Tudor ladies-in-waiting: the women who served Henry VIII's queens | HistoryExtra podcast

Speaking to Kev Lochun, Dr Nicola Clark discusses how these women navigated the competing demands of queen, country and family as the world was reshaped around them.

[sophroniel]

Nicola seems like she would be a fantastically interesting friend to have!
My dad does family history as his hobby, and does his best to give the women just as much attention but he is always telling me how frustrating it is to see them left out of documentation! He primarily deals with the late 1700's and earlier and he has often said to me he has so much sympathy for how poorly women were treated and, indeed, sometimes still are.

[jenniferstone]

Outstanding interview, both host and the guest! I look forward to the upward trajectory of her career as a historian.

[ilovethelittlepiggy]

Thank you. I enjoyed the interviewer's style of asking a good question and sitting back so we can hear the answer. I'm going to hunt out this book.

[anythingbut...]

Message in orange can be done by removing a little pip at the top where the stalk would have been attached, making a tiny opening there (the opening max 5 mm) then removing the white spongy stringy core, replace that space with tiny paper roll with not too long letter and putting the top pip back gluing it on (with resin or something, they had proper glues then). No need to peel.

That would work well because there is space in the middle of orange segments that are completely dry due to membranes separating individual segments and that would not compromise the ink or paper. If one did it with any other fruit like apple, pear, plum or pomegranate then the letter would be probably unreadable at the other end (there were no ballpoint pens then and ink could have been dissolved and paper soaked).

Writing with orange juice also would be an option at that point but it was rather a well known trick at the royal court then. If one hid a message in an actual orange then the guard would be busy checking any papers with heat while leaving orange alone. One just had to make sure they send only one orange or mention how many oranges they send in the accompanying letter, otherwise guards might feel peckish and bite into a spare one and discover the whole plot ;-)

[Marge]

Excellent interview. I have always been curious about the ladies in waiting.

[foxgloverose]

This is excellent! Of particular interest was your information on Maria de Salinas. I have always wanted to know more about her life. I am so glad your intensive research has furthered our knowledge of her.

[dianekincaid]

So interesting! I’ve not seen so much info on people who were that close to real power during Henry VIII’s reign. Thanks for this interview—I’ll look for the book.

[stacegageTWDfan]

Reading her book now! Highly recommend it

[sophiagazarian]

Thank you! What an amazing interview!!! ❤

[lizbongrav]

Fascinating and I'm looking forward to reading Dr. Clark's book. As a side note, I wanted to do a similar research project on the ladies-in-waiting of Elizabeth I's court - particularly their subtle political influence - when I was studying at the Centre for Medieval & Renaissance studies in the late 1980s, and was told there wasn't a tutor who was willing to work with me on it, because it was an unexplored area, and there was no existing scholarship on it. I'm wondering to what degree that has changed (or not) since then, e.g. how much trouble you had locating suitable primary sources. I imagine at least some things have improved, due to more materials being archived & accessible online (which didn't exist at that time).

[jilljones]

👏👏Thank you, I thoroughly enjoyed that interview.

[debbralehrman]

Thanks this was very interesting.🤔👏🏼👏🏼

[ammiedoering]

I just ordered your book. So excited to read it

[jenjen.rutherford]

Jayne must surely have been traumatized by the death of her husband George and Anne . The revolting and untrue allegations that Anne and George had an incestuous relationship must have been profoundly distressing for her . She may not have liked Anne but it was still a hideous event .

[Geo_Babe]

Who is the painting of that’s depicted on the cover of her book? In the American published version that I have it’s a woman in a gorgeous red gown… anyone know who she was? Did Holbein paint it ?

[jenjen.rutherford]

Is it possible that Jayne Boleyn simply loved Katherine Howard and genuinely wanted her happiness.

[lemonteapot]

Were the ladies in waiting on a shift basis, otherwise when would they spend time with their husbands/families?

[Eastybeastyy]

I'm confused; she said jane rochford served wives 5 and 6, but she was executed in Katherine Howards downfall?

[Edytha]

"keeping her company at night" 😅

[lisaiorio]

I would not want to be the Queen, too much responsibility & stress.