Historical accuracy in The Tudors often bends for the sake of drama, but Season 3, Episode 6 compresses and simplifies several major Tudor events. The episode follows Henry VIII’s hunt for another wife while political tensions erupt around the Pole family, the execution of religious dissenter John Lambert, and negotiations with Christina of Milan. In reality, these events unfolded over several years and were far more complicated than the series suggests…

In This Post:

• The Downfall of the Pole Family
• Did Christina of Milan Really Insult Henry VIII?
• The Life and Death of John Lambert
• Simplifying History: The Poles and the Courtenays
• Margaret Pole’s Life and Execution
• Minor Historical Inaccuracies in the Episode

Episode 6: Search for a New Queen

Henry VIII looks for a new queen, but finds everyone reluctant, thanks to his track record. The Pole family is arrested for treason and executed. The first Reformist martyr in England goes to his death.

Another rather dull episode, to be honest.

The Downfall of the Pole Family

The Tudors switches out Edward Seymour for Thomas Cromwell in the ‘interrogation and accusation’ scenes against the Pole family.

Cromwell knew he was falling from favor, saw Henry’s bitter complaints about the Poles as something he could ‘do something about,’ and launched the same relentless attack on them he used to kill Anne Boleyn and her friends, hoping to earn back the king’s royal pleasure.

In the show, the evidence presented against Henry Pole Sr. is a single incriminating letter; in real life, it comprised various things others claimed he said, things people said his brother said, pieces of his letters, and statements extracted during interrogations, and it ranged from recent comments to those that were many years old.

Did Christina of Milan Insult Henry VIII?

In a wonderful comeuppance scene, Christina of Milan scorches the English ambassador with a hot take on Henry VIII: she asks if she should marry a man who poisoned one wife, executed the second, and let the other die of ‘neglect.’ And adds this, “If I had three heads, one would be at his majesty’s service, but alas, I have only this one.”

Boom. Mic drop. She turns and sweeps out of the room, like a boss.

This quote is often attributed to her, but… there’s no evidence of it. None. Anywhere. Christina, being a woman of high birth who understood Politics, would not have been at liberty to be so insulting.

But we like nice things, and we don’t like Henry VIII, so we can pretend she said it. Yes?

This marriage never went through not only because it would need a little papal dispensation to dispense with her being related to Catherine of Aragon, but because the Pope excommunicated Henry in 1538, which made him less desirable on the marriage market. Rome was a powerful force in the world, and papal approval was imperative to run countries. Only Reformist (Protestant) nations would deal with Henry after this.

The Life  and Death of John Lambert

We hear of the Reformist John Lambert, a friend of Thomas Cromwell, who refuses to take the ‘outs’ his former BFF offers him in the Tower. If he recants his ‘heresies,’ he will live; if not, he dies in a fire. Cromwell tells Lambert to deny what he thinks; “you don’t have to believe it, you just have to say it. We do not need martyrs; we need living men who will go on about the business quietly of spreading the truth of our Reformation.”

This is Logical Thinking, but Lambert don’t care about that.

Lambert refuses to “perjure my own soul, which is the only thing in this world I have left.” He is burned. We hear he and Cromwell were friends, even though Cromwell stone-faced told Henry, “I knew him once at school, sure.”

Lambert was a big deal in his circles. Catherine of Aragon ‘nominated’ him to be a ‘fellow’ (scholar) of Cambridge University, where he met and befriended Thomas Cromwell. He went abroad for a bit and got ‘tainted’ by Reformist ideals. Then he came back and became friends with a group of influential Reformists, which included William Tyndale (Bible publisher) and Bishop Gardiner.

He was scrutinized several times by Catholics of influence (Archbishop Warham and Thomas Howard both tried to get him arrested as a heretic) but managed to escape until he was arrested in 1538 for denying that the water and wine turn into Christ’s blood and body during communion.

In the show, he cries out “All for Christ!” as he burns to death, but the historical one cried out “None but Christ,” his Reformist belief that all one needs for salvation is Christ alone; not priests, communion, or confession. Because when you are being flambéed, you want the appreciative audience to remember what truly matters.

Simplifying History: The Poles  and the Courtenays

The series combines two children who were arrested alongside their parents and family members into one—the seventeen-year-old Henry Pole and eleven-year-old Edward Courtenay.

