Comments on: Last But Not Least: The Enduring Fascination of Katherine Parr

By: Mezzy

Mezzy — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:54:01 +0000

Im doing a project on Anne Boleyn and this website is very helpful

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 10:45:19 +0000

I’ve always thought that Seymour was a most unpleasant man – determined to gain power and control, whether through marrying Mary or Elizabeth (both of which he tried) or by marrying Catherine Parr.

By: Fiz

Fiz — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:23:52 +0000

It’s a wonderful book, Linda, and has increased my dislike of Thomas Seymour. He was older and should have known better to behave so to Elizabeth who was still only a child. It still makes me cry, thinking of Katherine, delirious and dying, accusing Seymour and Elizabeth of betraying her. I know she was delirious, but that Thomas’ behaviour still troubled her on her deathbed shows how badly she had been hurt.

By: Fiz

Fiz — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:14:36 +0000

I have just bough Linda’s book about Catherine today and I am slow in taking it out of the bag because I know I will devour it in hours! Thank you for writing it, Linda!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:39:22 +0000

Wonderful post! Thanks so much! I can’t wait to get my hands on this book!
~Elizabeth: The Tudor Book Blog

By: Renee Woolsey Smeaton-Burgess

Renee Woolsey Smeaton-Burgess — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:43:45 +0000

Thank you for the knowledge that is worth it’s weight in gold.Sincerely, Renee Woolsey Smeaton-Burgess

By: Xena

Xena — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:13:14 +0000

I think Elizabeth was a women who enjoyed the tease.For what it was just a tease Unfortunately Seymour typical of men could not see it for what it was.Tried to take further for that I’m sure.But was likely rebuffed by Elizabeth.
Remember she went from a little princess to that child of that witch her mother Anne.And the attentions of a fatherly figure in Seymour. Would have attracted the young Elizabeth.She would also testing the waters on how women can control men by their sexuality. Typical of any teenage girl in any age.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:27:02 +0000

Thank you, Claire.

By: Claire

Claire — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:38:52 +0000

Hi Carolyn,
I don’t think that Linda meant it like that. Elizabeth Norton in her biography on Catherine Parr writes about how Elizabeth would pick Seymour as a dancing partner and then she would “laugh and pale at it”, going all shy and bashful. Norton writes that Seymour may well have taken Elizabeth’s bashfulness as a sign that she was attracted to him, rather than the harmless, innocent antics of a teenage girl who found her stepfather attractive and looked up to him. There is no excuse for his very inappropriate behaviour but Seymour in his sociopathic mind may well have taken Elizabeth’s innocent behaviour as something more and an excuse to try and start something more serious with her. In no way am I excusing his behaviour, I’m just trying to explain what Linda probably meant. At the end of the day, Seymour was the adult and should have behaved like one and as a proper stepfather instead of subjecting Elizabeth and his wife to such an awful situation.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:39:30 +0000

I greatly enjoyed the post, but must protest the characterization that “Elizabeth began a flirtation with Seymour”. She was only 13 when she went to live with Katherine, and by extension, Seymour. I won’t argue that by today’s standards, she was still a child, but would like to point out that he was the one who held the power, not Elizabeth. He was also the one who was married – to someone else. To imply that whatever passed between them was begun and moved forward by Elizabeth also implies that Seymour was somehow the victim of this ‘Jezebel’, the ‘loose’ daughter of a ‘loose’ mother. I don’t believe any of that was true.

I don’t mean to sound as though I’m attacking you, and that certainly isn’t my intention, but I do get quite protective of both’s women’s honor.