I saw the third episode of Showtime's The Tudors on-demand last night. It had everything that I loved about the first two episodes - History So Colorful You Can Taste It. A vivid display of fine dress, swagger, political intrigue, and sex. These people survived the Dark Ages and the Black Plague, and had a zest for life and learning that was about to usher in the Renaissance and the Modern World.
Episode 3 was especially good on the powerful ideas that moved those times. Martin Luther has challenged Christians to read the Bible for themselves, rather than blindly follow Church teachings. Most learned people, including the monarchs, scoffed at him at first. Just another heretic that history would forget. But Luther had the printing press on his side. For the first time, there were actually Bibles out there for people to read. And the press could also bring Luther's writings to the masses...
Thomas More, Cardinal Wosley, and Henry, all still devout in their own ways, are aware of the problem. Henry pens a scalding attack on Luther - Assertio septem sacramentorum - An assertion of the seven sacraments. He's fighting fire with fire. His writings against Luther's. And just for good measure, he orders More to put Luther's writings to the flames.
Henry will fail in the end, and indeed will come to welcome the independence from Church doctrine that the Protestant Reformation provided. But, in the meantime, he proves himself a monarch savvy in the media of his time. He not only makes wars and beds almost any woman in sight, but thinks and publishes his analyses.
When was the last time we had as intellectually keen and passionate a President in America? Not since John F. Kennedy...
And speaking of America, it has begun to play a role in England, and therefore The Tudors, as well. In a great little scene, Henry's eyes light up when Charles V tells him of Cortez's conquests in Mexico...
But I think my favorite single scene in this episode of The Tudors has Wolsey and More flanking two of Charles' envoys, as the four take in a saucy Renaissance morality play. The four are sitting just right, as if they came from a painting, which for all I know they did. The image typifies everything that appeals about this series.
It's good to see such near-modern history leap out from paining to life on the television screen.
Useful links:
Derriere and Bosom on The Tudors: What the FCC Doesn't Want Us Too See
The King's Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church G. W. Bernard's 2005 book
The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution my 1998 book
The Tudors Michael Hirst's brand new book!
my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates
my reviews of other episodes of The Tudors: Episodes 1 and 2: History So Colorful You Can Taste It, Episode 4: The Penalty of Royalty, Episode 5: Madrigal Musical Chairs, Episode 6: Tectonic Chess, Episode 7: Henry's Imperfect Apothecary
The Plot to Save Socrates
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
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