An Actor In Search Of A Character: Gertrude Blount Courtenay, the Marchioness of Exeter

Presented at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference in Boston, Massachusetts on April 12, 2012.



One of the more fascinating aspects of performing as part of the cast of a renaissance festival, particularly one in which royal court story lines get performed on a regular basis, such as at my home festival, the Maryland Renaissance Festival, is the challenge to develop information when portraying an actual historical person.  It is easier to find information if you portraying a prominent person, such as King Henry VIII or his wives.   However, if you are given the role of a courtier or a courtier's wife it is much more difficult to find contemporary information.    Birth dates are largely unknown in the first half of the sixteenth century.   Unless you are of royal birth your early life and rudimentary education will not be recorded. There may be brief glimpses of you in the historical record, but for women of the sixteenth century, unless you came to prominence on your own accord, there is little to go on for an actor to develop insight into the personality of the historical figure.  

My own actor’s journey into the court of King Henry VIII began in the year 1529, better known as 2001, the 25^th anniversary season of the Maryland Renaissance Festival.   Prior to this season I had portrayed fictional village characters.   I was ready for a change and was assigned Gertrude Blount Courtenay, the Marchioness of Exeter.   My first reaction to this was, “who?”  My second reaction was how on earth do I pronounce Marchioness.  

We are extremely lucky at the Maryland Renaissance Festival to have a resident historian who is also the court director, Mary Ann Jung.  There are also several other members of the cast who either have years of experience in historical interpretation or, like myself, are amateur Tudor history geeks.   At the first rehearsal I was given a basic fact sheet on the Marchioness.

Gertrude Blount

1503?-1558

Titles: Marchioness of Exeter (1525)

Father: William Blount, 4^th Baron Mountjoy (1479-1534) Catherine of Aragon’s chamberlain.

Mother: Elizabeth Say.

Husband: Henry Courtenay (1496 – x1538) Marquis of Exeter, a grandson of Edward IV.

Children: Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon (1526-1556).

v Devout Catholic

v Somewhat of an enigma, being called both a “pathetic, ailing, devout, rather silly woman, with the credulous faith of the women of her kind” and an “energetic, high-spirited woman” willing to risk her life to keep a Catholic on the throne.

v Participated in pageantry at court.

v Accompanied Princess Mary at a May 1527 banquet for the French ambassador.

v Ensured that Queen Catherine’s staff were musically well-equipped.

v Very resourceful.

v Became a “useful, imperturbable go-between” for Princess Mary and Chapuys.

v At the same time she was working for Princess Mary, she was one of the Godmothers to Princess Elizabeth.

v She eventually consulted the Nun of Kent on a “family matter”, but apologized to Henry VIII and was pardoned for her indiscretion.

v Worked behind the scenes to bring down Anne Boleyn.

v Told Chapuys in January 1536 of Anne Boleyn’s witchery.

v Bore Prince Edward to the font at his Christening.

v Served water to King Henry and Queen Jane.

v She was eventually attainted and sentenced to death for treason in 1539, but she was pardoned in 1540.

v Her husband was not so fortunate: he was executed in 1538.

v She remained a loyal friend to Princess Mary and became part of her court when she rose to the throne.

From this fact sheet this woman clearly intrigued me.  Obviously, the Marchioness of Exeter was a prominent figure at the court of King Henry VIII and Queen Mary I.   Why had I not heard of her or her husband before?   I knew her son’s name Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon from his role in the Wyatt Rebellion of 1554.  That was as little as I knew.   I had been obsessed with the court of King Henry VIII since I was ten years old and watched the BBC miniseries The Six Wives of Henry VIII that was broadcast on CBS and PBS in 1971. Yet, I had never come across the Exeters in my reading, or if I did, they did not register as important. 

As an actor at the Maryland Renaissance Festival we are encouraged to continue our research into the people we are portraying.   It helps us give a richer performance and our discoveries can help to write our character’s roles in the scripted storylines that are performed at the Festival.   What has differed for me is that I have developed a decade long love for the Marchioness of Exeter that has steered me into discovering as much about her as I can.   Thanks to resources that were not available to me a decade ago when I first portrayed the Marchioness, I have gained a deeper understanding of this complex and important woman who served at the court of King Henry VIII.

In 2001 I had more limited options and they involved rudimentary research on the Internet, going to the library and ordering used books.    The first resource that I consider essential when researching a woman from the English court in the 16^th century is Burke’s Peerage in its various forms and volumes.  This will give you basic genealogy for both the father’s family and the husband’s family by searching under either the family name or the title and these sources will give you a basic biography that include the titles and offices that the father or husband held at the court.    There are also websites such as www.tudorplace.com.ar and www.tudorhistory.org that provide short biographies of the important figures of Tudor history using some of the same material.

Here is what I learned about the Marchioness’ father, William Blount, 4^th Baron Mountjoy.   William Blount was the son and heir of John, 3^rd Baron Mountjoy who succeeded to the title on the death of his father in 1485 while still a child. He studied in Paris where he met and became the patron of the famous humanist scholar, Erasmus.   Lord Mountjoy paid Erasmus a pension of 100 crowns per year.   There are several Latin letters between Erasmus and Mountjoy and Erasmus dedicated several of his writings to Lord Mountjoy and his son, Charles.[1]

 From Erasmus’ letters we know that Lord Mountjoy came back to England around 1497/1498, probably because William’s marriage had been arranged to Elizabeth Saye, the daughter of Sir William Saye.  Lord Mountjoy would marry multiple times, and his other wives included Alice Kebel, the widow of William Browne, Lord Mayor of London, and Dorothy Grey, daughter of Thomas, Marquis of Dorset.    Antonia Fraser in her The Wives of Henry VIII states that Lord Mountjoy also married Katherine of Aragon’s Spanish lady-in-waiting, Inez de Venegas and that Inez was Gertrude’s mother thus making Gertrude half-Spanish.[2] Sources differ on whether Inez was his second or his fourth wife. In order for Inez to be Gertrude’s mother Gertrude would have to have been born during Henry VIII’s reign after 1509 and given that her marriage occurred in 1519 and she starts to make appearances at court shortly after that, it is unlikely. I have come to the conclusion that Gertrude is most likely the child of his first marriage to Elizabeth Saye.[3]

