Catherine Vs. Jane: The Devoted Wives

Hello!

I love how I feel like I’m done with these versus posts until I think of another batch of people to compare their stories to a newer audience. This is one of two others I want to write sometime before the end of the year.  And after this post, we actually work our way out of talking about the Tudors! So if you’re annoyed over the fact that’s been my topic of choice, hopefully you’ll like those! Until then, we are going to discuss about Katherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour, King Henry VIII’s first and third wives and queens of England respectively.

I know a lot of people are freaking out that I put “Catherine” in the banner, but yet I’m still spelling it with a “K” in this post. Since Henry married three women with the same name, some people recognize her name with a “C” but since I was introduced to her as “Katherine” it’s just what I go for first, so there’s your answer to the mystery. I’m sorry if all I’ve done is confused you.

There’s a lot of speculation whether or not you can fall in love with your arranged spouse. You can find it throughout history of children being married off for different reasons, one being money. If you came from a wealthy family, there were times that the fathers or in some cases mothers would arrange a marriage with one of their daughters to be married off into another family, because they needed the dowry. This goes with Katherine of Aragon, as she was a Spanish princess, she was given to Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales. They married but instead of her returning back to Spain when he died, she stayed because Henry VII needed her dowry, so after the death of the king, she married Henry, who was now the next in line to the throne.

We’ve heard stories of Henry’s hatred for Katherine once he fell in love with Anne, but I think they actually loved each other. I mean, he would have had to love her to make her regent when he went to France in 1512 to fight in the war. A year after they had married, the wedded bliss would start to fade as they lost their first child – a daughter in 1509. Soon afterwards she became pregnant again, this time giving birth to a baby boy that they named Henry, Duke of Cornwall, but unfortunately, the little prince would die just fifty two days after his birth. I can’t imagine losing a child, especially if one was a needed heir for the Tudor dynasty and help to save the marriage to these two people.

Let’s fast forward to when Henry married Jane Seymour.

After the the marriage and beheading to Anne Boleyn was done, Henry quickly married Jane. She was a maid of honour for both Katherine and Anne. Jane’s father was Sir John Seymour and he was a courtier to Henry VIII and majority of his children also became courtiers besides Jane. One of the differences between Henry’s previous wives, was the fact that she wasn’t as educated as they were, but she was good at needlework and keeping a household, which at the time was more of a custom to women.

The other thing that made her different from both Katherine and Anne was her promise to Henry, she actually gave him a son. Their only child together would be Edward VI. After he was born, she was really sick with some type of infection and after reading about how people took care of themselves back then, I’m surprised this didn’t happen more often! After her son’s christening, she died and left Henry a broken man despite she did what nobody else could have give him.

Henry is buried next to Jane at Westminster Abbey. I do think that before his death, she was his only love despite being married to five other women and slept around with some of the ladies in waiting that probably took care of Jane as she was labor with their child and watched her die.  Whether it was only because she was the one to give him a son or the fact that he truly loved her, we’ll never know but I find this decision very interesting. I think once Jane died, I think he was fine without marrying anyone again as there is a pretty big gap between Jane and Anne of Cleves, there’s five years in between these two women. If he wasn’t so paranoid about having a spare like he was after the death of his older brother Prince Arthur, then I think he would never had continued to search for a new wife.

I think every woman that Henry came into contact with, while or after he was married, wanted to please him. Honestly, if you’re in a room with a very high up person like an official or royal, you’ll try your best not to step on their toes. I think all of his wives wanted to be there for him in some way. However, I often wonder, like probably everybody that is obsessed with this time period, is if Jane had lived would Henry still have the same feelings for her as he did after she gave birth to Edward?

Do you believe that King Henry VIII ever loved any of his wives?

If Henry, Duke of Cornwall or any of their other male children had lived, do you think Henry would have asked for a divorce from Katherine? And if Jane had lived, do you think Henry would have loved her just as much?

 

Top 5: Can’t Live Without & Childhood Memories

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! So I’m bored and I thought of this Saturday night. Good thing I decided to put it in my phone to save it for one of these times. I’m making two lists, top five lists of what you can’t live without and what five things do you wish you had as a kid you want now? We’ve all thought of these lists before, but never really talked about them. Well, most haven’t in a while. In school, every year I swear you got asked “what is something you can’t list without” and whoever is dating somebody or if they’re permanently attached to their phone they put them at the top of their list and their family and friends are basically at the bottom. Everybody’s got their own lists, but I don’t think I’ve ever voiced my favorites on either parts. So here we go!

