Writing religion into historical fiction
By Judith Arnopp
It
is difficult for us in our modern, largely secular world to appreciate the
importance of the church in the medieval and Tudor period. The day itself was
governed by prayer, the bells marking the religious hours, each month
punctuated with Christian festivals and feasts. Every aspect of life, from diet
to sex, was governed by the church. The people, ruled by superstition and fear
of offending God, did not question that authority. Heresy was not tolerated. To
the medieval mind, life was a penance to secure entry into Heaven. An
after-life for the godly was a certainty … the sinner was destined for hell. Satan
was a constant torment, tempting the unwary – both a terror and a deterrent.
The
characters in my books, most of them historical figures, were bound by the
strictures of the church. Margaret Beaufort was renowned for her piety, her
goodness and charity and my objective is to make that relevant to my readers,
and help them relate to Margaret. Today’s audience may not find the depth of
her conviction attractive or believable. I had to be very careful not to bore them to
death. Margaret has been portrayed in fiction a lot, sometimes as a flawless
saint, while others paint her as bordering on evil. I admire Margaret and in my
books I wanted to present a rounded character. I kept her piety but also showed
her humanity, her imperfection. She wavers between certainty and fear, success
and failure, so although she is devout, she fights an internal battle each time
her earthly ambition conflicts with her religious conviction.
 |
| Margaret Beaufort at prayer. |
Henry
VIII’s quest for an heir, lacking the mitigation of his grandmother, quickly
deteriorated into brutality, the resulting uprising in the north creating an
often underestimated threat to the crown.
 |
| Henry VIII |
As
a boy Henry was schooled in the importance of the succession and he witnessed
first-hand the fragility of heirs. His father, King Henry VII, had three sons
but the death of the infant Edward in 1499 was quickly followed in 1502 by the
death of the Prince of Wales, Arthur. The loss of Arthur, the king’s beloved
heir, was monumental, weakening the Tudor claim and deepening the king’s
insecurity. There is some suggestion that relations between the king and Queen Elizabeth
had ceased but they lost no time in their quest for another son and she fell
pregnant shortly afterwards. For a while things looked promising but the queen
died after giving birth to a daughter, who also perished shortly afterwards.
Young
Henry, now the Prince of Wales, learned a sharp lesson on the vital import of
legitimate sons. It was a lesson he would never forget. As king it was his primary duty to beget an
heir, continue the Tudor line yet all his sons born to Catherine of Aragon
died, either before birth or shortly afterward. Henry’s options were running
out. Left with an ageing queen and just one useless daughter, he knew he had failed
in his primary duty. He had not met the expectations of his father and
grandmother. As he saw it, his only option was to set Catherine aside in favour
of a younger, fertile wife. He would go to any lengths to achieve it.
Unfortunately
for Henry, the pope was unwilling to play ball. Encouraged by Cromwell, Henry turned
to theology, quoting from Leviticus 20:21
"If a man shall
take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing...they shall be childless,"
while
conveniently ignoring Deuteronomy 25:5
“If brothers dwell
together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be
remarried outside of the family to a stranger; her husband's brother shall go
into her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother
to her.”
Despite
Catherine’s claim that her marriage to Arthur had been unconsummated, Henry declared
their marriage was unclean. He petitioned the Pope – who refused to grant an
annulment, leaving Henry, who greatly disliked to be refused, with no choice.
At Cromwell’s suggestion, in an effort to secure the succession and preserve
the Tudor dynasty, the king eventually broke with Rome and assumed the title of
Head of the Church in England. Henry was a religious man and the action was not
lightly undertaken. He was fearful of God, and remained staunchly Catholic
until death. By becoming head of the church in England, he dispensed with the
pope but did not embrace the new religion. It was his son, the heir for whose
sake so many had died, who was the first to fully embrace Protestantism in
England.
With
Catherine dispensed with, he was free to marry the woman who had held him at
arm’s length for years. But, to Henry’s dismay and Anne Boleyn’s detriment, his
new queen produced another useless daughter and later, a still-born son. As his
relationship with the queen deteriorated, Henry feared history was repeating itself.
In need of comfort Henry found Jane Seymour waiting in the shadows – a woman who
would prove more biddable than either of her predecessors. Stepping quickly,
and surely with some reservation, into the executed queen’s shoes, Jane quickly
gave Henry his greatest desire – and produced a legitimate heir for England.
But
Henry, having begun at Cromwell’s behest to close and reform the smaller
monasteries, could not stop. Despite the protests of his beloved queen and the outcry
from the populace, the great monasteries of England began to fall. Monastic
treasures were confiscated, the fabric of the great buildings robbed and the monks
and nuns dispersed. As Henry’s coffers began to fill, Margaret Beaufort must
have been turning in her grave.
 |
| Llanthony Priory. |
As
an author, my job is to consider the impact of these monumental changes not
just on the nobility but on the populace, the common folk who followed like
bewildered sheep as religious belief in England see-sawed to and fro. I was
delighted to read that some of those sheep did take a stand and attempt to
deter Henry from his path. The Pilgrimage of Grace was a movement of the
Catholic populace against the destruction of the church and the break with
Rome. The rebels amounted to some 30,000, made up of nobles, commoners and
disposed religious communities. It was the worst uprising of Henry VIII’s
reign, a horrible and bloody chapter in history that is often overlooked.
Of
course, change was inevitable and the wave of religious revolution that was
already sweeping through Europe was unstoppable. In his quest for an heir, Henry
VIII hastened things along in England but the repercussions of his actions
impacted the country for years to come. Sisters of Arden will not justify or
vilify but subtly illustrate the impact of the dissolution, and the consequences
not just for the nobility (many of whom benefitted rather well) but on the
ordinary people, the congregation, the monks and the nuns who were cast
penniless and unprotected into the secular world.
References:
Margaret
Beaufort at prayer: Rowland Lockey [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Hans
Holbein [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
LLanthony
Priory ©JudithArnopp
Judith Arnopp
Judith is
the author of ten historical fiction novels set in the medieval and Tudor
period. Her books include:
The
Beaufort Chronicles (Three book series of the life of Lady Margaret Beaufort)
A Song of
Sixpence: the story of Elizabeth of York and Perkin Warbeck
Intractable
Heart: the story of Katheryn Parr
The Kiss
of the Concubine: a story of Anne Boleyn
The
Winchester Goose: at the court of Henry VIII
The Song
of Heledd
Peaceweaver
The Forest
Dwellers
Thank you for hosting me Mary Anne. You always provide a terrific blog tour.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Judith! Unsurprisingly...
ReplyDeleteI can never understand why Henry went to so much trouble to marry Anne, and then to 'dispose' of her when she did not produce an heir. A very tragic tale. One can not help but wonder if their love affair was really love at all.
ReplyDelete