'Wolf Hall: The Mirror & the Light': Marriage, Birth & a New Dynasty

Wolf Hall is dominated by themes of marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth, a primary concern for the first two generations of Tudors, which only loomed larger as Henry started going through wives like tissue paper, as he does in The Mirror & the Light. The Church controlled marriages for centuries in England, but it seemed somewhat chaotic. Initially, a private contract between individuals was drawn up, and if property was involved, a legal written contract was required. However, a verbal agreement between individuals was considered binding enough to validate a marriage, particularly if made before a priest. It was expected that the banns would be called (three times!)*, followed by the official ceremony, and completed with the blessing of the marriage bed and consummation.

(*The purpose of the banns was to find out if the bride or groom had been verbally contracted with someone else, which seems to have been quite common.)

Giving birth was a dangerous business (as it still is), and chances of survival for mothers and infants were tragically low. For the new Tudor Dynasty, the birth of sons was critical. Henry VII, the first Tudor King, made a strategic marriage to Elizabeth of York, whose claim to the English throne as the daughter of a King was far more substantial than his. Three of their four children survived to adulthood. Their first son, Arthur, died young, leaving his bride, Catherine of Aragon, widowed in her teens, later marrying the second son and now heir, Henry.