Being an anglophile, I am never tired of telling the Tudor
stories. Seeing the lilies in bloom, I
just cannot but tell the story of the “Great Divorce” in history—that of King
Henry VIII and his first wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon.
My daughter gave me this book of Tudors (it lasted for three generations only beginning with Henry
VII—Henry VIII’s dad, ends with Elizabeth I—Henry VIII’s daughter) as one of
the birthday gifts two years ago with an inscription of
“His
knowledge of this English past
is so through and so
vast
‘Tis true! This Taiwanese-American-Anglophile
is an honorary Brit of that other Isle”
Rose and lily have been fighting for the tile of Queen of
the Flower for ages. Not that I do not love rose,
but I love lily more. I am of the
opinion that among the six wives of Henry VIII, Queen Catherine was the only
one worthy to sit on the throne by his side.
Queen Catherine is a daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, who
commissioned the first voyage of Christopher Columbus. She was intelligent, blessed with an
indomitable spirit. Imperial ambassador from the Emperor of the Holy Roman
Empire to Henry VIII of England said of her, “The
most virtuous woman I had ever known, and the highest hearted, but too quick to
trust that others were like herself.”
A letter of her written shortly before her passing at age of
51 is touching. She was six years Henry
VIII’s senior. She was first married to Henry's elder brother, Arthur,who died shortly thereafter. Henry VIII used that as the legal reason for divorce as apparently married to a brother's wife is religiously forbidden. Queen Catherine claimed the marriage with Arthur was never consummated. The 17 leading European universities of his day sided with Henry; there was no independent scholarship then.
Our lilies, the Queen of the Flowers, like Queen Catherine
in her court, also have many ladies-in-waiting (many flowering pots) surround
her in the garden (see photo below).
It is not the purpose of this post to bore you with the
details of the ‘greatest’ divorce in history, involving Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cranmer (archbishop of
Canterbury), Thomas Cromwell (whose photo was once a JAMA cover—Journal of the American Medical Association;
I am not the only doctor fascinated by him), Pope and Spanish Emperor Charles V
and all 17 leading universities of the time.
The divorce process brought the Reformation to England and
split the Christendom. In the end Henry
VIII became the Supreme Head of the Church of England, which became protestant.
Henry VIII couldn’t get the Pope’s (Clement VII) permission
to divorce Queen Catherine, at that time Pope was under control of Spanish
Emperor Charles V—Queen Catherine’s nephew.
Cardinal Wolsey lost his head partly related to his
event. He once visited the Canterbury
and wept at Becket’s shrine. T.S. Eliot’s
poetic play
Murder in the Cathedral
is about Becket’s murder (about 400 years earlier) by Henry II’s agents.
見景傷情 or 觸景傷情, visiting Becket’s
shrine, thinking about he has Henry VIII to contend with, like Becket Henry II.
Cardinal Cranmer survived Henry VIII, barely. He held Henry’s hand when the king died. But the shadow of the headsman’s axe had been
in his nightmare.
Catherine said in Shakespeare’s Henry VIII (Act 3 Scene 1) in response to Cardinal Wolsey’s request
to accept the divorce from Henry VIII.
Queen Catherine
I am the most unhappy
woman living.
Alas, poor wenches,
where are now your fortunes!
Shipwrecked upon a
kingdom, where no pity,
No friend, no hope;
no kindred weep for me;
Almost no grave
allowed me; like the lily,
That once was
mistress of the field and flourished.
This is a typical poetic play; almost every line rhymes. So read it loud, you’ll enjoy it more.
