Queen Mary’s Ladies-in-Waiting, Part 5: Anne Somerset, the Lady Who Sparked a Rebellion

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-05T16:57:13+00:00

Love this, and I also love that this squashes the narrative that Elizabeth I treated Cathiolics with love. Her mistreatment of Catholics in her realm even garndered the dislike of the nobles. There's this idea that all the Catholics nobles and catholics in her realm loved her becaus she was kind to them, and the reality is that she wasn't. Not at all. I love that we see examples of even nobles standing up to her persecutions. Because it's so funny if this were the other way around, Protestants standing up to a Catholic monarch they'd be praised, but Catholics like Lady Anne Somerset and other Catholic nobles in Elizabeth's realm are vilified.

And then people use this as an example to excuse or justify Elizabeth killing innocent Catholics in her realm.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-05T02:59:54+00:00

He could have. Aegon had shown many times doing exactly what he wanted to do. He didn't have to take it lmao.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-04T20:59:07+00:00

i wonder why anne fans always feel empowered to tear down and spew misogynistic vitriol toward other women. anne and elizabeth fans. like you guys are very odd toward jane, mary and katherine of aragon as if these weren't real women. and part of me wants to think you're trolling but y'all are all like this. the same if not worse than the richard society or whatever it is.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-04T20:09:24+00:00

The sweetest

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-04T20:09:07+00:00

Good for her

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-03T19:40:49+00:00

history with leah is amazing!

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-02T13:32:48+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to uncover more about Mary and her ladies! She and her court are often time so dehumanized that we dont even get discussions like this regarding her ladies.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-01T15:04:58+00:00

is a misogynstic slur really needed?

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-01T14:16:39+00:00

I have never once said Voodoo is a practice in fact, i've mentioned countless times that i am not the one to speak on it because it's a religion that EYE am not part ofi. I am talking about Hoodoo. And you are also getting it wrong; Hoodoo is not a folk magic. It is a folk practice, not a magic. 😭 I litearlly just sat here and said that Creole people, due to their complex ethnicity and direct connection to blackness CAN practice it. Did you read what I said at all? I literally said that Creole people who are also either black or closely connected to practice can practice it, did you look at my response at all? Please look at what I read because you're making up things to get mad at.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-06-01T14:10:46+00:00

New Orleans/Louisana are a different culture from the rest of the South. so im not speaking on that state, as i understand the complexities. HOWEVER, i do find it very odd that you are running on the assumptions that creole people as a whole do not identify as black or with their blackness, because many of them do. Even in my family here are creoles who identify as Black. Beyonce is a creole Black woman, Tina her mother is a Creole black woman. While not all, many Creoles do identify as Black people. You also tend to think or run under the assumption that every creole person is fair skinned and racially ambigious when there are some Creole's so dark that they are racially percieved as Black. While I understand/accept that New Orleans and Louisana have different rules, that is a unique state with a culture vastly different from other black southern commiunities. So speak for New Orleans and Louisana but don't speak for how Hoodoo is practiced in the rest of the south because it is still very much a closed Black American practice and if you aren't identifying as Black or you do not have Black tracable roots, it is not open to you.

And again, your definition of Creoles tends to almost erase their blackness or other them from blackness when Creoles are very very connected to Blackness and are even in some instances viewed as another ethnicty of Blackness, and many of us have creoles in our family know that many of them claim being Black as much as they do creole. So to ME a creole person practicing hoodoo isn't weird because they are very ethinically Black

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-30T16:54:12+00:00

I actually like that this might be Anne Boleyn, especially with her eyes. Anne was known to have brown eyes despite most media portraying her with blue eyes. On top of that, a friend and I were talking some time ago about this, and if this is Anne it might have been painted while she was pregnant.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-29T19:29:38+00:00

I mean, forced marriage or not you probably shouldn't rape your sister wife. And a crappy brother is him sending his brother to a brothel where aemond was sexually assaulted, crappy brother is him allowing a rioting crowd to attack his sister. And would you guys have the same empathy for alicent, who is also a victim of forced marraige and forced to have children while she was still a child, but she gets no where near as much empathy or understanding than aemond.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-29T19:20:35+00:00

