Angela Russell

Angela  Russell

I am a happily retired lady that lives in the Cotwolds. Love my five beautiful grandchildren.
Do lots of yoga,and love walking in the nearby hills and woods. Love history and literature.

Location Wotton under Edge

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  • It's just added to my knowledge of the Tudor period. It makes me think about what it must have been like then.
    I looked at the Ram Inn just down the road,it was built in the 11th century and thought Henry V111 must have passed it as he visited Newark Park about a mile away to go on one of his assignations with one of his lady friends.
    I just really enjoy...

  • Under her long reign the country prospered and grew despite the turbulent years of her Father and siblings.
    She somehow provided a long lasting middle way between Catholics and Protestants.
    One of the greatest military victories in English history the armada happened in her reign.
    And I think she did love her country and her people loved her.
    She had the...

  • I think this film has to be my first encounter on film of Elizabeth and I was far too young to realise what was truth and what was not. It was Bette Davis being good at what Bette Davis does and that's to act imperiously . And Errol Flyn was handsome and charming. I don't suppose I thought too much about it as I was so young.
    I think the film like many others...

  • It may have started at the end of her reign but how was she to know just how huge it would become and the long lasting impact it would have the Indian subcontinent

  • Elizabeth had enjoyed the company and flatterey of Essex.
    She was probably a little in love with him. But he did overstep the mark and she repaid him for that.
    She also knew the worth of the Cecil's who had been such faithful advisors
    No I don't think the power struggle between the Cecil's and Essex made much difference simply because she was no fool and...

  • He seemed to have got away with so much I think it went to his head and yes I think he was really trying to get back into Elizabeth's good books
    But Cecil got his own back and manipulated the situation so that Essex was exposed as a traitor and as a result lost his head

  • That's interesting! @BryanMitchell

  • To my mind Elizabeth was more interested in what she could get from the America's. Not so much the colonisation after all she had enough problems at home
    But those adventurers in her reign certainly started something that James carried on with.

  • After a few failures through lack of funding and problems at home the colonisation of America after a slow start did start to materialise and it was due to the adventurers of Elizabeth's reign that laid the foundations for the successes that followed

  • I believe it's still spoken in Patagonia?

  • I have studied this subject before on my Othello course and Shakespeares world course and it's an interesting subject.
    And yes you would have experienced the sights and smells and sounds of temples,mosques and curry houses in London very similar to modern times. A lot fewer of them and generally confined to the big ports such as London Bristol etc.
    In fact I...

  • I have done the futurelearn course of Shakespeares world with Jonathan Bates. It's a great course if your a Shakespeare/ history fan.
    The playhouses were very important for many reasons.
    It was the getting together of all types of people. They may have sat/stood in different parts of the theatre but they were watching the same play.
    You could watch a play...

  • I have studied a lot about Shakespeare and some of his works. Yes there are a lot of political messages in them.
    The first play of his I studied was for my English lit O level was The Merchant of Venice and I remember Shylocks if thou prick me do I not bleed speech and although I was only 16 at the time I thought my goodness what a brilliant speech about...

  • No I don't think any differently about an aging Queen or King
    When I think of someone like George 1V he was certainly in a sad way when he died aged 67. Being trussed into a corset because of his obesity,and with his heavy drinking. He had all kind of illnesses And was a target for ridicule being likened to a great sausage. I don't think anyone would dare...

  • She was certainly an unusual woman. But she managed to acquire four husbands? They must have seen something in her.
    She certainly did well for herself and good for her. She's certainly someone I admire. She must have been seen as a bit of an oddity in a man's world.
    But then so was Elizabeth.

  • She had a strong will and was highly intelligence and as she aged was looked upon by her subjects as a kind of secular Saint.
    She transformed herself into a national symbol
    She had chosen to be alone and I think she was quite a lonely person for all the sycophants that surrounded her.
    if no one argues with you then you just get more frustrated and hit out....

