The Historical Inspirations in Game of Thrones

Plenty of people have written about the parallels between Game of Thrones and the Wars of the Roses before, but I’ve always been interested in how even the small details of the show align with history in some instances. I’ve talked about this numerous times with other English history friends and many of these examples come from those conversations. Many thanks to Leigh Beck for being my constant game of thrones history buddy!

Honestly, because there’s SO much, I’m going to keep adding to this post over many days and weeks, whenever I can. :)

westeros and essos.jpg

A map of the Westeros and Essos in Games of Thrones

Overarching World-Building, Character, and Historical Things:

  • Westeros and Essos : England and Europe. Though Westeros is significantly larger than England, you can still see the similarities when you look at the maps side by side. Essos/Europe are both much larger than Westeros/England, and is where rival claimants (like Henry Tudor and Daenarys Targaryn) go to the throne to hide from the Westerosi/English king’s reach.

Hadrian’s Wall

Hadrian’s Wall (Credit: Gannet77 / iStock)

The Wall in HBO’s Game of Thrones

The Wall in HBO’s Game of Thrones

  • The Wall : Hadrian’s Wall. In Game of Thrones, the Wall runs for 300 miles along the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms from the sea on the west to the Bay of Seals and separates the realm from the domain of the wildlings who live beyond. In the story, it was constructed some eight millennia before. Historically, Hadrian’s wall was built by the Romans in AD 122 (so - ancient times) and runs for 73 miles, from sea to sea.

Hadrian’s Wall on a map of England.

Hadrian’s Wall on a map of England.

The Wall on a map of Westeros

The Wall on a map of Westeros from Game of Thrones

  • Tywin Lannister : the Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker. The way he married off his daughter Cersei to the new king he put on the throne, Robert Baratheon, closely parallels the way Warwick married off first his daughter Isabel to George, Duke of Clarence (Edward IV’s brother) when he tried to put him on the throne, and then his daughter Anne to Edward, Prince of Wales (the son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou), when he put Henry VI back on the throne.

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (The Kingmaker)

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (The Kingmaker)

Tywin Lannister in the TV series

Tywin Lannister in the TV series

  • Jaime Lannister : Richard, Duke of York (in one context) - In the books, it’s described that during Robert’s rebellion, after Jaime killed Aerys Targaryen (for reasons not revealed until the Season 3 episode “Kissed by Fire), he sat on the iron throne. That’s how Ned Stark found him when he arrived at the castle. The Very Honorable Ned was appalled, because 1) Jaime had broken his oath to protect the Mad King and had killed him instead, and 2) Jaime had no right to sit on the throne. Though there’s no evidence that Jaime intended to claim the throne, that’s the message his actions sent.
    This can be seen as a parallel to a specific incident during the Wars of the Roses. In October 1460, after 5 years of on and off battles and political squabbling between the Lancasters and the Yorks, Richard, Duke of York (Edward IV’s dad) arrived in London and took residence at the royal palace. He entered Parliament with his sword borne upright before him (an honor usually only accorded to kings) and placed his hand upon the empty throne, as if he were to sit in it and occupy it. The assembled peers were dead quiet and clearly did not agree with his claim to the throne (for a long time, the Wars of the Roses were about making sure Henry VI was advised by the right people and didn’t focus on deposing him at all). This demonstrated that York would not be supported in his claim to the throne at that time, so instead, he negotiated a truce in which York and his heirs would be recognized as Henry’s successors. The temporary peace that resulted from this agreement only lasted a few months, and within the year, the Duke of York and his eldest son were killed. The death of York, who was extremely popular with the common people, was a huge turning point for the Wars; within a few weeks of his death, his eldest surviving son was named Edward IV.

Lady Mary Grey

Lady Mary Grey

A rendition of Tyrion Lannister as described in the books, by Jerg Ruber on Deviantart.

A rendition of Tyrion Lannister as described in the books, by Jerg Ruber on Deviantart.

Tyrion Lannister in the TV show (Peter Dinklage)

Tyrion Lannister in the TV show (Peter Dinklage)

  • Tyrion Lannister : Mary Grey - Tyrion is the youngest child of a very important family in the kingdom and is referred to throughout the books as a dwarf. Mary Grey (1545-1578) was the youngest child of the Greys, who had a claim to the English throne (her sister Jane Grey was the “8 days queen”), and was also likely a little person. Mary was described by a Spanish ambassador as “by the Spanish ambassador as “little crook-backed, and very ugly.” Similarly, although Tyrion is very handsome in the TV show (because Peter Dinklage is GORGEOUS) , in the books he’s portrayed as significantly less so. This picture from Deviantart portrays book Tyrion really well.

    In the books and TV show, it’s related that Tyrion once impulsively married a commoner woman named Tysha in secret; his father punished both him and the woman rather severely for it. Although Mary’s older sister Katherine Grey had married in secret and been fiercely punished for it by Elizabeth I (who didn’t want anyone in line to the throne to get married without her approval, which she was unlikely to give), Mary herself eloped with the Queen’s sergeant porter Thomas Keyes. Keyes was only minor gentry, while Mary was in one of the highest ranking families in the country, and he already had 6-7 children. He also apparently was about 6 feet 8 inches tall! Once the Queen found out about the wedding, Mary was put under house arrest and Keyes was committed to the notorious Fleet prison. They never saw each other again.

  • Aerys Targaryen : Henry VI - Decent parallel for Henry VI, the Mad King whose madness started the war over the throne to begin with, although Henry VI was a very pious man whose "madness" took the form of basically being catatonic for several months, while Aegon liked burning and torturing people randomly.

Edward IV

Edward IV

Robert Baratheon in the TV show

Robert Baratheon in the TV show

  • Robert Baratheon : Edward IV, a young, promiscuous man who leads a rebellion and takes over a kingdom from the mad king.
    He and his two brothers Stannis and Renly are a good parallel for the three sons of York- Edward, George, and Richard. Renly's marriage to Margaery Tyrell (the daughter of a very powerful and rich house) can be seen as a reference to George marrying Isabel Neville right before rebelling against his brother Edward.
    Stannis and Renly revolt against Joffrey partly over fears that he's a bastard. There were many rumors that Edward IV was a bastard, a result of his mother's supposed affair with an archer. In addition, Edward IV’s children with Elizabeth Woodville were declared bastards due to their father’s supposed previous marriage to another woman, giving legitimacy to Richard III’s claim to the throne.

  • The Old Gods of the Forest : Celtic polytheism

  • The Faith of the Seven : Roman Catholicism - Though the faith of the seven is described as polytheistic, while Christianity is monotheistic, the concept of the Trinity is a good parallel to the faith of the seven. Both religions have traditional places of worship with elaborate architecture and decoration, specific religious ceremonies to recognize marriages and births, a supreme religious leader believed to have a a special connection to god (pope/high septon), a holy book, hymns and a specific liturgy, ceremonial garb. They also both unfortunately feature often corrupt priests.

  • The Lord of Light : Zoroastrianism

Season 1 Plots and Details:

  • Cersei : Anne Neville, daughter of the kingmaker who ends up becoming queen herself

    But also, Cersei : Margaret of Anjou, smarter and fiercer than her husband, ends up leading battles and killing lots of people for the rights of her son (who was portrayed as being rather sadistic in at least some fictionalized versions of history I've read, which are often based on at least rumor)

    Cersei: Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of the Edward IV analogue, from a social climbing family, very close to her brother. A powerful adversary who is fiercely protective of her children (even though they are accused of being illegitimate). In this metaphor, Tyrion is the Richard III character she sees threatening her children.

    Finally, Cersei : Anne Boleyn - Her affair with her brother can be compared to the conviction of Anne Boleyn for incest with her brother (which was almost certainly 100% made up by her enemies).

  • Renly Baratheon: George, Duke of Clarence - Both Renly and George, Duke of Clarence thinks they should be king, just because. Both have to be put to death by his brother for the sake of the realm (Clarence was executed by Edward IV after he’d rebelled against him a few times, accused the queen of witchcraft, and hired a sorcerer to foretell the king’s death, which was highly illegal).

  • Toward the end of season 1, Renly offers to give Ned men so they can take Joffrey away from Cersei ASAP before Robert dies. This is similar to how Richard III took Edward V away from his mother's family after the death of his father Edward IV. Most of the time when there was an underage monarch suddenly on the throne there would be a major power struggle and often one of the leading players would be the new king’s mother. Elizabeth Woodville/Edward V and Margaret Tudor/James V of Scotland come to mind.
    This situation is exactly what Henry VIII was trying to prevent when he chose not to appoint a lord protector for Edward VI but instead had a whole Council of Regents...and that lasted all of 6 seconds before there was THE FIRST coup to be Edward's regent. My advice is to always get the king in your possession ASAP. If you have the child King under your control then you're all set. Ned failed and paid dearly for it.

Magaret of Anjou and her son Edward, Prince of Wales

Magaret of Anjou and her son Edward, Prince of Wales

Cersei and her son, King Joffrey

Cersei and her son, King Joffrey in Game of Thrones

  • Joffrey : Edward, Prince of Wales (son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou) - After the second battle of St. Albans in 1461, Cersei had the two Yorkist men who had guarded her husband Henry VI throughout the battle executed (although the king had promised them immunity). It has been alleged that she had her son, who was then 8 years old, decide what to do with the men; he replied that they should be decapitated.
    Similarly, Cersei had her son Joffrey (who became king at 12 in the books and 16-ish in the TV show) decide what to do with Ned Stark after Ned confessed to treason and acknowledged Joffrey as the true king. Although Cersei wanted him to spare Ned’s life, Joffrey ordered him decapitated.

  • Ned Stark : Richard of York - Just as Ned Stark was killed by an angry queen and her young son, Richard, Duke of York, was beheaded by the forces of Margaret of Anjou, who was fighting to keep her son in line to the throne (a previous peace between the Yorks and Lancasters had been negotiated by having Henry VI name Richard of York his heir). Both Ned’s and Richard’s heads were displayed on a gate or wall after their executions.

Season 2 Plots and Details:

The Red Comet seen in the tv series.

The Red Comet seen in the tv series.

A total solar eclipse.

A total solar eclipse.

The Parhelion over the battle of Mortimer’s Cross

The Parhelion over the battle of Mortimer’s Cross

  • Red Comet : Solar Eclipse - In Season 2 of the TV show and the second book, a red comet appeared in the sky around the time of Ned Stark’s execution and the hatching of Daenarys Targaryen’s dragons. This comet was seen by all of the viewpoint characters, scattered across two continents, and was described and interpreted differently by all of them.
    Historically, a full solar eclipse occurred on the day that Anne Neville, Richard III’s queen died. It was considered a bad portent for Richard’s reign and he lost at the Battle of Bosworth a few months later.
    Another astrological phenomenon known as a parhelion, in which three suns appear in the sky, also occurred immediately before the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross in 1461. Edward, Earl of Rutland, the future Edward IV, convinced his troops that it was a good sign for their cause.

Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville

Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville

Robb Stark and Talisa Maegyr

Robb Stark and Talisa Maegyr in Game of Thrones

  • Robb Stark : Edward IV - The son of an executed powerful man (Ned Stark/Richard, Duke of York) young claimant who everyone underestimates until he wins all his battles. Both Robb and Edward IV also went against their planned marriage to marry an unplanned, unsuitable match for love (Edward IV marries Elizabeth Woodville even though Warwick was trying to arrange him a marriage with a princess of France, Robb marries Talisa in the TV show for love and Jeyne Westerling in the books for honor even though he was already promised to wed one of Walder Frey’s daughters).

Henry VII (Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond)

Henry VII (Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond)

Daenarys Targaryen

Daenarys Targaryen in Game of Thrones

  • Daenarys Targareyn : Henry Tudor/Henry VII. The last of her line after the death of her brother, both of them were raised to believe they were the rightful heirs to the throne. Interestingly enough, both Daenarys and Henry used dragons as their sigils; Dany because of her family’s history with actual dragons, and Henry because of his roots in Wales. In addition, just as historically, numerous people fleeing from Richard III joined with Henry Tudor over the sea, several men who left Westeros joined with Dany to help her get the throne.
    But also Daenarys Targareyn : Elizabeth I - One of the first female claimants to the throne, someone no one expected to get to the throne, and also a woman incapable of or unwilling to have children, making succession discussions a touchy subject!

Season 3 Plots and Details:

  • Theon Greyjoy : Henry Tudor -Theon, the heir of a known rebel, was raised in the house of his family’s enemies, The Starks, as one of their own. Similarly, Henry Tudor, the Lancaster heir, was raised by the Yorkist Herberts as part of their family for about 8 or so years after his uncle/guardian Jasper Tudor fought against the Yorks.

“The Princes in the Tower”(Edward V, King of England, and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York)

“The Princes in the Tower”(Edward V, King of England, and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York)

Bran and Rickon Stark in the TV show

Bran and Rickon Stark in the TV show

  • Bran and Rickon Stark : Princes in the Tower (Edward V, King of England, and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York) - Both Bran and Rickon and the “Princes in the Tower” were boys of renowned families whose very existence proved a threat to others who wanted their families’ power. Bran and Rickon escaped Winterfell when Theon and the Ironborn captured it; Theon burned the bodies of two commoner boys and showed them to the people.
    “The Princes in the Tower” is actually a bit of a misnomer, as Edward V had been acknowledged as king by numerous peers and nobles when he was placed in the Tower of London; in fact, his placement there confirmed this, as it was traditional for monarchs to spend the night before their coronations at the Tower. It was only after both he and his brother were lodged in the tower that their uncle, the Lord Protector, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, had them declared illegitimate. Edward entered the Tower in May 1483 and was joined by his younger brother in June. A week or so later, they were declared illegitimate and their uncle Richard was crowned King Richard III in July. There are no recorded sightings of either of them after the summer of 1483; an attempt to rescue them in late July failed. It became widely assumed that Richard III had had his nephews killed, which turned many people against him and played a large role in his downfall a few years later. However, it seems unlikely that this was the case, as their mother Elizabeth Woodville eventually came out of sanctuary (almost a year later, in March 1484) and sent her daughters to live at court with Richard III; it is unlikely that she would have agreed to this if she actually believed that Richard killed her sons. Their fate is still a mystery.

Season 4

  • Tommen : Henry VIII - the much younger brother of the previous heir to the throne who married his brother’s widow (Catherine of Aragon/Margaery Tyrell).

  • Tywin Lannister : the Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker - Rounding back to this theme from earlier, Warwick died in battle with Edward IV, with whom he was very close and who he put on the throne, after betraying him by rebelling against his rule (twice). Tywin was killed by his son Tyrion, after betraying him by sentencing him to death for the murder of Joffrey (which he didn’t commit) and sleeping with Tyrion’s beloved lover Shae.

Season 5

  • Tommen : Edward VI, child king who brings in a new harsher form of religion. In Tommen’s case, this was the Sparrows. In Edward VI’s case, it was a conservative form of Protestantism. Both religions were led by persuasive, dynamic figures who removed a lot of the pomp and decorations from the previous religion and sought to get rid of corruption in the religious leaders.

Edward VI

Edward VI

Tommen Baratheon in the TV series

Tommen Baratheon in the TV series

  • Margaery Tyrell : Anne Boleyn - Her closeness to her brother and tolerance for his sexual habits (considered abnormal by the church) could be compared to Anne Boleyn's closeness with her brother George, with whom she was falsely convicted of committing incest. Margaery too, was punished for her closeness with her brother, in her case, knowing about his homosexuality and not reporting it to anyone.
    The yellow rose of Tyrell : the white rose of York likely (the red rose of Lancaster wasn't really used much contemporaneously, although they did occasionally use a golden rose apparently).

Richard III

Richard III

Stannis Baratheon in the TV show

Stannis Baratheon in the TV show

  • Stannis Baratheon : Richard III - Both men believe that they are the rightful heirs after their deaths of their brothers (Robert Baratheon/Edward IV), as the royal children are/are supposedly illegitimate. Both men were supported by lots of people until the murder/disappearance of a child (princess sheeren/ the princes in the tower, although I should note that no one knows what happens to the princes in the tower). Both were very religious and devout and loyal - up to a point.

& Juliet Historical Costume Influences: Part 2

Part 1 of this series is up here!

& Juliet is a 2019 musical now up in the West End in London that starts off at the end of Romeo & Juliet. Instead of killing herself, Juliet survives, and runs off to Paris with some friends to avoid being sent to a convent by her parents. Shenanigans ensue. There’s also a frame story about William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway (no, not that one) arguing over how to plot out the story. All the songs in the musical are by Max Martin and were previously big pop hits; think “I Want it That Way,” “…One More Time",” “It’s Gonna Be Me, “Blow,” and other songs by Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, NSync, and several other artists.

I’m not SUPER familiar with the musical, but I’ve listened to a bit of the soundtrack, have read through the WIkipedia page, and have seen some awesome photos of the costumes, which mash up renaissance and modern elements. So of course, I want to go through and analyze some of the costume elements through the lens of Tudor history. I’m not going to go AS in depth with these costumes as I previously have with Six, because & Juliet has WAY more than six characters and plenty of those characters seem to have several costumes. I’m also sure I won’t be able to get all the costumes, so I’m honestly not going to fuss about it too much.

Although Romeo and Juliet technically takes place in Italy, and most of this musical takes place in France, the costumes seem to be far more English renaissance inspired; there were a lot of similarities in renaissance dress in these three countries, but also some pretty striking differences.

FYI: A fair amount of the explanation of the different elements is borrowed from my previous post on the Tudor fashion elements of the costumes in Six the Musical.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leceister

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leceister

William Shakespeare (Oliver Tompsett) - Will’s wearing an undershirt, a vest with a high collar and some very distinct diagonal line cuts, and slim cut jeans that resemble Tudor hose. It’s all rendered in a very Tudor color scheme. Because Shakespeare was an actual historical figure and we have SOME portraits that purport to be of him, it’s possible that this costume was loosely based on one of them. This is one of the more famous ones, and it certainly looks like there’s some inspiration - the coloring in the costume vest and shoes is similar to the mustard yellow background of the Chandos portrait. the white under tunic also looks pretty similar. He’s also sporting a beard.

As you can see in the portrait of Robert Dudley (Elizabeth I’s favorite), high collars and diagonal lines, and vests with cap sleeves were all commonly seen in Elizabethan fashion. Shakespeare was an active playwright from at least 1585-1613 and died in 1616. Elizabeth was on the throne from 1558-1603, after which time her first cousin twice removed (the great-grandson of her father Henry VIII’s sister Margaret Tudor) , James, became king of England.

This peasant man is wearing hose that are much baggier than those often seen worn by nobles. Trevilian Miscellany, 1602

This peasant man is wearing hose that are much baggier than those often seen worn by nobles. Trevilian Miscellany, 1602

  • Hose - Hose were undergarments covering the full length of the legs for a long time. They were probably made to measure by a hosier and cut on the bias to allow the cloth to stretch. However, in the last quarter of the 15th century, fashionable young men in Italy began to omit the gown or tunic traditionally worn over their hose and doublet. This resulted in the development of the codpiece (discussed further down in the post), as previously, each leg of a man’s hose was separate, as it wasn’t visible, and thus left a gap around the crotch area.
    Tight fitting hose and doublets that rose above the hips were popular in England in the first half of the 16th century, although the trend quickly moved toward wearing gowns over the doublet and tunic, which revealed the hose and codpiece beneath those layers, but widened the figure into the fashionable male silhouette inspired by Henry VIII’s own generous size.
    Hose was sometimes very tight and close fitting, particularly among upper classes that could afford the type of cloth and tailoring required for such looks, but lower class folks often had baggier hose.

  • Beards- Beards were unfashionable for a long time in England, as Henry V chose to go beardless and EVERYONE wanted to be like Henry V. His son, Henry VI, his son’s successor, Edward IV, HIS successor, Richard III, and HIS successor, Henry VII allllll went beardless.
    However, Henry VIII brought the beard back into vogue during his reign. He was clean-shaven for the first two decades or so of his reign, but grew a beard after promising the French that he would not shave his beard until he met the King of France at the Field of Cloth of Gold; the King of France made the same vow (Fun story: Catherine of Aragon hated her husband’s beard enough that he eventually shaved it off, which caused something of a diplomatic debacle, until his French ambassador, a charming fellow named Thomas Boleyn, managed to persuade the French King’s mother that “Love is not in the beards, but in the hearts.”)
    Apparently even after the field of cloth of gold, Henry liked his beard enough to keep it, and sports it in his most famous portrait. It became fashionable again, and was VERY popular by the time of his daughter Elizabeth’s reign, during which Shakespeare lived. In fact, beards were cut in numerous different styles, which apparently were sometimes distinct enough for them to signify a specific profession (which must have been very useful for actors on stage - based on the styling of their beard, audiences could recognize them as a bishop, clown or what have you!). They were often styled with starch, which was a similarly popular fashion element for ruffs, which are discussed later in this post.

Romeo

Romeo

Henry VIII. In case you didn’t know that.

Henry VIII. In case you didn’t know that.

I don’t know for sure, as I haven’t seen the show, but I believe this is Juliet’s dress when she finds Romeo’s dead body. At this point, her pink flower and color scheme match Romeo’s jacket.

I don’t know for sure, as I haven’t seen the show, but I believe this is Juliet’s dress when she finds Romeo’s dead body. At this point, her pink flower and color scheme match Romeo’s jacket.

