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= The Tudors - Season 1 Episode 5 “Arise, My Lord" =

The Tudors is a television show on Showtime that focuses on the life of the real King Henry VIII, his court, and his family. The show is based on real life and real historical events, but the directors, producers, and writers take creative liberty, the word based is loosely applied. It is a show that needs to keep viewers engaged so that it may be successful and stay on the air. In result of this, they add, change and rearrange the lives of the characters. This idea of changing some historical aspects is perfect when creating entertainment for audiences, but it is not what historians do and is not always historically accurate. The purpose of a historian is to preserve the past the way it happened, while the goal of television is to entertain. While some of the information is accurate, the audience should be aware that not everything they are watching is accurate. The Tudors incorporates both reality and fantasy into its show in order to engage its audience while simultaneously keeping their ratings up.

Episode Synopsis
King Henry’s frustrations regarding the political climate in Europe is evident in the episode’s opening. After replacing an alliance with France for an alliance with the Spain, the King realizes that it is not an equal alliance when Charles V releases recently imprisoned King of France without consulting him.

The King then extends an offer to Anne Boleyn to be his only mistress which greatly insults her as she does not want a tarnished reputation like her sister, “the great prostitute”. This zeal for both her modesty and reputation deepens his feelings and resolve to be with her. The King’s increased resolve to make Anne his bride creates a more immediate need to a solution to his “Katherine problem”. Instead of securing the divorce he originally intended, King Henry now wants an annulment so he can be free to marry Anne.

Detailed Summary
As the King is courting Anne, Henry shows favor to her family by creating her father Lord Rochford and comptroller of the Royal Household. In the same ceremony, Henry Fitzroy, his illegitimate son with Lady Blount is created both Duke of Richmond and of Somerset and Earl of Nottingham. From the corner, Queen Katherine watches the ceremony visibly upset when the King places a crown on the young boy’s head and lets him sit on the throne alongside him. The Queen is beside herself and asks Wosley to confirm if Henry plans to bypass Mary on the succession line, especially since Mary is betrothed to the emperor. Wolsey confirms that Henry Fitzroy has passed Mary on the succession, but a legitimate, natural son will go before the boy. In addition to that confirmation, Wolsey advises her that the engagement has been broken and married the of-age, richer Princess Isabella of Portugal. The Queen recognizes the precarious situation that puts herself and Mary in. Both Henry Fitzroy and Mary are given their own households and taken from their mothers. Wolsey meets with Queen Katherine to advise her that her daughter Mary will be given her own household in the Welsh Marshes as one of the privileges of being a princess. Queen Katherine does not see it as a privilege, but rather an attack and declares him her enemy. As Princess Mary is getting ready to travel to her new far away household, Queen Katherine reminds her of her family lineage: the granddaughter of Isabella and Ferdinand and the true legitimate child of King Henry - she will be the future Queen.

In a ploy to garner the Kings affection, Anne sends him a letter imploring that she is not worthy of his affection and attention and sends him a locket with her likeness. He sends back a letter declaring him her servant. Henry goes out of his way to meet Anne at her family’s property and offers what he believes is an enticing offer: to be his “maitresse en titre” - his sole mistress. She is hugely offended as she intended to save her virginity to her husband, and she refuses to be a mistress even to a king. Anne brings up her sister who is laughed at court as a prostitute, and refuses to be like every other woman who ends up mistress to the king. Henry makes a last-ditch effort to explain the offer was done out of love, apologizes and storms out. Anne later gifts Henry a ship - pin, which Henry believes means she is ready to be his mistress. Henry vows to respect her virginity until they are married. In return, Anne promises a legitimate son and heir. Resolved to marry Anne, Henry meets with Katherine to advise her that he considers their marriage to be null and never should have been.

King Henry’s sister “Margaret” and Charles Brandon find solace in each other on the way back to England from Portugal. She wonders if anyone knew that she is the cause of the King of Portugal’s death and Brandon is worried as well. Fortunately, the new King of Portugal is happy with his new position, he is not concerned about the details of his ascension to the throne. Brandon proposes to Margaret and they marry. Once in England, King Henry truly believes that his beloved sister is grief stricken and instructs Wolsey to care for her. Compton and Brandon meet at a tavern, and Brandon confesses that he married Margaret and is afraid to tell the King. He asks Compton to tell the king for him. When Henry is finally made aware of Margaret’s marriage, he is furious and banishes both from the court and London. He considers executing Brandon. In a rage, Margaret blames Brandon for putting her in that position, while he assures her that as soon as the King is over his rage, things will go back to normal.

When Henry meets with the Spanish ambassador over the emperor not keeping his word, the ambassador notes that Henry hadn’t kept his side of the bargain either, which infuriates Henry. The ambassador is angrily sent away from the King’s presence. On the ambassador’s way out, he comes across newly promoted Boleyn and offers him 1000 crowns a year in return for leaking information about the King to the emperor. Wolsey advises the King that he has set up an ecclesiastical court to determine the King’s request of an annulment. Wolsey lets the King know that he has learned of Francis’s release from prison by the emperor, which infuriates the King as this was done without his knowledge.