  • James was the right choice, he seemed to tick all the boxes

  • Yes I think she should have had new blood.
    New ideas and fresh thoughts. The trouble is when you do get older you get more set in your ways and scared of trying something different
    Why should Elizabeth be any different from the rest of us

  • She had lost all her trusted advisors and the young men were on the up and up. She was now an old lady and even more prone to courtly flattery and a handsome young face. There Seemed to be no sensible person left to advise her. So mistakes were made

  • It does make for grim reading I must say. But we did have a fear of anything Catholic. The Tudors regarded Ireland as a thorn in their side. By consilliation and repression continued until 1603 when the entire country came under the nominal control of James 1. Spain did try to help several times.
    The conquest complete the polity of Gaelic Ireland had been...

  • I have never heard of a second reign of Elizabeth.
    Like anywhere else we only hear about the winners.
    The great writers and explorers and winning the Armada against all odds. The Golden Age of Elizabeth.
    Her great Statesmen and friends dying.
    Getting old and showing it. ( well she did clean her teeth every day with a sugar paste) I bet she was nearly as...

  • Elizabeth was at the start of what was to become the biggest empire the world has ever seen..She was on the throne for a very long time and to my mind she learned how to rule from the mistakes her family had made and was determined she wouldn't do the same
    She did rule alone and I think she did put her country before herself ( I think she preferred it that...

  • It was hugely important to Elizabeth and her Protestant following.
    It would have been a massive setback for the Protestant religion.
    It would have put paid to our burgeoning Navy and stopped our explorations into the New World. We would have been an outpost of Spain and once again under the rule of the popes in the Vatican
    Poor Philip was truly devasted...

  • I like the Ditchley portrait by Marcus Gheeraerts, in which Elizabeth has her back against the storm and darkness of the past and her hands rests over the new world signifying Englands expansion plans for the future
    Elizabeth stands on a globe as the sun( symbol of the monarch)shines through a stormy sky
    It's inscribed with the words "she gives and does not...

  • The lower orders would have wondered why they were asked in the first place? They are not usually consulted about anything to do with running the country? Whatever they thought didn't really matter it was the nobility who made the laws. They just got on with trying to survive

  • I remember learning about Drake at school when I was very young. How he circumnavigated the world and singed the beard of the King of Spain.
    He was regarded as a hero by being a pirate and keeping the Spanish under control on the high seas. As long as he bought home Elizabeth the treasures he had plundered from these ships and new lands. She tuned a blind...

  • No I don't think it was really on the cards, too expensive although she secretly supported the Dutch to keep Spain off her back.

  • I remember watching this film with a friend and picking holes in the acuracy of it. He said why don't you just watch it and forget history just enjoy the film as a story. Yes it was atmospheric and I thought Kathy Burke as Mary was just how I had imagined her to be. The acting was fine and the costumes great.
    But you don't need to make things up and alter...

  • The Babington plot because it had so much support from other European countries. It was serious enough to make Elizabeth realise that she had to do something about Mary!

  • I read in the Times this morning that Elizabeth 1 faced terror threats worse than Isis and the reason Elizabeth 1 survived assassination attempts and overthrow plots but two successive kings of France were assassinated in the same period was because surveillance was very good. This was due to her spymaster Wallsingham.
    He was right to be a paranoid about...

  • No it does not change my perception of Elizabeth's reign.
    The courts of Europe had alchemists and occultists. It was fashionable.
    Alchemist were supposed to be able to change base metal into gold and Elizabeth liked money? Perhaps that was one of the reasons she was so interested in it?
    This was just mentioned on a TV programme Forbidden History and it was...

  • Like her father before her she meted out severe punishment as a stark warning to other would be rebels, you don't mess with me or you will get exactly the same?

  • I don't think Elizabeth was ever very enthusiastic to get married. It would mean sharing her throne. She went along with her councellors to some extent. It was after all the thing everyone expected. It kept them off her back. Maybe sometimes she thought maybe? I think life had taught her to keep her distance. She did seem to find her 'little frog' the Duke of...

