The notes which accompanied the video when it was shown on SBS are available at: link www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2017/05/22/anne-boleyn-and-henry-viiis-love-story-ultimate-tragic-soap-opera. 

​The following BBC video found on YouTube covers a similar period and may be of interest....  

We have been tracing the wreckage caused by Henry in pursuit of a new marriage with Anne. His attempts to pressure the pope led to Spain attacking the Vatican and holding the pope hostage in Catherine's cause. Both sides tried to involve the French as Henry increased the pressure.

We have considered how fiction writers portray the period and how filmmakers tackle the familiar story.
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Terry Case

Two weeks ago we were just setting up as a number of phones rang announcing another shut down. I was dismayed!  Two weeks later we will have our second class and catch up to where we were in March 2020 when we were forced to close.  We will continue our investigation of Tudor rulers and how England and Scotland changed in this period.

Welcome to new members, and to Joyce, best wishes for a speedy recovery
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Terry Case

​The Armchair History class will be meeting at the Cooinda Hub (Jean Lee Drive, Cooinda Village)  in 2021. 

​Classes, held on the 2nd and 4th Friday from 2 to 4 pm, commence on Friday 12 February from 2 to 4 pm. 

Terry Case 0417 621 700

In the last newsletter I wrote of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 and the end of the Eastern Church. The 1400s saw the Portuguese lead maritime exploration in a bid to secure the spice trade with ports in present day India & Indonesia. In 1497 Vasco da Gama found a way of reaching Goa and by 1557 the Portuguese had started to trade with China.

The only map to aid Vasco and other explorers was an Ancient Greek world map, Ptolemy’s Geographia,  a copy of which was rediscovered around this time. It was remarkable in what it got right, including Iceland, Sri Lanka and the Canary Islands. It also showed that Africa could be sailed around, which the Portuguese re-discovered.

A century of exploration led to a new world map, one that could be printed.

Till this point Christians had seen Jerusalem as the centre of the world, a new mental change was the emergence of the notion of being European, rather than Christian.  Assumptions and beliefs were contested and Europeans now thought themselves the centre of the world. The discovery of the Americas made for further adjustments that saw maps that would be familiar today.

By 1625 an English writer was identifying European values as Christian and Christians who lived elsewhere were no longer important.

I have been reading The Triumph of the West by J.M. Roberts.

Terry Case

I set out to not merely tell the story of Henry & his wives, but also to tackle the more important story of the breakup of the Catholic Church. We briefly looked at the efforts of translators to have bibles published in the language of the readers and how the Church opposed change.

Luther was the key figure in the upheavals and when we re-start classes I will continue to look at the religious changes in Europe.

It is important to contemplate changes outside of England at this time.

Circa 1400. Beginning of the Italian Renaissance. English travellers and merchants bring the ideas back to England & Scotland.

1453 Fall of Constantinople to the Turks. This ended the division of Christianity between Roman and Eastern administrations of the Church, leaving the Russian Orthodox Church as the major force in the East.

The spice trade became more difficult and expensive resulting in exploration for new routes to India. This encouraged developments in mathematics, astronomy and technical developments such as the compass which Chinese and Arab traders had used for many centuries.

Spain, England and other countries established colonies dependent on slaves. 

1492 Fall of Granada and end of Moorish rule in Spain. 15th Century.

Creation of a Muslim Empire in India by Babur, a contemporary of Henry VIII.

Do not restrain yourselves by focusing on the Tudors and events in a small island!

​Terry Case

I am going to miss our meetings and book recommendations during the Covid-19 lockdown.   If you find something good, please consider, sharing it via our newsletter by sending it to Heather at newsletter@u3abenalla.com. 
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Terry Case

In 2020, the Armchair History group will be looking at royal involvement in British History over the years and its implications in the Tudor era.
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Terry Case

Our final meeting for the year will be Tuesday 10th of December when we combine with the Politics class to watch a DVD that considers how Stalin & Communism was rejected by George Orwell & Winston Churchill. This brings to an end my series on 20th Century History.

Next year I revert to the Friday afternoon sessions for Armchair History and feast upon the Tudors as England is divided by religion.
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Terry Case

We had been looking at the ramifications of the Peace Treaties following WW1. We turned our attention to India, Britain’s richest and most important colony. The Indian Congress Party had been promised political progress as so many Indians volunteered and served in both the Middle East, Turkey and on the Western Front. Like other groups such as the Suffragettes they were betrayed and it was left to Ghandi & Nehru to lead the party in the post war period.

Gandhi implemented his non-violence campaigns to shame the British. Gandhi’s followers were brutally attacked on the orders of the Government, but the protests turned the tables on the British and it would lead eventually to Independence.
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Terry Case