Guest Blogger Michelle Hamilton on The President’s Medium: Nettie Colburn

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin coined the term “Team of Rivals” to describe President Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet, but that was not the only team that Lincoln employed during the Civil War—virtually unknown was his “Team of Mediums.” While it is well known that Mary Lincoln frequently attended Spiritualist séances while living in the White House, historians have insisted that President Lincoln only attended a few séances in an attempt to humor and protect his mentally unstable wife. This narrative is incorrect. Following the death of their beloved son Willie President Abraham Lincoln and his wife became actively involved in the Spiritualist movement and formed friendships with the trance medium Nettie Colburn.

Born in upstate New York in 1841 Nettie Colburn first discovered that she was a Spiritualist medium following a childhood illness. Having developed her talent as trance medium, Nettie left home and traveled the country as a successful Spiritualist lecturer, one of the few careers open to women in the United States before the Civil War. In her memoir Nettie reflected on her career, writing, “It came to me in a sense unsought, and took me, an untaught child, from my humble home in the ranks of the laboring people, and led me forth, a teacher of the sublime truth of immortality opening to me the doors of wealthy and the prominent, as well as leading among the poor and lowly, speaking through my un-conscious lips words of strength and consolation, suited to all conditions, until everywhere, from the father’s quiet fireside to the palatial city mansion, I found only words of welcome and kindly care.”

By 1862, the petite, 21-year-old had become a successful and popular speaker on the Spiritualist lecture circuit. During one lecture, Nettie went into a trance where the medium claimed that she was informed by her spirit guide that she had been selected by a “Congress of spirits” comprised of prominent Americans who now resided on the other side for an important mission: she was to travel to Washington, D.C. where she would become a spiritual advisor to President Abraham Lincoln. Upon learning what the spirits wanted her to do, Nettie claimed that she was initially incredulous and concluded that she “would find but poor reception in the presence of the First Ruler of the Land.”

Despite her protests, Nettie Colburn found herself in the nation’s capital in December 1862 on family business. While lecturing in Baltimore, MD, Nettie received a letter from her younger brother who was seriously ill in a Union military hospital. Nettie’s brother begged for her assistance in getting a furlough so that he could return to their parents’ home to recover. Nettie rushed to her brother’s aide and quickly became acquainted with Washington, D.C.’s Spiritualist community. Through her new contacts she was invited to hold séances at the house of Cranston Laurie. The Laurie family had earned the reputation for “being remarkably under the spiritual influence.” Nettie latter recalled, “Mr. and Mrs. Laurie were both fine mediums.”

 

At the Laurie house, Nettie preformed séances in the family’s parlor where she met one of the Lauries’ clients, First Lady Mary Lincoln. During her first meeting with Mary Lincoln, Nettie wowed the First Lady with her talents. “Some new and powerful influence obtained possession of my organism and addressed Mrs. Lincoln, it seemed, with great clearness and force, upon matters of state,” Nettie recalled. Whatever the medium said during this meeting—and Nettie always claimed that while in a trance she had no memory of what she said—struck a chord with the First Lady. Following the séance, Mary Lincoln was so impressed that she is said to have declared, “This young lady must not leave Washington. I feel she must stay here, and Mr. Lincoln must hear what we have heard. It is all-important, and he must hear it.” Turning to Nettie, Mary Lincoln pleaded, “Don’t think of leaving Washington, I beg of you. Can you not remain with us?”

To keep Nettie in the capital, Mary Lincoln used her political clout as the President’ wife and arranged for her to be employed as a clerk for the Department of Agriculture. Besides assisting Nettie Colburn in finding employment, Mary Lincoln also assisted Nettie’s brother in receiving his furlough, thus began a pattern of mutual benefits for both the medium and the First Lady which would characterize their relationship.

Mary Lincoln was so impressed by Nettie that in late December 1862, the medium received an invitation to come to the White House. “I felt all the natural trepidation of a young girl about to enter the presence of the highest magistrate in our land, being fully impressed with the dignity of his office, and feeling that I was about to meet some superior being; and it was almost with trembling that I entered with my friends the Red Parlor at the White House, at eight evening (December 1862,” Nettie recalled. President Abraham Lincoln was amused by the sight of the petite medium. “Dropping his hand upon my head, he said, in a humorous tone, ‘so this is our ‘little Nellie’ is it, that we heard so much about,” the medium remembered President Lincoln saying.

