Our anonymous Tudor spoof writer is back with a vengeance, being inspired by how the likes of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir see Lady Jane Rochford, wife of George Boleyn – enjoy!
Jane Rochford had already popped back to court since 1536, that time to see if she could successfully murder Jane Seymour and make it look like post-birth complications. She could! All it took was a pillow over her head when no one was looking.
Then there was that nasty patch when Henry hadn’t got a wife, but now Jane was back to see whether she could make it three in a row. She was in a particularly festive mood.
She was debating whether to throw Anne of Cleves over the ramparts and make it look like an accident, or possibly whether to spread rumours about a court musician or her brother. “That’s always worked a treat in the past”, thought Jane as she threw a set of darts at a portrait of her dead husband. George had constantly been a disappointment to her, what with looking like Bernard Manning, and not being able to string a sentence together without sounding like a lunatic let out for the day. She thought of all the times she had attacked him with the fire-irons. Really, it was no wonder he had cross eyes and a limp.
George and Anne had often been horrified by her antics; miserable pair. It was not so much that she had thrown that cook into boiling oil which had revolted them as much as the fact she had cooked a roast chicken in the same pot. In fact, both of them had refused to eat it. They had been even more grumpy when she put her name down for the job of chief executioner. They just didn’t understand the nature of a homicidal maniac, which is why they had had to go.
She thought back nostalgically to those heady days of 1536 and of all her successes:-
- She had induced Henry to fall off his horse by putting a burr under the saddle. Pity he hadn’t died, but what had come next was even more fun.
- Everyone had thought it was the shock of Henry’s accident that had caused Anne to miscarry, but oh no. She had ensured Anne had a miscarriage by tripping her up as she walked down the stairs and thereafter hitting her in the stomach several times with a jousting pole.
- She had endured rampant sex with Thomas Cromwell, Nicholas Carew, Francis Bryan and both Seymour brothers in order to blackmail them all into conspiring against the Boleyns. Up to then they had all quite liked Anne and George.
- She had constantly insinuated to the King that George took his role as Anne’s protector a bit too literally. Oh, and how she had enjoyed telling Henry that Anne was always saying he had the sexual drive of a Giant Panda.
- Not many people realised that Jane had built Anne’s scaffold with her bare hands, or that the French executioner was actually in a drunken stupor at the time of the execution and that the real person under that mask was Jane herself. She hadn’t realised how good she was with a sword!
Happy days! But now Jane was back, eager to continue her reign of terror and destruction. Oh yes, they didn’t call her ‘Lady Hades’ for nothing.
She threw a last dart at George, cackled at the moon, and tiptoed down the corridor to see if she could catch Catherine Howard having a quick grope with Thomas Culpepper. Jane herself had already enjoyed the delights of Master Culpepper, but a lot of that had to do with the hallucinogenic drugs she had given him, and which she was cultivating in her privy. Sure enough Catherine and Thomas were busy kissing. Jane was very careful not to get her eye too close to the keyhole. She remembered Anne Boleyn smearing boot polish on a keyhole years before, which had resulted in Jane spending the whole day with a big black mark around her eye. She had wondered why everyone kept laughing at her. Anne and George had been completely hysterical.
Jane remembered with affection that the two of them were now dead. “Ha! Who had the last laugh”, she thought. Nicely satisfied Jane trotted happily off to see if she could poison Anne the second. She was so glad she had suggested to Henry that he should dress up as a beggar to meet his new wife off the ship. She was surprised he had been dumb enough to agree, but then Henry had never been as clever as he thought he was.
She spotted the newlyweds sat side by side at the dinner table looking very glum. And then it came to her; Catherine Howard! All she had to do was set Henry up with Catherine and get Anne beheaded for getting in the way. “Just like before,” Jane thought gleefully.
What she intended to do with Catherine was something to be considered later but would probably involve Thomas Culpepper. One step at a time was Jane’s motto, carnage was her game. She often wondered why she had turned out the way she was. She thought it had all started when her mother dropped her on her head as a two year old. But a lot of what followed had to do with that time she sold her soul to the Devil for a nice frock she had been after for ages. Yes, that must be it.