  • She was quite a complex women. When you think of her childhood and adolescence and how egotistical her father was? No wonder she was the way she was.
    Also don't forget like her father no one ever said no to her. And everyone flattered her and feted to her whims. Her ego again like her Father must have been enormous.
    I think she enjoyed the company of men...

  • I have watched films and read many stories about both Queens and have come to the conclusion that Mary was ruled by her heart and Elizabeth with her head. It's a simple as that

  • Yes I do believe she was a threat. She was the focal point of the Catholic population. And yes they regarded Elizabeth as in illegitimate, The pope had excommunicated her too.
    Elizabeth had to be careful about what she did with her and where to keep after she came to England. Elizabeth genuinely didn't want to have her executed because she regarded her as an...

  • Several reasons one being that he was from a family of traitors and two she was furious about him marriying Amy Robsart without her permission and then she went and died in suspicious circumstances.
    She was very fond of Dudley but Elizabeth was ruled by her head not her heart and she put her Country first.

  • I was quite puzzled by that remark too?

  • I don't think it mattered at all. In the beginning maybe? Everyone was expecting her to do her duty and marry a suitable Royal and then producing an heir.
    She soon proved to be a better Queen than many a king before her.
    She had enough intelligence, guile and common sense to rule.

  • The trouble is if you know too much and watch a film that is totally inaccurate it puts you right off the film. I can think of several. No matter what the acting/costume/setting is like. That makes for a bad film
    A little bit of licence is ok after all no one really knows what any one actually said or how they behaved.
    History books are just the facts they...

  • I think Elizabeth learned early on that if she was to marry her husband would take away much of her control as the reigning monarch. He would expect at least to be equal. I know she knew she was supposed to produce an heir but I don't think she wanted anyone to share her throne
    I don't think she thought of herself as male or female I just think she thought...

  • Elizabeth does try to go the middle way but as someone else said you can't please all the people all of the time and so she got a bit tougher by punishing the puritans and Catholics who refused to go to Church of England services and she executed catholic priests for holding secret services.
    By the end of her reign England was firmly Protestant

  • Yes I do think that particularly in the beginning they would have treated her differently had she been a man. Probably a lot more condescendingly.
    But they were there as advisors whether it be King or Queen that was their role in the court.

  • She was a very intelligent woman who had lost her mother when very young. That must have affected her.
    As well as intelligence I think she had inherited determination and shrewdness from both her parents. She also had a great teacher and friend in Katherine Parr and had learned to be very wary of her sister Mary when she ba came queen.
    Edward and Mary had...

  • Both Mary and Edward were far too rigid in their beliefs Protestant and Catholic and Jane didn't get much of a chance.
    Elizabeth I think took this on board and learnt by it.

  • There are two things we remember about Queen Mary, the fact she burnt so many people because of her zealous Catholicism
    Also that she lost the last bit of France.
    In her last illness she said When I'm dead and opened up you shall find Calais lying in my heart.
    Like King John ( who lost a vast amount of France) Mary has gone down as a poor Monarch.

  • She wanted her revenge and she got it! In particular Archbishop Cramner,she must have truly hated the man that to her had done the most to ruin her early life
    But martyrdom creates someone people can look up to admire, a figurehead
    The more she burned the more she was hated.

  • Bawdy satire? Sounds interesting.

  • She came along a bit too late to do anything about reconverting the country back to being Catholic. She repealed all the religious legislation the Edward had put through..
    But I think one of the reasons it didn't work was that the English aristocracy were unwilling to give back the land they had acquired through the dissolution of the monasteries.
    She did...

  • The citizens had been on her side when she was proclaimed Queen and they were on her side now.
    On 1st Feb 1554 Mary addressed a meeting at thecGuildhall where she proclaimed Wyatt a traitor. The next morning 20,000 men enrolled their names for the ptotection of the City( of London) a reward of land of the annual value of one hundred pounds a year was offered...

  • I went to a Church of England school and we were taught about 'bloody Mary' burning Protestants. And what a tyrant she was yearning for a child with a husband who couldnt stand her.
    And yes I remember watching the film and it portrayed her exactly how I had been taught to think of her.
    But I do know that both Protestant and Catholics were as bad as each...