I go into the Courtenay family in my own novels, particularly The King’s Players, but to sum them up, they were Henry’s closest male relatives, descended from his aunt on his mother’s side. He figured, why not kill all potential usurpers to my throne in one fell swoop? Because as he’s proven, he’s not nearly as restrained in executing people as his father, who dragged his feet until the last possible moment. (Fear of damnation, no doubt; Henry VIII has a God Complex now, so nothing to fear, amiright?)

In March 1539, the crown executed Henry Pole Sr., Henry Courtnay, Edward Neville, and Nicholas Carew, all with largely falsified evidence courtesy of Thomas Cromwell (who was not as nice in real life as Wolf Hall makes him out to be). Cromwell took out most of his enemies at this time; this cleared the Privy Chamber for new pro-reformist appointments.

“Young Henry,” who on the show is eleven, but was seventeen in real life, was not executed. He fell ill and died in the Tower a year after his grandmother’s execution. Nobody knows whether he was poisoned, starved, or died of neglect. (The real young Henry Courtenay stayed in jail for over a decade before Queen Mary freed him in 1533.)

Margaret Pole’s Life & Execution

The series implies Margaret Pole (ne Plantagenet) died with the rest of her family in 1538, but she wasn’t executed until 1541 (long after Cromwell went to his fate). It’s understandable they wanted to wrap up her plot line ahead of time in this condensed version of events… but the show shies away from the gruesome facts.

Her death scandalized the court and cemented in people’s minds what a psychotic tyrant Henry VIII had become, to send a 67-year-old woman to her death for “treason” even though there was no evidence against her. She had served the family well, been a favorite of Catherine of Aragon, and had raised Mary Tudor. She lived in relative poverty for many years until Henry VIII made her the Countess of Salisbury, restoring all of her family properties to her in 1509. It was a quiet apology for his father executing her brother, Edward. This instantly made her one of the richest women in England.

Margaret was a patron of the arts and of humanist scholars. She served in Princess Mary’s household and refused to surrender her plate and jewels when they dissolved Mary’s household after Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn. She offered to continue serving Mary at her own expense, which the king refused because she had “defied” him and was on Catherine’s side of “the great matter.” A grudge he would carry until her death.

Her son, Reginald Pole, ticked off the king when he wrote to criticize him for the religious turmoil he had sparked in England. Even though Margaret rebuked Reginald for this, she fell under suspicion. She was arrested at the same time as her son Geoffrey, who was accused of communicating with Reginald. They interrogated Margaret, but turned up no evidence against her, and were impressed with how stoic she remained. Henry still had her imprisoned, saying she had committed ‘abominable treasons’ in support of her sons, including the claim she planned to marry Princess Mary off to her son Reginald, so they could ‘restore papal influence in England.’

Like most of the trials in this court at this time, it was a total sham job. Henry was an angry, bitter man, incapable of allowing anyone to disagree with him, who couldn’t chop off Reginald’s head for scolding him for his bad behavior, so he whacked Reginald’s family instead. He took care of Margaret ‘well’ in the Tower, supplying her meals and even clothing, but upon hearing about a potential rising in the north and rumors about Reginald planning to rescue his mother, he ordered her killed.

Poor Margaret was hacked to pieces by a ‘wretched and blundering youth’ who couldn’t sever her head. (According to Ambassador Chapuys.) Another account says she lost her courage and was chased around the block, with the axeman hacking at her. Hopefully not!

Minor Inaccuracies:

• The Duke of Cleves arranged Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII, but he was Anne’s father rather than her brother.
• Geoffrey Pole tried to commit suicide twice while in the Tower.
• People travel around in carriages, when they weren’t invented yet.
• Cromwell had kicked Sir Francis Bryan out of court at this point in history; Bryan didn’t return to favor until Cromwell’s death.
• Francis Bryan says his nickname is “the black Pope”; it was actually “the Vicar of Hell.”
• Cardinal Von Waldburg tells Reginald Pole a sob story about the rape, murder, and dismemberment of his sister… which never happened.

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

This article is part of my Historical Accuracy in Historical TV Shows & Movies series, where I break down the real history behind popular historical dramas.

About the Author: Charity Bishop writes historical fiction, historical fantasy, and suspense novels that explores the darkness in human hearts, and the light that refuses to be extinguished. Discover her books.