Recently Read: The Pilgrim by William Thomas

William Thomas died in 1554, so this was a 16th century work - assuming the date and attribution to be correct. Though the version I read was a 19th century publication, edited, with notes, by the writer J. A. Froude.

I read it as part of my (continuing) Tudor Mirror World investigations.

The work was originally published in Italian, and is supposedly biographical. Thomas, a Welshman in Italy, got into an argument with some Italian men, where he had to staunchly defend the honour and actions of his recently deceased king, Henry VIII. He then wrote up an account of this and it was published in 1552.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I found came in the preface to the actual text. I'll give my impression of the text itself beforehand though.

It reads like an entirely fictional encounter. The narrative also lacks a bit of sense, as at first our writer has to explain very basic things about Britain to his Italian counterparts - such as the weather and the types of food grown. As if it's a distant semi-liminal land and he's some Herodotus type figure bringing distant wonder. However, then, as the debate unfolds, it becomes clear that these Italians have a fairly good general knowledge of Henry VIII and his actions. Albeit biased from a Catholic perspective. So it's of-a-style, and that style suggests imitation of other writers, rather than real autobiographical account.

My general feeling is that this was written much later than is claimed. That could well be my own bias though.

The account of Henry's life is very full, and it tells the story almost exactly as a modern historian would. With the correct wives and the correct timeline of events.

(I should note, that being Protestant myself, I naturally shared the general anti-papist sentiment. So I understand why it was written. It's basically a work of Protestant propaganda, whether veracious or not.)

According to Wikipedia Thomas wrote an English version and an Italian version, so I can't help but wonder if the Italian version (the originally published version) differed in some way.

From The Preface

Anyway, on to the interesting passages from the preface by J. A. Froude.

Firstly, we have another acknowledgement that the records for Anne Boleyn's fall are lacking in contrast to those of Catherine Howard:

"The records of the trial of Catherine Howard are perfect; the records of the trial of Anne Boleyn survive only in faint epitome; and we know neither by whom nor why the evidence was made away with."

Then, we get a further mention of missing sources when Froude notes his examination of continental accounts:

"I have not found all that I desired. The correspondence of d'Inteville, the French minister, for instance, continues to within a month of Anne Boleyn's arrest; it recommences a month after her execution; and the letters in which the story of that tragedy was told were either destroyed, to stifle the recollection of it, or were set apart from their especial interest, and now are lost."

Very curious.

Other Things I'm Reading

I also read an essay about Gregorio Leti's Life of Elizabeth. A 1693 account of the life of Elizabeth I. Having read an essay and not the full work I can't say if the story relayed is entirely in keeping with the general narrative. However, what was interesting is that Leti constantly describes Elizabeth as an actress.

He calls her, "perfetta Comediante nella politica" ("perfect actress in politics").

Another quote states that Elizabeth didn't care about the,

".. dicerie che andavano correndo nell'Europa che fosse una Comediante, gia che non sapeva fare altro che rappresentar Comedie della sua Persona" ("rumours going around Europe that she was a play-actress, since she could only stage plays about herself")

Obviously, he's not saying she was a literal actress, more that she used such skills politically, however, it does all lean into this general idea that fiction often blurs into reality.

Finally, I'm currently reading John Speed's The History of Great Britaine, published 1611. I say reading, but I'm not reading it all - it's a big ol' work. I'm just reading the account of Henry VIII's life.

So far, so normal (I'm up to Anne Boleyn's execution).

The only note I've made is a reported comment from the Duke of Suffolk (our Charles Brandon) made at a point when cardinals are thwarting Henry's attempts to divorce Katherine of Aragon,

"It was never merry in England since we have had any Cardinals among us."

It pairs up nicely with his wife's later comment that, "It was merry with the lambs when the wolf was shut up."

..Oh, and before I go, I've also just started reading Shakespeare's Richard II. The play performed during the Essex Revolt. So I'll be reviewing that at some point as well.