R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

 Mares, Maidens and Fillies. And other words that can describe both women and horses...
Why the shared vocabulary?


Women were creatures of obedience in Tudor times. Heifers for breeding, to draw comparison to yet another creature men husband. 


These women were obedient to their fathers until they were passed to their husbands to manage. 


And with a husband like Henry VIII, their capacity for breeding became the center of their value, and their lives. 


Henry's mother, Elizabeth of York was treated as queen consort, but she never had the slightest recognition as queen regnant, either by her husband, Henry VII, or  his government. Why would her son behave any differently?


We six were wives first, consorts and then Queens. (Except the Catherines Aragon and Parr who held some time as regent).


But our daughters, Mary and Elizabeth I showed England a new generation of Queendom, and faught hard to bring a little Respect to the Regent of the Realm.