The Tudors Re-Write History - Season II Quiz

Answer: No - wrong Pope and wrong visuals

Cardinal Campeggio was the papal legate (representative) to England, and presumably discussed matters with "the Pope," but which one and when? Paul III (Peter O'Toole in The Series) was elected in October 1534, after Anne Boleyn's coronation. Construction of the Basilica proper began in 1547; the dome was finished in 1590; the rest was completed in 1626.

The aerial view shows a wide avenue that was constructed in the 1930s. Season One also used this erroneous "establishing shot," as well as a picture of Vienna, Austria to represent 16th century Paris.

Answer: No - none of the Bishops even got a tummy ache

The murder of a half-dozen Bishops would have been a huge historical event. Nothing remotely like it ever happened. Three or four servants died - from poison or just rotten food? The former was assumed, and the cook was indeed boiled alive as shown in The Series. Yum. If it were poison, there's no historical evidence that the Boleyns were involved.

Answer: Yes - got that right

The Series is basically correct. One might quibble with the Series showing Henry's authority as a single piece of legislation, whereas there were several Bills involved. If you watch The Series, you may question the apparent confusion between Henry's becoming the head of the Church and the development of Protestant theology in England - the latter occurred later, and gradually.

Answer: Yes - got that right

The reference to "occupied France" is amusing, and perhaps sinister. (Is Normandy French-occupied England?) As far as Henry was concerned, Calais was English territory. Called "the brightest jewel in the English crown,"
Calais was conquered in 1347 and remained in English hands until 1558. French historians would differ, so give the writers a pass. Anne's masked dance seems improbable, but it really happened. As with Season One, the beautiful actress Natalie Dormer bears little physical resemblance to the historical Anne.

Answer: No - real Ambassador but no such plot

Eustace Chapuys (1489-1556) was Imperial ambassador to England from 1529 to 1545. Although he advocated Queen Catherine's position, there is no evidence whatsoever that he plotted to murder Anne Boleyn. Chapuys remained at his post for nearly a decade after the deaths of both Catherine (January 1536) and Anne (May 1536).

He was a voluminous correspondent - a "murder plot" would have shown up in his letters, and it doesn't. Chapuys was a major character in the stage version of "A Man For All Seasons," but was omitted from the movie. Sad that his t.v. appearance shows him in such a sinister and inaccurate light.

Answer: No - didn't happen

Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) was a successful courtier and poet, though none of his work was published during his lifetime. Elizabeth Darrell was his mistress, bearing him three sons. She outlived Wyatt, and did not commit suicide. In fact, he left her some property . . . and maybe more? Some historians believe she had an affair with Thomas Wyatt's son, and that Wyatt the Younger fathered her youngest child.

In any event, she married one Robert Stroude in 1554 - very much alive, twelve years after Thomas Wyatt the Elder's death.

Answer: No - utter nonsense

Sir William Brereton was neither an assassin nor a Papal agent, but he was a somewhat odious character. He ruled ruthlessly in Cheshire and the Welsh Marches, alienating the poor and powerful alike. The allegations of adultery with Anne Boleyn, leading to his execution in 1536, were almost certainly false. Most historians believe that Thomas Cromwell wanted to quell the incipient rebellion against Brereton's abuses of power - Anne Boleyn's fall gave Cromwell a pretext to eliminate Brereton.

Answer: No - gross anachronism

Rather like 21st century folks staring in disbelief at a television set. By the time period of Season Two (ca. 1532), printed books had been in circulation for about eighty years. Gutenberg printed his famous Bible in 1455. The first printed books in English were produced (on the Continent) circa 1473. William Caxton introduced the press to England in 1476, establishing a print shop in Westminster - over fifty years before George Boleyn's wide-eyed amazement.

The Series contradicts itself on this point.

In Season One, Thomas More watches Protestant reformer Simon Fish burn at the stake (also utter nonsense, by the way) because Fish trafficked in "heretical" printed books and pamphlets.

Answer: No - nonsense

There is no evidence for any of this. Mark Smeaton (ca. 1512-1536) was a gifted musician and composer. He was charged with committing adultery - treason, technically - with Anne Boleyn, confessed falsely under torture, and was executed. The writers seem to have something against (or about) musicians.

In Season One, Thomas Tallis, the leading composer of the early Anglican Church, was portrayed as bisexual, and as having an affair with Sir William Compton. In fact the two never met, and both were "straight." Is there a pattern here? If you watch (and listen), note that most of the purported voltas on The Series aren't voltas at all.

Answer: No - many mistakes here

Paul III did found The Society of Jesus (Jesuits), but . . . in 1540, four years after Brereton was executed. The Series enmeshes Brereton's "recruitment" with his attempts to murder Anne Boleyn, which are also ahistorical nonsense. If you watch The Series, note that Peter O'Toole (playing Paul) is clean-shaven, whereas Paul III and other contemporary Popes had substantial beards.

