Eustace Chapuys: Ambassador to the Tudor Court
Not Just the Tudors
History Hit
4.8 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 20 October 2022
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Historians would be completely lost without the colourful, crucial insights of Eustace Chapuys, the Spanish Ambassador to Henry VIII's court from 1529 to 1545. Chapuys’ dispatches were filled with personal and insightful observations of the key players around the King.
In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr Lauren Mackay, author of Inside the Tudor Court, which brings Chapuys to life - a passionate and acerbic man who provided an unparalleled perspective of Henry VIII, his court and the Tudor period.
The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The story of Henry the H's Court, as I know from personal experience, would be absolutely |
| 0:10.6 | lost without the colourful gossipy, sometimes erroneous, but crucial insights of one man |
| 0:17.4 | in particular. |
| 0:18.9 | This man was a visit to England. |
| 0:21.3 | He worked for Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, and he wrote his vast correspondence largely |
| 0:26.3 | in French. |
| 0:27.8 | When as the Imperial or the Spanish ambassador, he was used to Chappuy, who spent 16 years |
| 0:33.6 | at the Judacourt, from 1529 to 1545. |
| 0:38.4 | It is Chappuy, who tells us that Anne-Belin miscarried what seemed to be a male child, when |
| 0:44.0 | she was three and a half months pregnant, on the day of Catherine of arrogance in term |
| 0:48.3 | meant, and that Henry VIII showed great distress. |
| 0:51.6 | It is Chappuy who reports Henry giving presence to Jane Seymour. |
| 0:55.8 | Chappuy, who informs us that Anne-Belin's brother Lord Rochford told the assembled crowd |
| 1:01.2 | in the great hall at the Tower of London that the king was not able to copulate with |
| 1:05.8 | women, and he had neither vigor nor potency. |
| 1:09.4 | We would not know these things, without Chappuy's letters. |
| 1:13.9 | And yet Chappuy's reports were based on hearsay, rumours, informants and gossip, especially |
| 1:19.8 | as he himself did not speak English when he arrived at Henry VIII's Court in 1529. |
| 1:25.5 | This seems to undermine the trustworthiness of his intelligence. |
| 1:29.1 | The idea that Anne-Belin had bewitched Henry VIII into marriage comes from an unnamed |
| 1:33.8 | couple, telling Chappuy that they had been informed by one of the principal persons at |
| 1:39.4 | court that the king had said this to someone in great confidence, meaning that there are |
... |
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