It’s time for Day 5’s Tudor treat!
Today’s treat is from historian and author Toni Mount – thank you, Toni!
If you haven’t already noticed, here at the Anne Boleyn Files we are counting down to Christmas with a special Advent calendar of Tudor treats. Authors, historians and bloggers have kindly contributed trivia, articles, excerpts, videos, recipes… all for us to enjoy.
All you have to do is visit us here each day and either click on the number in the posts I publish or click on the cover image at the top of the website. Easy peasy, fun and interesting.
I hope you’re enjoying it!
Wow, that just sounds crazy. It would have been terrifying when they came through town if you couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. Sounds like a fun, albeit dangerous if you’re one of the participants though.
Yeap, good old fashioned blood and thunder derby between Liverpool and Everton or Liverpool and Man U. Missing these elements in the modern game. lol.
No, seriously, the old games were dangerous and people even got killed. A famous witch trial started with a football match. Let me take you back to 1604 to 1606 and the tale of Annie Gunter. Brian Gunter accidentally killed two young men from the rival Gregory family and accused them of bewitching his daughter after she got an illness which bewitched her and left her claiming she could preform magic. Brian Gunter took the case to court and accused three young neighbours, all female of being responsible as part of a conspiracy with the Gregory family out of revenge. Academics examined the case, two women were found not guilty and another fled. Brian Gunter was not happy and took the case to London. King James took a personal interest and it was tried in the Star Chamber. In 1606 Annie confessed to being a fraud and the case was dismissed. Annie Gunter went into obscurity, moving away from the North Morton area in Berkshire and got married, her dowry provided by the King. Brian Gunter was fined and lost all of his offices held in Hungerford where this happened. We don’t know anything else after this. James Sharpe tells the story in his famous book The Bewitching of Anne Gunter. All this over a local football match.
It really was a rough free for all with no rules which is why Elizabeth Gregory wasn’t able to make manslaughter charges stick but ended up being charged with witchcraft out of rivalries going mad. The entire game could take place through the whole town and anyone could join in. Shrove Tuesday and during the last week in Lent or other high Feast Days like Midsummer or the Feast of Corpus Christi could also see wild football games. Henry Viii played football. We know this because of finds of his boots. It isn’t known what his position was but he only allowed the gentry to take part, although free for alls still went on. Imagine putting in a bone crunching tackle on the King!
Thank you for that story of Anne Gunter. Very entertaining.
I bet everyone let Henry win, in case their heads ended up on spikes, I wonder what he was like as a tennis player, he was very athletic he could have been a great all rounder like some young men, some excel at anything and Henry V111 seemed to enjoy most sports, he could well have kept his figure well into middle age if sadly, he hadn’t been injured in the jousts and he seemed to have an addictive personality which resulted in him over eating in later years.
I would imagine that a lot of his over eating was due to depression. As you say he was a very active and athletic man and after that jousting accident that punctured his leg he could no longer do many of the things he loved and was in terrible pain much of the time.
Yes ill health can lead to depression which in turn made his temper far worse, he was on a downward slope after his last fatal head injury, the headaches and pain from his infected leg must have been terrible, he turned to food what we call today ‘comfort eating’, hence his weight increased as he grew far less mobile, it’s what causes weight gain today, many people in middle age do less excercise because of for eg, ill health work commitments life style changes, the metabolism slows down and really we should reduce our food intake to combat the weight gain, but many tend to overeat which of course puts inches on the waistline, it’s a vicious circle, I eat several small meals a day which includes fruit and some salad, then I have a larger meal in the evening and a pudding, it’s easy to keep the weight down if you just watch your portions, takeaways are highly calorific I never eat those, apart from the occasional chips at my local chip shop which I cannot resist because they are the traditional chips cooked in fat, with vinegar and salt, I sometimes treat myself to a bag of those then I feel guilty afterwards, but I shouldn’t really we should treat ourselves now and then.
I know what you mean. I was diagnosed with btype 2 diabetes 11yrs ago. Seemed like a death sentence at the time
I’ve discovered however that I could still eat anything I wanted as long as I watched portions. I monitor my numbers before and after each meal and am having no problem. I’m sure Henry was diabetic and that may be a factor in his leg ulcer not healing. The man must have been miserable at the end. I’m happy for him that he passed.
Yes diabetes most certainly was one of the factors in Henry’s ill health, obesity can lead to that of course there is also genetics which can play a part, throughout the last years of his life Henry was so obese it is rather sad when we think of how he was in his youth, his armour on display in the Tower which he wore in his youth showed him to be trim waisted with broad shoulders and the calves he was inordinately fond of, his later armour shows he had put on quite a bit of weight and we know as he neared death he had to be wheeled around the palaces and had to be winched onto his horse, it must have been comical to watch though I pity the poor horse as he must have been far too heavy to sustain his huge weight, I hope your getting on ok Michael as you say we have to be sensible with food.
I’m doing great thank you. Saw the Dr. Last week and don’t have to go back for 3 months.
Your very welcome..