It was Lord Mountjoy’s court career that made it possible for Gertrude to make her illustrious marriage to the King’s first cousin, Henry Courtenay.  Lord Mountjoy is present at many of the prominent events of the first two decades of the reign of King Henry VIII.  In 1512 he becomes Chamberlain to Queen Katherine of Aragon, a position he remained in with a few gaps until the fall of 1533, when he was tasked with informing the “Princess Dowager” that her marriage was invalid.[4] He died the following year.

Gertrude is believed to be Lord Mountjoy’s eldest child. [5]  He would have several more children by his many wives, Mary, Charles, Katherine, John, Dorothy and another Mary.   As to her birth year it is listed in sources as anywhere from 1499 to 1504 and in some sources as late as 1509.  As is typical for a female courtier of the early 16^th century Gertrude does not merit a mention in her own right until she is married.  

There is slightly more information about Gertrude’s husband, Henry Courtenay, although his importance at the court of Henry VIII has been diminished in popular culture in favor of those courtiers who have closer ties to the families of the king’s subsequent wives.   One of the best sources I found during the early years of my research came unexpectedly.  Horatia Durant published a book on the three generations of the Earls of Devonshire in 1960.   Entitled Sorrowful Captives: The Tudor Earls of Devon, Ms. Durant gained access to the family archives of the current Earls of Devon who live in Powderham Castle.  

Henry is the only surviving child of William Courtenay and Princess Katherine Plantagenet.   William was the son of Edward, created 1^st Earl of Devonshire in 1485 for loyal service to King Henry VII.   William married the Queen’s younger sister in 1495.[6]  When Queen Elizabeth of York dies, it is Princess Katherine who acts as chief mourner at her funeral.[7]   Unfortunately William begins a pattern in which his family is suspected of treason for supporting the Yorkist claimants to the throne.   William is arrested in 1502 and attainted for corresponding with Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk.[8]   He would be released from the Tower on the ascension of King Henry VIII and he was given the honor of carrying the Third Sword at the coronation. The attainder is reversed and William is granted his father’s title of Earl of Devonshire in 1511, but he dies before the formalities are completed.[9] Henry Courtenay appears to have been close to his cousin Henry VIII. He succeeds to the Earldom on his father’s death, participates in the invasion of France in 1513 and by 1520 becomes a privy councilor and a gentleman of the privy chamber.[10] [11]  

Now it is time for Gertrude to step forward into history.   She was Henry Courtenay’s second wife.   He was first married to Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle in her own right, but she died young no later than early 1519.[12]   Ms. Durant uncovers evidence that Gertrude and Henry’s marriage almost did not happen.   In 1519 Henry Courtenay was proposed as a husband for the niece of William of Chievres, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor’s chamberlain and tutor.  As Horatia Durant quotes in her book, Sir Thomas More wrote to Cardinal Wolsey,

“as touching the overture made by my Lord of Shevers for the marriage of my Lord of Devonshire, the King is well content, and as me seemeth, very glad of the motion, wherein he requireth Your Grace that it may like you to call my Lord of Devonshire to your Grace, and to advise him secretly to forbear any further treaty of marriage with my Lord of Mountjoy for a while; staying the matter, not casting it off; shewing him that there is a far better offer made him, of which the King would that he should not know the speciality before he speak with his Grace.”[13]

The marriage between Henry and Gertrude took place on October 25, 1519. The king paid 200 pounds 4 shillings and  9 pence for jousts at Greenwich to celebrate their wedding. [14] Gertrude makes her first appearance as Countess of Devonshire at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, where she was allowed in her retinue three women, four men servants and eight horses,[15] and she participated as one of the virtuous ladies in the court masque, the Chateau Vert in March 1522, alongside the King’s sister, Mary, Dowager Queen of France, Mary Boleyn Carey and Anne Boleyn.   Gertrude portrayed Honor.[16]  Clearly, the Marchioness had the courtly graces of music and dancing, so based on this information I could portray her as a young woman who enjoyed court entertainments during the 2001 season of the Maryland Renaissance Festival.   While the year was 1529, the height of the King’s Great Matter, because it was the 25^th anniversary season, it was decided to have one last “happy’ day with King Henry and Queen Katherine enjoying the hospitality of the little village of Revel Grove.

Yet, I was still intrigued by the descriptions of Gertrude that seemed so diametrically opposed.   Where did they come from?   For that I turned to another valuable resource for anyone researching Tudor women.   In 2001, this resource was in book form, Wives and Daughters: The Women of the Sixteenth Century by Kathy Lynn Emerson.   It is now available as an online resource at kateemersonhistoricals.com that has made it easier for Ms. Emerson to update her information as new scholarship has happened over the past decade.  So, let’s examine Gertrude.  It was from Ms. Emerson’s book that I discovered the origin of the pathetic, ailing devout portrayal was A.L. Rowse, who wrote his works on Tudor history during the period of the 1930’s – 1970’s.   The source of the energetic quote is Garrett Mattingly who wrote his biography of Katherine of Aragon in 1941.   Horatia Durant in 1960 clearly did not like the Marchioness saying that she wrote “interminable letters”[17] and that she “wanted power at a time when women…seldom wielded it.”[18]

During the off-season, I started researching more deeply into Gertrude’s life.  I would find snippets of her here and there, references to her in letters that placed her even more closely into the events of King Henry VIII’s reign.   I discovered that it was very likely that she was, as she is portrayed in the one time she appears on the screen, in the BBC’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII, the enemy of Queen Anne Boleyn, the friend of the King’s eldest daughter Princess Mary and the woman who had the privilege of carrying Prince Edward during his christening.[19]

In 2002, the Maryland Renaissance Festival portrayed the year 1533 and the coronation of Anne Boleyn.   I figured that since the Marchioness of Exeter was a close friend of Queen Katherine that I would not be asked to portray her that season.   I was wrong.   As a matter of fact, when I mentioned to my Artistic Director, Carolyn Spedden that I believed based on my research that the Marchioness did not attend the coronation of Queen Anne, she wrote it into the storyline and I received a brief dramatic scene following the coronation in which Queen Anne berated my arrogance and I chose to silently take the queen’s wrath.  That led to some wonderful acting opportunities for the next two seasons as the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn took place at the Festival. 

