{"id":45949,"date":"2023-08-21T18:45:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T18:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?post_type=cu_story&p=45949"},"modified":"2024-12-15T15:41:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T20:41:24","slug":"notes-from-the-margins","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/story\/notes-from-the-margins\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes From the Margins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Notes From the Margins\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Literature professor unearths untold histories by studying women\u2019s writing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Alyssa Tremblay
Banner image by Nick Peate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While archival research has a reputation for being dry and dusty work, pouring through the words and works of those long passed can have the electrifying effect of bringing the dead back to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associate Professor Micheline White knows this firsthand, as her analysis of a nearly 500-year-old prayer book translated by Katherine Parr, wife of King Henry VIII, revealed something extraordinary \u2013 handwritten annotations left by the infamous monarch himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White’s remarkable discovery, which offers an intimate glimpse into the sixteenth century King of England’s troubled mind at the time, garnered global attention, with coverage from prominent sources such as CNN<\/a><\/em>, CBC Radio<\/a><\/em>, Global News<\/a><\/em>, and took center stage as the cover story of The Globe & Mail<\/em><\/a> on Sunday, August 13, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u00a9
A prayer book, Psalms or Prayers, translated by Katherine Parr and on display at the Wormsley Library (\u00a9 The Trustees of The Wormsley Fund and reproduced with permission from The Wormsley Estate)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“The markings reveal Henry\u2019s anxiety about his sinfulness, waywardness, and ignorance,” White shares, “and his fear that God was punishing him with illness.” <\/p>\n\n\n

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“Henry was undeniably ruthless and arrogant, but these markings reveal that he also experienced bouts of uncertainty about the state of his soul and his position as God\u2019s anointed ruler. The marks suggest that he was concerned that he had failed God, but they also show that he was turning to God for help (as a good Christian king was supposed to do).” <\/p>Micheline White, Associate Professor in the College of the Humanities and the Department of English Language and Literature <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

