Historical Inaccuracies in The Tudors | Season 1, Episode 3 by Charity Bishop

What’s fact and what’s fiction in The Tudors, Season 1, Episode 3? This episode introduces Anne Boleyn, sends Margaret Tudor off to Portugal, and unleashes Cardinal Wolsey’s political machinations, all with dramatic flair and historical shortcuts. But how accurate is it, really? From fruit-throwing masques and Tudor symbolism to fictional divorces and misplaced monarchs, this thorough analysis separates historical truth from television fantasy. With over 25 years of studying the Tudor era, I’m here to guide you through the actual stories behind the spectacle.

Inside This Post:

Virtues, Vices, and Fruit Fights: The Masque
Bloodline vs. Butchers: Howard’s Silent Rage
Margaret Tudor: Historical Identity Theft
Heretic Hunter: Henry vs. Luther
Enter the Hapsburg Jaw: Charles V
Wyatt and the Divorce That Wasn’t
Wolsey & Mr. Pace: Huh??
Anne’s Eyes Weren’t Even Blue: Behind-the-Scenes Trivia

Episode 3: Wolsey! Wolsey! Wolsey!

The court performs a masque play for the visiting Spanish ambassadors, in which the king meets Anne Boleyn. She jilts her suitor, Thomas Wyatt, to place herself in the king’s path. Henry VIII’s sister, Margaret, objects to her proposed marriage to the aged King of Portugal. Emperor Charles visits England to sign a peace treaty, while Cardinal Wolsey frames Richard Pace as taking bribes from the French to cover his tracks, and Catherine of Aragon fears her husband may ask her for a divorce.

Virtues, Vices, and Fruit Fights: The Masque

The episode opens with a rehearsal for one of the lavish court masques. These are based in fact, and were a popular pastime for royalty. Henry VIII loved to dress up and “play a role.” He favored Robin Hood, and as a young man, would pretend to rob members of his court. Catherine of Aragon would “not recognize him” to play along with him. (This is why he got so mad later when Anne of Cleves, who was unfamiliar with their tradition, did not recognize him or see it as good fun!).

This play, and how it introduces Anne Boleyn to Henry, is based in fact. Anne met Henry while playing the role of Perseverance in a masque in 1522, to honor Shrove Tuesday. That is the last day of the pre-Lenten season, the day before Ash Wednesday. Catholics would go to confession to cleanse their souls and be “shriven” (absolved) before Lent. The occasion ended in a feast before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.

Rather than being held at Henry’s palace, for the enjoyment of the Spanish ambassadors (in which we meet Ambassador Chapuys, five years before he actually arrived in England), this masque took place at Cardinal Wolsey’s palace, York Place.

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The details of the production shown on-screen line up with what Edward Hall wrote about the pageant. The ladies held captive in the castle wore white satin (though not sheer 😛 ) and little golden bonnets decorated with jewels. Their names were Beauty (the king’s sister), Perseverance (Anne Boleyn), Kindness (Mary Boleyn), Constance, Bounty, Mercy, and Piety. The ladies were guarded by Danger, Disdain, Jealousy, Unkindness, Scorn, Sharp Tongue, and Strangeness. (Only historically, these villains dressed in “Indian garb.”)

Amorous, Nobleness, Youth, Attendance, Loyalty, Pleasure, Gentleness, and Liberty attacked the castle by throwing oranges, dates, and other fruits at it. The ladies defended it with sweetmeats and rose water, before the lords took the Virtues by hand and danced with them. Afterward, they unmasked themselves and enjoyed a banquet.

Tudor historian Eric Ives believes Thomas Boleyn paid the master of the chorister to make sure the king was sent to rescue Anne, so he would notice her, but there’s no evidence to support it, or even that her family wanted Henry to take her as his mistress.

Abstract concepts such as this were popular in Tudor times because so much of their art (including plays) focused on symbolism, inspired by their Catholic beliefs. This one had an undercurrent of divine virtue, in how gentle male archetypes defeat the vices and allow the virtues to flourish. A masculine-feminine interaction, which calls upon the eternal themes of love, but also symbolizes an individual’s need to repress their vices to realize the potential and freedom that comes from unleashing their inner goodness. Many plays were written to inspire good and virtuous behavior, in part because the patrons who paid for were often members of the clergy.

Bloodline vs. Butchers: Thomas Howard’s Silent Rage

The show, strangely, never introduces us to Sir Thomas Howard by name, and assumes we will either figure out who he is or decide it doesn’t matter. But it is accurate in his contempt for Cardinal Wolsey and his desire to take him down, which probably stemmed from class envy based in Wolsey’s humble origins and extravagant wealth. Wolsey was the son of a butcher, and became the most powerful man in England apart from the king, amassing prosperity that might have made a snob like Howard furious. Wolsey also preferred diplomacy in foreign affairs compared to Howard’s liking of military solutions, so the two often argued about the best course of action in the King’s Counsel.

Margaret Tudor: Historical Identity Theft

Probably to avoid confusion with Princess Mary, the show takes the role Mary Tudor played in history and gives it to her sister, Margaret, the Queen of Scotland. Because the timelines have been moved up, this means she can’t marry the King of France since we already met Francis! The series has her engaged to the King of Portugal instead (married to Catherine of Aragon’s sister, Maria, in history).

Mary argued with Henry about the marriage and made him promise after the “old king died,” she could choose her next husband, because she was in love with Charles Brandon. In the show “Margaret” hates Brandon and looks down on him, when in history, she had (probably) been in love with him since childhood. Both of them made their love for one another well-known at court.