While musical genius Thomas Tallis is playing in the Cathedral, Compton listens and praises Tallis’ skills and they exchange flirtatious glances. Thomas Tallis is pursued romantically by Compton in the corridors at court, but Tallis makes an effort to initially reject him based on Compton’s noble standing. Compton kisses him anyways and Tallis does not reject him again. They are later shown in a scene that implies relations took place.

When the bishops meet together at the ecclesiastical court, Wolsey puts forth Henry’s evidence of his invalid marriage and request for annulment. Most of the bishops begin to agree until one dissenting voice argues that any obstacles to the marriage were voided by the dispensation and Henry has no grounds to argue the invalidity of his marriage after the dispensation was made. Thomas More is greatly troubled by the fact that the King wants a divorce, but Wolsey interjects and notes that the King actually wants an annulment based in cannon law because the marriage should have never taken place. Wolsey explains that Henry feels he is being wronged because the marriage was wrong in the eyes of God. More warns Wolsey that the Queen is immensely popular with her subjects, comes from a good family and that the people might not be so forgiving to the King if their Queen is forcibly removed. The Queen’s popularity is evident while she is distributing alms to the poor, while Wolsey watches from afar. In an attempt to change More’s mind on the matter, Henry tries to convince More that all he wants is a clear conscience; if the dispensation is found to be valid, he will stay with Katherine. As the court continues, Bishop Fisher is the strongest dissenting voice. When the question is made if Henry is already looking for a replacement wife, Wolsey admits Henry will need an heir. The bishops are incredulous and note that Mary is a legitimate heir, Wolsey scoffs at that. Fisher accuses him of being far-reaching.

New arrangements are made to secure Mary’s future, and talks of another engagement to the French prince. Henry is not too concerned with procuring a suitable arrangement for Mary as he is more preoccupied with his own matter. Wolsey admits that little progress is being made and Henry makes a veiled threat to Wolsey in hopes of getting a faster resolution.

When the French arrive at court, Henry and Anne dance together in front of Katherine and the entire court. Both Norfolk and Boleyn are plotting for Wolsey’s demise, but their scheming is interrupted when a messenger arrives with news of the sacking of Rome by the emperor’s armies. Henry is angry and blames Katherine for the actions of her nephew.

The episode ends with the death of Henry Fitzroy, a casualty of the sweating sickness. The king is showing grieving and looking at the crown he gave his son, and he looks deep in thought.

Historical Inaccuracies
Throughout the series, many events and characters differ from what is historically accurate. The time of events and some events in the series are inaccurate or never occurred. Liberties have been taken as character names have been changed, interactions between certain characters never occurred, and their physical appearances also differ from what they actually looked like. While historical inaccuracies can be deceiving and lead the audience to believe certain events in the series to actually be true, writer, Michael Hurst explains that, "My first duty is to write a show that's entertaining. I wasn't commissioned by Showtime to write a historical documentary."
 * Henry VIII's sister, called "Margaret Tudor" in the show is Mary Tudor. Henry had not one, but two sisters in real life. The Tudors combines Margaret Tudor’s name with Mary Tudor’s actions. The character is a amalgamation of the two real life sisters. The use of only one sister with the name of Margaret may have been used in order to not confuse the audience with Mary I, Henry VIII’s daughter.
 * Henry Fitzroy did not die when he was three from sweating sickness; he was seventeen when he died from tuberculosis. In fact, he was even alive to witness Anne Boleyn’s beheading and marry Lady Mary Howard when he was fourteen, though the marriage was never consummated.
 * Henry Fitzroy was given a title and a residence when he was three in the show but this did not happen until he was about six in 1525.
 * The year setting is off. The episode, “Arise, My Lord” is set in 1526/1527, but in real life some events occurred in 1525.
 * In the episode, Wolsey confirms that Henry Fitzroy had surpassed Mary in line to the throne but there is no evidence that Henry VIII intended to proclaim Fitzroy his heir in real life. He was only a possible heir, but it was not confirmed.
 * Anne Boleyn did not have fair skin and blue eyes. Her eyes were almost black and she had olive skin, unlike actress Natalie Dormer.
 * Queen Katherine did not have dark hair. She had auburn or strawberry blonde hair.
 * There is no existing evidence that Princess Margaret killed her husband, Louis XII of France. They were also married for three months, not just a few days. His cause of death was reportedly from a case of gout, a form of inflammatory arthritis.
 * In the show, Wolsey confirms that Henry Fitzroy had surpassed Mary in line to the throne but there is no evidence that Henry VIII intended to proclaim Fitzroy his heir.
 * There is no evidence that Thomas Tallis had a relationship with Sir William Compton or that they had ever met in person. While they both had a presence at court, no evidence available says that they ever knew each other or formed a relationship.
 * Charles Brandon did not tell Sir William Compton to deliver the news of his marriage to Margaret to Henry VIII. He wrote to Wolsey for support and Henry eventually found out since the news was circulating around.
 * Charles Brandon and his real wife, Mary were not banished after secretly wedding. They had to pay a total of 24,000 pounds, with annual installments of 4,000 pounds.