After greeting the President and Mrs. Lincoln, Nettie went into a trance. According to Nettie, the spirits offered the President advice regarding the Emancipation Proclamation. “With the utmost solemnity and force of manner not to abate the terms of the issue, and not to delay its enforcement as a law beyond the opening of the year; and he was assured that it was to be the crowning event of his administration and his life; and that while he was being counseled by strong parties to defer the enforcement of it, hoping to supplant it by other measures and to delay action, he must in no wise heed such counsel, but stand firm to his convictions and fearlessly perform the work and fulfill the mission for which he had been raised up by an overruling Providence,” the spirits advised.

According to Nettie, her audience was shocked by her message, but the President confirmed that what she had to say was correct. “Under these circumstances that question is perfectly proper, as we are all friends. It is taking all my nerve and strength to withstand such pressure.” After a brief discussion over the spirits message the séance drew to a close. As Nettie was preparing to leave, President Lincoln turned to her and declared, “My child, you possess a very singular gift; but that it is of God, I have no doubt. I thank you for coming here tonight. It is more important than any perhaps can understand. I must leave you all now; but I hope to see you again.”

And indeed, Nettie would see President Lincoln again. One morning in February 1863, while the medium was staying with the Lauries’ the Spiritualists received a letter from Mary Lincoln that requested their services for the evening. Upon learning the contents of the letter, Nettie became controlled by her spirit guide, a 500-year-old Aztec princess called Pinkie, under the control of the spirit announced that the President would be accompanying his wife. Mr. Laurie rather questioned its accuracy; as he said it would be hardly advisable for President Lincoln to leave the White House to attend a spiritual séance anywhere; and that he did not consider it ‘good policy’ to do so,” Nettie remembered.

The spirit’s pronouncement proved correct. The President had decided to accompany his wife at the last minute. Nettie Colburn later recounted the scene in her memoir, “He came down from a cabinet meeting as Mrs. Lincoln and her friends were about to enter the carriage, and asked them where they were going. She replied, ‘To Georgetown; to a circle.’ He answered, ‘Hold on a moment, I will go with you.’” This shocked his wife who declared to Nettie Colburn, “Yes…and I was never so surprised in my life.”

As part of the evening’s events the spirits communicated with President Lincoln. “I believe that Mr. Lincoln was satisfied and convinced that the communications he received through me were wholly independent of my volition, and in every way superior to any manifestation that could have been given me as a physical being.” As the evening wore on the spirits got frisky and caused a piano to levitate. The séance then concluded, and the Lincolns’ returned to the burdens of the Civil War. “I believe that Mr. Lincoln was satisfied and convinced that the communications he received through me were wholly independent of my own volition, and in every way superior to any manifestation that could have been given me as a physical being,” Nettie declared in her memoir.

Throughout her memoir, Nettie Colburn took great pains to assert that even though President Lincoln did frequently attend Spiritualist gatherings, she did not claim that President Lincoln was a Spiritualist. “It has frequently been stated that Mr. Lincoln was a Spiritualist. That question is left open for general judgment,” Nettie wrote. Instead, the medium left it up to the reader to form their own opinion. Regarding the First Lady’s belief in Spiritualism, the medium was more definitive stating, “It is also true that Mrs. Lincoln was more enthusiastic regarding the subject than her husband, and openly and avowedly professed herself connected with the new religion.”

As the months passed, Mary Lincoln and Nettie Colburn formed a symbiotic relationship dependent on the mediums ability to channel the spirits. An incident that occurred during the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863 perfectly illustrated their relationship. Because of the services that Nettie preformed for the Lincolns and was trusted by the First Lady, the medium was granted full access to the White House. This included the freedom to obtain flowers from the White House greenhouse. According to Nettie, one morning, the medium decided to obtain some flowers to bring to her father and brother who were patients at one of the countless military hospitals in the capital. “Intending to visit him, I went by permission of Mrs. Lincoln to the White House hothouse to obtain a bouquet of flowers for him,” Nettie recalled.

Arriving at the private entrance of the White House with her friend Parthenia “Parnie” Hannum, the young women expected to be given a pre-cut bouquet. Instead, Nettie found Mrs. Cuthbert, the White House housekeeper waiting for her. “Oh, my dear young ladies,” Mrs. Cuthbert exclaimed, “the madam is deestracted. Come to her, I beg of you. She wants you very much.” Following the French born housekeeper into the President’s private quarters, Nettie and her friend found the First Lady in her wrapper with her hair down frantically pacing up and down her room. Turning to the medium, Mary Lincoln explained the reason for her distress. The Battle of Chancellorsville was raging and the President had just received a telegram announcing that the Union army was in the process of being destroyed with numerous officers dead. “Will you sit down a few moments and see if you can get anything from ‘beyond?’” the desperate First Lady pleaded.

