来自网友【有没有】的评论找到一本书《History, Fiction, and The Tudors —— Sex, Politics, Power, and Artistic License in the Showtime Television Series》，基本上是谈一谈历史事实和这部剧中演绎的人物事件的关系的。其中第九章介绍了Henry VIII的几位朋友，包括William Compton（死于sweating disease汗热病，剧中和Tallis有一腿）、Henry Norris（和Boleyn们一起被砍头）、Thomas Wyatt（剧中和Boleyn有一腿的诗人，真实经历还算挺复杂）、Francis Bryan（剧中和Thomas Seymour跑去欧洲抓Regenald Pole那个）、和Charles Brandon。Charles应该算是Henry的朋友中最显赫的（被提升为公爵时他是全英格兰仅有的三个公爵之一），和Henry的关系应该也是最好的（一声不吭娶了亨利的妹妹，居然没有像Henry Norris一样被性格暴躁的亨利给弄死，简直就是不可想象；而且最后只是罚了钱就啥事没有了，啧啧）。他（1484生）比亨利（1491生）大七岁，比亨利早两年死（1545和1547）；如同他在剧中每集出现一般，真实历史中的他基本上也陪伴了亨利一生；不论嫁娶、结盟、对外战争、剿灭叛乱、或者宫廷斗争，都能看到他的身影。以下为该书第九章中关于Charles Brandon的部分，括号内为笔记。Of all Henry’s close friends depicted in The Tudors , Henry Cavill’s portrayal of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, figures most prominently. Cavill appears in every episode of the series, and his performance is often crucial to the story. The Tudors’ Brandon is shaped and manipulated by the demands of drama, though his real history is hardly less fascinating than the fictional one in the series. Like nearly all of Henry’s closest friends, Brandon came from a gentry family with close connections to the court. His father died at Bosworth in August 1485, serving as Henry Tudor’s standard-bearer—killed in the final moments by Richard III himself. Fatherless as an infant and losing his mother by his tenth birthday, Brandon was probably raised by his uncle, Sir Thomas Brandon, a prominent figure at the first Tudor’s court. He began modestly, serving Henry VII at table, but by 1507 was an esquire of the body. More importantly for his relationship with Prince Henry, Brandon was an acknowledged master of the joust. His first known appearance in the lists was in the tournament held to celebrate Prince Arthur’s wedding to Catherine of Aragon in 1501. Prince Henry would have witnessed Brandon’s performance, and we must assume that he was impressed. Martial skill was important to Henry, and Brandon was possibly the best jouster at court—though he was shrewd enough to know that when engaged against the king, winning was not necessarily everything. （Charles出身士绅家庭，父亲1485年在玫瑰战争期间战死，被理查三世所杀。十岁失去母亲，之后应该是被叔叔Thomas抚养；Thomas当时在都铎的宫廷也很显赫。Charles非常擅长马上枪术joust，就是剧中两个人骑着马拿着棍子互戳。他第一次有记载的出现在1501年Henry的哥哥Arthur娶Catherine of Aragon的婚礼上；应该在当时他的枪术被亨利所欣赏；他的joust很可能是宫廷中最好的。）By the time the action of The Tudors begins in 1518, Brandon was well established as the king’s most intimate friend. He and Henry participated in many tournaments as a team, dressed in identical suits of armor, challenging all comers. At the same time, Brandon began accumulating ever-increasing marks of Henry’s favor: marshal of the royal household in 1511, a knighthood in 1512, master of the horse in October of the same year, and the Order of the Garter in 1513. Henry elevated Charles to the peerage as Viscount Lisle in 1514, an exceptional honor—very few of the king’s friends ever received a noble title. His good fortune continued when in February 1514 he became Duke of Suffolk—one of only three dukes in the kingdom. Proof of the strength of Henry’s regard for Brandon came in the aftermath of his impetuous marriage to the king’s sister Mary in February 1515. In depicting these scenes, The Tudors sacrifices accuracy for drama. Perhaps in an effort to simplify the complex family relationships, the series combines the king’s two sisters, Margaret and Mary, into one. The real Princess Margaret married to James IV of Scotland in 1503. Her younger sister Mary was betrothed to Louis XII of France rather than the Portuguese monarch, as Showtime would have it. Louis died after only a few weeks of marriage, and Henry sent Suffolk to Paris to bring the widow home. But before they returned—and less than a month after her first husband’s death—Suffolk and Mary wed without Henry’s permission. Many were shocked, although Henry had promised Mary free choice of a second husband, and she and Brandon had been acquainted for years. The king was certainly angry about the marriage, but his forgiveness was ensured by the newlywed’s promise to surrender a substantial amount of money in plate, jewels, and cash. From this point forward Suffolk was assured a lasting place in Henry’s circle—as both friend and in-law.