The Tudors

The Tudors amused us through some seasons with fantastic period clothes, a history lesson of sorts and graphic sex. No wonder it was so popular. The story had been told before and the ones who know their English history knew what was going to pass, but as everything else in the world it's all in the packaging. And The Tudors was packaged like it was a Sex and the City but with kings of the 16th century.

Wouldn't it be yummy if we today could walk around like the noble men of the 16th century. That would be a jaw dropper, wouldn't it? To see a man walk down the streets of Paris or London or the alike in full regalia. To go all in would be to go far I presume, but of course there must be details that we can adopt to present day of dressing. I think it would be quite fun to try at least.

It is a bit mind blowing to think that my ancestors walked around in such clothes. That my ancestor Erik XIV courted for the hand of Henry VIII's daughter, Elizabeth. That two of his siblings, Johan and Elisabet spent much time at the English court, and that The Virgin Queen became the godmother to Elisabet's son, Erik XIV's nephew.

The intrigues of those times were magnificent, and of course written by the victors to put themselves in the best of lights. No wonder that it lends itself so well to television.





//P.

Erik XIV

In the 16th century the style of dress for men and then especially that of the noble men are very far from what we see today, but the principles still stand. They dressed to show off their social standing and their wealth, which we still do today more or less. We have always dressed to keep warm but the most important fact of clothes is that we have and always will signal certain aspects of ourselves through the way we dress.

There was a fierce rivalry between the courts of France and England during the reigns of Henry VIII and Francis I where the battle was which court was the most stylish and opulent. Fur, luxurious materials, ruffles and tons of jewelry were a must.

The three portraits above are of my ancestor, Erik XIV, who was king over Sweden between the years 1560-1568. He was born in 1533 to the king Gustav Vasa and the German princess Katarina af Sachsen-Lauenburg. Erik was their only child because Katarina died shortly after his birth and Gustav Vasa remarried with a Swedish noble woman. Erik was a bit cruel towards his siblings because he considered himself to be the only of true royal blood.

Early in his reign he showed signs of mental instability and was thought to be a shizophrenic. Some historians today suspect that it could have been slander and a useful tool when Erik's brothers overthrew him, imprisoned and posioned him.

Erik was considered a stylish and handsome man brought up on the theories by Machiavelli and the belief that he had been put on the throne through God's will (just as any other king of the time).

//P.