Not wishing to pass up such an opportunity to display her skill, Nettie complied with Mary Lincoln’s request. Nettie then preformed a short séance which calmed Mary’s frayed nerves. Upon the conclusion of Nettie’s impromptu séance, President Lincoln entered his wife’s bedroom. Mary Lincoln was enthusiastic over what Nettie had just done for her and according to the medium, “Mrs. Lincoln instantly began to tell him what had been said.” Seizing the moment, Nettie performed another séance for the benefit of the President and Mrs. Cuthbert. According to the medium the message she relayed to Abraham and Mary Lincoln from the other side brought reassurance that the apocalyptic tone of the telegram had been false. “My friend said she had never seen me more impressive or convincing when under control,” Nettie bragged in her memoir.

Grateful for the reassuring message, Mary Lincoln expressed her gratitude by giving the women large bouquets of flowers. “I need not say that our hands were well filled with flowers when we left the White House,” Nettie concluded. This incident illustrated the type of relationship Mary Lincoln had with the medium. Mary Lincoln relayed on Nettie for her skills as a medium and only brought her into the White House to employ Nettie to do a séance for her. Nettie in turn complied with the First Lady’s request due to the material advantages it brought her. Despite remaining discreet, Nettie’s activities in the White House became well known within the Spiritualist community.

On October 26, 1863, Abraham Lincoln received a note from his close friend Joshua Speed. Throughout the war Speed made periodic visits to the nation’s capital and it was during one of these visits that he decided to write a letter of introduction for the medium Nettie Colburn and her friend Anna Cosby. “My very good friend Mrs Cosby and Miss Netty Colburn her friend desire an interview with you,” Speed wrote. President Lincoln was already well acquainted with the medium and Anna Cosby. Nettie had just made her acquaintance with Speed in the fall of 1863 upon her return to Washington, D.C. after taking a trip to New York to visit her parents. At the time, Nettie was residing at the home of her friend Anna Cosby whose husband had just lost his position as consul to Switzerland amid accusations of associating with Confederate officials while at his post in Geneva. The medium was concerned that because of her friend’s fall from grace her access to the Lincoln White House would be affected. This would have hurt Nettie’s budding political power. Her access to the President and First Lady had become well known throughout Washington, D.C and people flocked to Nettie to beg her to plead their case with the President. The medium needed to be able to see Lincoln on the behalf of these claimants.

One of these petitioners, Colonel Morgan H. Chrysler had summoned Nettie back to the capital from her vacation in New York to aide him in acquiring the command of his brigade. “He had confidence in my power to reach the President, and he had also confidence in the unseen powers that controlled me, and he earnestly requested that I should make the effort in his behalf, offering to defray all expenses, which he did,” Nettie stated. In an attempt to ensure her admittance to the President, Nettie likely asked Joshua Speed to write her a letter of introduction. Joshua Speed, impressed by a séance Nettie Colburn had done for him gladly, performed the task. “It will I am sure be some relief from the tedious round of office seekers to see two such agreeable ladies,” Speed wrote.

Joshua Speed was quick to add that they were mediums gushing, “They are both mediums & believe in the spirits—and are I am quite sure very close spirits themselves.” In the postscript, Speed added, “Mrs. Cosby says she is not a medium though I am quite sure she is or should be.” The medium’s concerns were unfounded. Upon her arrival at the White House, she was admitted into the President’s office where Lincoln gave her a friendly welcome. “How do you do, Miss Nettie?—glad to see you back among us,” President Lincoln announced. Though unable to help Nettie, the President appeared happy to see the young medium again and directed her to take the matter to the Secretary of the War. Undeterred, Nettie visited Edwin Stanton and successfully persuaded the cantankerous Secretary to grant her request.