Romeo (Jordan Luke Gage) - Believe it or not, Romeo’s outfit follows a lot of the same guidelines as Henry VIII’s outfit in his famous portrait. He’s got an undershirt, an overshirt, an overcoat, tightly fitting jeans resembling hose with zipper details that resemble garters and/or embroidery details, decorative (and detached) sleeves, ruffled shirt cuffs, and several necklaces and rings. He’s also sporting nice black boots with leggings tucked into them (that look BARELY used compared to most character’s very scuffed up shoes. I HAVE to figure out the meaning of these shoes - does it indicate life experience?).

He wears a pink shirt and his coat is covered in pink roses, probably representing his typically romantic worldview. His outfit also matches Juliet’s dress at the beginning. It looks like there’s writing on his jacket as well? This could be referring to his role as a play character.

  • Undershirt/overshirt - I didn’t discuss this in my first post, really, but undershirts in Tudor times were really a practical solution to the difficulty of washing a lot of the finer clothes of the day. The thin shirt by your skin absorbed up most of your sweat and was significantly easier to launder.

  • Detached sleeves - Detached sleeves that could be removed or attached by lacings to the body of a shirt or dress were common in both men and women’s garments, as it gave wearers options for changing up their style. The detached sleeve really began to develop in the 1480s and peaked around 1525 (according to “What People Wore When”).

  • Garters - The zipper details on Romeo’s pants could be meant to resemble garters, which you can see in Henry VIII’s portrait at right. Garters were worn by men and women to hold up hose, as elastic hadn’t been invented yet. These could be made of leather, fabric, or ribbon and were often tied below the knee to support the hose. You can see Henry VIII’s garters in his portrait above.

  • Embroidery - Since almost every young girl in Tudor Society was taught to work with a needle, and pretty much every noble lady could embroider, embroidery was very commonly seen in the clothing of nobles. You can see many different examples in the portraits I’ve shared throughout this post.
    There were sumptuary laws that restricted what color and type of clothing and trims could be worn by people of various ranks; embroidery was pretty much only allowed for nobles or knights (were the Montagues nobles in Romeo and Juliet? perhaps. But the actor playing Romeo in Elizabethan England sure wouldn’t have been). However, sumptuary laws were relaxed onstage, and actors could wear clothing that they’d be banned from wearing otherwise, as long as they were performing in a play at the time.

  • Bling - Men wore just as much bling as women did in Tudor times! Here, you can see Romeo sporting a necklace and at least one ring, maybe more (it’s hard to see). In his portrait, you can see that Henry VIII is wearing at least two necklaces (the large one looks like his collar of office) and three rings, as well as jewels incorporated into this hat decoration, the buttons and decorations on his sleeves, and even in his knife’s scabbard. Records indicate that Henry VIII sometimes wore a ring on every finger.
    Although jewels in jewelry was generally confined to noble classes, as these were quite costly, lower classes still commonly wore jewelry made of glass, bone, or wood. Gold jewelry was apparently popular with all of the classes as well.

Lance

Lance

Charles IX of France, who reigned from 1560-1574. By François Clouet.

Charles IX of France, who reigned from 1560-1574. By François Clouet.

Lance, the King of France (David Bedella) - Lances’ outfit is actually very close to renaissance fashion except for the jeans. He’s sporting an under shirt, a blue doublet festooned with gold chains, and a heavily embroidered cape. His slim cut jeans closely resemble hose. His blue boots are totally glorious (and entirely unscuffed) and look like they’ve got some sort of delicate design over them.

It’s interesting that he and Angelique are the characters who sport the most Tudor fashions, and it looks like they might end up together in the end.

  • Cloak/cape - Although overcoats were more popular in Henry VIII’s time, short capes that fell to the hips were fashionable in the later part of the 1500s. The cape (and shirt) that Lance wears in the musical resembles the one in the portrait of Charles IX I’ve included on the right, which is similarly festooned with intricate detailing. The one Lance is wearing is worn over the shoulder and held in place by the hand, serving both a practical and a fashionable purpose.

  • Blue - Both Lance and Francois are wearing blue, which is a traditional symbol of France that’s been found in French flags and heraldry for centuries.

  • Boots - In the renaissance, men and women wore similar flat shoes with rounded toes. The shoes were often made of silk, velvet, or leather. Duckbill shoes were pretty fashionable in Henry VIII’s time, as you can see in his portrait above, but were out of fashion by Elizabethan times and were back to narrow toes then.

Francois

Francois

Louis IX of France, who reigned from 1226-1270.

Louis IX of France, who reigned from 1226-1270.

 

Francois, the Prince of France (Tim Mahendran) - Francois is wearing a short sleeved undershirt, a long robe covered in fleur-de-lis, and slim cut jeans which resemble hose. Everything is blue, naturally, because France.

  • Fleur-de-lis - The flower symbol known as the fleur-de-lis, referring to the flowers growing by the Lys river in France, is very old, and has appeared in artwork dating back to ancient times. The fleur-de-lis was stamped on Gaulish coins from around 100-50 B.C. and has been used as a symbol by all the Christian Frankish kings.

  • Long Robe - Francois’s fleur-de-lis covered blue vest looks like it was perhaps inspired by French ceremonial robes and fabrics worn by MANY monarchs (seriously, I found so many paintings of French monarchs wearing blue fabric covered with fleur-des-lis, although those were usually yellow, instead of Francois’ light blue); I thought this stained glass window of Louis IX had the most similar positioning of fleur des lis on the fabric to the & Juliet costume.
    This type of longer surcoat (outer tunic), which fits closely to the body, but has no defined waist, and goes down to the hips, was seen more in the early 15th century and wasn’t really very fashionable by Tudor times. In Henrican times, surcoats were much wider than this, and in Elizabethan times, they generally had a much more defined waist. That’s another reason I think this costume was really based off of depictions of French royal ceremonial wear, rather than portraits, which reflected modern fashion more often.

Imogen

Imogen

Augustine

Augustine

May

May

Robert_Dudley,_1st_Earl_of_Leicester.jpg

Imogen (Rhian Duncan) - Imogen wears clothes that are inspired by both female and male Tudor fashions. Her top clearly is based on a corset with stays, with an undershirt under it, and her pants are based on some of the baggier hose variations, with decorative lines down the front and studded designs.

I’ve noticed that the characters in &Juliet that are less likely to be nobles seem to wear much baggier pants than the royals. You can see this in nearly all the rest of the photos in this post.

  • Boning/Stays - The supportive looking lines in Imogen’s top refer to boning within dresses and supportive stays. These aren’t overtly Tudor, as they’re generally associated with later time periods, and I unfortunately don’t have any painting references for this because they were explicitly /underwear/ and not something that would show up in art, but we do know that whalebone was used for support in women’s garments at least by the time of Elizabeth I’s death, as her effigy wore a corset containing whalebone.
    These diagonal lines on the costumes help evoke the ideal Tudor silhouette of a inverted triangular waist (see the portrait at right for an example. You can also see this in many portraits of Elizabeth I) without actually requiring the actor to wear such a body shaping garment.

  • Studs - The metal studs in the pants resemble those seen in Brigandines, a type of historical armor. Brigandines are made of heavy cloth or leather with steel plates riveted to it, and are pretty distinctive, with visible metal studs on the front.

Augustine (Antoine Murray-Straughan) is wearing a quilted vest with baggy pants resembling hose.

  • Quilted vest - Quilted cloth was actually commonly used by soldiers, either alone or under armor. One type of Medieval European armor called the jack of plates (or coat of plates) actually looked like a quilt, but had small iron plates sewn between layers of felt and canvas. Although jack of plates were used in Medieval times, they were worn through the 16th century.
    If you’ve read my Ladies in Waiting of Six post, you may notice that this garment sounds similar to the brigandine I described there. The main difference is that the plates in a brigandine were riveted into place between the cloth layers, rather than sewn, so metal studs were generally visible on the outside. A jack of plates has its metal bits sewn between cloth, so you’re not going to see metal on the outside of that.

May, Juliet’s non-binary friend (Arun Blair-Mangat) wears what looks like a single piece jumpsuit with a quilted design all over it and a leather belt over it. I’m pretty sure jumpsuits weren’t a thing back then, but the shapes of the clothing are very similar to some of the undershirts and baggy hose that I’ve talked about elsewhere in the post. This outfit is actually very similar to renaissance male clothing, but the color is a bit more feminine to modern eyes. It’s a very unusual color for Tudor times, as you usually don’t see purple clothes at all in paintings from back then (I looked. a lot), and definitely not this light lavender look. It’s so pretty!

It also looks like May’s wearing a flower/butterfly crown. Although you see flower crowns everywhere at renaissance festivals, I couldn’t find any in actual paintings from that time period. Flower crowns have such a long history in multiple cultures though, that I’d be surprised if they weren’t worn occasionally, probably by peasants for various festivals and such.

I don’t know much about non-binary/transgender people in Tudor times, but I do want to research it and write a blog post about it in the future!

  • Belt - Both men and women commonly wore belts just as a practical element, as they could hang purses, knifes, or other useful items from them.

Henry

Henry

Kempe

Kempe

sir+christopher+hatton+split+ruff.jpg
kempe drawing.jpg

Henry (Alex Tranter) - This costume features super tight pants with slashing like details on them, an um, emphasized crotch that might be a reference to a codpiece, a leather-ish cropped vest and belt with cool cross-hatching details, and ruffling around the neck that looks like it’s meant to resemble a ruff.

  • Split Ruff- This looks a bit like the ruff in Robert Dudley’s portrait further up in the post, in the section on Shakespeare. The ruff began as an attached trimming to the high collar of a mid-16th century shirt or chemise (which looks to be the case here), but over time, developed into a separate accessory that could be worn with various different outfits. The discovery of starch in the 1560s really influenced the growth of ruffs, both in size and popularity. A large split ruff like the one in the portrait above became popular in the 1590s, when Elizabeth I was spotted wearing such looks. The ruff may also have been wired, to keep it standing up.

  • Slashing- Slashes are slits of different lengths cut into a garment in a specific pattern, for decorative purposes. The style became popular in northern Europe around the end of the 15th century.

  • Codpieces- As mentioned earlier, the codpiece was developed once doublet lengths went to above the waist, as the separate legs of men’s hose previously left a gap there that had to be covered. This started out as a very practical cloth covering but it become larger, more emphasized, and more decorated over time. Boning and padding was added and sometimes they were even large enough to hold money or jewels, which may have led to the saying “the family jewels.” You can see examples of them to the right and in the portrait of Henry VIII up earlier in the post. Their popularity may have also been influenced by the spread of syphilis; a codpiece allows for lots of room for bandages and ointments and such.
    The name, funnily enough, comes from the middle English for both “scrotum” and “bag.” They were very popular under Henry VIII but eventually declined in popularity under his daughter Elizabeth I.

slashes.jpg
Renaissance gentleman in armour, unknown, circle of Peter Pourbus

Renaissance gentleman in armour, unknown, circle of Peter Pourbus

Kempe (Kieran Lai) - I haven’t seen the play so I don’t know a lot of the details, but this character’s name, at least, is clearly based off of Will Kempe, an English comic actor who worked with Shakespeare. He was fairly famous at the time and in 1600, actually morris danced from London to Norwich (~100 miles); this took him nine days spread out over a few weeks. This drawing on the right shows him performing this stunt. The character Kempe’s costume doesn’t seem to owe much to this historical drawing except perhaps in the structure of the pants, which are tight at the bottom and baggier at the top, allowing for free movement during dancing.