  • No it does not? Women were pawns in the marriage market and brood mares when they did get married

  • Mary's upbringing certainly was tumultuous. From the loved daughter of a King and Queen being brought up in the way of the Catholic religion to having her mother taken away and her being pronounced illegitimate.
    And also having to recognise the Protestant religion as the right and proper religion of this country. Her father had used as a pawn in the marriage...

  • Mary must have thought it galling that her brother had named Jane as Queen. For most of her life she had been tossed about by the whims of her father and now her Protestant brother was completely ignoring that fact she was his sister.
    I think the people had enormous sympathy for this woman who had been treated so badly. They didn't care so much about her...

  • I have seen the film and I do know that no one really knows if theirs was a true love story but I like to think she got something out of life after all it was such a short one.
    When I watch historical films etc I try to accept that a lot of it isn't fact and i try not to get too annoyed
    I cant watch a lot of the modern films and TV series because something...

  • I have always thought of her as being Queen as Edward proclaimed her Queen
    Given the choice I doubt if she wanted the position.
    Her family and the Dudley's family were so incredibly ambitious.
    They played the game and lost. Mary had might on her side and she won.
    To me it was just such a tragedy for the girl.
    Yes she was Queen Jane

  • Angela Russell made a comment

    She was Queen Jane but to be queen was something she didn’t want or think she was entitled to be.
    One of history’s unfortunates.

  • I like art for arts sake. The same as film or TV. You watch/look at it but because I read so much about history I make up my own mind about it. It's TV/art licence so to speak.
    I think Jane because of her pious nature had made up her mind to be a martyr. Mary didn't really want to execute her and she even tried to'save her soul' by sending her a catholic...

  • I believe Jane like Edward had a real stubborn streak in her. She like him being bought up Protestant and was true to her faith. Both very intelligent and bookish so both would have read about the 'new religion' and both were surrounded by those of the new faith. I think both Jane and Edward were zealous Protestants
    Edward was within his rights to proclaim...

  • I would have said the eldest sister Mary and then Elizabeth. Then the offspring of Henry V111's two sisters in chronological order.
    But if being Protestant was important it would have been Elizabeth, who was the Protestant.
    After all when Queen Anne died there was over fifty people more entitled to the English throne than George of Hanover but because he...

  • The peasants of Tudor England were mainly illiterate and even if they could read they could not have afforded a bible. They must have wondered which way to turn Protestant or Catholic.
    Religion was the mainstay of their lives far more than it is today
    They truly believed that how they were in life determined where they went when they died. So who was right?...

  • He does seem to have tried to run the country in a fair way.
    As Edward was dying to what extent did his influence have over him to make him change his will making Jane Grey his heir? . She had only recently married his son. He comes across as very ambitious. The stakes were high and he lost in the end. Jane Grey I have always felt very sorry for

  • I’m reading a book at the moment called Tombland by C J Sanson describing the Kett rebellion. It gives a good insight to what the rebellion must have been like.
    As others have said the rebellion didn’t directly involve the crown.
    It was just the common people causing trouble. A thorn in the side of the Aristocracy

  • Some would have thought them a good idea others not. People don't like change especially as we get older.
    But to be able to read a prayer book and follow the service as we do today was pretty revolutionary.
    The holy communion then reads the same as it is today. So no change much since.

  • Now that Edward was supreme head of the English church the powers that be didn't want the pope to reimpose not just religious spiritual authority but also secular power in alliance with arch enemy France or Spain
    Any little thing that smacked of popery was destroyed as they didn't want any reminder of it.

  • The first portrait of Edward as a baby is beautiful but the way he stares out at you is not childlike. His look says I may be a baby but I'm special
    The two others where he is standing says look at me I'm as big and strong and virile just like my Father. I'm a ruler
    The one where he is stood on the head of the Pope says we want no Popish ways here any more...