Throughout 1864 Mary Lincoln continued to summon Nettie and her Spiritualists friends to the White House. Shortly after Nettie’s public lecture, the medium was invited to the White House to show off her talents for the First Lady’s friends. Mary Lincoln declared she had a friend she wanted Nettie to meet, but she wanted to test the medium’s powers and would not tell her who the guest was. Instead, Mary decided that Nettie’s spirit guide Pinkie should be able to guess the true identity of the mysterious guest. Naturally, according to Nettie the undefeatable Pinkie correctly guessed that the guest was a military officer who turned out to be none other than General Daniel Sickles. What made this séance stand out, besides the presence of the Union Army’s most notorious general, was that in a rare moment of bravado Nettie Colburn gave herself credit for the creation of the Freedman’s Bureau.

During this séance, Nettie, speaking for the spirits, lectured the President about the condition of the freed slaves. “While the spirits realized fully the many cares resting upon the President, there was duty to perform that could not be neglected—a duty that demanded immediate attention. They counseled him in the strongest terms to prove the truth of their statements, extravagant as they seemed, by appointing a special committee, whose duty it should be to investigate the condition of these people, and to receive their report in person, and on no account to receive it second hand,” Nettie instructed.

In her memoir it is clear that Nettie Colburn fully believed that the President took her message to heart. A few weeks later while visiting her parents in Hartford, New York, her father showed her a newspaper article reporting that President Lincoln was creating a commission to evaluate the condition of the freedmen. “This item confirmed what I had told my father more than a week before of my recent sitting at the White House. It also proved that Mr. Lincoln considered the counsel he had received through me sufficient importance to engage his attention, as he had literally followed the direction given him by the spirit world,” Maynard crowed.

As the strain of the Civil War began to emotionally and physically separate Abraham and Mary Lincoln, the couple’s mutual interest in Spiritualism was one thing that kept them together. It is highly likely that Mary Lincoln scheduled a number these séances in a bid to spend time alone with her husband. “During the latter part of February, and the month of March [1864], I had a number of séances with President Lincoln and his wife; but, as there were no other witnesses, and as they did not inform me of the nature, but simply allude to the fact. These séances took place by appointment. At the close of one, Mrs. Lincoln would make an appointment, engaging me to come at a certain hour of the day, which usually would be in the vicinity of one o’clock, the time when Mr. Lincoln usually partook of his luncheon, which generally occupied about half to three-quarters of an hour,” Nettie disclosed. Concerning the issues discussed during the séances, the medium would only admit, “Many subjects of interest were discussed at the various meetings I had with Mr. Lincoln.”

As the Civil War drew to the close, Nettie Colburn asserted in her memoir that she tried to warn the President that his life was in danger. During her last audience with Abraham Lincoln in February 1865 the medium again tried to voice her concern. “He turned half impatiently away and said, ‘Yes, I know. I have letters from all over the country from your kind of people—mediums, I mean—warning me against some dreadful plot against my life. But I don’t think the knife is made, or the bullet run, that will reach it. Besides, nobody wants to harm me,’” Nettie recalled Lincoln saying. The President then tried to soothe the medium, “Well, Miss Nettie, I shall live till my work is done, and no earthly power can prevent it. And then it doesn’t matter so that I am ready—and that I ever mean to be.” Nettie would never see President Lincoln again. On April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by southern sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. With the President’s death, the “Team of Mediums” disbanded. After the Civil War, Nettie married but continued to lecture and perform séances. On her deathbed in 1890 Nettie Colburn Maynard penned her memoirs Was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist? Or, Curious Revelations from the Life of a Trance Medium in which she recorded her experiences. Without Nettie’s memoir a valuable chapter in American history would have been lost.


Sources:
Hamilton, Michelle L. “I Would Still Be Drowned in Tears”: Spiritualism in Abraham Lincoln’s White House.

Maynard, Nettie Colburn. Was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist? Or, Curious Revelations from the Life of a Trance Medium

Michelle L. Hamilton is a Historian, lecturer, Civil War re-enactor and Grad Student working on her MA in History at San Diego State University. She is also the author of “I Would Still Be Drowned in Tears”: Spiritualism in Abraham Lincoln’s White House.

Reign Recap: Supersize Edition!

So REIGN has been picked up for a full season. You know what that means, more shenanigans at the court of Henri II like these last two episodes.  Sorry I'm late with the recaps but last weekend was the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Who so Mary, Queen of Scots fell by the wayside.

 

Bash looking soulful, probably thinking about Mary!

- Mary and Francis are so cute together you guys! They spend the first part of the episode snuggling and making out. I sure hope nothing comes between these two crazy kids!