Here are a few highlights of the wonderful events of Gertrude Blount, the Marchioness of Exeter’s life.  

Henry Courtenay benefited from the execution of the Duke of Buckingham in 1521.  He became a knight of the garter replacing the attainted Duke. In 1527 he was appointed lieutenant of the order of the Garter.  He received the lordship of Caliland in Cornwall and the Duke’s London home, Red Rose in St Lawrence Pountney.[20]   He was an accomplished jouster and the records from the Field of the Cloth of Gold show that his opponent was another royal cousin, Henry, Lord Montague the eldest son of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury and elder brother of the Reginald Pole who became Queen Mary I’s Archbishop of Canterbury.[21] Henry Courtenay was created Marquis of Exeter in June 1525 on the same day that the king’s bastard son, Henry Fitzroy was created Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset. [22]

The Marchioness of Exeter was chosen to hold Princess Mary’s hand as she entered for a banquet in May 1527 when she was presented to the French ambassadors who proposed a French marriage for the young princess.[23]   During the Sweating Sickness epidemic of 1528 during which Mary Boleyn’s husband died and Anne and George Boleyn took ill, there is a letter from Thomas Heneage to Cardinal Wolsey that shows that the Marchioness of Exeter also took ill and that the court left her behind fleeing to Ampthill.[24]

For the Exeters’ role in the dramatic events of the 1530’s it became necessary to dig deeper into even older source material. The Marquis performed his duty to his King and supported him in his quest for an annulment from Queen Katherine. [25] Both of the Exeters took part in the christening of Princess Elizabeth with Gertrude acting as godmother at the confirmation ceremony that took place immediately following the baptism.  And we see in an episode from the reign of Queen Anne Boleyn, a time when Gertrude had to beg her forgiveness of the King.

There is a letter in volume two of Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain,  edited by Mary Anne Everett Wood, in which a lady of the court begs the king’s forgiveness for seeking advice from Elizabeth Barton, the Holy Maid of Kent. [26]  Sister Elizabeth Barton was famous for her predictions and she would ultimately lose her life for foolishly predicting that King Henry VIII would die if he married Anne Boleyn.   Clearly if a lady of the court was caught patronizing Sister Elizabeth it could have dire consequences.  What is puzzling to me is why is it presumed to be Gertrude that wrote the letter?  The letter published was not taken from the original letter and it is unsigned.  It comes from the Cotton Manuscripts, which were heavily damaged in a fire, and the original may be lost. Everett Wood states that the only women of rank that consulted the Holy Maid of Kent were Lady Exeter and Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury.  She attributes the letter to Lady Exeter because of the references to her husband and by giving as a reason for the consultation that she was pregnant and had lost all of her children.  Margaret Pole was a widow in her sixties at the time the letter was written.  However, Everett Wood gets some information incorrect, such as stating that the Marchioness was imprisoned until the reign of Queen Mary I.   She also states that the Marchioness attended Queen Anne's coronation, while other sources say she did not. Yet another reason to wish I had access to the actual material.

I do not have access to the complete letters of Eustace Chapuys, the Imperial Ambassador, but other biographers have used those letters to show that Chapuys relied on one or the other of the Exeters for a lot of the information that he passed on to his master, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.[27] It is from Chapuys that we learn that the Exeters are presumed to be the sources for the King claiming that Anne Boleyn had bewitched him[28] and the charming episode of Mistress Jane Seymour on her knees demurely rejecting a gift of sovereigns from the King begging him to respect her honor. .”[29]

Gertrude was tireless in her role as informer to Ambassador Chapuys.  It is clear from his letters that the Marchioness believed Queen Katherine and Princess Mary are in mortal danger.[30]  In two letters from Chapuys to Charles V in November 1535 he writes “The Marchioness of Exeter has sent to inform me that the King has lately said to some of his most confidential councilors that he would not longer remain in the trouble, fear and suspense he had so long endured on account of the Queen and the Princess, and that they should see at the coming Parliament, to get him released there from, swearing most obstinately that he would wait no longer.  The Marchioness declares that this is as true as the Gospel, and begs me to inform your Majesty and pray you to have pity on the ladies.   In the second letter he wrote, “The Personage who informed me of what I wrote to your Majesty on the 6^th about the Queen and the Princess –came yesterday to this city in disguise to confirm what she had sent to me to say, and conjure me to warn your Majesty, and beg you most urgently to see a remedy.  She added that the King, seeing some of those to whom he used this language shed tears, said that tears and wry faces were of no avail, because even if he lost his crown he would not forbear to carry his purpose into effect.”

I was able to portray the Marchioness of Exeter through the year 1537 participating in the fall of Anne Boleyn, the betrothal of Jane Seymour and the restoration to the court of Princess Mary.   Yet, because this is a Renaissance Festival and the Exeter Conspiracy is not one of the tales that gets told in a couple of thirty minute shows I was unable to portray the downfall of the Exeters.   It is a sad story that, believe it or not was portrayed by Showtime’s The Tudors series, without the Exeters taking part.

