Philip the Handsome's music

"In 1505 Philip the Handsome set sail from the Netherlands to claim
the Spanish throne, only to be shipwrecked on the English coast. On
the 500th anniversary of Henry VII's death, Catherine Bott explores
this chance meeting between the King and Philip and examines the
prestigous musical entourage that accompanied Philip on this trip."

Catherine Bott starts this radio programme with a nice extract from
Vergil, mentioning both Henry VII's bad teeth and his generosity
towards foreigners. She then describes him as having usurped Richard's throne.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jzxtz should work for the next week.

--- In , Christine Headley <christine@...> wrote:
>
>
> "In 1505 Philip the Handsome set sail from the Netherlands to claim
> the Spanish throne, only to be shipwrecked on the English coast. On
> the 500th anniversary of Henry VII's death, Catherine Bott explores
> this chance meeting between the King and Philip and examines the
> prestigous musical entourage that accompanied Philip on this trip."
>
> Catherine Bott starts this radio programme with a nice extract from
> Vergil, mentioning both Henry VII's bad teeth and his generosity
> towards foreigners. She then describes him as having usurped Richard's throne.
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jzxtz should work for the next week.
>
This, of course, began Richard de la Pole's solo adventures on the continent - finishing in his own right in 1525 but, genetically, possibly still in progress.

Okay, I've listened to this, and though I'm very happy about the POV
concerning Richard, I'm less happy about the Burgundian/Castilian handling:



Philip was the king of Castile only via Juana, not in spite of her, and to
say otherwise is just wrong. Philip had no inheritance rights to Castile or
Aragon, and it was Juana who was trying to defend herself against Philip's
miniters, not the other way around - in fact, the real obstacle for Philip
and Juana together was papa Fernando, who barely signifies in this lecture.
Juana, incidentally, was fond of music and was a gifted musician herself,
which gets no mention in this music-oriented presentation.



Juana and Catherine were not "half English". Mama Isabel was the daughter
of Juan II of Castile, whose mother was Catherine of Lancaster, whose father
was John of Gaunt. This is a nice lineage, but not a half-blood.



It would have been nice to mention that Henry VII was taken with Juana and,
after Philip's death, bothered Fernando very often for Juana's hand, but,
okay. Let's not do anything in Juana's favor or defense.



The degree, extent and possibility of Juana's instability is hotly debated,
and her rages were definitely not without reason. Her journey with Philip's
coffin was a progress from the north toward Granada, where Philip had wanted
to be buried, beside Isabel. When Isabel died, in November 1504, it took
months to reach Granada, so it's reasonable to assume that Juana, pregnant
at the time of Philip's death, would have to take time to get there, too.
She open the coffin exactly three times: once as part of an accepted
ceremony, once because she'd heard the body had been stolen, and once for an
unknown reason. When locked in Tordesillas, she kept the coffin, presumably
until she and it would get to Granada, which, thanks to Fernando, and then
Charles, she never reached. Unwilling to be married again, she would use
her unburied husband as an excuse to avoid Henry. This is not "normal", but
within the limits imposed on her, there's a certain strategy in the
instability forced on her. It would have been nice for this woman to try to
see things from Juana's viewpoint instead of calling the archduke Philip the
King of Castile, when he should have been referred to as king-consort.



Henry VIII was not inspired by Philip to marry Catherine. That was just
silly.



Highly disappointed, though the music was lovely.



Maria

Elena@...



From:
[mailto:] On Behalf Of Stephen Lark
Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2009 4:47 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Philip the Handsome's music








--- In
<mailto:%40yahoogroups.com> , Christine Headley
<christine@...> wrote:
>
>
> "In 1505 Philip the Handsome set sail from the Netherlands to claim
> the Spanish throne, only to be shipwrecked on the English coast. On
> the 500th anniversary of Henry VII's death, Catherine Bott explores
> this chance meeting between the King and Philip and examines the
> prestigous musical entourage that accompanied Philip on this trip."
>
> Catherine Bott starts this radio programme with a nice extract from
> Vergil, mentioning both Henry VII's bad teeth and his generosity
> towards foreigners. She then describes him as having usurped Richard's
throne.
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jzxtz should work for the next week.
>
This, of course, began Richard de la Pole's solo adventures on the continent
- finishing in his own right in 1525 but, genetically, possibly still in
progress.