Come home with me to diner

Week 14 of WolfCrawl

• On the table week 14

• You can get another child soon

• That cry from his heart. Royal and Imperial sons

Diner or Tower

‘You are going to the Tower and I am going home to my diner”, Jo says to Elizabeth Barton. ‘ You mustn´t stand about. Come home with me to diner’, Cromwell tells More. ‘If I could trust you only to put food in my mouth - but you will put words in it’, Cromwell replies. For More, the Tower is getting very close.

What is on the table this week? Ginger comfits and candied fruits at a diner at Austin Friar´s. Torta di funghi (mushrooms with eggs and cream), if the Cromwellian mushroom army finds enough. Wyatt brings baskets of cobnuts and filberts, apples from Kent and venison. In the summer of 1533, everything is in abundance, the grain harvest is bountiful and the trees are bursting of fruit. Cromwell dreams of a city orchard: He wants cherries, plums and late pears.

Stilllife with mushrooms by Paolo Porpora (1617-1673), 16th century

Paolo Porpora, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

You can get another child soon

The royal court and Europe are gossiping about what does or doesn't happen in Henry's bed, or even if something happens, how much effort it might cause one of them or both of them. Henry has only himself to blame after everything he has put Catherine of Aragon through in recent years, he deserves this gleeful gossip.

Although I feel sorry for Anne. Everyone is waiting, everyone is staring at her belly, she has to have a son, whatever the cost. It's almost a miracle that she gets pregnant again with all this stress.

Portrait of a mother with her eight children probably by Jacob Seisenegger or his circle, 1565

Circle of Jakob Seisenegger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

But in sharp contrast to the royal couple, we have two new and proud fathers of daughters: Cranmer and Riche. And Cromwell can hardly wait for grandchildren, grandnephews and grandnieces to run through Austin Friars.

That cry from his heart

So what about Henry´s rivals on the continent? If it had been a royal race for sons in 1533, his colleagues on the continent would have won the race long ago.

Francis I, King of France had three sons¹ in 1533: Francois, the Dauphin (*1518), Henri (*1519, Henri II King of France after the death of Francis) and Charles (*1522).

The Dauphin by Jean Clouet, 1520-1525 and Prince Henri by Jean Clouet, 1524

Public domain; The Dauphin Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. Prince Henri Museé Condé Chantilly

Emperor Charles V's first child after his marriage in 1526 was a son (he would remain the only surviving son): Philipp (*1527; after his father´s death King of Spain Philipp II.) This is Philipp II. painted by Titian in 1551, three years before his marriage to Henry´s daughter Mary:

Public domain; Museo del Prado

The brother of Emperor Charles V and his successor as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Ferdinand had two sons in 1533: Maximilian (*1527, after the death of his father Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Maximilian II.) and Ferdinand (*1529).

Emperor Maximilian II with his brothers by Jakob Seisenegger, 1539

©KHM-Museumsverband

1. However, the last years for Francis as a father of sons were not entirely carefree: after the lost Battle of Padua in 1525, Francis I was captured by Charles V. In exchange for his release, he had to hand over his sons Francois and Henri to Charles V as hostages. They were released by Charles V in 1530.