Read Online Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors by English Historical Fiction Authors - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: English Historical Fiction Authors
Ads: Link
required to take an Oath of Supremacy, accepting the King as the head of the Church, he would not.
He was taken to the Tower by boat and confined in the Bell Tower on 17 April 1534.
His cell had a very high ceiling with one small window high in the wall, and so he lived in near darkness. He was denied pen and ink, so he wrote to his daughter with coal. He was allowed no books and was given an illiterate attendant, while a constant flow of visitors sought to persuade him to take the Oath of Supremacy.
After a year of illness and pain in the Tower, he walked, leaning heavily on a staff, the four miles to Westminster Hall, where he had previously sat as judge.
Fifteen specially commissioned judges sat there—among them Anne Boleyn’s father, the First Earl of Wiltshire, her brother, Lord Rochford, and the Duke of Norfolk. There was also a jury of the King’s known supporters. More’s successor as Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, sentenced him to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
He returned by boat to the Tower. His daughter, Margaret Roper, rushed past the guard on the Wharf, flung her arms around him and kissed him, crying. He and others nearby also broke down. He spent five days in his cell composing prayers.
On the morning of his execution, he was told that the King had shown mercy and would, rather than hang, draw, and quarter him, have him beheaded on Tower Hill. He replied, “God forbid the King shall use any more such mercy on any of my friends.”
After his death, his elderly wife, Lady More, was turned out of their house. His property and effects were settled by Henry on his own infant daughter, Princess Elizabeth, who kept it throughout her reign.
Further Reading
Minney, R.J. The Tower of London. Prentice Hall, 1974.
Monarchy: The Normans — William Rufus and Henry I
by Debra Brown
T he Normans that followed the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, provide an interesting historical story. William left Normandy to his eldest, whom he considered to be too generous and easy-going to manage England. England he left to his second son, William, called William Rufus for his red complexion. He was crowned on September 26, 1087.
Rufus came to be known as cruel, ruthless, greedy, and crude. He was always looking for ways to obtain more money, and when he couldn’t get it from the Norman barons or the English townsfolk, he taxed the Church heavily.
When the Archbishop of Canterbury Lanfranc died, the irreligious Rufus did not replace him, but kept the revenues normally allotted to the post for himself. He did the same when other bishops and archbishops died. When fearing death, he finally replaced the Archbishop with a Benedictine monk, Anselm of Bec, but upon recovering, he exiled him to Rome and seized his assets. This was a very different method of rule than that of his famously pious Norman predecessor as well as the English kings Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor.
Rufus built the Great Hall of Westminster according to his grand scale ambitions. It was the largest secular space north of the Alps, used for feasting and entertainments. He would sit on an elevated plane, crowned, robed, and enthroned. The choirs would sing in Latin, wishing him long life and victory.
The gap between rich and poor increased, and those with money began to dress extravagantly. Men wore flamboyant, puffed-up tunics and curved, pointy-toed shoes. Women wore more and more extravagant jewelry. Rufus himself, or William II, surrounded himself with “half-naked”, long-haired young men according to contemporary accounts.
England’s French-speaking barons often owned estates both in England and Normandy—thus, they owed some of their allegiance to William’s older brother, Duke Robert. Robert was staking his claim to the English throne, and some of the barons united in his support just a year after William’s coronation.
William crushed the revolt, and in 1090, he invaded Normandy to subdue Robert. He also
He was taken to the Tower by boat and confined in the Bell Tower on 17 April 1534.
His cell had a very high ceiling with one small window high in the wall, and so he lived in near darkness. He was denied pen and ink, so he wrote to his daughter with coal. He was allowed no books and was given an illiterate attendant, while a constant flow of visitors sought to persuade him to take the Oath of Supremacy.
After a year of illness and pain in the Tower, he walked, leaning heavily on a staff, the four miles to Westminster Hall, where he had previously sat as judge.
Fifteen specially commissioned judges sat there—among them Anne Boleyn’s father, the First Earl of Wiltshire, her brother, Lord Rochford, and the Duke of Norfolk. There was also a jury of the King’s known supporters. More’s successor as Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, sentenced him to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
He returned by boat to the Tower. His daughter, Margaret Roper, rushed past the guard on the Wharf, flung her arms around him and kissed him, crying. He and others nearby also broke down. He spent five days in his cell composing prayers.
On the morning of his execution, he was told that the King had shown mercy and would, rather than hang, draw, and quarter him, have him beheaded on Tower Hill. He replied, “God forbid the King shall use any more such mercy on any of my friends.”
After his death, his elderly wife, Lady More, was turned out of their house. His property and effects were settled by Henry on his own infant daughter, Princess Elizabeth, who kept it throughout her reign.
Further Reading
Minney, R.J. The Tower of London. Prentice Hall, 1974.
Monarchy: The Normans — William Rufus and Henry I
by Debra Brown
T he Normans that followed the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, provide an interesting historical story. William left Normandy to his eldest, whom he considered to be too generous and easy-going to manage England. England he left to his second son, William, called William Rufus for his red complexion. He was crowned on September 26, 1087.
Rufus came to be known as cruel, ruthless, greedy, and crude. He was always looking for ways to obtain more money, and when he couldn’t get it from the Norman barons or the English townsfolk, he taxed the Church heavily.
When the Archbishop of Canterbury Lanfranc died, the irreligious Rufus did not replace him, but kept the revenues normally allotted to the post for himself. He did the same when other bishops and archbishops died. When fearing death, he finally replaced the Archbishop with a Benedictine monk, Anselm of Bec, but upon recovering, he exiled him to Rome and seized his assets. This was a very different method of rule than that of his famously pious Norman predecessor as well as the English kings Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor.
Rufus built the Great Hall of Westminster according to his grand scale ambitions. It was the largest secular space north of the Alps, used for feasting and entertainments. He would sit on an elevated plane, crowned, robed, and enthroned. The choirs would sing in Latin, wishing him long life and victory.
The gap between rich and poor increased, and those with money began to dress extravagantly. Men wore flamboyant, puffed-up tunics and curved, pointy-toed shoes. Women wore more and more extravagant jewelry. Rufus himself, or William II, surrounded himself with “half-naked”, long-haired young men according to contemporary accounts.
England’s French-speaking barons often owned estates both in England and Normandy—thus, they owed some of their allegiance to William’s older brother, Duke Robert. Robert was staking his claim to the English throne, and some of the barons united in his support just a year after William’s coronation.
William crushed the revolt, and in 1090, he invaded Normandy to subdue Robert. He also
Similar Books