His studded vest has some of the jack of plate elements I was talking about earlier and his pants look inspired by baggy hose.

Benvolio

Benvolio

Sly

Sly

Benvolio (Kirstie Skiv) wears fingerless gloves, a hat, a spiky leather vest over a longer shirt, and sweat pants resembling hose.

  • Hat - Historically, almost everyone would be wearing a hat or hair covering of some sort. You just had your hair covered most of the time, that’s just…what you did. Benvolio’s one of the only characters who has a hat.

  • Gloves - Gloves were very popular among the rich in Tudor England, as they demonstrated that the wearers weren’t doing any manual work. They were shown in a lot of portraits and were often simply held by the sitters instead of being worn (you can see that in the portrait on the left below this text). Tudor England was really stinky, so gloves were often scented. In addition, this may be a stretch of a reference, but William Shakespeare’s father John Shakespeare WAS a glover, who made leather from animal hides and then into gloves.

Portrait of a Gentleman, Unknown

Portrait of a Gentleman, Unknown

Portrait of a Gentleman of the English Court, by Hans Eworth

Portrait of a Gentleman of the English Court, by Hans Eworth

Henry IV, King of France, 1610, by France Pourbus the Younger

Henry IV, King of France, 1610, by France Pourbus the Younger

Sly (Ivan DeFreitas as Sly) wears super voluminous sleeves with ties in various places and super baggy pants that resemble baggy hose and/or trunkhose, with a belt.

  • Princess Jasmine sleeves - This costume features poufy sleeves with various ties on them. I don’t know how to describe these sleeves except they kind of look like Princess Jasmine’s hair. Since I don’t know how to describe them, I can’t really google them and figure out what they’re called, but I DID find this portrait above in the middle showing a Tudor era gentleman with very similarly shaped sleeves.

  • Poufy pants - Sly’s pants are so poufy that they almost look like the trunkhose that Juliet wears (see part 1 of this). As a reminder, those were voluminous breeches that usually ran from the waist to the middle of the thigh, and were worn with tight fitting hose under them.

Yes, Coronavirus is Scary. Go Eat a Bagel.

Last year, my husband was in the hospital for several days. It was a scary few days and it felt like there was very very little I could do to help him, so I just stayed with him, sleeping every night in a sleeping bag on the uncomfortable couch in his room, and did the few things I could do. I ran to go bug nurses when he needed more pain medicine, stole more blankets for him when he was still too cold, and threw blankets over various bright electrical lights and windows so he could sleep.

And every morning, while he was still asleep, I went downstairs to the hospital’s Panera and got a cinnamon crunch bagel with honey walnut cream cheese. Sure, I needed to eat, but that bagel also became something familiar and comforting that I could look forward to every day when things were uncertain.

I wasn’t really a huge Panera fan before this, and I still don’t go very often, but whenever I’m particularly stressed out, I go out and get that same bagel from the Panera down the road from my house. It’s my stress bagel. It reminds me of that time in the past when everything kinda sucked and was scary, but we managed to make it through anyway (my husband is fine now).

bagel.jpg

I’m currently at Panera, eating my stress bagel, with fashion history books strewn out in front of me ready for me to peruse. I intend to finish the second part of my historical inspirations of the &Juliet costumes today. But first, I wanted to just write a bit about what’s going on in our country and our world right now.

I live in Northern Virginia, near Washington D.C. The people around me are getting more and more scared every day about coronavirus and what it means for our lives. The local schools are preparing for switching to remote teaching set-ups; teachers I know have been asked to bring home two weeks worth of lesson planning materials when they leave for Spring Break. Friends of mine are just starting to work from home instead of coming into the office (lucky me, I telework full time already).

I know people who are scared to leave their houses. I also know people who are terrified of having to live in isolation for a year or more, knowing that such a situation would be disastrous for their mental health.

My husband asked me to go to the grocery store yesterday and stockpile on toilet paper; his boss told him there was a global shortage. I did so, reluctantly, but realizing it wasn’t the worst of ideas. I also bought some basic canned food and mac and cheese type non-perishable foods, in the event that we might have to self-quarantine in the future. I figure we’re going to use it all eventually anyway. The toilet paper at my local store was heavily depleted, but not out. However, the dry milk powder really was all gone. What is it about emergencies that makes everyone think of dry milk powder?

Everyone is scared. I’m certainly scared. But all the panicking is starting to make me panic too, and I can see the fear in my friends’ Facebook statuses as they post their fears about whether life will even be worth living here soon. Even those joking about cheap flights are scared. I seriously understand; humor is one of my go-to defense mechanisms.

There’s only so much we can do. We can be cautious ourselves, wash our hands for twenty seconds while reciting Shakespeare monologues, self-quarantine if we feel the slightest sniffle. But we are ultimately not in control of what happens, and looking at how other countries have dealt with this, I understand the panic. None of us want to see our cities or states or countries quarantined. Even if we understand that most otherwise healthy people survive COVID-19, we don’t want to die or see other people die. We worry about the immuno-compromised people in our lives, or the babies too young to have much of immunity to anything, or the elderly folks we love.

We’re all scared. And we have reason to be scared. I’m not by any means trying to downplay the danger here or forget about the people all over the world who have died from this. But panicking and whipping others up into a panic won’t help anything or anyone. We all need to be kind to each other and to ourselves right now.

Do what you need to to calm down. It’s okay to stop watching the news for a while if it only terrifies you more. Pray if you believe in a deity; meditate if you don’t. Get outside and exercise. Take up yoga. Talk to your friends about anything else. Pet your cats and dogs. Listen to music. Read a book. Write a blog post. Eat a bagel. Everything kinda sucks right now and it’s really scary, but humanity is going to make it through anyway.

Update: Six Alternates Won't Have Their Own Costumes on Broadway

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head“Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

UPDATED MARCH 12, 2020 WITH MORE INFO AND PICTURES

The Six fandom has been buzzing over the last week about the Broadway alternates’ costumes, as both Mallory Maedke and Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert took the stage in old versions of the regular costumes rather than the previous alternate costumes they wore in Chicago. There was speculation that the alternates were getting new costumes that just weren’t ready yet (as the show is technically still in previews; opening isn’t officially until March 12, 2020).

Mallory Maedke going on as Jane Seymour and Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert going on as Catherine of Aragon. Both of these costumes are older ones that don’t feature the peplums that were added for Broadway.

Mallory Maedke going on as Jane Seymour and Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert going on as Catherine of Aragon. Both of these costumes are older ones that don’t feature the peplums that were added for Broadway.

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert going on as Catherine of Aragon

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert going on as Catherine of Aragon

However, Lambert has now officially confirmed in the comments on Instagram that there won’t be any more alternate costumes on Broadway, for unspecified reasons. (MANY THANKS to Katie Proctor of the Six: The Musical (Fan Group) on Facebook for capturing and sharing this interaction).

This is really sad to hear, the Queendom really loved the alternate costumes. It really seemed to be one of the big aspects setting the Six musical franchise apart from other shows; traditionally, alternates wear the same costumes as the main characters in the musical, but the special costumes really made them stand out in an exciting and unique way. I really don’t know anything about Broadway equity and/or union rules, but I’ll be looking into this a bit more this week to try to find the exact reason why this isn’t allowed. This seems to be just another thing on Broadway that’s different from the other shows (as I previously mentioned, filming and photography technically isn’t allowed during the Broadway Megasix, although it doesn’t look like the ushers or show have been enforcing that too hard).

It does seem like all the other shows will be continuing to use the special alternate costumes though, so those can still be seen in the 5 OTHER SHOWS running right now: in the West End in London, on the UK/Ireland Tour, on the Australia/New Zealand tour, and on two cruise ships: Norwegian Bliss and Norwegian Breakaway. Additional Performances will go up on the Norwegian Getaway in April and in Chicago and Wellington, Australia in July.

UPDATED MARCH 12

We actually saw an alternate costume on Broadway, as Nicole wore her old one when went on as Catherine Parr, as her new costume presumably isn’t ready yet and the older ones don’t fit her. It is Very similar to the usual Parr though, just with a different color blue and different sleeves.

Courtney Mack going on as Anne Boleyn (in an older costume, as the updated for broadway version features silver beading around each black epaulet) and Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert going on as Catherine Parr, wearing her old alternate costume (presumably…

Courtney Mack going on as Anne Boleyn (in an older costume, as the updated for broadway version features silver beading around each black epaulet) and Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert going on as Catherine Parr, wearing her old alternate costume (presumably because her new Catherine parr costume isn’t ready yet).

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert going on as Anna of Cleves in an old costume (the old version has a crop top, while the new version doesn’t) and Courtney Mack going on as Katherine Howard in an updated for Australia/Broadway costume (visible in the check p…

Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert going on as Anna of Cleves in an old costume (the old version has a crop top, while the new version doesn’t) and Courtney Mack going on as Katherine Howard in an updated for Australia/Broadway costume (visible in the check pattern fabric outline on the skirt)

& Juliet Historical Costume Influences: Part I

& Juliet is a 2019 musical now up in the West End in London that starts off at the end of Romeo & Juliet. Instead of killing herself, Juliet survives, and runs off to Paris with some friends to avoid being sent to a convent by her parents. Shenanigans ensue. There’s also a frame story about William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway (no, not that one) arguing over how to plot out the story. All the songs in the musical are by Max Martin and were previously big pop hits; think “I Want it That Way,” “…One More Time",” “It’s Gonna Be Me, “Blow,” and other songs by Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, NSync, and other artists.

& juliet cast 5.jpg

Credit: Johan Persson

I’m not SUPER familiar with the musical, but I’ve listened to a bit of the soundtrack, have read through the WIkipedia page, and have seen some awesome photos of the costumes, which mash up renaissance and modern elements. So of course, I want to go through and analyze some of the costume elements through the lens of Tudor history. I’m not going to go AS in depth with these costumes as I previously have with Six, because & Juliet has WAY more than six characters and plenty of those characters seem to have several costumes. I’m also sure I won’t be able to get all the costumes, so I’m honestly not going to fuss about it too much.

Although Romeo and Juliet technically takes place in Italy, and most of this musical takes place in France, the costumes seem to be far more English renaissance inspired; there were a lot of similarities in renaissance dress in these three countries, but also some pretty striking differences.

Because there are so many characters and SO many costumes in this show, I’ve had to divide up this post into two to make it more manageable. :) Part two should come out next week, and will focus more on men’s costumes, although a few women and an awesome nonbinary character will also be covered.