Following the death of Queen Anne Boleyn, the Marquis again did his duty in helping to suppress the Pilgrimage of Grace and a similar uprising in the west counties.  He benefited greatly from the dissolution of the monasteries and became the largest landowner in the west. [31]  Yet, it was his royal blood, his close friendship to the Pole family and his dislike of Thomas Cromwell that would prove the destruction of his family.

Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV.   Her middle son, Reginald Pole, had been educated on the continent at the expense of King Henry VIII.    Reginald became very vocal about opposing the divorce from Catherine of Aragon and the dissolution writing a treatise against the English Reformation entitled Pro Unitatis Ecclesiasticae Unitatis Defensione (A Defense of the Church’s Unity) better known as De Unitate. [32]  The Marquis was close friends with the Pole family, particularly Henry Pole, Lord Montague, Margaret Pole’s eldest son. Thomas Cromwell had Geoffrey Pole, the Countess’ youngest son arrested for clandestine correspondence with his brother Reginald in August 1538 and put in solitary confinement in the Tower of London for two months.    He betrayed his entire family and the Exeters.[33]

The Marquis and Henry Pole, Lord Montague, were arrested in November 1538.   The Marquis was accused of encouraging apprentices in Cornwall to march carrying his banner and declaring that he should be heir to the throne.     This makes no sense, as he would not have displaced Prince Edward or Princess Mary to whom he was one of her staunchest champions.   It didn’t help the Marquis that was overhead saying “Knaves rule about the King; I trust to give them a buffet one day.”[34]

The Marchioness and their 12-year-old son, Edward was arrested along with Lady Montague and her young son, Henry Pole.  The Marquis and Lord Montague were convicted of treason and executed on December 9, 1538.   One week later the Marquis was formally degraded from the Order of the Garter. [35] Among the other men executed in the “Exeter Conspiracy” were Sir Edward Neville and Sir Nicholas Carew whose sole crime was to have treasonous correspondence with the Marchioness.[36]

Act of Attainder convicted the Marchioness along with several other prisoners in May 1539.    For a time her cell mate in the Tower was Margaret Pole.   The Marchioness is mentioned in the reports of Thomas Cromwell.   In reference to being unsatisfied with her confession he wrote that “I shall try to the uttermost and never cease till the bottom of her stomach may be clearly opened and disclosed, and I can declare it to your highness by mouth more than I could by writing.”[37]  Thomas Philips, a senior warder would write “The Lady Marchioness feareth sore lest she stand in the King’s displeasure and consequently wants your Lordship’s favour.  She also wanteth rainment and hath no change but only what your Lordship commanded to be provided.  Further, her gentlewoman, Mistress Constance, hath no change and what she hath is sore worn.   Another gentlewoman hath been with her one whole year and more and very sorry is she that she hath not to recompense them, at least their wages.” Later Cromwell’s memorandum lists “remember the Marchioness of Exeter…remember the two children in the Tower.”[38]

The Marchioness of Exeter was pardoned on December 21, 1539 and released.  [39] Not so her young son, who would remain a prisoner of the Tower until Queen Mary I came to the throne.  Mary would restore him to his father’s family title of Earl of Devon. [40]Young Henry Pole simply disappears from the Tower records around 1543.  Margaret Pole would be executed at the age of 68 in May 1541.   Geoffrey Pole attempted suicide twice, was released and lived out his life shunned by his surviving relatives.[41]

Gertrude returned to court with the ascension of Mary and became chief gentlewoman of the queen’s bedchamber. [42]  Her son would become the English candidate for the queen’s hand in marriage supported by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, whom Edward had befriended during his imprisonment. [43]  When the Queen announced her intention to marry Philip of Spain, Edward was caught up in the Wyatt Rebellion that proposed to marry Edward to Princess Elizabeth and place them on the throne.[44]    Edward when questioned stated that while he was aware of the plans to marry him to Princess Elizabeth he had declined.[45]   He was briefly re-imprisoned in the Tower and then exiled to the continent where he traveled to Calais, Antwerp and Italy.    Edward Courtenay, the last Tudor Earl of Devonshire would die in mysterious circumstances in Padua on September 18, 1556 and was buried in St. Anthony’s church.  [46]

His mother would be forgiven by Queen Mary for her son’s mistakes and would remain a part of the Queen’s household.    Gertrude Blount Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter died on September 25, 1558 and is buried in Wimborne Minster. [47]

I end with Gertrude’s own words.  The Marchioness of Exeter wrote several letters to her son in his exile.  Five are reprinted in volume three of Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain.  This letter is poignant.  It is the letter of a mother desperately missing her only child.

Son,

            Your letter wrote to me, dated the two-and-twentieth of October, I received from Brown the 7^th of November.  The letter was one way comfortable, to perceive you do not forget your mother, who esteems you above her own life.  And very glad I am to hear the king’s majesty is so much your good lord as you write; beseeching our Lord long to preserve him: but sorry I am you will, as I perceive by your letter, travel so far hence, but I trust, according to your bounden duty, you will first come into England to see the queen’s highness and your poor mother, who has as little worldly comfort as ever woman had, saving only the goodness and comfort of the queen’s highness.  As I perceive by your letter, your man has to say to me from you, but, as he writes to me, he trusts you shall shortly come hither and speak with me yourself; the which I would be most gladdest of, and causes me purposely send this bearer to bring me word; if there be any such good news I will remain here till I hear the certainty what you will do.  And thus with my hearty blessing I will bid you farewell, for I am at this present so pained with the cholic and the stone, that I have much ado to write; fearing you cannot read this ill written letter, praying daily for your short return into England.  Written the 8^th of November, from Master Warham’s house at Malsanger.

            If you come to England I trust I shall see you, or else I will shortly write to you if I be alive.