- Uh oh, some blonde chick named Olivia shows up at court after almost getting killed in the Dark Forest. It turns out that she and Francis used to play 'doctor' in the boathouse until they got caught. She was whisked away to marry to someone else but it fell through because of that whole not being a virgin thing.

- Mary decides to be nice to Olivia instead of ripping her hair out until Olivia admits that she's back to steal Francis.

- Mary decides to that Olivia needs to leave court to stay with a respectable family in Paris to help repair her reputation. WTH?

- Olivia pleads with Francis not to send her away, telling him that if she can't marry him, she'll be happy to just be his mistress.

- Machiavella de Medici blackmails Aylee into giving her a look at Mary's letters to her mother. If she doesn't, she'll tell Mary that Aylee is a klepto.

- Francis told Mary at the Harvest Festival (seriously there is a festival every week on this show!) that Olivia was not going to be going away after all. Oops! They argue and Mary does what any woman would do in this situation. She gets drunk and makes out with her fiancé's cuter half-brother.

- Catherine de Medici reveals that she wants Olivia to trap Francis into marrying her by getting pregnant.

- Mary reveals that knows that Catherine is reading her letters, in fact, she planned the whole thing with Aylee.

- Greer and Kitchen boy made out. What do you want to bet he's some prince or noble who is hiding in the royal kitchen for REASONS.

- Kenna told off Mary after Mary tried to warn her about getting involved with the King. Ooh, Kenna, you are going to be so sorry when Diane de Poitiers and the Queen join forces to get rid of you.

- The pagans in the Dark Forest are mad because Bash rescued some dude from having all his blood drained from him. He now has to pay be sacrificing some else's life. Who could it be?

This week's episode was entitled Scotland although it had nothing to do with Scotland whatsoever.

- Mary and Bash had an awkward moment recalling their make-out session from last week.

- A giant, bloody stag's head was left in Mary's room while she was sleeping as a warning from the pagans/heretics who live in the dark forest.

- It turns out that Diane de Poitier comes from a pagan family. She warns Bash that no one can find out their terrible secret.

- Mary and Catherine de Medici play good cop/bad cop with the servants. Mary promises that no one will be punished if they give information while Catherine tells them if they don't cough up information, she will burn their villages down.

- Kenna, one of Mary's ladies, invites her friends to the King's bedroom to celebrate her becoming his mistress. She gets upset when one her friends points out the entwined initials H&D in the floor. She has a hissy fit and demands that the King remove them.

- Bash releases a prisoner and takes him into the Dark Forest of Doom to flush out of one of the pagans/heretics who he kills as a sacrifice. On the way back to the castle, Bash pushes the prisoner off a cliff when it looks like he's going to spill the beans about what happened.

- The King complains to Diane de Poitier about Kenna's demands before making love to his former mistress.

- After Bash returns to the castle, Francis announces that he and Mary should see other people, as long as one of them isn't Bash. Meanwhile Francis finds Olivia and decides to play hide the éclair with her because this show is the worst.

November Books of the Month

Normally I feature just one book that I feel that readers would enjoy but this month we have a plethora of really cool books.

Title:  Writers Between the Covers
Authors: Shannon McKennon Schmidt & Joni Rendon
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Plume (October 29, 2013)

Why did Norman Mailer stab his second wife at a party?  Who was Edith Wharton’s secret transatlantic lover? What motivated Anaïs Nin to become a bigamist?

Writers Between the Covers rips the sheets off these and other real-life love stories of the literati—some with fairy tale endings and others that resulted in break-ups, breakdowns, and brawls. Among the writers laid bare are Agatha Christie, who sparked the largest-ever manhunt in England as her marriage fell apart; Arthur Miller, whose jaw-dropping pairing with Marilyn Monroe proved that opposites attract, at least initially; and T.S. Eliot, who slept in a deckchair on his disastrous honeymoon.

From the best break-up letters to the stormiest love triangles to the boldest cougars and cradle-robbers, this fun and accessible volume—packed with lists, quizzes and in-depth exposés—reveals literary history’s most titillating loves, lusts, and longings.

Title: Marie Antoinette's Head: The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen, and the Revolution
Author:  Will Bashor
Publisher:  The Lyon's Press
About:  Marie Antoinette has remained atop the popular cultural landscape for centuries for the daring in style and fashion that she brought to 18th century France. For the better part of the queen’s reign, one man was entrusted with the sole responsibility of ensuring that her coiffure was at its most ostentatious best. Who was this minister of fashion who wielded such tremendous influence over the queen’s affairs? Marie Antoinette’s Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, and the Revolution charts the rise of Leonard Autie from humble origins as a country barber in the south of France to the inventor of the Pouf and premier hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette.