(FYI: A fair amount of the explanation of the different elements is borrowed from my previous post on the Tudor fashion elements of the costumes in Six the Musical. )

Juliet from &Juliet

Juliet from &Juliet (Credit: Michael Wharley)

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, 1598. Artist Unknown.

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, 1598. Artist Unknown.

Juliet (Miriam-Teak Lee)- As the main character, Juliet has numerous costumes, but at least in the few I’m seeing here, it seems like she usually wears tops that resemble corsets, with the stiffness and lines of boning and/or stays evident, but without lacing. She also sports a lot of wide square necklines, long sleeves, and a fair amount of bling, in the form of necklaces and bracelets. Of interest: the white jacket she wears at the end of the show has little cross hatching and beading details on it that actually somewhat resemble Elizabeth I’s sleeves in the portrait I’ve included above.

Several of her skirts are very poufy, resembling both the volume of Tudor skirts. Her blue outfit also features big poufy pants, which are similar to some men’s styles of the time. It looks like she’s wearing similar pants in the photograph at the top of this post, only in pink, but I couldn’t find any close up pictures of this costume to confirm it.

It looks like almost all the shoes used in the musical are very deliberately worn and a little ragged around the edges, with a few specific exceptions. I wonder what the meaning of that is.

Understudy Grace Mouat on as Juliet

Understudy Grace Mouat on as Juliet

A great farthingale. Elizabeth I, "The Ditchley Portrait", c.1592. By Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger

A great farthingale. Elizabeth I, "The Ditchley Portrait", c.1592. By Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger

Spanish farthingales. Retable of St. John the Baptist, ~1470-1480, by Pedro García de Benabarre.

Spanish farthingales. Retable of St. John the Baptist, ~1470-1480, by Pedro García de Benabarre.

Details of paintings from (starting top left, going clockwise): Anne of Cleves, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard, Elizabeth I, Mary I, and Catherine Parr.

Details of paintings from (starting top left, going clockwise): Anne of Cleves, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard, Elizabeth I, Mary I, and Catherine Parr.

  • Poufy Skirts - The voluminous skirts Juliet wears in her pink and white outfits seem inspired by Tudor skirts, which were of a decent size. Tudor skirts weren’t even close to the biggest skirts in history (that honor belongs to the French court dresses of the 1760s-70s-ish, which often featured panniers, structured undergarments which stretched the skirts out horizontally by several feet) but they were still rather large at times! That’s generally due to the farthingale, but bum rolls contributed a bit as well (I’ll talk about bum rolls later in this post).
    Catherine of Aragon brought the Spanish farthingale (hoop skirt) fashion into England when she married Prince Arthur (Henry VIII’s older brother, who died less than a year into their marriage). These early farthingales were usually made with wood; the name actually derives from the Spanish word verdugo, which means “green wood.” French farthingales, which started showing up in England in the 1520s, possibly due to Anne Boleyn’s influence on fashion, were often stuffed with cotton and stiffened with hoops of wood, reed, or whalebone. Although we know the materials that made up these undergarments, as tailor’s receipts and such have survived, we don’t know exactly what they look like, because, as an undergarment, they weren’t visible in paintings (boudoir art that showed women in their underwear wouldn’t be culturally acceptable in England for a LONG time).
    Later, by the time of Elizabeth I, these French farthingales became “great farthingales,” which ballooned the skirts out all around. You can see that in the portrait of Queen Elizabeth in the previous section. The classic Tudor silhouette you see in portraits, showing an inverted triangle waist dropping down into a voluminous skirt, is created by farthingales.

  • Wide square necklines - Wide and low cut square necklines were very big in women’s fashion under Henry VIII, from about 1500-1550.

  • Bling- In Tudor times, noble ladies would often wear lots of rings, bracelets, and several necklaces. You can see this in their portraits.

  • Sleeves - All Tudor women would have worn long sleeves coming down at least to the wrist, and sometimes below that. These often were very voluminous at the top.

& juliet blue.jpg

Credit: Johan Persson

Henry IV, King of France, by Frans Pourbus the Younger

Henry IV, King of France, by Frans Pourbus the Younger

Elizabeth I’s effigy corset and examples of boning in modern recreations

Elizabeth I’s effigy corset and examples of boning in modern recreations

  • Boning/Stays - The supportive looking lines in Juliet’s blue top refer to boning within dresses and supportive stays. These aren’t overtly Tudor, as they’re generally associated with later time periods, and I unfortunately don’t have any painting references for this because they were explicitly /underwear/ and not something that would show up in art, but we do know that whalebone was used for support in women’s garments at least by the time of Elizabeth I’s death, as her effigy wore a corset containing whalebone. I’ve included a picture of the effigy corset and a few pictures of historical reproduction corsets so you can see what I mean.

  • Poufy pants - These are actually called trunkhose. They were voluminous breeches that usually ran from the waist to the middle of the thigh, and were worn with tight fitting hose under them. They were worn by men in the 16th and 17th centuries. They kind of look like onions, right?
    I’m trying to pin down more information about when exactly men started wearing trunkhose and why (if there is ever a reason for fashion), but unfortunately, I’ve found it’s much more difficult to find information on men’s renaissance fashion than women’s (see: reasons I’m putting off the second post of this series until next week).

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway (Credit: Michael Wharely)

A 1708 drawing that purportedly shows Anne Hathaway, William Shakespeare’s wife.

A 1708 drawing that purportedly shows Anne Hathaway, William Shakespeare’s wife.

Anne Hathaway (Cassidy Janson) - This outfit features cross-lacing, a corset style top that appears to have the stiffness and structure of boning/stays, a wide, square neckline, and a belt at the waist, all elements commonly seen in noble lady fashions during Henry’s reign.

Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk

Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk

The vest is interesting. In terms of Tudor fashion, it most resembles an overcoat, which was normally worn by men (see the portrait of Charles Brandon to the right), and is covered with gorgeous colorful embroidery. I’m guessing this refers to her role in the play, in which she takes some of the story-telling power away from her husband.

I’ve included a purported portrait of the historical Anne Hathaway for reference, but it’s basically just her face and a ruff. I don’t think there’s much inspiration to be found here.

Cross lacing detail from a portrait

Cross lacing detail from a portrait

  • Cross-Lacing - The “corset” top here is cross-laced, looking like a shoelace tie. This is pretty much what you see at every renaissance faire. In reality though, Tudor gowns were generally spiral laced or ladder laced rather than cross laced (Xes) You can see what I mean in the collection of painting references; all of these show spiral lacing or ladder lacing except for one Italian painting, which shows Xes which are almost certainly more decorative than practical. The other forms of lacing are simply more supportive and adjustable, which is the entire idea behind having lacings in an outfit anyway, after all.

  • Embroidery - Since almost every young girl was taught to work with a needle, and pretty much every noble lady could embroider, embroidery was very commonly seen in the clothing of nobles. You can see many different examples in the portraits I’ve shared throughout this post.

    There were sumptuary laws that restricted what color and type of clothing and trims could be worn by people of various ranks; embroidery was pretty much only allowed for nobles or knights, so it’s questionable whether the historical Anne Hathaway would have been allowed to wear embroidery, as Shakespeare was neither a nobleman nor a knight. However, sumptuary laws were relaxed onstage, and actors could wear clothing that they’d be banned from wearing otherwise, as long as they were performing in a play at the time.

Angelique

Angelique (Credit: Michael Wharely)

Peasants dancing

Peasants dancing

Angelique, Juliet’s nurse (Melanie La Barrie) - This honestly looks like the most renaissance costume in the show, complete with a fanny pack resembling a belt and purse and a hair covering. This is a very standard outfit for a female peasant, featuring a woolen undershirt, and a matching skirt and corset style top (with more of that cross lacing). In actuality, the entire orange layer would probably be a single dress, known as a kirtle, which commonly featured square-necks and came down to the ankles.

Details from portraits, showing the gable hood of Catherine of Aragon, the French hood of Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Parr’s feathered hat.

Details from portraits, showing the gable hood of Catherine of Aragon, the French hood of Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Parr’s feathered hat.

  • Belt and Purse - The fanny pack is a wonderful little touch, as people generally did wear purses on their belts.

  • Hair Covering - Angelique also is sporting a hair covering here; historically, almost everyone would be wearing a hat or hair covering of some sort (ignore the hair in The Tudors and The White Queen y'all, it's just...hilariously wrong). Famous hats included the Gable hood (seen on Catherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour) and the French hood (popularized by Anne Boleyn and seen in her portrait and in Katherine Howard's supposed portrait). Women even started wearing male hat styles at times, as seen in Catherine Parr’s portrait.

IMG_1773.png
Elisabeth of Austria by Francois Clouet, ca. 1571

Elisabeth of Austria by Francois Clouet, ca. 1571

Portrait of a Woman, anonymous, 1525-1549

Portrait of a Woman, anonymous, 1525-1549

Judith (Grace Mouat)- This costume features numerous Tudor costume elements, including a ruff, white cross hatched sleeves, a double layered skirt rendered in rich orange and reddish orange colors and decorated with copious embroidery, and cross lacing in her leg warmers. I found the Elisabeth of Austria portrait above to demonstrate the sleeves but wow, this costume might actually be totally inspired by it? The color scheme and collar set up is very similar. The anonymous portrait below demonstrates a mesh look more clearly though.

  • Ruffs - Neck ruffs like this ARE Tudor and specifically, Elizabethan (as opposed to the previously discussed square necklines, which were very Henrican). You didn’t really see them until the 1560s. Keep in mind: Henry VIII died in 1547, his son Edward VI ruled from 1547-1553, his daughter Mary I ruled from 1553-1558, and his younger daughter Elizabeth I ruled from 1558-1603; William Shakespeare lived from 1564-1616 and was active as a playwright probably from the mid-1580s to 1613.
    Ruffs were made of fabric, usually cambric but sometimes lace (particularly if you were rich) and were later stiffened with starch imported from continental Europe (think around the Netherlands). They were separate pieces so you could wear a ruff with multiple different outfits, and specifically over the high necklines common to Elizabeth I’s reign. They started out pretty small, but once starch was discovered, ruffs became larger and larger, sometimes up to a foot wide. Really big ruffs had a wire frame to support them.
    Fun fact: Apparently ruffs are still part of the ceremonial garments for the Church of Denmark!

  • Double layer skirt - There were lots of layers to women’s garments at this time and often, an over dress, shirt, and skirt were all visible.

Lucy

Lucy

Katherine Parr, ~1545, by Master John.

Katherine Parr, ~1545, by Master John.

Nell

Nell

From left, going clockwise: details of paintings of Catherine Parr , Mary I, another of Catherine Parr, and Princess Elizabeth.

From left, going clockwise: details of paintings of Catherine Parr , Mary I, another of Catherine Parr, and Princess Elizabeth.

Lucy (Danielle Fiamanya) - This costume includes split skirts worn with a bum roll, boning/stay type elements in the top, and a tied ribbon choker necklace.