                        By your most assured loving mother,

                                    Gertrude Exeter[48]

Bibliography

Dodds, Madeleine Hope and Ruth. The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536-1537 and The Exeter Conspiracy 1538, volume one. London: Frank Cass and Company Ltd. 1915, 1971.

Durant, Horatia. Sorrowful Captives: The Tudor Earls of Devon. Great Britain: Pontypool, Hughes & Son, Ltd. The Griffin Press. 1960.

Emerson, Kathy Lynn. Wives and Daughters: The Women of the Sixteenth Century.  Albany, New York: Whitston Publishing Company, Inc. 1984, 2001.

Everett Wood, Mary Anne. Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, three volumes. London: Henry Colburn. 1846.

Fraser, Antonia. The Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1992

Ives, Eric. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn.  Malden: Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. 2004.

Jerdan, William. The Rutland Papers. New York and London: AMS Press. 1968.

Matthew, David. The Courtiers of Henry VIII. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1970.

Murphy, Beverley A. Bastard Prince: Henry VIII’s Lost Son.  Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Ltd. 2001.

Naylor Okerlund, Arlene.  Queenship and Power: Elizabeth of York. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. 2009.

Seward, Desmond. The Last White Rose: Dynasty, Rebellion and Treason The Secret Wars Against The Tudors. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd. 2010.

Starkey, David. Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. London: Chatto & Windus. 2003.

St. Clare Byrne, Muriel Ed. The Letters of King Henry VIII. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. 1936, 1968.

Taylor, Jr., James D. The Shadow of the White Rose: Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon 1526-1556. New York: Algora Publishing. 2006.

Towend, Peter, editor. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 18th edition, 3 volumes. London, England: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1965-1972

Tremlett, Giles. Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen. London: Faber and Faber Ltd. 2010.

www.findagrave.com

www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/TudorWomen

www.tudorhistory.org

www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/HenryCourtenay(1MExeter).htm

---

[1] Dictionary of National Biography, pg. 721

[2] Antonia Fraser, The Wives of Henry VIII (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992) 195

[3] http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/TudorWomenU-V.htm

[4] Tremlett, Giles, Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 2010) 378-379

[5] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 1123.

[6] Arlene Naylor Okerlund, Queenship and Power: Elizabeth of York (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) 127

[7] Okerlund 204

[8] Horatia Durant. Sorrowful Captives: The Tudor Earls of Devon (Pontypool, Hughes & Son, Ltd. The Griffin Press, 1960) 26

[9] Durant 28

[10] Dictionary of National Biography, pg. 1261.

[11] www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/HenryCourtenay(1MExeter).htm

[12] www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/TudorWomenG.htm

[13] Durant, pg.36.

[14] http://www.kateemersonhistoricals.com/TudorWomenB-Bl.htm

[15] William Jerdan, F.S.A. M.R.S.L.The Rutland Papers (New York and London: AMS Press, 1968) 36

[16] Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. 2004) 37

[17] Durant 36

[18] Durant 37

[19] Durant 52

[20] Dictionary of National Biography, pg. 1261.

[21] Durant 37.

[22] Beverley A. Murphy, Bastard Prince: Henry VIII’s Lost Son (Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited, 2003) 55

[23] Durant 40

[24]M. St. Clare Byrne, Ed. The Letters of King Henry VIII (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1968) 72

[25] David Matthew, The Courtiers of Henry VIII (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970) 147

[26] Mary Anne Everett Wood, Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, Volume Two (London: Henry Colburn, 1846) 96-101

[27] Durant 45

[28] David Starkey, Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII (London: Chatto & Windus, 2003) 551

[29] Madeleine Hope Dodds and Ruth Dodds, The Pilgrimage of Grace 1536-1537 and The Exeter Conspiracy 1538 Volume One (London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. 1915, 1971) 24-25

[30] Durant 47

[31] Durant 50-52

[32] Desmond Seward, The Last White Rose: Dynasty, Rebellion and Treason; The Secret Wars Against The Tudors (London: Constable & Robinson, Ltd., 2010) 240

[33] Durant 57

[34] Durant 58

[35] Durant 61-62

[36] Durant 59

[37] Durant. 63

[38] Matthew 153

[39] Durant 64

[40] James D. Taylor, Jr. The Shadow of the White Rose: Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon 1526-1556 (New York: Algora Publishing, 2006) 59

[41] Durant 63

[42] Durant 76

[43] Seward 316

[44] Taylor 75

[45] Taylor 85

[46] Taylor 160-161

[47] http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=18692

[48] Everett Wood, Volume Three, 307-309

Newsies The Musical at the Nederlander Theatre

Stop the presses.   Newsies The Musical becomes the King of New York!


Disney theatrical has struck gold with its stage adaptation of Newsies.    This production had its world premiere in the fall of 2011 at Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. (see September 2011 in the blog archive for the review)  For several years Disney had received more requests to adapt Newsies than any other of its many properties and its clear why it is so popular with schools and camps.    With a cast comprised almost entirely of young teen characters, a score filled with rousing anthems and a story about how the young people take on the adult establishment for justice, Newsies is a crowd pleasing prospect.    So, how has the production fared between Paper Mill and Broadway.   In a word, spectacularly!


The film Newsies had its problems particularly in two areas, the adult characters, particularly the vaudeville performer Medda, and the lack-luster love story.   The Paper Mill production made improvements to the adults, and made several changes to the storyline including a new female leading character.   The production was ready for the great white way,yet still needed a few more changes.  I am happy to report that the minor changes to Harvey Fierstein's book and the addition of three new songs have corrected those minor flaws.   As a result Newsies The Musical is the best new family-friendly entertainment on Broadway.