By unearthing a variety of sources from the 18th and 19th centuries, including memoirs (including Léonard’s own), court documents, and archived periodicals the author, French History professor and expert Will Bashor, tells Autie’s mostly unknown story. Bashor chronicles Leonard’s story, the role he played in the life of his most famous client, and the chaotic and history-making world in which he rose to prominence. Besides his proximity to the queen, Leonard also had a most fascinating life filled with sex (he was the only man in a female dominated court), seduction, intrigue, espionage, theft, exile, treason, and possibly, execution. The French press reported that Léonard was convicted of treason and executed in Paris in 1793. However, it was also recorded that Léonard, after receiving a pension from the new King Louis XVIII, died in Paris in March 1820. Granted, Leonard was known as the magician of Marie-Antoinette’s court, but how was it possible that he managed to die twice?

Title:  Marie Antoinette Serial Killer
Author:  Katie Alender
Publisher: Scholastic Books
Pub Date:  9/24/2013
Overview:  Heads will roll! Paris, France: a city of fashion, chocolate croissants, and cute boys. Colette Iselin is thrilled be there for the first time, on her spring break class trip.

But a series of gruesome murders are taking place around the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours the sights, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks like Marie Antoinette.

Colette knows her status-obsessed friends won't believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they discover that the murder victims are all descendants of people who ultimately brought about Marie Antoinette's beheading. The queen's ghost has been awakened, and now she's wreaking her bloodthirsty revenge.

 

And Colette may just be one of those descendants . . . which means she might not make it out of this trip alive. Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings heart-stopping suspense to this story of betrayal, glamour, mystery, history--and one killer queen.

Title:  Mrs. Poe
Author:  Lynn Cullen
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster
Pub Date:  10/1/2013

 

Overview:  1845: New York City is a sprawling warren of gaslit streets and crowded avenues, bustling with new immigrants and old money, optimism and opportunity, poverty and crime. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is all the rage—the success of which a struggling poet like Frances Osgood can only dream. As a mother trying to support two young children after her husband’s cruel betrayal, Frances jumps at the chance to meet the illustrious Mr. Poe at a small literary gathering, if only to help her fledgling career. Although not a great fan of Poe’s writing, she is nonetheless overwhelmed by his magnetic presence— and the surprising revelation that he admires her work.

What follows is a flirtation, then a seduction, then an illicit affair . . . and with each clandestine encounter, Frances finds herself falling slowly and inexorably under the spell of her mysterious, complicated lover. But when Edgar’s frail wife Virginia insists on befriending Frances as well, the relationship becomes as dark and twisted as one of Poe’s tales. And like those gothic heroines whose fates are forever sealed, Frances begins to fear that deceiving Mrs. Poe may be as impossible as cheating death itself. . . .

Reign Recap: Episode 4

Just caught up with REIGN this morning. OMG you guys, so much drama! Archery contests, whipping boys, ghosts, intrigue, romance. Where do I begin?

- Tomas and Francis competed in an archery contest because a joust would have been too exciting I guess. Tomas cheated, and then gave Mary a favor of a pink rose. In front of everyone!

- Mary's uncle Claude de Guise showed up again to basically tell her stuff. This time it was to tell her that King Henri wasn't yet willing to end her betrothal to Francis.

- Catherine de Medici admitted to Mary that she wanted her gone, gone, gone.

- Francis, now that Mary was about to get engaged to another man, got all handsy and jealous.

- Lola flirted with a wounded Bash.

- Tomas showed his true colors by telling Mary every time she disobeyed him, Miguel the whipping boy, would be punished.

- Simon, Lord Westbrook, was accused of being a spy for the English and almost executed in the middle of a masquerade ball.

- Kenna aka Lady McSlutty told King Henri Horndog that she was ready to be his mistress but he told her that position was filled.

- Clarissa the ghost left Mary, Simon's seal which proved that he wasn't the guy the prostitute saw in the tavern after all, which meant he was innocent.

- The prostitute confessed that it was actually Tomas. OMG, I totally didn't see that coming!