  • Bum Roll - Roll farthingales, or “bum rolls” were padded rolls covered in cotton fabric. They sometimes included wiring. The roll would be placed around the hips and under the kirtle. The one shown in Lucy’s costume appears to be a demi-roll, since it is clearly defined under the skirt but doesn’t completely encircle the body.

Nell (Jocasta Almgill) - This outfit is so fun. Tudor elements include her hair covering (which vaguely resembles a French hood in shape), the boning/stays, the splitskirt layered over denim shorts, and stockings. I can’t quite tell, but it looks like the t-shirt over the outfit has some sort of writing on it? Does anyone know what this is?

  • Split skirts - Nell’s and Lucy’s costumes both evoke the look of a classic Tudor dress under Henry VIII, in which a kirtle (underdress) was layered under a contrasting overdress. You can see this demonstrated at right, which includes details from portraits of Mary I, Princess Elizabeth.

Susanna

Susanna

Anne Boleyn, late 16th century, based on a ~1533-1536 work, by an Unknown English artist.

Anne Boleyn, late 16th century, based on a ~1533-1536 work, by an Unknown English artist.

From left, going clockwise: details of paintings of a young Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard, and Anne of Cleves.

From left, going clockwise: details of paintings of a young Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard, and Anne of Cleves.

Susanna (Kerrin Orville) - Here you’ve got boning/stay elements, a top that vaguely looks like an overdress, a belt, layers of a skirt over shorts, a wide square neckline, and a choker necklace.

  • Chokers - Chokers were super popular in renaissance times! You can see several examples in portraits I’ve shared throughout this post. Even the famous “B” necklace from Anne Boleyn’s portrait is a choker.

I don’t have the time to analyze every single costume in the show, and since I haven’t seen the show and don’t have plans to go to London any time soon, I don’t have any way to check if I found all the costumes or not. But I’ve put together a gallery from various photos I can find on Instagram of other costumes anyway; look at how gorgeous they are!

I Saw Six on Broadway!

Me with my friends Arielle, Hannah, and Sarah, about to go see Six!

Me with my friends Arielle, Hannah, and Sarah, about to go see Six!

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  • I loosely dressed up as Historical Anne Boleyn for the show, wearing a square necked black blouse, black skirt and leggings, and a replica “B” necklace. I paid homage to the show version by putting my hair in space buns and wearing sparkly green eyeshadow and red lipstick. There were LOTS of people there with space buns, haha.

  • My friends and I bought Disney Princess crowns at the Times Square Disney store before the show and wore them for several hours and it was SO much fun. People repeatedly assumed we were a bachelorette party or that one of us was celebrating a birthday. I went in as the obsessed fan with my friends Sarah (who had listened to the soundtrack previously) , and Arielle and Hannah (who both deliberately went in blind). It was utterly delightful to watch their faces as they discovered this show and all the wonderful wordplay throughout it.

  • Before the show, “Joan” on the keyboard was playing covers of modern pop songs on the harpsichord setting, so it sounded all old school. I distinctly heard Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” and Camilla Cabello’s “Havana” and there were many others in there as well that I couldn’t figure out.

  • The Brooks Atkinson Theater is GORGEOUS and super colorfully decorated.

  • The line to get into the matinee for people who already had tickets literally wrapped around the block, so my friends and I used the opportunity to grab a quick bite to eat at Pret a Manger and use the restroom there before jumping in the (now moving) line at like, 2:45 for the 3 pm show. We didn’t see any benefit to standing outside in the cold waiting for a super long time. This ended up working really well and has the bonus of being an Anne Boleyn line!

  • Right before the show started, they flashed lights in the shapes of Tudor roses all around the auditorium!

  • Jane Seymour gave me MAJOR Celine Dion vibes, and this actress had a slightly different twist on it than the soundtrack. She did her high whistly notes earlier in the song rather than at the end. 

  • it sounds like the actresses are all using American accents except where the rhyme NEEDS a British accent.

  • like, this is obvious, but The choreography and acting add SOOO much to the songs. “Get Down” was absolutely brilliant and in person, it’s really obvious how idiotic Henry’s excuse is and how hot she KNOWS she is. I actually didn’t know that Cleves strips off her outer layer (with the help of the other queens pulling on either side of her costume) during her song until last week and that is just SUCH a show stopping move; it’s totally something Rihanna (Cleves’ main pop inspiration) would do as well. I also suddenly understand why the alternates have to wear such a specific Cleves jacket/costume when they play her- hook and loop fasteners! (Aka Velcro, a registered trademarks) 

  • Cleves got funnier and funnier as the show went on. My favorite line is probably “guys. I have the plague. Lol, just kidding, my life is amazing!”

  • “All you want to do” was so affecting, I was sobbing by the end. It’s such a compassionate and human portrayal of Katherine Howard, who I think is often just put down as a cheater or a silly girl. No, she was a young teenager who was abused by men throughout her life and neglected and exploited by the people that were supposed to protect her. The choreography in that is really beautiful, how more and more of the other queens touch Katherine Howard’s shoulders in more and more invasive ways as she gets more and more despondent and dances less and less energetically until she’s left alone on the stage at the end, hunched over in despair and almost crying. 

  • When Catherine Parr is pointing out at the end that the only reason everyone knows Henry VIII is BECAUSE of his six wives, she asked who the wives of Henry VII, Henry VI, and Henry V were. I was delighted and like quietly raised my hand, hah. all my friends laughed at least.

  • also Howard coming out and just nonchalantly saying “Catherine of Valois” was amazing. I liked Boleyn’s complicated feminist sum up as well, but in the context, I felt that it made her character seem like she had the same level of education/intelligence/maturity as Howard, when in fact, Boleyn was really highly educated and Howard was fairly poorly educated for a noble girl, considering that she was pretty much pawned off on neglectful relatives most of her life.

Me and Sarah at Brooks Atkinson Theater

Me and Sarah at Brooks Atkinson Theater

Arielle and Hannah at Brooks Atkinson Theater

Arielle and Hannah at Brooks Atkinson Theater

  • That observation feeds into my next thought . Everyone who said that my thoughts on the portrayal of Anne Boleyn would change when I saw the show was wrong. She’s a fun character, but she’s portrayed as a huge self involved ditz who just wants to party, when in real life, she was actually an extremely well educated and accomplished woman who influenced religion and politics more than probably any other queen did. I think of her the same way I think of Shakespeare’s Richard III- I love the play and I love the character but I recognize that it’s a totally inaccurate portrayal of the historical figure, who i also love for completely different reasons. 

  • they actually pack in a LOT of history into this play, like during Boleyn and Aragon’s argument over mistresses and miscarriages and who had it worse. Plus I love a casual Thomas Cromwell name drop.

  • You can really see the colorful Swarovski crystals on the boots in the lights! It’s subtle but visible if you look for it. 

  • Cleves’ new thigh high boots are AMAZINGGGG.

  • I tried to check if the lighting matched each character’s main costume color; it seemed like yes, it mostly did, but I didn’t check on all of them. 

  • The lighting at the end of “Don’t Lose Your Head” fades out to just a direct spot on Anne Boleyn’s head and like, surrounding pink lights. It was very effective. 

  • The “10 amongst these 3s” pin sold at the merch table has an incorrect apostrophe in between the “3” and the “s” and it drives me madddddd. PLEASE FIX THAT. 

  • j loved that Catherine of Aragon started her song by calling for Maria on the drums to start her off; “Maria” is named for the historical Catherine of Aragon’s lady in waiting and lifelong friend, Maria de Salinas, so it’s totally fitting that they join together on that. 

  • The whole musical is such a girl power piece, but it also realistically talks about the fact that these women wouldn’t be known without history and how little agency they had in their own lives. The only other musicals I’ve seen that are that self aware and self reflective of their own characters’ legacies are Hamilton and Assassins. 

Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!

Here’s the Broadway stage door for reference of what the costumes looked like before the show opened. Cleves’s and Howard’s costumes in the stage show definitely do not look the same as they do here. The others look very similar, but there are some …

Here’s the Broadway stage door for reference of what the costumes looked like before the show opened. Cleves’s and Howard’s costumes in the stage show definitely do not look the same as they do here. The others look very similar, but there are some details changed in each look.

The Broadway costumes! Photo thanks to @Tschusko on Instagram.

The Broadway costumes! Photo thanks to @Tschusko on Instagram.

Jarnéia Richard-Noel in the West End, Unknown photographer

Jarnéia Richard-Noel in the West End, By Eleanor Howarth

Adrianna Hicks on Broadway, By Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Adrianna Hicks on Broadway, By Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Aragon: The inverted chevrons on Aragon’s top have been changed to black and gold checks. These checks also show up in her skirt, where it replaces the gold stripe section, which also sports a new peplum layer The sleeves are different, with bigger puffs at top and black fishnet over gold bottoms that look an awful lot like Seymour’s sleeves.

  • peplum- a short flared, gathered, or pleated strip of fabric attached at the waist of a woman's jacket, dress, or blouse to create a hanging frill or flounce

Millie O’Connell, who originated the Boleyn role on the West End, Unknown photographer

Millie O’Connell, who originated the Boleyn role on the West End, Unknown photographer

Andrea Macasaet on Broadway, by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Andrea Macasaet on Broadway, by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Boleyn: Boleyn’s costume looks almost the same, but she’s got more silver studs at the bottom and top of her skirt and defining each black grid and epaulette on her top

Natalie Paris in the West End (Photographer Unknown)

Natalie Paris in the West End (Photographer Unknown)

Abby Muller on Broadway, by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Abby Muller on Broadway, by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Seymour: Hey, Seymour got a peplum too! Everyone gets peplums now! Her peplum is white with black lines, visually extending her top rather than sitting on her skirt like Aragon’s or on Parr’s pants. Her top also has more diagonal black stripes on the side now, instead of the just plain vertical ones she had before.

The original-ish West End costume. There actually was a black version that was phased out a long time ago. Alexia McIntosh in the West End, Unknown Photographer

The original-ish West End costume. There actually was a black version that was phased out a long time ago. Alexia McIntosh in the West End, Unknown Photographer

Brittney Mack on Broadway, by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Brittney Mack on Broadway, by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

New Cleves Earrings for Broadway! by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

New Cleves Earrings for Broadway! by Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Cleves:
Cleves’ jacket is pretty much the same it’s been in other casts except for some added epaulettes and perhaps some added sleeve length and overall length, but UNDERNEATH the jacket. Damn girl.

The black crop top with red trimming has been replaced with a MAGNIFENT red top (longer than her previous crop top with lots of silver studding, a mini faux black corset, lots of silver chains draping everywhere, and magnificent sleeves made up of gridded silver studded red leather strips. I wish I had a picture of this so badly, as it doesn’t show up as much under her jacket, but when she strips in her song, it’s super visible and AMAZING.

She also gets to wear some friggin amazing thigh high black boots covered in gorgeous silver studs.