  • Somerset ruled largely by proclamation and his takeover was absolute.
    He changed so much of the church laws in this country and I hadn't realised that. He appears to have ruled with an iron fist

  • He was by all accounts a very intelligent child and was interested in many things. His religious establishment were reformed Catholics.
    By 1549 Edward had written a treatise on the pope as an antichrist? Strong words for a young boy.
    So with his own high intelligence and a massive influence of his guardians and the self assurance of youth his reign short as...

  • Presumably his uncle Edward Seymour, a pretty tough customer who became Lord protector. being the closest relation on his mothers side thought it prudent and very worthwhile cause that he should be his guardian.

  • I only found this course last week so a lot of catching up to do.
    The saying power tends to corrupt and absolute power power corrupts absolutely comes to mind with Henry V111. No one would dare say no without paying the consequence

  • Henry believed he was a true renaissance man. He surrounded himself with men who had intellectually ability "that matched his own" that would include poets.
    Like poets today it's a way of putting your thoughts and feeling down on paper.
    His son did chance his arm and lead a rebellion in the time of Queen Mary and paid the price.

  • They could tell by looking at a Skeleton that if he was an archer it showed up damage to certain bones. Rare defects on the shoulder blades elbows and wrists from years of practise to the extent that some skeletons grew extra bones to compensate.

  • I didn't realise that she was an attractive and lively lady. I knew she had a great deal to do with her step children and was fond of them
    She was also clever and well read.
    Also that through her religious beliefs incurred the wrath of Henry.
    Somehow she managed to outlive her irascible husband
    Her true love in life was Thomas Seymour and it's sad she...

  • Like most everyone else I think the jousting accident caused a lot of problems.Physically and mentally
    Also While he was a healthy active man he could work off a great deal of his large calorific intake..
    But as he became more disabled with his leg ulcers and various other ailments the thing that was his solice,food became his worst enemy.
    It must have...

  • Henry was known as the father of the English navy. He built fighting ships armed with large guns and created a naval administration.
    He didn't have this in the first half of his reign but in the second half

  • I always felt sorry for the poor girl! What choice did she have?
    After being neglected as a child and let run wild she then attracted Henry
    Her very ambitious family pushed her forward
    When very young it does seem like she was sexually exploited and I think she felt she was in love with culpepper and Dereham
    But she had to do what was the 'right thing' by...

  • From very lowley beginnings this man made his way to Cardinal Wolseys household to taking Wolseys place as Henry's chief advisor.
    And I do think he was the one with all the ideas behind the dissolution of the monasteries.. He was a clever man and had clawed his way to the top
    He was made an Earl, but someone had to pay the price for Henry feeling forced to...

  • Quite simply to show off his wealth and prestige.
    A magnificent man with a magnificent palace. The best in the land.

  • To reinforce the fact that James was King?

  • Why ever not? I did watch and enjoy most of the Carry on films
    Today a lot of that would be regarded as politically incorrect.
    But what isn't these days? So maybe not?

  • I watched Anne of a Thousand days when it was released years ago and yes I agree that it was a film of that era. I did enjoy it though and didn't think too much about the facts being correct or not. I acknowledge the fact they are not all correct but put it down to film licence.
    I like Richard Burton in anything mind you.

  • First impressions count? And Henry who thought he was gods gift to Women would have had his vanity wounded at that look of disgust Anne gave at their first surprise encounter

  • If you want to get to god you have to go through me (Henry) first .
    I live within walking distance of the Tyndale monument( he was born in my area of Gloucestershire)? and I can remember years ago in the sixties you could actually see a copy of one of his bibles belonging to one of the key holders of the monument.
    We tend not to learn much about this man who...

  • She more or less did as she was told by her ambitious family and Henry.
    She knew Princess Mary from childhood and as Jane was raised a catholic would have thought how he had treated his ( in her eyes) legitimate daughter was pretty awful. I admire her for sticking up for the child.
    She didn't live long enough for Henry to get get fed up with her and she had...