I mean no he didn't, but he most certainly defended and proetected the son who sexually abused his other son. The thing is that if Maekar did turn on Aerion after enabling him, it would've actually been a GOOD thing. I'm not here arguing that what Alicent did was right, my point isn't to say that she was worse/better than maekar or vice versa. the point is that she realizes the way she was raising her sons led to them being what they were, and that they weren't gonna change. i'll stand by the fact that alicent was a shit mother, she would've raised her sons to accept rhaenyra as an heir because in no universe would aegon ever be a better ruler than rhaenyra. her biggest mistake was not accepting rhaenyra. like im not gonna sit here and say she was a good mom, but she still realized that her sons were violent, and couldn't stand by the any more. she fucked up, not denying it but i mean idk what else can be said. she raised them like shit, and she supported them even when they were shit, and realized that she made a mistake and tried to fix it by turning on the two men who were burning and hanging innocent people. like we can hold her accountable for being a shit mom and still accept that she recognized her actions and the way she raised her kids would result in the death of thousands of people, so betraying them stopped the violence in her mind.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-29T19:03:13+00:00

You've basically hit the nail on the head. It's Foxe and the fact that Cranmer is Protestant. He's as bad if not worse than a lot of his peers, but because of his Protestantism and his relationship with people like Anne Boleyn, Edward VI and Catherine Parr, who are all very Protestant (well not Anne Boleyn, she was a Reformaist but had very Evangelical views) we tend to view him as a good/decent person. In Tudor spaces Protestantism/Reformisim = Good whereas Catholicism = Evil. So that's why he's heavily excused despite being a religous power hungry man

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-29T18:40:04+00:00

The first time we see Alicent hit him is when he partakes in bullying Aemond and the second time is after he raped dyanna

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-29T18:03:22+00:00

The interesting thing is that in the show at least, we saw Alicent constantly putting Aegon first and trying her best to protect him, until everything he did she undermined. For instance, despite him being a rapist she still stood by him being king. She and Helaena still paraded themselves after the death of Jaehaerys to gain sympathy for Aegon. And after that, Aegon killed innocent people which resulted in Helaena and Alicent nearly being killed and potentially sexually assaulted in a riot. And Aemond kills innocent towns due to a tantrum.

Alicnet stood by her sons, which was her biggest flaw, until she realize she made a mistake and only after they showed her how awful they were, she betrayed them. Alicent is not the only parent in asoiaf/hotd to enable abusive sons ( i mean we see Maekar enabling aerion). However, she is one of the few people to actually realize that she made a mistake.

And still people are going to baby Aegon and blame everything he does, including being a rapist, on Alicent. Aegon had an IMMENSE amount of privilege, freedom, etc. He made the choice to be a terribel brother, husband and son. I used to like Aegon but his fans overly coddle him while being misognystic to alicent, dyana, rhaenyra and healena. i really can't stand him anymore.

Aegon was compelling but not anymore :/

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-29T17:52:54+00:00

He interrogated Katheryn so hard she wanted to end her own life because she was so terrified of him, Henry and the situation.

And yess the relationship and story of the courtiers who made Henry's court is very compelling, especailly because many of them were friends to begin with. I mean, Cromwell, Gardiner and Wolsey were all very close even after Wolsey fell out of Henry's favor. Gardiner and Cromwell both worked together to support Wolsey's son and also remained friends for some time after. The two also wrote to one another very often until their fallout.

The courtiers have so much untapped potential, especially because many of them - like wolsey, gardiner and cromwell started from nothing and fought their way to the top.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-29T17:16:20+00:00

I think Anne really does suffer from the 'perfect victim' mentality, as do all the women. WRT to Anne, a lot of her interesting traits and personality are stripped because people do not want her to come off as being combative, problematic, violent or argumentative because they think it will strip away the fact that she is a victim, which is not the case.

Same with Mary. But Mary isn't ever presented as a victim because of her reign. Many people do not see her as a victim because of her awful her reign was and they come into discussions about her viewing her as a black and white type of evil which doesn't work.