Top Five Things You Can’t Live Without:

1. God – He is everything to me. I’m not big at religion and I am curious about other religions and other people’s beliefs. People seem to forget about what God has done for them. Even though I never try to preach about him or hate on someone who doesn’t believe in him, I still his love and guidance close to me.
2. Family – My family is like a box of chocolates, you just never know what you’re going to get at different times. I come from a long line of big talkers and awesome sense of humors just rolled into about ten people. We all have our different stories, whether it be serious or down right hilarious I still love them.
3. Wheelchair – I am a handicapped person, I can’t walk and I have never been able to unless I use a walker. I tried that once and it wasn’t what I had expected it to be so I stopped doing it. I use an electric wheelchair at home and when I go out, but I also know to operate a push wheelchair pretty much–only on carpet though! Being in a wheelchair isn’t as bad as it seems, it’s all about the attitude and mindset you give yourself everyday that gets you through what you want to do. You can never do anything with negative thoughts on your brain, because you’ll be stuck and that’s not a good lifestyle for yourself.
4. Self-Control – I think I have an amazing self-control. I’ve taught myself to be who I am. I am usually the type of person who doesn’t like to be told “you can’t do that” and I have a good sense of patience and grounded. I wasn’t born this way, this is about four or five years in the making and I’m still learning!
5. Music – Music has to be on this list, it just can’t be on here. Everybody knows I love basically every genre of music out there. I’m still quite picky but I’ve gotten better. I can go from listening to a singer like Katherine Jenkins to Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. I’ve always been into “weird” music, like symphonic metal. I’m always singing along and trying my hardest to get better at controlling my breath and holding out a note, whether high or light, I always try to get through it.

I’m that type of person who thinks I was born in the wrong era. I’ve actually taken a quiz that told you which era you belonged in and I think I got the 1960’s. If I could live without the internet and my other electronics I would love to go back and experience the 1700’s, 1920’s, 1940’s, and the 50’s. Majority of the reasons of why I would like to go back there is because of the fashion, history, music, and people. I just want to see how a person of those times were really any different of us. I would love to compare them together and see if our troubles are really as bad and if things were any worse and we never did anything about it. There is one thing I’d like to experience is when people were coming over from Ellis Island. Where’s a delorean when you need one? This next list is one of bringing back your childhood and wishing you still had it maybe for your future kids to experience one day.

Top Five Things You Wish You Still Had As A Child:

1. Gumball Machines – I feel like everytime I go anywhere, stores and restaurants are getting rid of these things. I loved spending five, twenty-five, to seventy-five cents worth on whatever you get these surprises. They were hardly anything you actually wanted, but if you got a good flavor of gum, a sticky string of a hand (what were they called again??) and a bouncy ball…you were set for the rest of the day! I used to love the sticker machines, we used to put them on my wheelchair. I really miss those!
2. Disney Animated Classics – You can still find your favorite movies, but it’s so difficult because the popular ones go into the vault after a few months of their re-release and you get them again in about five to seven years. I just mainly miss anything that was on my TV as a kid.
3. Pinball – This is for the older ones feeling nostalgic. I don’t want to leave you guys out, so I gotta add the pinball machines to the mix. When I was at Shriner’s, my dad was addicted to the old pinball machines they had there. I never got to play one because it was too high for me to see and working the buttons on the sides were impossible. So I just stuck to the game on the computer, now they don’t have those anymore either!
4. Nintendo – Another one for the older kids of the 90’s. My cousins were obsessed with Nintendo games. I remember hearing the news that they were no longer making those games. Basically broke my heart right in half. I used to play Zelda with my cousins, my older cousin had it and everytime I came over it was like, “hi, hi, hi, Chris can I play Zelda?” I was a bad cousin!
5. Food – Come on! You can’t tell me you don’t miss anything food and sweet wise from the 90’s. If you’re shaking your head or wondering what the hell I’m talking about, let my remind you what we had. Butterfinger bites (before they changed the recipe), Bagel Bites, Dum Dum Pops (I still prefer these!), wafer cookies, French Toast Crunch, Dunk-A-Roos, Doritos 3-D, and Honey-Comb. Tell me again, you don’t miss these at all?!