Disney's Newsies The Musical takes place in 1899 New York City.  The Newsies are the boys who sell the "papes."  Many live on the streets, others work long hours to help their struggling families.  Their leader is Jack Kelly, a talented artist who dreams of going west for a better life.  His fellow newsies include close friend Crutchie, struggling with a disability, and two new kids, brothers Davey and Les, whose father was laid off after being injured in a factory job. When Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the World desides to raise the price the newsboys must pay for the papers they sell, he convinces William Randolph Hearst and the other publishers to follow suit.  The boys decide to form a union and strike until the price is cut and the publishers agree to buy back any papers the boys can't sell.   Jack meets girl reporter Katherine Plumber, who dreams of a promotion from writing the society page to the news beat.  Together the Newsies and Katherine take on the world in a fight ultimately for the benefit of all of the oppressed child workers of the city. 


Jeff Calhoun has guided his enthusiastic cast with a sure hand, maintaining a fast paced, high stakes urgency throughout the play.   Christopher Gattelli's rousing choreography explodes on the larger Nederlander stage.   Tobin Ost's steel girder inspired set is versatile and provides a perfect canvas for Sven Ortel's projections. Jess Goldstein's costumes and Charles G. LaPointe's hair and wig design evoke the turn of the century while giving the actors plenty of ability to move.   


For move this talented cast must.   The sheer athleticism of the Newsies is a wonder to behold.   The largest change that has happened to Newsies between Paper Mill and Broadway is the tight camaraderie of the ensemble.   They have a ease on the stage that shows that the Newsies company has become the family mentioned in the lyrics.  Every one of the young men performs amazing gymnastic leaps that it is hard to single out a few for specific accolades.   But, one young man, Ryan Steele who plays Specs and is the dance captain, gets a wonderful moment during "Seize the Day" with his strong piroutettes on a scrap of newspaper that cannot be overlooked and brings deserving cheers from the audience.    


John Dossett's Joseph Pulitzer is now the consummate villain and his new song "The Bottom Line" is a vast improvement over the Paper Mill production's "The News Is Getting Better"making Pulitzer less of a cartoon.   Capathia Jenkins makes vaudeville owner and staunch ally Medda Larkin more relevant to the story in her few scenes.  Medda's new song, "That's Rich" is humorous with a subtle social commentary.    Andrew Keenan-Bolger's Crutchie is charming and poignant and he is greatly missed when he is arrested and sent to the dreaded orphan's home, The Refuge.


While The Refuge remains an off-stage menace, the threat of the dank juvenile prison seems genuine now.   Jack's anguish at Crutchie's arrest and his tale of Crutchie's treatment there is a classic darkest before the dawn moment of the play.   When, Stuart Marland's Snyder, the warden of The Refuge gets his comeuppance it has an impact that was sorely lacking in the original production.


Ben Fankhauser has found Davey's emotional arc growing from the tentative young man forced with his younger brother to support his struggling family into the confident brains that helps to shape the Newsies' strike.   His clear hopeful vocals gets the musical's best known anthem "Seize The Day" off on the right note.   His younger brother Les is the typical brashy young kid, played well by Matthew J. Schechter at the performance I attended. (The role is shared with Lewis Grosso.)  


Kara Lindsay is feisty as the earnest girl reporter, Katherine.  "Watch What Happens" sung as Katherine writes her first story of the strike is still the best of the new songs written for the score.   Her new duet with Jack, "Something To Believe In" is charming, perfectly reflecting the joys of first love.


Which brings us to Jack Kelly.   The premature demise of Bonnie and Clyde was Newsies The Musical's gain.  Jeremy Jordan is one of the most charismatic leading men on Broadway.   His voice delivers the hope and anguish of a young man dreaming of a better life who later becomes  horrified that his leadership may have caused more harm than good. Yet, when he embraces being the Newsies strike leader, a good portion of the audience is ready to join the battle.    Do not be surprised to see Mr. Jordan nominated for several awards this spring.


Disney's Newsies: The Musical is being performed at the Nederlander Theatre in New York City.   It is currently advertised as a limited engagement with performances through August 19, 2012.  For tickets please visit www.ticketmaster.com or www.newsiesthemusical.com




For those who are die hard fans of the original Newsies film, I recommend picking up a copy of the souvenir "newspaper".  Inside you will find an article written by B. Denton and a wanted notice searching for Francis Sullivan a.k.a. Jack Kelly a.k.a. Cowboy.   It is a nice nod to the devoted fan base of the 1992 film.

Other Desert Cities at the Booth Theatre

“…to control everything, every bit of information, every gesture, every pose, that was the way to live.  Order. Precision. Discipline.”

Christmas, 2004, Palm Springs, California.   Welcome to the immaculate home of the Wyeth family.   Father Lyman is a retired actor respected in the Republican establishment.   Mother Polly carefully preserves the family appearance.   On this Christmas, daughter Brooke returns home for the first time in years.   She bears a memoir focused on a horrible family tragedy from her childhood.  In the late 1970’s the Wyeth’s oldest son, Henry participated in the bombing of a military recruitment center during which a homeless man was killed.  Henry subsequently committed suicide.   The entire family was damaged.   The parents from the devastation that their son could be involved in something so horrible that also damaged their political reputation.  Brooke has suffered from severe depression, her younger brother Trip, a young child at the time, has grown into an abrasive young man who tries not to focus on a past he barely remembers.   And Aunt Selma, Polly’s alcoholic sister, has become deeply estranged from her sister.

Brooke’s memoir, while helping her heal, drives a red-hot knife into the carefully constructed world of her family.   During the course of this pivotal Christmas, truths are emotionally flayed shattering long held beliefs.    The Wyeths are forever changed in the course of this one day.

Jon Robin Baitz’s script is nuanced and emotionally draining.   He carefully balances the devastating revelations with well-needed humorous moments.   Joe Mantello's direction flows at a natural pace, neither rushed nor lingering.   The two hours and 30 minutes running time feels exactly right.  

John Lee Beatty is to be commended for designing the Wyeth’s living space so perfectly.   The décor is perfect for Palm Springs and its white palette is so reminiscent of the show place homes of people like the Wyeths who clearly do a lot of entertaining.   Yet the immaculate room has a gentle irony given the amount of dirt that it hides.

