Dr Kat and the Symbols of the Six Wives of Henry VIII

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is reading the past and I'm dr. Kat a few weeks ago I uploaded a video on the Royal Arms of England which I'm going to link in a card up here in that video among other things I discussed the way that an achievement of arms and its component and connected parts so mottos badges emblazoned supporters Helms and crests are all parts of image making they both show us how the outside world viewed an individual but also how that individual wish to be seen by those around them and for me this is especially true if we look at Henry the eighth and his six wives particularly their badges and mottos in today's video I want to look at the badges and mottos for Henry and his queens to look at the way that they were attempting to shape their political and marital identities [Music] [Music] when Harry the eighth came to the throne in 1509 his motto was the same as the Monarchs had gone before him and those who had come after him God and my right because that was how he was in his place he was placed on the throne of England by God and his own divine right in terms of symbols or badges Henry had access to a plethora there was the Beaufort portcullis of his paternal grandmother Margaret Beaufort there was the red dragon connected to Wales and the Welsh Tudors then there was the greyhound and many others besides although perhaps the symbol that we most commonly associate with Henry and indeed his father Henry the seventh is the Tudor Rose and the Rose is in fact the national flower of England but what does the rows represent and why is it used then as now the rose is an enduring iconic symbol of love it is for that reason that it is frequently given and received on Valentine's Day however on the Tudor Rose the Roses of Lancaster and York brought together in both cases white and red rose have five petals and these five petals connect to the Virgin Mary they are seen as being representative of the five joys of the Virgin Mary's life these being the Annunciation when Mary hears that she will carry the Christ child the Nativity the birth the resurrection when Christ comes back from the dead the Ascension of Christ into heaven and the Assumption the ascension of Mary into heaven the five petals are also taken to be representative of the five letters of her full name Maria the Rose is also used to represent Christ he is described as the rose without a thorn and that imagery will come up later in Henry's marital career however in the case of the Tudor Rose we are also seeing a narrative being shaped about the end of earthly strife the Tudor Rose is also sometimes known as the Union rose as it represents the union of two previously warring family factions both descended out of the Plantagenet royal family the House of York represented by the White Rose and the House of Lancaster represented by the red when Henry the seventh as the sole surviving Lancastrian claimant however tenuous came over to England and the feet of which the third at Bosworth Field he went on to marry the daughter of Edward the fourth Elizabeth of York she was the White Rose and he was the red and together the Tudor Rose was formed and it was personified in the children of their marriage no more was the family at odds because they were unified by these children created out of both York and Lancaster however all is perhaps not as it seems with this because while the White Rose of York was certainly a symbol that was used by that family for the red rose that was something that was more tenuously connected it was definitely a Lancastrian symbol but not the most prominent one as Henry the seventh was ramping up his invasion of England he decided to take this floral image on as his royal device and it seems to me that he knows that this will make branding his new dynasty all the easier that he knows in his red rose he can join it up with his future wife's White Rose and make a unified national symbol when Henry processed his coronation in 1509 he was not alone at his side was his brother's widow now his wife Catherine for her new role as Henry's wife and queen she chose the motto humble and loyal her badge was the pomegranate sometimes known better as the pomegranate of Spain a reference to her Spanish royal roots but the pomegranate is also a fruit of many seeds and thus it symbolizes fertility and abundance it is a device of hope Catherine hopes to be the fertile mother of Henry's children alas as history will tell us this was not meant to be for although Catherine did fall pregnant many times over their marriage she produced only one child that would survive a daughter Mary Catherine's pomegranates is crowned representing both her own royal heritage and her place in England as Henry's wife and queen there is nothing to suggest that Henry and Catherine's marriage was anything other than completely happy when it first began however by the 1520's and we aren't completely sure of the exact date Henry's hearts and minds have been turned to another one of his wife's gentlemen of the chamber and Berlin perhaps it is because he becomes aware that catherine has stopped menstruating that she has gone through menopause and so therefore he will not be having more children or any sons by her perhaps because of the very great love that it does seem that he bought Anne Boleyn either way he decides that his best course of action is to annul his marriage to Catherine so that he can marry Anne and make her his queen in 1533 London witnesses the majestic coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn as her motto she chooses the most happy her badge is a crowned falcon holding a scepter on a tree stump from which red and white roses grow the falcon was connected with the Earl's of almond and this title was one which Anne's father Sir Thomas Boleyn felt he had a right to claim additionally the Falcon is a favored bird of prey known for its relentlessness in pursuing its quarry thus it is potentially symbolic of somebody who will not give up until they have achieved their desires the fact that it is crowned is symbolic of Anne's new royal status the scepter is a sign of authority and a game of royal power by placing this crown falcon holding a scepter on a tree stump from which flower is bringing it seems that Anne is making a promise both to her king and her country Henry's former marriage his so-called false marriage to Katherine Merrigan had produced only one surviving child a daughter the dynasty was therefore in danger of dying out what Anne seems to be promising here is new life the barren stump of the Tudor family is through an being given a new hope because of course she will provide Henry with the son that he craves and indeed at the time of her coronation it would seem that all of these promises were about to be fulfilled because Anne was visibly pregnant surely it would be a son as we know as history turns out she did know better