（Charles在亨利1509即位后就获得很多职位，其中最重要也最特别的是1514年成为Lisle子爵；国王的朋友中也少有可以得到贵族头衔的。同年他更进一步成为萨福克公爵，是当时王国内的第三个公爵。按照wiki的话，他是1513年5月15日成为子爵的；同年参与了Battle of the Spurs，被尼德兰统治者 Margaret of Savoy 的代表在书信中称作second king；1514年3月14日成为公爵。他偷偷娶的是国王的妹妹Mary（而非剧中的Margaret）；Mary本来是嫁给法王路易十二，结果婚后几个星期就死了，然后Charles就去法国把她接回来；但是回来前——当时法王死了不到一个月，Charles就和Mary在国王没有许可的情况下结婚了。当时Mary和Charles相熟好几年了，而国王先前也同意Mary自己自由选择第二任丈夫，不过国王还是恼了，最后两人交了一大笔钱才平息了国王的怒火。Charles作为国王的朋友和妹夫地位实际上更稳固了。 ）Suffolk’s position as brother-in-law to a king brought both substantial rewards and risks. His landed property was relatively modest at his marriage, and his rank required much more. Henry endowed him with substantial estates, many of which had been salvaged from the wreck of another part of the Tudor family—Henry’s cousins, the de la Poles. Brandon also benefitted from a considerable stream of income from his wife’s French property, though this money came irregularly, often subject to the ups and downs of Anglo-French relations. The duke also had to endure living uncomfortably in the shadow of his wife, who as a royalborn queen dowager outranked him socially. Mary’s seal was twice the size of his, and when the couple traveled, it was the duchess who tended to attract public attention. He also had to manage his wife’s prejudices, for example, her dislike of Anne Boleyn. He was active in Henry’s service in the 1520s, leading English troops on campaign in France in 1523, 1524, and 1528, and heading an embassy to Francis I in 1529, but his relations with the Boleyns were ambivalent at best. Brandon dutifully carried out Henry’s orders to bully Princess Mary into accepting the end of her parent’s marriage, but without relish. For these reasons, he and his wife preferred to avoid the court in these years, although Suffolk remained a significant figure. Obviously, with no Mary in the series, none of this appears in The Tudors.（这里主要说和Mary婚后的情况，尤其是财产和地位上的不对等。他的财产主要来自Henry的表亲家族de la Poles。 Edmund de la Poles，第三代萨福克公爵（和Charles同个封号）有金雀花/约克家族血统（母亲是理查三世的姐姐），当初支持都铎，后来觊觎皇位而反叛，被褫夺封号，在被关在伦敦塔里七年后于1513年被处死。Charles的财富还来自他妻子在法国的财产，不过数量随英法关系而变动。Mary的印章是他的两倍大，在外也比他更受欢迎。Mary不喜欢Anne Boleyn。Charles领导了多次英国对法的军事行动，也曾在1529年作为使节去法国；和Boleyn家关系不定；在亨利的命令下逼Princess Mary接受她父母婚姻的结束。）The difficulties of being a royal in-law ended unexpectedly in June 1533, when Mary Tudor died, aged 37. Suffolk was no stranger to the benefits of marriage—he had married twice before Mary—and lost no time finding a new bride. His choice was his son’s 14-year-old fiancé, Catherine Willoughby, whose great advantage was her status as an heiress who stood to inherit very large estates in Lincolnshire—with the end of his French income, Suffolk badly needed new sources of revenue. His marriage into a family at the top of Lincolnshire society was a boon to Henry, who badly needed loyal supporters there. The great rebellion known as the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out there in October 1536, and Henry relied upon Suffolk to put it down. In the end, the rebellion largely collapsed before Suffolk arrived with troops, but the threat of fire and sword at his hands certainly dampened the pilgrims’ enthusiasm. However, historical reality and the drama of The Tudors are here again at odds. Though the series has Suffolk suppress the entire Pilgrimage, it was the Duke of Norfolk (missing after Season One) who took the lead against the main rebellion in Yorkshire and farther north. Although the show portrays Suffolk as reluctant and conscience-stricken, there is no evidence that Suffolk had much sympathy for the rebels or their cause.（1533年随着Mary的死（37岁）这些困难都消失了。作为接过三次婚的人，再找一个当然是不难；这回瞄准的是儿子的14岁未婚妻Catherine Willoughby；1533年Charles应该49岁了。作为女继承人的Catherine有众多财富；而Charles在失去从Mary处获得的法国收入后非常需要新财源。所以说电视剧终归是剧，哪有那么多美好的爱情故事。。。想太多😂 而且Henry也需要来自Catherine家所在地Lincolnshire的地方支持。