Friday, September 15, 2023



I've finished the next hundred pages of Bring Up the Bodies so it's time once again to check in with Steve Donoghue's commentary.  (For part 1 of Steve's commentary, see HERE.)  
I'm still trying to figure out exactly what Steve's reading schedule is.  He said 100 pages each week, so I initially check in on this video after I had gotten to page 200.  But then, if you watch the video, much of the commentary is about Henry VIII's jousting accident and its aftermath--which is covered in pages 200 to 220.  So I actually went back to the book, read through the jousting section, and then came back to Steve's video.
Speaking of the jousting incident... I was actually just a couple weeks ago watching a Youtube video that also mentioned the theory that Henry VIII's temperament had been altered by the jousting injury (see: Why Did The King Of England Execute His Wives? from 6:09)
[And I guess that incident was also portrayed in The Tudors--see The Tudors 2x08 Anne Boleyn is told of Henry's accident--but I didn't remember it until I looked it up just now.  It's been 10 years since I saw The Tudors so I probably am overdue for a re-watch.]

I don't really have a lot to say about Steve's commentary this time.  I've got a couple nitpicks.  But other than that, I just really enjoyed his video.  As always.
 
* Nitpick: Steve mentions Cromwell touching Henry's face as the first time the character has touched Henry.  Is it?  I think I remember him touching Henry before, although my memory is not sure.

* Another Nitpick: The Duke of Norfolk doesn't directly tell Cromwell "by the end of today, your head  will be on a spike."  Instead, he implies it. As described in the book:
"By God, Cromwell!" he [Norfolk] snarls.  And his import is clear.  By God I've got you now; by God, your presumptuous guts will be drawn; by God, before the day is over your head will be spiked. (p.203)

* Okay, last one.  That quote that Steve reads out at 21:09 actually comes from page 249, which is (I think) outside of the reading for this video.  Or is it?

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