When Jane returned to her rooms later that evening she had more trouble than usual in removing her bonnet over her horns. She dreaded the day high bonnets would go out of fashion. She was convinced they had grown another inch. She eased herself into a chair, which was difficult to do when her tail kept sticking in her. For a second her eyes gleamed bright yellow as she made effigies of Catherine Howard and Thomas Culpepper. Curiously neither of them had heads!
This made me laugh outloud! Thanks for a funny Friday. I LOVED the webinar, though I missed the live version–it was really wonderful-thanks!
Thank you, Anne! 🙂
“Jane had built Anne’s scaffold with her bare hands” – genius! So funny, just the thing for a Hallowe’en weekend!
This really lifted my spirits today. Extremely funny!
I love the part about Anne putting boot polish in a keyhole…
Thank you for posting this 🙂
very amusing, thing is I could see it happening what with lady Rochford going slighty crazy in the Tower, maybe she had been crazy all along! we shall never know!
Hilarious!!!
I love it! Very funny! This really made my day!
Good read,where they really that Caty back then ,could you trust anyone,something tells me no.
History as comedy…a brand new genre. And a relief from all the Anonymous movie stories I’m reading.
Thank you, Claire.
Great stuff. I loved the Anne and George spoof but this is even better. 🙂
I am still laughing! The pole the scaffold, the pole, the pillow, etc. Thank you!
hahaha, this is actually really funny! 😀 It was just what I needed to ease my studying mood
Omg, I mean I loved the other ones but this one was awesome! Huge thanks to our anonymous spoofer!
Bernard Manning as George…that’s sooo verry funny.
One word, AWESOME!!
XD
This made me laugh! Whoever wrote this has an awesome sense of humour. 🙂 LOL… I love Jane’s “good old days” of 1536. And her devil horns… great job!
Thank you, it was soooooo funny!
Clair……The anonymous Tudor spoof writer is back…..I am with you with Gregory and Weir…no problems,…….but feel out of the loop with whom you are referring to as the anonymous Tudor spoof writer???sorry….it sounds like an inside joke and wondering what is up with that………………………I totally agree and am with you on Weir and Gregory……………I am a purist and want to know the researched truth…even if it diverges, but at least is in researched for empirical evidence and not fiction!!!!!!
Have not received my “costume” ,,,no, no….. my gown as of today, but I know it will come soon. Love all you are doing…………………Karen
Hi Karen,
The spoof writer wrote a couple of spoofs for us a few months ago so that was what I was referring to when I said “back” – see https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/9063/an-homage-to-historical-fiction-a-boleyn-spoof/ and https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/9245/spoof-the-boleyns-of-hever/
There’s no inside joke at all, honestly, she just wants to publish them anonymously and I obviously have to respect that. It’s not me, it’s an Anne Boleyn Files visitor who is a genius.
I’ll see if Kris has any tracking for your dress and I’ll email you when she gets back to me
Had to look up Bernard Manning and when I saw a picture I went “Oh dear” and laughed harder. And I was already laughing a LOT! Thanks for posting this Claire. It’s made my day. Loved “Lady Hades” being dropped on her head as a child and the horns and the tail and just everything! About the only thing missing was that she was planning on marrying Satan when the right time rolled around! 😀 I just hope Philppa Gregory doesn’t see this or she’ll think it’s based on facts!
Very funny! Thanks for the laughs. There’ll be more, I hope?
She has sent me another one and I’m going to try and convince her to do them on a regular basis.
Yes, yes, yes! More!
Absolutely brilliant. I love these spoofs!
Oh, I love this and regular spoofs would make my day! Do you think the person could do a spoof of “Anonymous”? (which is in itself a spoof, but the actors and the director don’t know it, because it certainly isn’t history!)
This is so brilliant and funny! Thanks for the laugh!
Clair this really made me laugh. Are there other spoofs that have been written? I would love to see one about Henry!
Absolute bloody genius, guessing our anonymous genius is British based on the Bernard Manning reference. 🙂
Ooh I love a good mystery 🙂
Awesomely hilarious spoof, I could just see that as a Tudors outtake 🙂
Is this an excerpt from PG new book!! only joking… brilliant, can really relate to the sense of humour of the ‘ghost’ writer 🙂
Oh my! Congratulations you have made my day once again! : )
I love it!