Katherine Howard (Aimie Atkinson), Photo by Idil Sukan.

Katherine Howard (Aimie Atkinson), Photo by Idil Sukan.

Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Howard: Howard’s Broadway costume looks identical to the updated Australia costume but with only one X across the neckline rather than two. From my post on that: “It looks like the same black striped mesh fabric is in use all over both the West End and the Australia outfits, but the pink fabric has changed up a bit. In addition to the original sheer pink fabric used on the skirt, there's now a slightly less sheer pink fabric with black hatching on it; the skirt's panels alter between sheer and sheer with hatching and there's now a bottom border of the sheer with hatching fabric. There's also more silver beading throughout the skirt. This fabric with hatching is also incorporated into the alternating style panels on the bodice and on the bodice's top sleeves. It also looks like the hatching fabric may be used on the back of the bodice as well.”

Danielle Steer in the West End. (Production photo)

Danielle Steer in the West End. (Production photo)

Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Joan Marcus/Kelly Taub

Parr: Her sleeves look fuller and rounder, and now she has a blue and black peplum with silver studs. Her belt is more heavily studded. It also looks like her pants are made with a totally different black fabric, with a cool print visible on it.

Both pants actually have the same lacing and silver studs on the side, but I couldn’t find a good photo from the west end that shows the entire current costume AND the lacings visible.

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broadway earrings gabriella slade.JPG

Accessory Changes:

It looks like all the Queens are now wearing SPARKLY fish nets (except Parr, who wears pants). Previously, it looked like they just wore sheer black hose. The sparkles are hard to see in photographs, but they’re super visible in person! You can probably see them best in the Cleves broadway photo above.

All of the Queens now have large earrings with the Roman numeral version of their “order” in the wives!

All Broadway Cast Accessories:

Aragon:

  • Sparkly spiked gold hoops with a roman numeral “I” in the center

  • Large gold spikes on a leather headband

  • Lots of piled up gold chain necklaces.

Boleyn:

  • Silver spiked hooks with “II” in the center

  • Leather cuffs with spikes around her “space buns”

  • Green sparkly “B” necklace

    Seymour:

  • Silver hoops with “III” in the center, no spikes (I can’t tell if the earrings are sparkly or just made of tiny silver circles like Cleves)

  • White headband with small silver spikes

  • It looks like she’s wearing a silver chain necklace, but that appears to be part of her costume

    Cleves:

  • Large silver “IV”s made of tiny little silver circles

  • Silver spikes arranged lengthwise on her head on either side of her hairdo (which is this gorgeous braid twist bun thing I can’t properly describe)

    Howard:

  • Silver hoops with a big sparkly pink “V”

  • Leather cuff with spikes around ponytail with pink ends; “K” necklace

    Parr:

  • Big silver hoops with sparkly black “VI”

  • Silver spikes along her part line in a vaguely mohawk style

I saw the show on February 22 and it was BRILLIANT. I got some photos but honestly, they weren’t very good quality. You’re welcome to go see them at www.instagram.com/rachaeldickzen.

Useful Stuff: Recording a Voicemail with Laryngitis, Working Out with ADHD, How to Stop Cringe Attacks, and Cookie Science

A screenshot from www.naturalreaders.com/online
  • Recording a Voicemail with Laryngitis: I’ve been dealing with a nasty cold lately and I have little to no voice. If I DO try to talk, I have a coughing fit. I can’t afford to take the entire week off work though, so I wanted to find a way to help out applicants that call me while avoiding taxing my voice or throat.
    A friend suggested I try to an automated voice of some sort, to let people know I couldn’t talk and that they should email me; I thought this was impossible at first, but then I googled around and found www.naturalreaders.com/online. This takes your text and reads it out loud for you, in a variety of different voices and accents. It took a bit of messing with the text to figure out how to get the voice to read out the spelling of my last name for my email address at a reasonable speed, but with a lot of commas, it worked fine. I just turned up the volume on my computer, held up the headset on my work phone to the computer, and recorded it that way. Thus - I essentially have a robot secretary for the week! We live in the future.

  • Working out with ADHD (written mostly in November): I get bored really easily, so working out isn’t always easy for me. I was doing really well for a while with walking/running outside, but I messed up my knee a couple months ago (fortunately, no arthritis, just some sort of pulled muscle!), so that hasn’t been an option lately. Plus it’s cold outside.
    I’ve joined a gym and go to various classes now (which helps a LOT with the ADHD, as the instructor keeps things moving too quickly for me to get bored), but for a long time, my main workout was hooping. It’s like hula hooping, only with weighted hoops that an adult can actually use without a crazy amount of effort. I have a hoop I bought from a friend like, 8 years ago, and it works wonderfully as a low-impact workout; I’ll hoop downstairs in our basement for 20-30 minutes each morning, and it just makes me feel so much more energetic and healthy throughout the day!
    However, my brain did get pretty bored with it. I tried podcasts for a while, and then Netflix, but my monkey brain just kept scampering off, and I found myself checking the clock more often than not.
    Fortunately, I discovered that with my low impact hooping, I can actually hold and use my phone while working out. So I now use the time to catch up on articles I’ve saved, read a kindle book, or even blog! (Yes, I wrote the majority of this blog post while hooping, lol). It’s not by any means a high intensity workout, but it makes the time fly by and it keeps me dedicated to doing it daily. It’s not perfect, but it’s good, and it’s certainly better than skipping a workout entirely.

  • How to Reduce the Sting of Cringe Attacks: So I actually read about this method in this article on The Cut and was so fascinated with it that I checked out the author’s full book from the library, called Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness. It took me ages to actually read it all, due to other books and obligations, but I finally finished it! And it’s such a wonderful, hilarious look at awkwardness - what it is, why we feel it, how to handle it and embrace it. The article and book’s advice on combating “cringe attacks” is really useful as well. I don’t know about y’all, but I definitely find myself remembering past embarrassing memories fairly regularly and getting upset about it; I often end up saying, “you’re okay, you’re okay,” to myself to try to calm down.
    This never works. But you know what does, according to recent neuroscience studies? If a certain memory is bothering you, try to recall other, nonemotional details about it, like all the sensory factors. What did you see? What did you hear? What did you smell? What were you wearing? Who else was there? It won’t necessarily stop the cringe attack entirely, but it can really help you contextualize the memory and be more okay with it.
    Elsewhere, the book suggested talking about your embarrassing memories as if they happened to someone else. By distancing yourself from the situation, it becomes more manageable. And concentrating on self-compassion - seeing yourself the way others see you - and self-indifference - realizing that you are simply not that big of a deal - can help you place it all in perspective.
    I may be rambling here. I don’t know. I have a nasty cold. But I really loved this book and I think y’all should consider reading it too. :)

  • Cookie Science: (this section written in like, November) I engaged in a bit of cookie science! I’ve made raspberry thumbprint cookies twice now for John, but I’ve been unhappy with how hard and crispy they were. In an effort to make them fluffier and lighter, I switched out half the butter for margarine, whipped the butter/margarine/sugar for longer, and chilled the dough. I made the cookies in five batches (represented by one cookie each in the picture, from left to right), each progressively in the fridge for longer before going in the oven. I also lowered the baking time by a minute. My official cookie tester John decreed that batches 3 and 3 were the best.

The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head“Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

One of the coolest things I’ve learned about Six is that not only is the entire CAST of each show all female, the backing band is all female too! Each musician is named for a real lady in waiting to one of the queens of Henry VIII. The only queen who doesn’t have a historical lady in waiting represented in the band is Catherine Parr.

First off, what’s a lady in waiting anyway? Each royal lady of the Tudor court were served by numerous attendants and servants. Although most members of a Queen’s household would be male, those who served her personally or kept her company were always women.

Painting from History Extra

Painting from History Extra

The Ladies in Waiting of Six, West End cast.

The Ladies in Waiting of Six, West End cast.

In Tudor times, the Queen would basically never be alone; she must always be accompanied by noble ladies, day and night. Even at night, if the Queen wasn’t actually spending the night with the King (royal couples kept separate bedrooms in those days), she would likely have someone sleeping in the bed next to her.

Ladies-in-waiting (also known as “ladies-of-honor”) were married noble women who held the highest rank in the Queen’s household. These women often were married to the King’s own personal attendants. These ladies accompanied the Queen both privately and in public, at various ceremonial or casual occasions. They were all expected to be excellent dancers, singers, musicians, and needed to be proficient at whatever other games or past times the Queen was interested in. Although the Queen might choose her own ladies, often times, the King actually chose them, as a favor to a friend or because of his own interest in the woman. They spent long periods at court and were expected to put their positions before their own families.

Next in rank were the maids-of-honor, who were unmarried well-born women, generally young girls age 16 or older. It was a great honor to be asked to serve the Queen or Princess in such a fashion. It was very common practice for nobles to send their children off to work at another family’s home for a few years as an attendant of some sort to teach them the skills they’d need to run their own households and move up in the world. Positions at the royal court were greatly coveted; there, nobles’ daughters could meet many powerful people and make good marriages.

Maids-of-honor were expected to be beautiful, accomplished, and highly virtuous, as while they were at court away from their families, the queen acted in loco parentis; any scandal attached to a maid-of-honor would reflect poorly on their mistress.

Photo by Melissa Jo York Tilley, from when I myself played a maid of honor at the Maryland Renaissance Festival in 2011!

Photo by Melissa Jo York Tilley, from when I myself played a maid of honor at the Maryland Renaissance Festival in 2011!

Elizabeth I, Francis Drake, and some of her court.  Jean-Leon Huens—National Geographic/Heritage-Images

Elizabeth I, Francis Drake, and some of her court.
Jean-Leon Huens—National Geographic/Heritage-Images

Henry VIII ended up marrying three of his former queens’ maids-of-honor – Anne Boleyn, who served Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour, who served Anne Boleyn, and Catherine Howard, who served Anna of Cleves. This was actually very unusual for the time; kings were expected to marry for advantage, to cement powerful alliances or to achieve other goals that would serve the good of the country. Henry VII married Elizabeth of York to help bring about the end of the Wars of the Roses; Henry VI and his father Henry V both married French princesses as part of peace treaties with various entities in efforts to try to end the 100 Years’ War. Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was a rich Spanish princess and the daughter of two powerful monarchs – Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon; she brought legitimacy to the Tudor dynasty as Henry VII (whose claim to the English crown was pretty weak, actually) worked to fight off pretenders to his throne.

The Banquet of Henry VIII in York Place (Whitehall Palace), 1832,  by James Stephanoff

The Banquet of Henry VIII in York Place (Whitehall Palace), 1832,
by James Stephanoff

The ladies-in-waiting and maids-of-honor assisted the Queen in her daily tasks, helping dress her in the layered clothing of the period and lacing her into her dresses. They washed and bathed her and even assisted her with using the privy (yup. That was a thing. And it was actually a very sought after position). The Queen and her ladies often sewed, read, or danced together.