“The markings are personal, but because Henry was never truly alone, they can also be read as performative markings that displayed that he was dealing with his failings in an exemplary way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most curiously, the notes also provide insight into the royal couple\u2019s unique political partnership, suggesting that Parr herself \u2013 principally remembered for her status as the sixth and final spouse to a man notorious for divorcing and beheading his wives \u2013 may have in fact served as one of his most important political allies and strategists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For White, an expert on Katherine Parr, the discovery reaffirms her stance that studying writing produced by women can encourage us to reconsider popularized historical narratives and bring us closer to the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studying the understudied<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finding new things in old books is the name of the game when it comes to historical archival research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are different kinds of scholars,\u201d White explains. \u201cSome offer new interpretations of texts that others have been working on for hundreds of years, and some go off to look at more obscure texts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White describes herself as someone who wanted to look at new things. As a graduate student, she specifically chose to study lesser-known women who had been writing religious works during the Renaissance in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This pursuit of the unknown led her, ironically, to read Psalms or Prayers<\/em> by Katherine Parr, the notable final queen consort of the House of Tudor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White says that Parr\u2019s book \u2013 an anonymously published translated volume of wartime prayers from 1544 \u2013 had been largely ignored by historians and literary scholars. However, she noticed that Parr had not only translated the text from its original Latin but made strategic edits to transform the prayer book into a piece of political propaganda aimed at strengthening public perception of Henry as a military leader despite his waning health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This discovery sparked in White an unexpected interest in Parr\u2019s writing. With support from a SSHRC Insight Development Grant, she sought out a copy of the prayer book kept at the Wormsley Library in Buckinghamshire, England \u2013 a special gifted version of the book, illuminated and printed on vellum, one of only five in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was here that White noticed 14 faintly visible handwritten notes scratched in graphite and ink in the margins of the pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u00a9
This image reveals a faint manicule in the right side margin (\u00a9 The Trustees of The Wormsley Fund and reproduced with permission from The Wormsley Estate)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I saw these markings, I thought they looked a lot like Henry\u2019s,\u201d White recounts, describing how that same week, she had examined a different book at the British Library in London which featured examples of the King\u2019s distinctive annotation style.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThis prayer book is not in a university library and not widely accessible. I was looking at something that I don’t think any scholar had ever looked at carefully before. I am grateful to the Wormsley library for allowing me to study the book and to the librarians for assisting me.\u201d  <\/p>Micheline White, Associate Professor in the College of the Humanities and the Department of English Language and Literature<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe feeling of discovery is just amazing, but also overwhelming,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019ve noticed something, but then you have to prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measuring marginalia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To verify her hunch that the writing was Henry\u2019s, White had to develop a method of identifying and comparing the annotations in the prayer book with other confirmed examples of the king\u2019s marginal notes or \u201cmarginalia\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike aimless doodles and scribbles, marginalia are markings that serve the purpose of identifying parts of a text that are important to the reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as a student might jot down an asterisk or question mark in the margins of her textbook, someone appeared to have scattered that copy of the prayer book with two particular symbols: manicules (a hand with a pointed index finger) and trefoils (three dots and a line).<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI knew there was a long road ahead of me to prove to an academic audience that these were Henry’s markings, even after I became convinced myself. He didn’t sign the book, after all, and lots of people drew manicules.\u201d<\/p>Micheline White, Associate Professor in the College of the Humanities and the Department of English Language and Literature<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Working partially remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and with help from several UK-based librarians and graduate students, White set about measuring the shape and size of each symbol, its placement on the page, even calculating the exact angle of each pointed index finger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
One of Henry VIII’s manicules (Courtesy of the British Library Board, C.45.g.9)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One characteristic that jumped out immediately was that manicules were consistently drawn with cuffs or shirtsleeves at the wrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHenry drew this distinctive cuff on all of his manicules,\u201d White says, noting that this detail helped solidify her confidence in claiming the marginalia as Henry VIII\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Manicule
The image reveals one of Henry VIII’s manicules (Photo by Andrew Smart, A. C. Cooper, London; \u00a9 The Trustees of The Wormsley Fund and reproduced with permission from The Wormsley Estate)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Manicule
The image reveals some of Henry VIII’s manicules and trefoils (Photo by Andrew Smart, A. C. Cooper, London; \u00a9 The Trustees of The Wormsley Fund and reproduced with permission from The Wormsley Estate)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After spending so much time scrutinizing the king\u2019s markings, White says she\u2019s now very aware of her own marginalia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI tend to leave checkmarks in pencil, but you know what’s funny? I must have added marginalia to a friend’s book once and forgotten to erase them before returning it. Because I recently saw the book again, and I noticed all these checkmarks in the margins. And I immediately recognized them as my own \u2013 they were absolutely my checkmarks!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rewriting the history of Katherine Parr<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While Katherine Parr is far from being an obscure historical figure, White\u2019s repeated discoveries about the queen\u2019s life and legacy underline the importance of studying women\u2019s writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn English departments, Parr is studied as an author, with the fact that she\u2019s a queen and political figure often mentioned in passing,\u201d White explains. \u201cMeanwhile, historians don\u2019t really look at her writing, and scholars who study Henry VIII tend to ignore her and her literary output all together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By closely examining the books that Parr translated, wrote, sponsored and even read herself, White is able to paint a fuller picture of a powerful woman who played a critical role in both domestic and international politics.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cLooking at Parr\u2019s works carefully has enabled me to make arguments about her political role that many historians couldn\u2019t make, because they didn’t read her writing.\u201d<\/p>Micheline White, Associate Professor in the College of the Humanities and the Department of English Language and Literature<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Parr\u2019s shrewd decision-making when adapting complicated religious source material suggests to White that the queen wasn’t sitting on the sidelines of Henry\u2019s court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese prayer books weren’t just private works of devotion. They were at the center of political power and Henry used Parr\u2019s literary skills to advance his war effort against France.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading the Tudor Queens<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

White isn\u2019t the only person fascinated by Parr\u2019s writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a professor in the College of the Humanities<\/a> and Department of English Language and Literature<\/a>, she\u2019s noticed how keen her students are to study historical figures like Parr \u2013 complicated women who were writers, political leaders, patrons of the arts, and influencers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s fascinating because it’s not like we\u2019re reading Katherine Parr\u2019s journal, where she’s describing her day-to-day in detail. Instead, by studying her work and the things that she’s writing about, we learn so much about her political agency in sixteenth century England.\u201d<\/p> Micheline White, Associate Professor in the College of the Humanities and the Department of English Language and Literature <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In her fourth-year course \u201cTudor Queens: Sex, Power, and Writing in the Lives of Katherine Parr, Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots\u201d, students read everything from letters, royal proclamations, devotional texts, speeches and poems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese queens produced a lot of texts, for enjoyment, business and the running of the government,\u201d White explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps inspired by the exposure to such prolific royal writers, she finds that her students in turn \u201chand in great papers at the end of the semester.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the video on CTV National News: New King Henry VIII insights<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Literature professor unearths untold histories by studying women\u2019s writing By Alyssa TremblayBanner image by Nick Peate While archival research has a reputation for being dry and dusty work, pouring through the words and works of those long passed can have the electrifying effect of bringing the dead back to life. Associate Professor Micheline White knows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":45974,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[575],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-45949","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-research"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/45949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/45949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51184,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/45949\/revisions\/51184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=45949"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=45949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}