Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

 Moments worth keeping in mind in coming to grips with the Renaissance: 1453: Fall of Constantinople 1455: The War of the Roses breaks out in England 1485: War concludes as the Tudors take over, under King Henry VII 1492. The first of Columbus' voyages. 1494: Savonarola takes over in Florence 1498: Savonarola executed.  1504. Michelangelo completes work on his DAVID. 1510.  Hieronymous Bosch paints THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS 1513. Niccolo Machiavelli puts out THE PRINCE, a study of the means that one must use to control a city-state, expressing a devout hope for the unity of Italy against its foreign oppressors. 1530. The earliest known pictures of instruments recognizable as violins date to this time, in northern Italy.   1598. The earliest known work that could be modern standards be considered an opera is performed in this year, DAFNE, in Florence.  1605. The publication of Cervantes' masterpiece, Don Quixote. 

My recent reading includes large helpings of Philippa Gregory's latest, THREE SISTERS, THREE QUEENS (2016), another of her fictionalized takes on love and betrayal among the royals of Renaissance Europe. In this book, the focus is on the early Tudor dynasty, and especially on Margaret Tudor, the eldest daughter of Henry VII, founder thereof, and the older sister of the future Henry VIII. Margaret became Queen of Scotland with an arranged marriage to James IV. She reigned and ruled under the title of Dowager Queen after James' death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. So who, you ask, were the other two sisters of the novel's title? One is Margaret's blood sister, Mary Tudor, who was known as one of the great beauties of the age. Mary was the inspiration for the name her brother Henry gave to his older daughter. More important for Gregory's story, she wed the King of France (Louis XII) in 1514, and Anne Boleyn served as her maid of honor at that ceremony. The t...

Last week, I quoted Peter Ackroyd's book, TUDORS, in connection with the dispossession oif the Catholic monasteries in Tudor England. Today, I'll quote a passage form a bit later in Ackroyd's story. As my readers probably know, Henry III was succeeded on the throne by his only son, Edward. King Edward (beloved among those of us who read The Prince and the Pauper as youngsters). As some may not know, the young King and his circle of advisors pushed the Protestant Reformation a good deal further than Henry had. Henry was interested in the power of the pope and the wealth of the monasteries, but he wasn't interested in making changes in doctrine. He didn't see himself as an ally of Lutherans in another other than their possession of common foes. But under Edward, the English Church came under the control of people who very much did have doctrinal quarrels with Rome -- over the role of Mary as intercessor, over the veneration of saints, over the miracle of tran...