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Time marches on. Suddenly it's the last day of June 1559. Lola is about 18 months pregnant, and it's a beautiful day in France for a baseball game or that jousting tournament ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dlgood hinted about a few episodes ago.
The facts:
Henry did die 10 days later in July 1559 from a wound he received from a jousting accident that day. I've seen a couple reasons for the tournament; celebrating the peace of Cateau-Cambresis, or the wedding of Henry's daughter Elizabeth to Phillip II of Spain. Maybe it was both. Of course, the real young Francis was in no shape to be jousting. The person on the other end of the lance was the Montgomery mentioned in the episode, who among other things was the captain of Henry's guard. He was arrested at the time, but even then it wasn't difficult to figure out that if you want to kill somebody, choosing to hit them in the eye hole of a full plate helmet with a splinter from a shattering jousting pole while charging on horseback, is probably not the most reliable plan. If you are wondering about blows to the face, one of the variants of medieval jousting was attempting to knock the feather off your opponent's helmet. They apparently weren't as concerned about concussions in those days. At any rate, the popularity of jousting plummeted in France after Henry's accident.
Henry's older brother Francis did die rather unexpectedly, collapsing after playing tennis. Given the autopsy skills of that day, we don't know what happened. Young people with undiagnosed heart conditions can die even these days very suddenly after hard exercise. The kid's personal secretary had brought him some water just before he collapsed. So he was blamed for poisoning his boss, tortured and soon executed.
Teen Queen returns:
Hey, what's a good TV show without a little creepy romance? Greer's rejected upwardly-mobile boyfriend is unknowingly hitting on her soon-to-be step-daughter. Got to have some weird mystic stuff, too, even though most of the show is played straight. That mass murderer, "The Dark," turns out to be a kindly gent, just trying to save the world from the plague. I don't know why Francis got upset when Mary lowered the portcullis behind him, it's not like they can't open it again when he comes back... Unless he was hoping plague victims would wander into the castle through the open gate and *she* would catch it.
Summary:
I wonder if Alan van Sprang had decided early on to move on after this season of the show. The historical pace of the show was so leisurely, at first. Then suddenly they rushed through a year and a half to get Henry killed off. Henry was an interesting character especially before he went mad. Now that they have one of Mary's uncles on the show, it's not like the intrigue will end. Francis and Mary alternately pissing each other off has been a believable theme. No reason it can't continue. I haven't particularly enjoyed the pagan sub-plot, but I suppose Sebastian will have to do something occult to stop the plague next season.
Recently I have lost interest in most CW shows quickly after the start of their second season (Nikita, Arrow); too many abrupt changes of character ethics and plot direction. We'll see how season 2 of Reign goes.
dlgood hinted about a few episodes ago.The facts:
Henry did die 10 days later in July 1559 from a wound he received from a jousting accident that day. I've seen a couple reasons for the tournament; celebrating the peace of Cateau-Cambresis, or the wedding of Henry's daughter Elizabeth to Phillip II of Spain. Maybe it was both. Of course, the real young Francis was in no shape to be jousting. The person on the other end of the lance was the Montgomery mentioned in the episode, who among other things was the captain of Henry's guard. He was arrested at the time, but even then it wasn't difficult to figure out that if you want to kill somebody, choosing to hit them in the eye hole of a full plate helmet with a splinter from a shattering jousting pole while charging on horseback, is probably not the most reliable plan. If you are wondering about blows to the face, one of the variants of medieval jousting was attempting to knock the feather off your opponent's helmet. They apparently weren't as concerned about concussions in those days. At any rate, the popularity of jousting plummeted in France after Henry's accident.
Henry's older brother Francis did die rather unexpectedly, collapsing after playing tennis. Given the autopsy skills of that day, we don't know what happened. Young people with undiagnosed heart conditions can die even these days very suddenly after hard exercise. The kid's personal secretary had brought him some water just before he collapsed. So he was blamed for poisoning his boss, tortured and soon executed.
Teen Queen returns:
Hey, what's a good TV show without a little creepy romance? Greer's rejected upwardly-mobile boyfriend is unknowingly hitting on her soon-to-be step-daughter. Got to have some weird mystic stuff, too, even though most of the show is played straight. That mass murderer, "The Dark," turns out to be a kindly gent, just trying to save the world from the plague. I don't know why Francis got upset when Mary lowered the portcullis behind him, it's not like they can't open it again when he comes back... Unless he was hoping plague victims would wander into the castle through the open gate and *she* would catch it.
Summary:
I wonder if Alan van Sprang had decided early on to move on after this season of the show. The historical pace of the show was so leisurely, at first. Then suddenly they rushed through a year and a half to get Henry killed off. Henry was an interesting character especially before he went mad. Now that they have one of Mary's uncles on the show, it's not like the intrigue will end. Francis and Mary alternately pissing each other off has been a believable theme. No reason it can't continue. I haven't particularly enjoyed the pagan sub-plot, but I suppose Sebastian will have to do something occult to stop the plague next season.
Recently I have lost interest in most CW shows quickly after the start of their second season (Nikita, Arrow); too many abrupt changes of character ethics and plot direction. We'll see how season 2 of Reign goes.
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I'm now curious if they're planning to move her out of the French court so soon. I'm very biased - I know the Valois court much better than the Scottish... so I'd just as soon see them stay there for awhile, At least long enough to use Antoinette de Bourbon and Jeanne d'Albret. Given the mileage they got out of Catherine, they really need Jeanne.
Sidenote, the Stuarts had a terrible habit of dying young and leaving Child kings in their wake. Age of Stuart monarchs (starting w/James I) kings upon coronation: 11, 6, 9, 15, 1, infant, 1. That's not good.
Notes:
1. Our increasingly useless friend, Nostradamus. The real life Nostradamus was much older, re-married and had several children. And the prophecy* he is most famous for, is the prediction of Henry's death.
*What do you call a prediction that is first published 50 years after the event in quesiton happens?1
2. This Francis duc de Guise is apparently a power hungry mercenary captain, as opposed to a fabulously popular religious fanatic. And also missing the famous facial scar he received when a lance pierced his helmet in battle. This one is a good character. Even if, as noted, the religious fraction that dominated the era are magically absent on this show.
3. Francis is shockingly naive and his characterization is bizarre. Is he not concerned that the castle will get infected and the entire royal family die off? Which very nearly happened to the French monarchy in 1711-12.
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It's too bad about van Sprang leaving. His Henry was a great character. I don't know the real story, but even I think they moved it along too quickly. Time was wasted on that daughter character out in the woods, and now they do this so quickly. I'll miss him if they kill him off. Maybe he could be a ghost or something...
ETA: He was excellent in The Tudors.
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