  • If Anne had produced a healthy son I think Henry would have have kept her as Queen. I don't think he was in love with her any more and he would have had mistresses. As long as she kept her mouth shut and behaved herself she would have been tolerated.
    But all his queens had to walk on eggshells.
    it was a precarious life being Queen of England.

  • Apparently Henry probably suffered with diabetes, circulatory problems and infected bleeding. Some historians say his madness at the end of his life was a result of his leg ulcers while others blame syphalis.
    I thought syphalis didn't come along until a bit later than Henry's reign but apparently it was around but it had no name as yet

  • I did the history of Royal clothing and of course the Tudor period was part of it. They dressed the way they did so as to stand out in a crowd and no one could mistake them for anything other than a ruler the King or as with Elizabeth the queen. After all there were no newspapers photos or TV.
    He had to look larger than life they had to look sumptuous
    With...

  • These were stout Catholics. They certainly didn't like the way Henry had rid himself of Katharine if Aragon and Anne was a very unpopular replacement
    All kinds of rumours abound concerning the new religion and the old religion for many was the centre of their community life
    It was change and people do not like change
    The punishment to Robert Aske as...

  • I also think it was a culmination of a lot of things
    It had taken years to finally marry Anne but she had disapointed him by not producing a male heir ( he blamed her for this) and time was passing by.
    She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and her opinions which I doubt pleased him. He disliked anyone telling him what to do. Least of all her
    He was in constant...

  • I too have cared for people with leg ulcer and I know they can be excruciatingly painful. We have modern medicine and the knowledge on how to care for them
    Quack doctors in Henry's time tried all sorts of awful experimental things on him which it was enough to drive him mad

  • I have cared for people with leg ulcers also and I totally agree with Colin. The pain can be excruciating and we have modern medicine that can help with the condition.
    Quack doctors in Henry's time put him through all kinds of treatment which didn't help at all

  • I have been to many historical places in London but not Hampton Court.
    I keep saying I must go there.
    Did the Royal feasting futurelearn course and Hampton court featured heavily in that. Next time I go to London it's a must.

  • Yes I would. To save my head,and my family. I don't think I'm made of martyr material. I would just go with the flow.
    It must have been so difficult for the people of England. And the nobility in particular. A huge upheaval. This new religion would certainly have a massive impact.
    Elizabeth swore a similar oath to her sister Mary saying she was a true...

  • I have seen the film several times the first time being when it first came to the cinema in the late sixties and I was a teenager but I vividly remember it being a good film that kept my attention all the way through.
    Shaw was a good Henry and schofield is how I will always think of as Mores character.
    It does bring to life history and how it would have...

  • The Utopian society More writes about must be one of the first works to suggest a society that later becomes Communismn? The perfect place
    But he was a pious Catholic and firmly believed that what he was doing by burning heretics was all in gods name.
    Protestants did the same thing to Catholics at times
    Our morals and ethics are completely different to...

  • If you tell yourself something often enough and no one disagrees with you then in the end you do believe it.
    Yes I believe he had convinced himself he was right.
    He was of the mediaeval period and he truly believed to commit a mortal sin you went to hell. And even Kings went there so he had to believe he was right

  • I do seem to think this is a meant to represent the court of Henry with Jupiter( of course) presiding over all. And making the final decisions
    And he gets the final say. The court of Henry's was not a safe place to be and yet it was the ambition of the nobility to get as close to him as possible

  • Henry wanted Anne and Wolsey couldn't get Henry a marriage annulment.
    If Henry couldn't get what he wanted woe betide you.
    So this was the end of Cardinal Wolsey and the beginning of Thomas Cromwell. Who by a strange coincidence was to go the same way because of a wife of Henry.

  • I have been reading some of Henry's very passionate love letters to Anne and he talks of her "pretty dukkys I trust shortly to kiss" So she did have good breasts. Apparently.
    I don't think she was particularly a devout Protestant either..She was an intelligent woman interested in modern thinking. She enjoyed the company of men and could converse with them in...

  • English history has fascinated me since I was a child and that was sixty years ago. So much of this is just a reminder of what I already knew. But I still love reading about it