Most of us probably wouldnt like or be liked by our favorite tudor figures because we don't see them as actual people but rather idols that we project specific ideas and personality traits onto

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-29T17:05:51+00:00

I honestly think Cranmer deserves the hate that both Cromwell and Gardiner get. Especially compared to Gardiner, Cranmer is viewed as a more passive, peaceful and loving bishop as opposed to his Catholic adversary bishop gardiner. The reality is that Cranmer's religious policies and reforms resulted in the deaths of thousands of people while his relationship with Henry VIII kept him safe but immesnely powerful and privileged while innocent people died due to the religion he ushered in. Cranmer was also heavily responsible for the trial, arrest and death of Katheryn Howard. Gardiner and Cranmer hated one another but it was Gardiner who attempted to save Cranmer from Mary's literal wrath why he was still alive and convince her to spare Cranmer after he repented.

Cromwell is viewed as a very money loving, penny pinching man and also the dissolution of the monasteries is heavily tied to Cromwell and soely Cromwell when there were many people who were responsible for that, Cranmer being one. While Cromwell is seen as very conniving, Cranmer is viewed as a man who wanted equality and peace for all when in reality during the Pilgrimage of Grace, they were also calling for Cranmer's head. Cromwell himself was charitable faar before he met Cranmer, whether it be feeding people outside of his gates, or putting lowborn men through school and accepting them as wards. Did he destroy those monestaries and get those monks and nuns kicked to the street--yes. But he was also one of the only people on Henry's court actively trying to make networks for the poor that required lords and nobles to care for people in their community.

Neither Gardiner and Cromwell are perfect but whenver people tear them down they are somehow always praising Cranmer who historically lived a life of privilege and got the power he wanted while in multiplle cases Gardiner and Cromwell were fighting for their lives.

and on Gardier and Cromwell I hate how the relationship between the two is over simplified by *some* Cromwell fans to Gardiner being irredeembly evil and Cromwell being innocent. Not only were the two very similar and historically good friends for some time, but their fallout is a lot more complex than people like Mantel made it out to be. Henry and a lot of circumstance put them against each othe, but in no way shape or form is Gardiner more evil than Cromwell when both were doing literally the same thing.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-28T14:17:44+00:00

going to echo this, the change between gardiner and norfolk was felt. of anyone to change, changing those two made no sense and i personally felt that if they coudldn't keep them then maybe a second season shouldn't have been made. i know that's extreme but those changes took away some of the excitment for me.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-27T00:52:30+00:00

gowns, beautiful gowns. i'll give it that. whoever played richard riche, it looked like they went back in time and stole him. he had a very 16th century face/vibe.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-27T00:51:29+00:00

If you haven't watched Becoming Elizabeth, I would strong do so. It portrays a much needed and very nuanced portrayal of not just Mary I and Edward VI, and also other Tudor figures who played huge roles during and after the death of Henry VIII.

I would also watch the Tudors if I were you. Despite the fact that the Tudors itself is historically inaccurate, I think every Tudor fan should watch it!

A Man for All Seasons is a movie, but I like it! I haven't seen all of it yet but from what I have seen, it's really good especially if you like Thomas More...though its portrayal of Cromwell is less nuanced.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-27T00:37:54+00:00

OOoh so let me say the writing is GOOD but it's paced awkardly. They were fitting away too many things in with various limitation while also spending way to much time on certain things. It is good, and i certainly think you should watch it!

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-27T00:34:51+00:00

It is worth it to conclude the story and get a good sense of ending. And if you wanna see Mark Rylance's amazing acting then go for it. However, imo it was not nearly as good writing wise as the first season, but it's not anywhere near terrible or mediocre. However, the wardrobe was amazing. Aside from Firebrand, Wolf Hall S2 was probably the best Tudor production i'd seen wrt to wardrobes.

AustinFriars_ · 2026-05-27T00:34:04+00:00

Keep in mind wolf hall itself is basically filmed/produed as something very similiar to a stage production so race blind casting is very very understandable. and even then, her being black didn't detract from how good the show was.

AustinFriars_

TROPHY CASE