They mention Brandon is engaged to Elizabeth Grey, Sir Thomas Howard’s granddaughter. Her father died in 1504, before her birth, which made her a considerable heiress and ward of the crown. After her mother’s death in 1512, Charles Brandon purchased the child’s wardship intending to marry her. Never happened. Ha, ha.

Henry makes Brandon a ‘Sir’ and the Duke of Suffolk, so he has the titles necessary to escort Margaret to Portugal for her wedding, but in history, he received those honors in 1514.

Heretic Hunter: Henry vs. Luther

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I like that the show depicts Henry VIII’s involvement in writing a pamphlet called “In Defense of the Seven Sacraments” as a rebuttal against the “heretic” Martin Luther. It shows how much changed in a decade, as Henry went from defending Catholicism to overhauling it in his desire to possess Anne. He wrote a fiery condemnation of Luther with Thomas More’s help, although he never sent it to Rome in the hands of More himself. When Luther replied to him, Henry lost interest and turned the response over to More, who was “loath to use” the foul language Martin Luther employed.

Henry knighted More in 1521 for his diplomatic service alongside Cardinal Wolsey.

Henry orders More to find and burn Luther’s books, which More does. Historically, More never burned Luther’s writings, but he oversaw seizing and destroying the English translations of the New Testament, because he considered them to be heretical.

The English translations were a challenge to the Church, which had the “sole authority” to interpret the Bible. Providing the masses with a copy they could read for themselves could lead to interpretations that deviated from the Church’s official doctrines and practices. Scholars of the time considered translating a sacred text like the Bible a delicate undertaking that required special knowledge and theological expertise. Unauthorized versions could be twisted to support heretical beliefs. William Tynsdale’s translation, for example, replaced terms like ‘priest’ with ‘elder’ and the ‘church’ with ‘congregation.’ So they were politically and theologically dangerous.

Enter the Hapsburg Jaw: Charles V

The Holy Roman Emperor Charles visited England twice; once in 1520 on his way from Spain to be crowned as the emperor, and again for a state visit in 1522. The show makes a couple of joking references to his “chin,” when in reality, the famous Hapsburg Jaw, created by inbreeding, made it difficult for him to eat. His facial deformity was so severe his upper and lower teeth did not meet when he closed his mouth. It hindered his ability to chew and gave him a mangled voice. Shame and discomfort with people watching him try to eat made Charles dine in private rather than at official banquets.

Historically, Charles gave Princess Mary a pony and a beautiful hawk, and she gave him their finest horses in return.

Henry shows him his newest warship, the Mary Rose, and Charles says he has nothing like it; the real Charles had many magnificent warships, and the Mary Rose launched in 1511, and served until the French sank her in battle in 1545. She was indeed one of the largest and most armored ships of her time.

Wyatt and the Divorce That Wasn’t

We meet the young poet, Thomas Wyatt, who is upset that Anne Boleyn no longer welcomes his affections. When she reminds him he is married, he insists he is separated and wants a divorce. Along the same lines, Catherine of Aragon mentions to her nephew that she fears Henry will ask her for a divorce.

Except… the concept of divorce was not common in 1520. It was not popularized until Henry VIII made it possible with his break from the Pope. The Catholic Church controlled marriage and its dissolution. If you wanted to end a marriage, you had to apply to the Ecclesial Courts, which primarily granted separations (the couple lived apart, but were still considered married, and could not remarry) or annulments (which declared the marriage invalid). It was hard to get either, since you had to provide high levels of proof for your case.

It would never have crossed Catherine’s mind, and Wyatt would not see it as a workable solution to his marital problems.

Wolsey & Mr. Pace: Huh??

There’s a weird subplot where Wolsey frames his assistant, Mr. Pace, as taking bribes from the French against the king, and has him imprisoned to protect himself from similar allegations. All of this is false.

Richard Pace served Wolsey as his secretary, engaged in lengthy negotiations on Henry’s behalf against the French, and held the position of Dean of St. Paul’s from 1519 to 1536 (when he died). He was never arrested, charged with anything, or thrown into the Tower to rot.

Anne’s Eyes Weren’t Even Blue: Behind-the-Scenes Trivia

The real Anne Boleyn vs. Natalie Dormer's Anne Boleyn from The Tudors

This is the first episode that shows us much of Anne Boleyn, and it leaves out an awful lot of the story. Her father pushes her to replace Mary as the king’s mistress and to attract the king’s eye.

I like how their choice of an actress makes Anne stand out amid the other ladies; Natalie Dormer is tall, slender, and exotic. She has an alluring and graceful quality and it’s easy to see why the king might be enchanted by her. The real Anne had slender features, a French way of moving and speaking, and was an intellectual besides her other courtly pursuits (such as dancing).

Showtime initially cast Natalie as a blonde and were furious when she dyed her hair brown. She had to fight with them to keep Anne a brunette, arguing that they could not go against the historical image of Anne (even if she had blue eyes instead of brown; making Thomas Boleyn’s remark about her eyes being like “dark hooks for the soul” seem strange). She also advocated in the second season to make Anne more historically accurate, but we’ll deal with the problems this causes when we get there.

The series has Anne out to seduce and attract Henry from the start, but in reality, Anne fell in love with Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. The movie Anne of the Thousand Days has a more realistic interpretation of these events; Anne has no interest in the older, predatory king in favor of the young, dashing Percy. The two were engaged, but Henry had designs on Anne and told Wolsey to prevent their marriage. He did so, which caused Anne to resent the cardinal’s role in her unhappiness.

Curious what personality types feature in The Tudors? Check out my analysis here!