On his French campaign, King Henry VIII “brought enough canons to conquer hell.” Yet his Siege of Boulogne is stalling due to poor weather and dysentery, not to mention lack of basic provisions, causing thousands of deaths. The king is evidently losing it, blaming the troops for losing their morale out of cowardice. Yet it is not he, but Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who visits the soldiers’ camp and witnesses the plight they are in. Brandon also has his own Briseis, a lovely French war captive, with whom he has a little romp in the sack.
After weeks of digging a tunnel from the camp to the city wall, Henry’s men finally set off an explosion and breach a hole in the city’s defenses. Despite the fact that the purpose of his campaign was to capture Paris, the singular victory at Boulogne suffices for Henry and he returns to England, to his queen and his royal throne. (I won’t bore you with the historical inaccuracies of the siege’s depiction.)
Meanwhile, Queen Catherine Parr has not only been acting adequately as regent in the king’s absence, she has also been caring very well for the king’s three children, as if they were her own. Lady Mary, however, is growing ever more feverish in her Catholic faith, and promises the retiring Spanish ambassador that she will burn as many heretics and spill as much blood as necessary to purge the realm should she ever become, well, Bloody Mary. In all, I am glad to say that the series has picked up qualitatively from the rather tedious earlier episodes.
After weeks of digging a tunnel from the camp to the city wall, Henry’s men finally set off an explosion and breach a hole in the city’s defenses. Despite the fact that the purpose of his campaign was to capture Paris, the singular victory at Boulogne suffices for Henry and he returns to England, to his queen and his royal throne. (I won’t bore you with the historical inaccuracies of the siege’s depiction.)
Meanwhile, Queen Catherine Parr has not only been acting adequately as regent in the king’s absence, she has also been caring very well for the king’s three children, as if they were her own. Lady Mary, however, is growing ever more feverish in her Catholic faith, and promises the retiring Spanish ambassador that she will burn as many heretics and spill as much blood as necessary to purge the realm should she ever become, well, Bloody Mary. In all, I am glad to say that the series has picked up qualitatively from the rather tedious earlier episodes.
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