After the sack of Rome in 1527, the next 24 Popes wore beards to commemorate the imprisonment of Pope Clement VII by Emperor Charles V.

Answer: No - utter balderdash

George Boleyn married in approximately 1525, when Mark Smeaton (a real person) would have been 11 or 12 years old. They didn't know each other at the time, in any sense of the word. They hadn't even met. George Boleyn had no reputation for personal violence of any kind.

There is no evidence whatsoever that either he or Mark Smeaton were gay or had a physical relationship with each other.

Answer: No - wrong audience for that play

Thomas Cromwell did sponsor the work of Protestant playwright John Bale, but Kinge Johan - the play shown in The Series - was written circa 1538. By then, Anne and George were dead and Thomas Boleyn was exiled from court in disgrace - but at least he was alive.

Answer: Almost - we don't know who unhorsed the king

Except for the identity of the other combatant, which is unknown to history, the Series is basically accurate. The Cromwell-Boleyn "plot" isn't as sinister as it seems. If Henry had died, the choice would have been between the older but still immature Mary and the infant Elizabeth. Either would have needed a Lord Protector in fact if not in name. Plans were afoot on both sides in England, and on both sides of the English Channel.

Henry Norris was a Groom of the Stool (look that up!) to Henry, and a strong supporter of the Boleyns.

He was among those executed for alleged adultery with Anne. If Norris had severely injured the king in a joust, it probably would have come up at his trial.

Answer: No - wrong lady; wrong gentleman

Historically, there were two Shelton sisters: Mary and Margaret ("Madge"). The Series has only one, named Madge but patterned after Mary. The real Mary Shelton was a lively, popular lady in waiting and minor poetess who was Henry VIII's mistress for a time.

Much less is known about sister Madge - except that she wasn't a royal mistress. Imperial Ambassador Chapuys wrote about the affair. Historians had trouble with Chapuy's handwriting: M-a-r-y looked close to M-a-r-ge or M-a-d-ge. We now know it was Mary.

Historically, the gentleman rumored to have had an affair with Mary Shelton was Sir Francis Weston, who does not appear at all in The Series. Weston was among those executed for committing adultery with Anne Boleyn.

Answer: No - smuggled, but not in a box

In 1532, Thomas Cranmer visited Nuremberg, where he married a relative of Protestant leader Andreas Osiander. This was daring because he broke his vow of celibacy as a Roman Catholic priest, married a Protestant, and preferred marriage to taking her as his mistress.

He secretly brought her to England - but not in a packing crate. They, and later their children, lived quietly but very comfortably in conventional houses.

Answer: Who knows? - Lady Eleanor is a fictional character

The character of Lady Eleanor Luke is fictional, but historical Henry was fooling around with someone at the time. Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys, a reliable and prolific correspondent, wrote that Henry had an affair with an unidentified woman in 1533-34, before taking up with Mary Shelton in 1535.

The Series makes the affair too obvious. If neither Chapuys nor historians could identify her, then she was very discreet indeed.

Answer: No - both wore yellow

Anne and Henry both wore yellow, but probably for different reasons. In the Spanish tradition, yellow was a color of mourning, so it was not disrespectful per se. In Tudor England, it signified joy, so Anne would have been comfortable with it. The court garb shown in The Series is typically Elizabethan or later. If you watch, note the prevalence of married ladies with exposed hair - a definite Tudor taboo.

They hid their hair under close-fitting headgear, except for the Queen: her crown sat upon her hair, and would have slipped off if she had to cover it.

Answer: No - he was not imprisoned

Thomas Boleyn was removed as Lord Privy Seal and exiled from court when Anne fell from favor, but he was not arrested. He openly condemned his children Anne and George, both of whom were executed. This likely saved his own life. Thomas Boleyn was permitted to retain his title as Earl of Wiltshire and of Ormond until his death (from natural causes) three years later, in 1539.

Answer: No - couple of major errors

The writers' fabrication of Brereton's "confession" seems related to their equally phoney storyline of Brereton as a secret Jesuit plotting to murder Anne. Historically, five alleged paramours were arrested, including Brereton, but only Mark Smeaton "confessed." Smeaton was the only commoner and thus the only one exposed to torture.

The case against Smeaton was the weakest of the five. All were probably innocent. Only four of the five accused are shown: Sir Francis Weston never appears in The Series.

Answer: No - Cranmer wasn't even there

At the time of Anne Boleyn's execution, Thomas Cranmer was on the south side of the Thames, in the gardens of Lambeth Palace with noted Protestant theologian Alexander Ales. Cranmer wept upon hearing the cannon-shot that heralded Anne's death. The Series' portrayal of Cranmer's emotion is accurate, but it's too "public."