Status Updates From Charles Brandon: The King's...

Notes section ends here

Notes section begins here

Bibliography ends here

Bibliography starts here

About the author here

Timeline ends here

Included here starts a timeline of Charles Brandon's life and important events that occurred throughout.

Hampton court is on my list of must-sees

I also like that the author has included visitor information and the website for the places she is discussing as related to Charles Brandon during his lifetime

Onto the section called "places of interest". This is especially helpful to people like me who want to visit the places that still exist that are related to the person we are reading about.

"Brandon's greatest quality was not his skill and jousting, nor was it a success in military campaigns, it was his ability to read his king and know how to respond appropriately."

Exactly. The perfect yes-man. I think Charles Brandon is more intelligent than some people in the past have given him credit for, when saying he preferred physical activities to educational ones.

"Why was Charles Brandon so successful?"

In this section the author is discussing why Charles Brandon was able to survive while other men and women met untimely and sgruesome ends. Basically, in public Charles literally went along with whatever Henry thought, despite what he may have personally felt was right or wrong. He was the ultimate yes-man. It served him well and he profited from it.

The discussion of portraiture is always interesting to me when studying this time period. If only artist would've just signed every piece of work they done and indicated who the portrait was of, our lives would be so much easier!

"With the death of Henry and Charles Brandon on 14 July, 1551 Brandon's direct name and bloodline ceased. The title of Duke of Suffolk went to Brandon's son-in-law, Henry Grey, husband of Frances Brandon."

And we all know where that's going to go… I see you, Jane Grey.

I had no idea that Charles Brandon's two young sons, Henry and Charles, died of the sweating sickness so close together, or even that they died so young at all. I've always had glimpses of Charles Brandon when reading other books about the tutors, but so many gaps have been filled in with this book.

It does not surprise me that Charles Brandon's wishes were ignored when it came to his burial. He was buried at St. George's Chapel at Windsor, the same place that Henry VIII would be buried upon his death. In death, as in life, the two were BFFs.

Would like to see the entirety of Brandon's will. I love that so many of these documents have survived so that we can read them. I doubt Charles Brandon would have believed that in 500 years, people would be so interested in learning about him.

Interesting that Bryson says "Now at 45 years of age, Henry VIII had three known illegitimate children and no heir to succeed his throne." I assume the author is referring to Mary Boleyn's children? This is still up for debate whether both, one or neither were actually Henry's, I believe.

Very wise of Bryson to include the indictment as a bulleted list here for the reader. So often this information is incredibly long and detailed but here the author brings out the dates and the people with whom Anne supposedly had these affairs, to make the information more concise. Obviously Anne was innocent of most of these charges, but to see them laid out so neatly is quite helpful