由Robert Aske所领导的反叛行动Pilgrimage of Grace，针对的是解散修道院运动，就是发生在Lincolnshire，而亨利则要依靠萨福克公爵去扑灭叛乱。在公爵率军到达平叛前事实上叛乱已经基本平息，不过火焰和刀剑的威胁重新点燃了叛火。历史上并无公爵同情叛乱者的证据，虽然在我看来，按照他信仰上偏传统的观点，抱有同情也并非完全不可能。按照wiki的记载，1536年当时Aske成功聚集三四万人，逼迫王室方领袖，第三任诺福克公爵Thomas Howard和第四任Shrewsbury伯爵George Talbot和叛军谈判，诺福克在没有国王充分授权之下承诺大赦并在一年内在约克举行议会；谈判是因为实力不足——诺福克5000人、Shrewsbury7000人——下的权宜之计而已。）Through the years of factional struggle that followed the king’s marriage to Jane Seymour, Suffolk trod a fine line, never wholly committing himself to any group. It was clear that in religious terms he was more traditional in his outlook, but he avoided any serious entanglement with the likes of Stephen Gardiner, champion of the conservative cause. Suffolk maintained good relations with Cromwell and the other reformers at court, and his young wife was linked to them. In the final analysis, it was the king to whom Suffolk owed his allegiance, loyally supporting him in every situation, vindicating Henry’s confidence in him. （公爵很少全身投入某个政治阵营。信仰上他看起来偏保守，但也避免和保守派中领导人物，像是主教Stephen Gardiner有过密关系；他和Cromwell以及其它改革派关系良好，而改革派和他妻子相关联。基本上公爵就是忠实的听从国王命令。）In his later years, Suffolk continued to labor in Henry’s behalf, as Lord President of the Privy Council and as a commander at the siege of Boulogne in 1544. But as early as 1538, observers commented on his ill health and lack of energy. By the time he arrived in France on his last campaign, he was hardly less obese than his master and suffering from a variety of ailments. He certainly was in no condition to begin a passionate affair with the daughter of a French offi cer, a development chronicled in the final season of The Tudors. Henry granted him a place of honor in the occupation of Boulogne, and granted him significant estates in Lincolnshire as a reward. But the acquisition of Tattershall College was not the last honor Henry bestowed upon his oldest friend. Suffolk died on August 22, 1545 and, at the king’s command, was buried in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, where Henry himself would be interred less than two years later. Tragically, Suffolk’s surviving sons, Henry and Charles, both died within half an hour of each other in an epidemic of the sweating sickness in 1551. The Dukes of Suffolk, monuments to the power of royal friendship, endowed with thousands of acres, numerous offices and titles, and a vast income, vanished from history like a morning dew.（此后他继续忠实的为国王服务，包括作为枢密院议长，以及1544年领军攻占Boulogne。不过早在1538年，他的健康状况就不太好；领军攻打法国时，他和亨利一样超重，并有其它小毛病。亨利还赐予他若干Lincolnshire的地产。1545年死后葬于温莎的圣乔治教堂；亨利在两年不到之后也葬于此。1551年他的两个儿子都死于汗热病流行，公爵爵位绝嗣。最后，正如最后一句话所说，萨福克公爵，作为王室友谊所带来权力的经典范例，获授千亩良田、诸多官衔、和无数财富，终觉如朝露般，消失在历史长河中。不过他的最后一任老婆Katherine倒是一直活到1580年，坚定支持新教，在玛丽一世统治时期为了避免被迫害跑欧洲去了。而且按照wiki里Katherine的条目（Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk），Charles死后居然有流言说Henry想让Katherine当他的第七任老婆，真真是无语子🤣不过Charles1484生，Katherine1519生，年龄差距够大的。）后记：其实历史真的很多有趣东西（参考Oxford Dictionary of National Biography）；比如说，第五任王后Katherine Howard的母亲，就是一个Culpepper，和被处死的Thomas Culpepper算是同宗；Edward Seymour有12个小孩，1552年在爱德华（自己亲外甥）在位时被处死，1660年公爵位恢复给了他的曾孙，传到现在，算是第三古老的公爵爵位（仅次于诺福克和通常仅授予王位继承人的康沃尔）；第六任王后Katherine Parr的弟弟威廉（Parr, William, marquess of Northampton）11岁的时候（1525）就和Henry Fitzroy（第一季提到的亨利八世私生子）一起学习。Showtime版本第四季第四集37:32分处，Henry Howard以十四行诗的形式翻译了一首来自古罗马的诗，讨论何为快乐生活。萨福克公爵念了一部分。全诗摘自 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45263/the-things-that-cause-a-quiet-lifeThe Things That Cause a Quiet LifeBY HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY(Written by Martial)My friend, the things that do attain The happy life be these, I find: The riches left, not got with pain, The fruitful ground; the quiet mind; The equal friend; no grudge, no strife; No charge of rule nor governance; Without disease the healthy life; The household of continuance; The mean diet, no dainty fare; True wisdom joined with simpleness; The night discharged of all care, Where wine the wit may not oppress; The faithful wife, without debate; Such sleeps as may beguile the night: Content thyself with thine estate, Neither wish death, nor fear his might.
