then send his men to put her in the Tower. But, if she could cleverly dodge them and get to Henry to plead her case... chances are she was forgiven or at least could stay at court. I guess I'm saying that regardless of how careful you were it seemed you were always completely at most everyone's mercy. Know what I mean? |
|
Reply
| |
Basically, it was an expectation of the nobility that their place in life was at Court to serve the reigning monarch & seize whatever rich plums might be hurled their way in reompense. That's part of why there was so much resentment of the "new men" (like the Boleyns) surrounding Henry VIII; at that time, it wasn't a universally-held truth that hard work & ambition could better one's lot in life, you were either born to it or not. Wolsey was sneered at as "the butcher's son" & resented for the huge fortune he amassed while serving Henry, stuff the "old nobility" thought should have been flung their way instead. Even Henry was reportedly amazed after Wolsey's death to see how much wealth the cardinal had. Look at ladies-in-waiting like Jane Rochford, for example. Jane was widowed relatively young by the executioner's axe, yet she returned to Court to serve Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, & Catherine Howard just as she had previously served Catherine of Aragon & Anne Boleyn. Her widow's jointure was not much cash by Court standards, but she did have a life interest in Blickling & could have well stayed hidden in the country, far away from Henry's notice. Yet Jane petitioned Cromwell to ask Henry to nudge Thomas Boleyn in the matter of increasing her jointure (this letter is still extant in Cromwell's papers), & allegedly ASKED Cromwell in a later letter to secure her a place amongst Jane Seymour's ladies; it's recorded that she carried Mary's train (she was the "chief mourner") at JSs funeral, giving her the coveted second place in the funeral procession. Now tis easy for you & I to go ummm what's wrong with her that she would volunteer to return to the Court of the man who had ordered the death of her husband & SIL (amongst others of her acquaintance) & practically beggared her by confiscating all of George Boleyn's vast wealth & properties? Certainly in this day & age no one would want to go near a person who had killed one's spouse & got off scot-free for the deed. This was just how it WAS in those days. If you were not at Court, seeing & being seen, then you were a NOBODY. |
|
Reply
| | | From: jbrown | Sent: 2/11/2008 3:11 AM |
Though it seems so black and white when put that way... I do understand what you're saying and I agree with you. However, being very much of a small town girl myself, and quite happily so, I am finding it hard to get my head around. Does anyone have knowledge on what life would have been like for the common folk outside of court life? |
|
Reply
| |
Rural & dull, I'd imagine LOL Most of them never left the place where they were born, or traveled very far from it. Certainly they didn't keep Court hours (Henry usually rose around 8am & never got to bed much before midnight in his youth) because not only would the expense of candles have been ruinious, they had work to do! They usually followed the sun in the hours kept. Many people were not prosperous enough to have others to "do" for them or purchase even basic items from shops. Animals & garden plots (whole farms in many cases) had to be tended, & most everything made from scratch (clothing, candles, furnishings, bedding, etc) & maintained. Cooking, cleaning, minding children, spinning, sewing, hunting, dressing kills, butchering....you name it, it had to be done. Sunday was the general "day of rest", but probably some basic chores (like gathering eggs, milking cows, or mending) had to be done then as well. Mind, I'm talking your basic "small towns", or villages, here, your basic English yeomen stock. The "merchant class" had less labor in the home or shop because they were just wealthy enough to have apprentices, maidservants, & men of work, but they still had the supervision & management of their employees, home, place of business. It was rare for someone of the "middle class", as we'd call it today, to be rich enough to lead a life of leisure comparable to that at Court. |
|
Reply
| | | From: jbrown | Sent: 2/12/2008 5:35 PM |
I've heard before that it was common for the farmers never to have gone far from home in the entirety of their lives. Sounds like a tuff life... working litterally sun up to down just in the struggle to survive. Still the idea of having a bit more control of your own destiny is tempting to me. Any idea how many would actually have owned their own lands or how many would have been renters etc? |
|
|
First
Previous
2-7 of 7
Next
Last
|
|
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
Return to General