Each Queen had different preferences for their ladies. Catherine of Aragon was known for reading devotionals to hers. Anne Boleyn gave her ladies little books of prayers and psalms to carry with them always, and had them sew garments for the poor. Jane Seymour had strict rules as to her ladies’ garments; trains had to be so long and different parts of clothes had to have a specific number of pearls embroidered on them. 

I’ve noticed before that historical dramas always seem to have fewer attendants around the Kings and Queens then would have been there in reality; if the real numbers were represented, it would probably be a bit overwhelming to modern eyes, as we just have very different standards of privacy and necessity. During Henry VIII’s time, there were usually 6-8 “great ladies of the household” serving the Queen at any time, and Catherine of Aragon had 30 maids-of-honor, while Anne Boleyn had 60! After Henry started living separately from Catherine of Aragon, she actually had around 250 maids-of-honor, as he didn’t want to be accused of treating her poorly (at that time, anyway)! Although I’m sure they likely served the queen in different shifts, that’s still a huge amount of women who served the queen throughout the week. Can you even imagine?  

Maria de Salinas, by an unknown artist (lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon)

Maria de Salinas, by an unknown artist (lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon)

Catherine Willoughby, Maria de Salinas’s daughter, by Hans Holbein the younger.

Catherine Willoughby, Maria de Salinas’s daughter, by Hans Holbein the younger.

Maria - María de Salinas, known as Baroness Willoughby after her marriage (maid-of-honor and lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon) – Drums

Maria de Salinas actually came with Catherine of Aragon from Spain and served her as a maid-of-honor until 1516, when she married an English nobleman named William Willoughby (and became a lady-in-waiting to Catherine). She was devoted to Catherine; although she was ordered to leave Catherine and stop communicating with her after Catherine’s marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, she begged permission to visit her later. In the final days of Catherine of Aragon’s life, Maria simply disobeyed all orders to avoid her and forced her way into the castle where her beloved mistress lived; Catherine died in Maria’s arms two days later.

Maria’s daughter, Katherine Willoughby, became a ward of Henry VIII’s buddy Charles Brandon after Baron Willoughby’s death; Brandon ended up marrying her after his third wife (Henry VIII’s sister, Princess Mary Tudor, the dowager Queen of France) died. They married when Katherine was 14 and Charles was likely 49 (eww), but by all reports had a pretty happy marriage. Katherine was actually friggin awesome and I’d love to see more portrayals of her in media; she apparently named her dog Gardiner after a bishop she detested, because it amused her to call “Gardiner” to heel. Her name was floated as a possible seventh wife for Henry VIII at a time when he was considering placing Catherine Parr aside, although of course, that never went anywhere. She was also named the guardian of Parr’s child with Thomas Seymour after the death of both of her parents (it’s not known what happened to this child, but she doesn’t appear in the records, so she likely died very young). As a fierce Protestant, Katherine fled to Europe with her second husband and their two children and lived in exile during the reign of Queen Mary.

Another interesting fact: Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s last wife, was the daughter of Catherine of Aragon’s lady-in-waiting Maude Parr. It was possible that she was actually named after Catherine of Aragon.

Margaret Wyatt, Lady Lee (1540), by Hans Holbein the Younger

Margaret Wyatt, Lady Lee (1540), by Hans Holbein the Younger

Maggie - Lady Margaret Wyatt, later known as Margaret Lee after her marriage (served Anne Boleyn) - Guitar

Margaret served Anne Boleyn and was likely her long-time friend, as the Boleyn’s estates lay near the Wyatt’s. The sister of Thomas Wyatt, the poet who fell in love with Anne Boleyn and wrote MANY passionate poems about her, Margaret was serving Anne as a lady-in-waiting at least by 1532, when she accompanied her to Calais, when it is presumed that Anne and Henry VII secretly decided to marry /very soon/. Margaret was Mistress of the Queen’s Wardrobe, a role that placed her in charge of Anne’s clothing and jewels.

It is believed that Margaret attended Anne at the Tower of London and at her execution; she served as chief mourner at her funeral. Anne gave her a prayer book in farewell, and wrote in it “Remember me when you do pray, that hope doth lead from day to day.”

I’m really glad Maggie is included in the Ladies-in-Waiting. Anne Boleyn is portrayed in basically every TV show, movie, and book I’ve ever watched/read about her as not really having any close friends; it’s wonderful to learn that that wasn’t really the truth. I feel like women’s friendships are often erased from the narrative, both historically and in fiction. Men get to have same-sex buddies, but women don’t. That neither seems fair nor realistic, so I’m happy to learn more about a woman I really didn’t know much about before.

Possibly a portrait of Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount, by Lucas Horenbolte,

Possibly a portrait of Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount, by Lucas Horenbolte,

Bessie Blount’s son with Henry VIII, Henry Fitzroy, at age 15.

Bessie Blount’s son with Henry VIII, Henry Fitzroy, at age 15.

Bessie - Elizabeth "Bessie" Blount (maid-of-honor to Catherine of Aragon, lady-in-waiting to Anna of Cleves) - Bass

Bessie Blount is a really interesting choice for the backing band in Six, as historically, she was the only acknowledged mistress of Henry VIII who did not go on to become his wife. We have no known portraits of Bessie, but I’ve included a possible painting of her.

Bessie was around 7 years younger than Henry VIII, and 13 years younger than Catherine of Aragon. She was reputed as a beauty, and their relationship lasted around eight years (much much longer than most of his other affairs). She gave birth to an illegitimate son named Henry FitzRoy in 1519 (FitzRoy was a common surname of the illegitimate offspring of royalty, as it literally means “son of the king”); this is the only illegitimate child that the King ever acknowledged as his own. This birth was pretty important, as by this time, Catherine of Aragon had been pregnant numerous times (in 1509, 1510, 1513, 1514, 1515, 1517, and 1518), yet only one child, Mary, had lived beyond a few months of age (most of her children were miscarried, stillborn, or died within a few hours). Thus, the existence of Henry Fitzroy proved that Henry COULD have healthy male children. This helped fuel Henry’s desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon later in life.

For a while in the 1520s, when it became clear that Catherine of Aragon would not be able to have a legitimate son with Henry, the king seriously considered naming Henry Fitzroy as his heir; he did give him the royal title of the Duke of Richmond at a certain point. This plan fell to the wayside though, when Henry decided to marry Anne Boleyn. Henry Fitzroy later died at the age of 17.

Joan/Jane Meutas, by Hans Holbein the younger

Joan/Jane Meutas, by Hans Holbein the younger

In 1522, a few years after her son with Henry was born, Bessie married her first husband. She apparently was absent from court for many years while raising her children with her first and second husband, although she later served Anne of Cleves briefly. However, Bessie’s poor health caused her to leave court before even her mistress’s 6 months as queen were done. She died shortly thereafter.

Joan - Jane/Joan Astley, known as Jane/Joan Meutas after her marriage (maid-of-honor, then lady-in-waiting to Jane Seymour) - Keyboard

I haven’t found a ton of information about Jane Astley, also known as Joan. We know she served Jane Seymour and got married in 1537, probably shortly before Jane Seymour’s death after birthing her son, the future Edward VI. Jane and her husband were granted several estates and positions after Jane Seymour’s death, so they likely remained in favor at the royal court.

The most notable part of Jane’s life appears to be the drawing of her portrait by the famed Hans Holbein the younger.

Her maiden name, Astley, is the married name of Elizabeth I’s famed companion, Kat Astley, so it’s possible that she’s related to her husband somehow, but there’s no actual proof for that. I’m just guessing, tbh. I wonder why her name was chosen for the Ladies in Waiting? There are several other more famous ladies-in-waiting to the Queens of Henry VIII that could have been a good choice: Jane Parker/Boleyn perhaps.

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The Costumes of the Ladies-in-Waiting: The ladies-in-waiting of Six all wear very similar costumes, with only very slight variations. Each band member wears the same long sleeved black shirt with silver and pearl trimmings. They specifically have parallel silver lines all down their sleeves and diagonal silver lines on the main shirt meeting in downward points like chevrons. Beads resembling pearls are scattered throughout. Some of the band members have shirts that are longer than others’, which is probably just a comfort thing.

The ladies also sport what look like leather/pleather ruffs. These are an interesting historical detail, as ruffs weren’t actually worn at all until at least 13 years (1560s) after Henry VIII’s death (1547) ; so they’re anachronistic in a way that most historical details in Six costumes aren’t (keeping in mind that like, the costumes are obviously not intended to be exact historical replicas). I plan to talk a lot more about ruffs in a later post about the Haus of Holbein’s ruffs, so I’ll leave it at that for now. :D

You know, in looking at the pictures side by side, I’m wondering if the Ladies-in-Waiting shirts were specifically based off of this one portrait of Maria de Salinas. It’s not great quality, and it’s hard to tell what’s going on in it (I’m 90% sure that collar is supposed to be fur or ruffles, but not A Ruff, as that wouldn’t exist for many decades yet). Despite that, the similarities are very evident!

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The pearls all over the costumes may actually be a reference to the pearl requirements of Jane Seymour’s ladies in waiting/maids of honor, which I mentioned briefly earlier. We actually have historical records showing that her ladies were required to wear girdles/belts with a specified number of pearls; if there weren’t enough pearls (at LEAST 120), they weren’t allowed to appear before the Queen.

Pearls also edge the band members’ neck ruffs and headbands, which seem pretty obviously based off of a French hood. Look how similar the headbands are to Anne Boleyn’s French hood from her portrait.

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The layout of the pearls on the shirt actually reminds me a LOT of some historical armor, specifically the brigandine. Brigandines are made of heavy cloth or leather with steel plates riveted to it, and are pretty distinctive, as you can tell from these renaissance painting examples.

The chevrons on the shirt may be a reference to popular skirt or doublet styles in Elizabethan times. Alternatively, chevrons were commonly used in renaissance heraldry, so these may be referencing that.

The band members wear black pants with lacing up the front that resemble one of the Catherine-Parr-in-Six variations, although their pants are significantly more shiny and leather looking than Parr’s, which are matte cloth. The pants also seem to be a deliberate reference to renaissance cloth or leather armor, which was generally worn with close fitting pants

The temporary costumes that have been pulled out a few times for main Queen cast members when their costumes need emergency repairs and for emergency alternate step-ins (like the awesome time that co-writer of the show Toby Marlow and original soundtrack Anne of Cleves Genesis Lynea stepped in to perform at two sold-out shows after the cast and alternates were badly affected by illness) also appear to be based on the Ladies in Waiting costumes. As you can see, the main portion of the shirt is the same, although it may be worn with or without sleeves and with or without an additional neck piece. Lauren Drew of the UK tour cast is shown wearing shorts that look an AWFUL lot like the Anne of Cleves shorts, although I don’t think I’ve seen those cool chain closures on the side before. Toby and Genesis are shown just wearing plain leather/pleather shorts.