In Bed with the Tudors: The Sex Lives of a Dynasty from Elizabeth of York to Elizabeth I Read Online Free PDF Page A

in bed needed watchful eyes around him. On a practical level, thickly curtained beds afforded amorous couples some privacy whilst allowing unseen access to those bringing in provisions or building up fires. While it is unlikely that many couples were literally overlooked, brides could expect their dirty linen to be aired quite publicly the next morning: in 1469, the blood-stained bed sheets of Isabella of Castile had been proudly displayed as proof of her lost virginity, while, significantly, those of her impotent half-brother’s bride were not. Given the importance of royal consummation and the lengths taken to ensure it had taken place, there may have been eyes and ears at the keyholes in Westminster that January.
    However, there is a chance the marriage may already have been consummated. Elizabeth’s first child arrived the following September, exactly eight months after the wedding, a time-frame which has given rise to much subsequent historical speculation. Assuming Prince Arthur was full-term, this would put his conception date around a month before the ceremony, in mid-December 1485. This was not unusual or impossible; after Bosworth, the couple had undergone a formal betrothal before witnesses and Henry had been zealous in the acquisition of Papal dispensations. Parliament had approved the match on 10 December 1485, suggesting consummation around that time, almost exactly nine months before the birth. A verbal promise of marriage or ‘handfasting’ could be enough to licence physical relations and Henry’s eagerness to secure his bride and father an heir may have led them to share a bed before the ceremony. Within the privacy of his mother’s Coldharbour house, this may have been easily achieved. Occasionally desire dictated a rapid consummation: Philip of Burgundy could not wait a week for his marriage to the beautiful Juana of Castile in 1496 and although this may not seem compatible with the supposed cold and careful reputation of Henry, it cannot be ruled out. The young, strong, healthy man of 1485, with years of abstinence and exile behind him, was still a long way from the miserly portrait of his widowhood, which has shaped many later interpretations. Perhaps his intention was to elicit divine blessing, as which, a speedy conception would have been received; perhaps his actions were dictated by sensitivity for his young bride for whom the wedding day and night would represent considerable pressure. Both possibilities are not incompatible. Contemporary belief stressed the necessity of female enjoyment in order for conception to take place. The female body, considered to be a poor shadow or imperfectly formed version of its male counterpart, could only conceive if orgasm took place, during which a female ‘seed’ was emitted to mix with that of the male. The public pressures of the wedding day may not have created a relaxed environment conducive to female conception; perhaps Henry was being strikingly modern in soliciting his virginal wife’s pleasure. Alternatively the little prince may have simply arrived early: Bacon certainly believed that Arthur was born ‘in the eighth month’ although he was ‘strong and able’. In either case, the nineteen-year-old bride must have conceived on the occasion of consummation or else very soon after, her ready fertility providing to king and country encouragement that God had blessed the union.
    In the summer of 1486, while Henry rode North in response to rumours of unrest, Elizabeth travelled to Winchester to await her confinement. It was a deliberate choice. As England’s ancient capital, the reputed site of the fabled Camelot, it was a romantic bastion of popular culture: William Caxton had printed Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur in 1485, a compilation of well-known fables and stories that had been woven into written and oral traditions since at least the twelfth century. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain , embellished by Norman