The five members of the Wyeth family are fully realized human beings.   It would not be surprising to see multiple Tony nominations for all are deserving of accolades.   Judith Light is brassy as the recovering alcoholic Aunt Silda.   Yet behind the zingers lies a woman deeply supportive of her niece.   Matthew Risch also lets fly several barbs as the younger sibling, Trip.   Trip is too young to remember much about his older brother, and Mr. Risch shows both the impatience of a young man who wants to live in the present, and the supportive mediator between his sister and his parents.

Elizabeth Marvel is a whirlwind of manic emotions as daughter Brooke.   Trying to write what she needs for her own emotional understanding, she still craves her parents’ approval for what is an assassination of their carefully fought façade of normality.   Brooke is genuinely seeking the redemption of Henry at the expense of the parents she blames for his death.   

As the parents at the center of Henry’s tragedy, Stacy Keach and Stockard Channing give rich performances.   Mr. Keach shows the consummate politician mask, ever maintaining the rock steady persona he has created through the years.    When that façade breaks, so does the audience’s heart.     Ms. Channing is a wonder as Polly.   A deeply dislikeable woman at first, seeming to be all about the image and a disbelief that neither Selma nor Brooke can be trusted to be cured. Once she gives into her emotions that she has carefully hidden from view for two decades, Ms. Channing provides the catharsis at the center of this family drama.  

Other Desert Cities is being performed at the Booth Theatre in New York City.   For tickets please visit www.telecharge.com.

Long Day's Journey Into Night at Arena Stage

A few weeks ago Arena Stage revived Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness, a gentle nostalgic comedy believed to portray the family life Mr. O'Neill wished had been his own.  Now Arena Stage opens Long Day's Journey Into Night the painfully autobiographical play in which Mr. O'Neill lays bare the demons of his own upbringing.  It is a powerful production during which the troubles of the barely fictional Tyrone family are in the hands of the masterful direction of Robin Phillips and the taut emotional performances of his acting ensemble.

In the late summer of 1912 in a beachside summer home in Connecticut, Long Day's Journey Into Night takes place on one privital day.   Awaiting word from the family doctor on the health of the youngest son, Edmund, the Tyrone family tries unsuccessfully to maintain the facade of the loving family.  The father, James, a renowed actor in his day, has made choices and his miserly behavior have deeply affected his family's lives.   Mother Mary recently returned from the turn-of-the-century version of rehab slips into a morphine haze.  Elder son, Jamie blunt about his family's denial of their deep-rooted problems buries his anger in alcohol.   The ill Edmund, well aware he is not suffering from a summer cold, also turns to alcohol, yet throughout this anguished day finds a way to come to an understanding particularly with his father before facing his life-threatening illness.

Robin Phillips steers his actors with a firm hand.  The play unfolds in such a way that the various revelations that help the audience understand from where the characters' issues flow is organic and natural, not histrionic.  For a good portion of the three hour running time the actors are seated and it is a credit to their performances and their director's skill that their tales are mesmorizing and engaging.  

The set designed by Hisham Ali envelops the Tyrone sitting room with walls that are translucent, yet not clear, the characters as they travel to the porch or upstairs appear shrouded in fog making manifest the metaphorical fog that cloaks the house and the alcohol and drugged minds of the family.

Andy Bean has the right mix of intolerance, anger and despair as the eldest son who has no patience for sugar coating the family's crisis.  Nathan Darrow starts emotionally mild as the ill Edmund who feels out of place in his family into which, but for fate he might never have been born.   Yet in a late night alcohol-fueled showdown with his father, Mr. Darrow boils with a kaleidoscope of emotions.

As the gruff miserly James, Sr.  Peter Michael Goetz commands the family and our attention.  While the character is deeply unlikeable, Mr. Goetz manages to convey a deep understanding of the man, shaped by his upbringing and well aware that many of the choices he has made damaged his family.

Helen Carey delivers an outstanding performance as the morphine-addicted Mary.  A poignant portrayal of a woman unraveling in front of our eyes, Ms. Carey is heartbreaking as she flits between nervous choices that do not fool anyone in her family  and are painful for the audience to witness.  By the end her Mary transforms into an embodiment of the fog, shrouding her mind, her family and her hated home.

Long Day's Journey Into Night is being performed as part of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.   Performances take place in the Kreeger Theatre at Arena Stage's Mead Center for American Theater through May 6, 2012.   For tickets, performance information and information on the Eugene O'Neill Festival please visit www.arenastage.org.

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess at the Richard Rodgers Theatre

Theatergoers have an opportunity to see mesmerizing performances, a memorable score and a great American musical on Broadway.   If all you know of the revival of Porgy and Bess is the controversy over its updating the script that is not the full story.    It is true that when this production was mounted at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts it generated a lot of publicity, a lion's share of which was negative.   Perhaps that is why there were large numbers of seats empty the night I saw this production.   If so, I encourage theater patrons to consider seeing this show.   The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is a respectful, vibrant version of a monumental work that has long straddled the dual worlds of musical theater and grand opera.

It is comforting that despite "The Gershwins'" title the accompanying souvenir program does not neglect the contributions of the Heywards.  DuBose Heyward wrote the original Porgy novel, and his wife Dorothy who adapted it into a play, both of whom later worked on the libretto of the musical version with Ira Gershwin.   It is a credit to script adaptor Suzan-Lori Parks that whatever real changes were made to the libretto they are not discernible to the average audience member.   I would need to see a side by side comparison to determine how much was changed beyond the editing of the material from its four hour operatic running time to the taut two and a half hours traffic upon the Richard Rodgers stage.

Diane Paulus has taken her very talented ensemble and brought forth a community.   The residents of Catfish Row are friends and neighbors bonded by their work and traditions, united against the threats of outsiders such as the brutal Crown and his drug-addled woman, Bess, and particularly the threat of the white authority figures who view the community with contempt.

