Matilda writes a spooky All Hallows diary entry from her country home...

Read more

Weddings are meant to be a happy occasion, aren't they? Friends, family, music, dancing, and food.  Although it doesn't seem to happen like that for King Henry. His royal weddings are mostly done in secret and there have been so many divorces already!  Do you marry for love or for status?  I got laughed at when I said, I'd marry for love. Apparently, love doesn't put bread on the table.

 

Rumor has it, the King's been writing love letters. I wonder who to this time? I know I shouldn't question the King of England, he'd have my head on a chopping block! Everyone is acting amiss… The ladies in waiting giggle, their eyes are wide as they flutter their eyelashes more often than usual around the gentleman. I've even heard one of the servant girls got extra pay!

"The ladies in waiting giggle, their eyes are wide as they flutter their eyelashes."

The court whispers of a 'Valentine's Day' which I'm not too sure what that means but there's going to be a grand party to celebrate. I've not been invited to it, so I shan't bother getting my ball gown ready. Maybe I''ll just go to bed early and have a glass of hot milk, although cook tells me that's not for people like me, whatever that means. I'll try not to think about everyone having fun or maybe I'll sneak out...

'Katherine and I keep making little trips down to the kitchens where we dare each other to dart past the pastry cooks to steal Christmas marchpane. We give each other points for the most extravagant concoctions we can filch and how quickly we can eat them...

She took a pink swan and I found a golden pear, which made me think of home–  but it doesn’t make me cry anymore..  well not much. How different I am now – I shall look so much older in the scarlet bodice...'

 

[caption]

'Katherine and I keep making little trips down to the kitchens where we dare each other to dart past the pastry cooks to steal Christmas marchpane.'. [end_caption]

 

 Tudor kitchen at Hampton Court Palace 

Have some fun with Matilda and print out the best friends page! Fill in all the details you can and draw a picture of your best friends. Why not share a photo of your finished sheet on our Facebook  Page.

Just click the image below and it will download for you to print.

On Easter Sunday the priest would blow out all the candles in the church and then re-light them before opening the Easter sepulchre, which would have been prepared on Good Friday and consisted of a covered niche in the church where the host and any relics were placed. Members of the church would then have guarded the sepulchre until Easter Sunday mass, as the tomb of Jesus had been guarded. A special mass was said then to celebrate the resurrection. Now it was Easter everyone would have a big feast and eat dairy products and meat, which were forbidden during Lent. Lamb, veal and chicken were all popular foods.

The household is getting ready for the great wash, when all the household linen will be cleaned. The bucking process for the linens and bleaching of the sheets with lye smells awful and takes days to do. We are praying for warm weather so everything can dry and bleach in the sun, but it is England after all and rain always seems to be likely.

The house itself will be getting some attention, with all the floors swept, the flagstones scoured, the house aired out and everything cleaned from the wall hangings in the great hall to the kitchen vessels. Frances and I must collect more horsetails ready for the servants to use in the process. Then I will try to hide in my pear tree with a book, to avoid the all the disruption!...

The new bibles that King Henry has issued to every church in England arrived at our parish church this morning. They are to be read aloud in English, which will be interesting to hear rather than in latin. Although I do not think they needed to chain it to the lectern, it is too big for anyone to try to take out of the church anyway!

But it is another reminder of court and the life I only just escaped. Some of my friends were not so lucky. Will this new bible mention anything to help me sleep better at night I wonder?

And little Princess Elizabeth is coming to join us at Hampton Court. Both Katherine and I adore her, she is so beautiful and clever at her books too.

The king will be in better spirits as well, he does seem to enjoy playing with the young princess in the gardens here. The return of meat to the dinner table at Easter will help with his spirits too.

There will be hunting and picnics and outdoor masques, what fun we will have!

And my mind will be distracted from the task at hand.  To enjoy the sunshine will be so lovely, rather than being a lady in the shadows, if only for a short while at least.

Katherine is quite wild with excitement about the coming of Advent. She says there are going to be so many balls and banquets and dances leading up to Christmas.  She’s having two new gowns and sets of sleeves made – flame and emerald coloured velvet, with ruby red dancing shoes embroidered with golden stars.  She’s going to give me her old crimson bodice.