This!

A view of Edinburgh in 1560, the year Scotland formally adopted Protestantism as the national religion. 

I get the feeling that before this is over he and Ceresi are going to get it on, at least once. He is her type after all. Why else cast an actor this attractive? He looks like Jamie does in the books. 

I can imagine Ceresi sleeping with him, thinking it’ll placate him (a callback to the Euron scene in episode one), only for him to immediately reply:

Harry: “That was all well and good, but you still need to pay the gold cloaks our salary. Our real salary.” 

I can’t wait for the memes if that happens. 

Don’t judge, but I ship this new character, Harry Strickland, with Sansa

How would you even go about using that thing properly? It doesn’t look very practical. 

Of course Henry had one. Would you expect anything less at this point?

Henry VIII’s bizarre mace pistol,

A very bizarre weapon, this is a mace with three pistol barrels located in the mace head.  A matchlock firearm, it was discharged by touching a burning slow match to a touch hole.  Most interestingly one was owned by Henry VIII King of England, who would carry it while walking the streets of London at night.  He did this to check that his constables were doing their duty.  One night they were, and he was arrested and jailed for suspicious activities, as he was carrying a huge mace gun on him at the time.  When his identity was revealed, the constables feared they would be executed, after all Henry was known for having people executed.  However they were rewarded with a stipend of 23 pounds for their vigilance.

Henry VIII’s mace is currently a part of the Royal Armouries Collection

Going forward the writers don’t need to stray from history, only consolidate characters and events. The truth is already insane! 

Things get so crazy!

They better include Catherine’s best frenemy Jeanne de Albert (Antoine’s wife) next season. Watching the two queens of sass and sarcasm try to take a bite out of each other will be glorious! 

as much as i enjoyed "the serpent queen" i feel like the second part of the season was a bit... meh? i much preferred it when they kept much closer to the actual history, and while i understand the need for changes for plot clarity (charles V and henri II dying at francis' wedding instead of elizabeth of valois and philippe II of spain's wedding) i wish some parts had kept the actual facts? i think it would have been more interesting to have henri dying while wearing diane's colours, and then catherine doing everything so that diane never saw henri until he died. i also would have preferred it if they kept francois II's cause of death instead of giving him consumption (what is it going to be when charles IX actually dies from it? lol) and also the whole nonsense plot of mary stuart being made regent when she has zero (0) claim to that throne (and antoinette de guise saying 'respect the sanctity of rules' yeah that's what's being done by naming anyone but mary regent actually) like the show can't both be like "if catherine doesn't have children she'll be packed home" and at the same time, when mary is also childless, pretends she has a reasonable claim to the throne? mary was pawn for the de guise as long as she was married to françois, but once dead, she didn't serve them anymore (rightly so) and that's why she was sent back to scotland.

anyway i fucking loved the bourbons though

hi, sorry to be a bother, but i was wondering if u knew any alternatives to Philippa Gregory?? I really want to get into Tudor history and I love historical fiction but I've heard so much criticism of her work xx

Unfortunately a lot of period books are going to be steeped in a certain level of creative license which sacrifices historical details to the ideal or romanticised effect. Most major Tudor writers – Weir, Plaidy, Gregory - are guilty of this. Personally I can look past this and enjoy the content for its historical setting and loose interpretation, but if that is a deal breaker for you there are a slim number of authors who will likely appeal to you. If you are disinterested in Gregory, I would recommend Alison Weir and Jean Plaidy. Their novels are chock full in historical references and are of a similar style to Gregory.  As I understand it their’s are more credible, the exception being Weir tends to take a biased standpoint, and Plaidy is more of a story-writer than she is a historian.

You’ve probably already heard of Hillary Mantel’s Wolf Hall series. I read its entirety and enjoyed it, but there are errors strewn through it. On the opposite end, Adrienne Dillard’s works tend to be more true to history and from what I’ve gathered the author herself is an all-around good person. I highly enjoyed The Raven’s Widow as opposed to Gregory’s interpretation to Jane Boleyn.  Olivia Longueville is also a recommended author. Sharon Kay Penman, Ken Follett, Katharine Longshore, Diane Haeger, and Margaret George all have interesting and well-researched reads. I loved the Autobiography of Henry VIII by George. It reads fantastically.

I hope this helps! Enjoy your summer reading. 

Quiet…… I am Yearning

Oh no! 

finding out that the woman I was just telling about frances burney’s mastectomy and how awful and traumatic it must’ve been for her is actually currently in treatment for breast cancer

the lone wolf dies             but the pack survives

I don’t usually talk about my personal life here, but I really need to vent. 

I have misophonia and it’s ruined my life. I have left jobs, schools, limited contacted with family members, considered suicide, self-harm, etc. due to certain triggers, the main one being throat clearing. It might sound ridiculous to someone who doesn’t understand what misophonia is, but I want you to try a little experiment: count how many times your co-workers clear their throats in a single work day. If you work in an office, it’s a lot. In one of my jobs, it’s constant. 

One of the worst parts of it is the feeling of helplessness and complete and utter rage that comes with each trigger. I’m a 10 out of 10. I feel physical and mental pain when I hear my triggers. It’s like having someone stabbing my brain and my ears over and over again, sometimes all day long. 

There is no cure. 

I’ve tried to get certain family members to care and understand, but many still insist on making the triggering sounds whenever I’m around over and over and over agin. If I can’t even get my own family to listen and understand, how can I possibly explain this situation to co-workers? 

At this point, I’m seriously considering giving up one of my dream jobs because of my misophonia. I know quitting is a dumb decision during these uncertain times, but I physically and mentally need to get away from people. 

Are there any jobs out there (besides I.T.) that involve rarely interacting with people? I’ve tried doing online jobs, but people are so demanding and rarely pay you any money, plus there are tons of scams out there. 

I’m at the end of my rope here. All this pressure and pain has been building for years. I think I’d be better off living as a hermit, but even hermits have bills to pay.