Set in Catfish Row, an African American community of fishermen and their wives in Charleston, South Carolina, Porgy is the crippled man who takes in the drug-addicted "loose" woman Bess when the hot-headed Crown must flee after murdering a man over a dice game.   Porgy's unconditional love wins over Bess and she is gradually accepted as a member of the community.    A fateful picnic leads to an encounter between Bess and Crown in which she is seduced and assaulted by him.   Following a hurricane that devastates the small community Crown reappears.   Following a confrontation between Crown and Porgy, Bess is left alone and vulnerable.   Bess' decision whether to wait for Porgy to return  or resume her former life hints at a tragic end for the lovers.

The company of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess contains some of the most amazing vocalists on Broadway.    Yet, they are not the static choruses that frequent the worlds' opera stages.   The most minor supporting role is a fully-realized human being.   Strong support is given by NaTasha Yvette Williams as Mariah, the matriarch of Catfish Row and Bryonha Marie Parham as the grief-stricken widow Serena who grows to become a pillar of strength.   The charismatic Joshua Henry and Nikki Renee Daniels as the doomed young parents Clara and Jake are loving and teasing, just as a young couple deeply in love should be.   Ms. Daniels rendition of "Summertime" soars to the rafters.

Phillip Boykin is menacing as the murderous Crown, yet has the animal magnetism necessary to see why Bess continues to be attracted to the brute.   David Alan Grier infuses the dangerous Sporting Life with the easy charm that the seductive provider of happy dust embodies.    Mr. Grier sings with a flirty style "It Ain't Necessarily So," yet he maintains the vigilance of a vulture as he circles Bess dangling a hit of happy dust and the promise of the "Boat That's Leaving Soon For New York" as he tempts his prey.

Norm Lewis may not have the rich resonance of a classic opera singer, but he has a wonderful voice that is full of heart.   His charms brim through "I Got Plenty of Nothing."   As a character his Porgy grows from the gentle soul of Catfish Row into the man who can defend the woman he loves.   The optimism of "I'm On My Way" will bring a lump to your heart.

Audra McDonald is the definitive Bess of her generation.   Not only does she have a voice that raises the roof, she clearly maintains the underlying temptations that prevent Bess from happily settling down with a decent man.   She is sensuous and vulnerable baring her soul in the duet "Bess, You Is My Woman Now."  When she gives in to her heart's desire in the beautiful duet "I Loves You Porgy" she gives the audience a brief glimpse of optimism that, even if you know the story, you will harbor hope that this time Porgy and Bess might live happily ever after.

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is being performed at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City.   For tickets please visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Once, a New Musical at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre

The 2006 Irish film Once was a low budget gentle love story that loosely based upon the lives of the two musicians who were its stars.  Adapted for the stage using clever, innovative staging, Once, a new musical is a charming adaptation of this beloved indie film classic.

Using the same conceit as the film by not naming the two main characters, Once is the story of Guy, a struggling, heartbroken Irish musician who meets the Girl, a young brash Czech immigrant.   Encouraged by her to pursue his music, their romance takes place over several days as they collaborate creating stunningly beautiful music together.   Their personal lives do not permit them from going beyond admitting that they have fallen in love.  Yet, their brief encounter enriches their lives and those of the friends and collaborators who get caught up in the creation of the music.

Playwright Enda Walsh has shaped the original film into a heartfelt stage adaptation. John Tiffany directs his small ensemble in a way that brings forth the charms of the film without getting too precious with the story or the performances.

At the heart of Once is the music.  The film had a great score written by its stars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.  It  includes the Academy-award winning song, Falling Slowly.  One of the strengths of the musical is that the majority of its score comes from that  film.   The music is performed by the actors in a way that is organic to the story.   This is not a gimmick like the recent adaptions of Sweeney Todd and Company.   Here, since a majority of the acting company must play instruments as a part of their characters, the actors as orchestra conceit works brilliantly.

The musical is staged within Bob Crowley's designed Irish pub backdrop.  Audience members are welcome to come up on stage before the show and during intermission to purchase drinks at the bar and, prior to the show, be enveloped in an old-fashioned jam session.   Please note, this is becoming very popular and you may be asked to wait until the stage clears of a few fellow patrons before you are permitted to go up on the stage.

Another good decision was to project Czech language surtitles on the set whenever the Czech characters are speaking.   By allowing the actors to speak in English with those surtitles instead of the reverse it simply allows the audiences to acknowledge that the characters are speaking a foreign language without being distracted from the performance by having to read in English what they are saying.

The actors are wonderful.  At first, the secondary characters do not appear to be well-fleshed out, yet by the time that the story flows to the creation of the music, individuals make their small roles real human beings.   Performances of note are given by David Abeles as Eamon, Elizabeth A. Davis as Reza, Lucas Papaelias as Svec, Andy Taylor as the Bank Manager and Paul Whitty as Billy.

Cristin Milioti is forceful as the honest and abrupt Girl.   She has a voice with the lilt of heartbreak and grit of emotion.  Yet, physically she makes herself muted, cutting herself from fully embracing her feelings with Guy knowing that her personal life makes falling in love difficult.

Unfortunately Steve Kazee was absent attending to a family emergency the night I saw this production.  I would just like to say to my fellow theater patrons, when the lead is not present give the understudy a chance.  Ben Hope officially made his Broadway debut as Guy.  While in the beginning he was not quite convincing as a struggling musician on the verge of giving up music in his life, as the performance went on Mr. Hope relaxed into the role and his Guy became a young man transformed musically and emotionally by his growing love for Girl.  Mr. Hope has a wonderful voice and good stage presence. I hope to see more of him on stage in the future.

Once, a new musical is being performed at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York City.   For tickets and other performance information, please visit www.telecharge.com.