than her predecessor for the child she was delivered of the one she was pregnant with at her coronation was another girl Elizabeth and Anne would not produce another living child three years after her coronation in 1536 and was back at the tower for her trial and execution within days her successor Jane Seymour was getting ready to become Henry's next wife and Queen Anne Boleyn was the last of Henry's wife to have a coronation but she was certainly not the last to have a motto or a badge when Jane steamer became Henry's wife and queen in 1536 she chose as her motto bound to obey and serve as a badge she chose a crowned Phoenix emerging from a castle or tower that castle or tower also has sprouting from its red and white flowers the choice of the Phoenix is securely poignant and a little tragic the Phoenix is a symbol of regeneration resurrection and new life however in order to resurrect the Phoenix itself must die it must burn itself out so that new life can sprout it is of course not thinkable that Jane would have known that by 1537 she would be dead having provided Henry with the Sun that he's so craved but in the act of producing that Sun she herself would be destroyed Jane was the Phoenix she sacrificed her own life it seems so that Henry could get his son Edward and the Tudor dynasty and England could have their longed for air through the castle or Tower in Jane's badge we are shown steadfastness security and safety this is exactly what she provides to her new royal family the safety and security of the promise of an heir additionally in the crowning of her Phoenix it shows her royal position although she herself never got a coronation after Jane Seymour's there Henry was a grieving widower within a few years however he had remarried and between January and July 1540 he was involved in his brief abortive marriage to Anne of Cleves as her motto she chose God sent me well to keep and as it would turn out these are words that she would hope to live by for her badge she had a crowned golden s carbuncle the crown is a dual crown representative of the fact that she comes from the family of the Duchy of Cleves the S carbuncle itself is also a device connected to Cleaves however it is tantalizingly different to the badges of those who have gone before her in the S carbuncle that is both a shield and also representative of precious gem there is no promise here of children and generation the shield is of course a protective force and if it represents a precious gem then that's about value that's about beauty but not necessarily about children however perhaps the choice of this badge is a fitting one particularly as we look back on her as historians because it's just as inscrutable as the woman herself what was she thinking what motivated her was she happy sad frightened all of these things are somewhat obscured almost it would seem as obscured as the meaning behind her choice of badge after annulling his marriage to Anne of Cleves Henry moves on at lightning pace from 1540 to 1540 to his wife and queen is Katherine Howard the motto that she chooses for her new role is no other will than his which sounds very obedient on paper doesn't it as a badge she picks the tudor rose or the union rose crowned so her device is the same as Henry's all except for the stem Catherine Howard's Rose shows a stem with no thorns for Catherine Howard was Henry's rose without a thorn or at least so he thought it would soon become clear that the was not what she was she had been engaged in sexual relations before her marriage that she had not confessed and it would seem that she had engaged in illicit relationships during her marriage to the king through her behavior Catherine jeopardized the royal succession for all that her motto and badge promised it would seem that Henry had been deceived by her in 1542 she was arrested attainted and executed for her behavior nevertheless despite all this turmoil and upheaval Henry is not quite done with matrimony just yet in 1543 he marries again his final wife and queen is a woman who has been twice widowed this is perhaps fortuitous no one's going to expect a twice widowed woman to be a virgin Catherine Parr chooses as her motto to be useful in all that I do she chooses her badge a crowned maiden emerging from a Tudor Rose the crown of course represents her newly elevated royal status but people have asked if the maiden is supposed to represent that catherine was alleging that she was still a virgin that her first two marriages had not been consummated certainly they had not produced children however to accept or believe this is to overlook the fact that Catherine had as her patron saint st. Catherine of Alexandria also known as st. Catherine of the wheel the person who the Catherine Wheel of bonfire night is named after st. Catherine is the patron saint of scholars and philosophers more recently she is tied more explicitly as the patron saint of female learning and this is so very fitting for Catherine Parr it's almost like this is her manifesto both for her marriage and her life because she was educated and she was keen to see that others would be educated as well as a two times published author Catherine Parr would practice what she preached and promised through this badge through the lamentation of a sinner and prayers and meditations Catherine Parr would show herself to be an educated interested woman keen to engage with the philosophical and religious problems of the day and also a staunch proponent of religious reform I believe that by looking at the mottos and badges of Henry's wives and queens we are being shown just what they were promising Henry and England now some of these batteries and mottos seem to be starting ly prophetic some are tragic ironically so some completely inscrutable and others seem like an outright deception I think they're fascinating but I would love to know what you think also if there's any other achievements of arms mottos or badges that you'd like me to look at then do let me know in the comment section down below or come and find me over on my social media I'll leave the links of those in the description box follow me there and we can continue this conversation I do hope you've enjoyed this video and found it useful if you did then let me know by hitting the thumbs up button please also subscribe to this channel and click the bell icon so that YouTube tells you when I've next uploaded I hope you're gonna have a great day whatever you're doing and I look forward to speaking to in my next video take care of yourselves bye bye for now [Music] [Music]

Channel: Reading the Past

Views: 59,081

Keywords: Renaissance, Early Modern, History, Culture, Literature, Education, Katherine Parr, Katherine Howard, Anne of Cleves, Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn, Katherine of Aragon, Tudor, Heraldry, Henry VIII, Badges

Id: niEDWiglR10

Length: 15min 43sec (943 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 06 2019