- Bash and Francis united to prove that Tomas was a total SOB which culminated in an exciting fight in the woods! (No not really).

- Mary wore more cracked out fashions that have nothing to do with the period.

- Greer flirted some more with the servant boy from the kitchen.

- King Henri Horndog changed his mind and decided to make Kenna his mistress after all. Because Catherine emasculates him and Diane spends too much time shopping in Paris.

- Mary shocked the court by telling the King and her uncle that she would be leading the renegotiations for her betrothal to Francis.

- Nostradamus did absolutely nothing. (Seriously this show would be much more interesting if Catherine de Medici and Nostradamus were getting it on!).
Historical Notes:  Well, I was wrong about Claude de Guise, I assumed that he was her cousin, but he's actually her uncle.  The show has also been picked up for a full season which means that I will be recapping the show for another 18 episodes! It will be interesting to see if they actually do develop this love triangle between Bash, Mary and Francis that they promised.  At some point Mary and Francis will have to get married, the writers can't keep throwing ridiculous obstacles in their path.

Guest Blogger Elizabeth Eckhart on Where’s the Female Walter White?

The theme behind Scandalous Women is that well-behaved women don’t make history. Unfortunately, the entertainment business is another story. Though history is rife with women who have performed unheroic actions in order to further a cause they believed was right, it seems novels, television, and film have been slow to understand these qualities in women. The entertainment world is buzzing with the onslaught of anti-hero men; consider Breaking Bad’s Walter White, and Dexter’s Dexter, who are two of the most recent additions to the “dangerous men” club that began with Tony Soprano. Like Tony, these are men who make purposefully evil choices for what they believe is a pure-hearted cause. Walter White, after all, becomes a drug lord for the sake of his family.

Not to say we haven’t had our fair share of “evil” or “naughty” women, but in most cases, that’s all they are. Women in popular literature, on TV, and in movies are more likely to be found portraying “good girls,” who, even if they make mistakes, never meant to, or “femme fatales,” women who have no moral guidelines whatsoever. But where are the leading lady protagonists who have enough depth to stand as anti-heroes themselves, making evil decisions for acceptable reasons, and possibly leading the storyline?

They are few and far between, that’s for sure. One of the first examples that came to mind is the fictional character of Catwoman, who shows no hesitation when it comes to deception or even murder in the name of stopping bad guys, but generally plays second fiddle to Batman’s role. There’s also the recent film Young Adult, during which Charlize Theron played a woman entirely unwilling to change her sad, pitiful, life, which was able to give us a taste of what it was like to have a female lead we may not like. And the popular novel Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn did something similar with its possibly completely insane, though incredibly smart, female lead. Other examples show a trend toward female protagonists of greater depth and complication, such as Carrie on Homeland or Hannah on Girls, yet still, these characters lean further toward the realm of misguided mistakes than Robert De Niro worthy murders and drug deals.
Media has long been embedded in the male gaze, and it’s still generally men writing the scripts and frankly, the majority of men are incapable of writing women well (as always, with some exceptions). Jack Nicholson’s advice from As Good As It Gets, when discussing writing women is simply, “I think of a man. And then I take away reason and accountability.” Or, read this intriguing and frustrating article on why a few notable comic writers refuse to write women with more depth, simply because history and the genre haven’t previously called for it, and they believe readers won’t be interested in it.

But based on readers’ highly positive reactions to Gone Girl and other anti-heroes, it seems as if readers are clamoring for in-depth female characters that aren’t solely motivated by lust and greed, or the opposite, purity and moral perfection. Here are a few lead characters that have either come close, or have hope, of becoming the female counterpart of previous male antiheroes.

Lisbeth Salander, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Lisbeth is the victim of multiple crimes against her person, which puts readers immediately on her side. So much so that we accept the fact that she is a hacker who routinely invades the privacy of anyone and everyone. She’s also been known to lie, steal, and seek revenge in violent ways. But it’s all in the name of justice... right?

Jackie Peyton, Nurse Jackie: On this television show, Jackie is a manipulative nurse who has affairs, abuses medications, and frequently breaks the law. However, she’s saving lives most of the time, and for that reason has the same effect as House from the show House: we like her anyway.

Hannah Horvath from Girls: Hannah is young, emotionally a mess, and occasionally a whiny brat. She is selfish, unmotivated to get her own job and stop mooching off her parents, and is often petty. Still, we root for her as the lead character of this show.

Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill: An obvious choice for anti-heroism, this film is about Beatrix seeking revenge on Bill, and it results in many, many innocent deaths. Though plot wise she is a strong choice, the movie doesn’t give a lot of room for character depth, since it is a film more focused on gore.

Arya Stark, Game of Thrones: Arya is just a child in George R.R. Martin’s addicting television and book series, but as the story has progressed her actions have become increasingly morally unsound. We know Arya is motivated by revenge, and desires the destruction of anyone she believes is involved in harming her or her family. Still, some of her actions recently, murder by both her own hand and by the direction of her friend the assassin, are leaning toward an antihero trend. She may grow into the most conflicting character yet.

Alissa Nutting’s Tampa: Though this novel is yet to be released, there is high hopes that we’ll have found a female protagonist who partakes in more than questionable actions. The novel follows a young, beautiful teacher as she seduces a student.

Though I’m sure there are more, the stretch to find the female counterpoint to Walter White is not as easy as it should be. Partially this is due to many writers’ own fear of creating a morally questionable female character, but much of the time audiences too have failed to support the emergence of female anti-heroes. We’ll find that Nancy Botwin, from the show Weeds, who turned to selling weed in order to support her children, was heavily criticized for putting her children in danger. Likewise, Skyler White, from Breaking Bad was portrayed as a horrible mother and utterly unlikeable for smoking a cigarette while pregnant, (really, check the internet comment boards) despite the fact that her husband cooks meth and murders people.

In the end, for female antiheroes to succeed and rise in numbers, both audiences and writers must continue to create and support them. No longer should women be confined to easily compartmentalized characters of adoring wife/girlfriend or sexualized femme fatale. There should be female characters across the entire board with audience sympathy and qualities that land somewhere between angelic and demonic.
Author Bio: Elizabeth Eckhart is an entertainment and film blogger for directstartv.com. She frequently writes about literature, fictional figures, and media in general. She can be followed on twitter at @elizeckhart.


　

Reign: Episode 3 Recap

 

I finally got a chance to watch last week's episode of REIGN. OMG, you guy, so much happened to our girl Mary this week.

- England sent troops to the Scottish border which sent Mary into a tizzy when her cousin Claude de Guise showed up to tell her. (Given how long it took news to arrive, are we to assume that the English troops just camped out on the border hoping for a fight?)

- She asked King Henri for troops to help Scotland and he said 'no way.'

- She kicked a ball around with Prince Charles.

- She climbed a tree and then got stuck.

- She met Tomas, the sexy illegitimate son of the King of Portugal.

- She broke the girl code, spending time with Tomas, even though she knew Greer liked him.

- She offered to sell Tomas timber in exchange for troops. Instead he wanted to marry her. Something about her 'wildness' appealed to him.

- She did a sexy dance with Tomas at a ball, which consisted of a lot of dipping and lifting, wearing a dress that looked like a feather duster.

- She called out Francis on his commitment issues.

- She received her first kiss ever from a guy, from Francis, who then told her to marry another man.

- She wore costumes that ran the gamut from the Regency to some off the shoulder anti-bellum dress.  She even managed to wear a dress that was actually the right period.  Don't know how that slipped by.

- She drank coffee.

 Also, Nostradamus made strange predictions, while looking like the 16th century equivalent of John the Baptist (something about Greer marrying a man with white mark and the lion will fight with the dragon on a field of poppies), and Lady McSlutty did dirty deeds in dark corner with the King but refused to give up her V-card. She then had an awkward conversation with Henri's illegitimate son Bash, on how to win back the King's affection. Francis also threatened to tell Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers that the King had a new bit on the side unless he helped Mary by sending troops to Scotland. Needless to say that didn't work out so well. 

Historical Notes:  Yes, Mary, Queen of Scots did have a relative named Claude.  He was actually her uncle, the Duc of Aumale. Her cousin would have been his son who wasn't born yet.  Why he tells her about the English, and not say anyone at the French court like the King, I have no idea. Nor why there is no Scottish ambassador to the royal court.  As for Tomas, John III of Portugal did have an illegitimate son named Duarte who was the Archbishop of Braga. However, John III was succeeded by his 3 year old grandson Sebastian, so some of the details are right.

Reign Recap: Episode 2

 

I want to apologize for my neglect of the blog lately. I've been in the midst of a job search, as well as taking a writing class and working on a new proposal for my agent.  Then Mercury in retrograde happened and most of my electronics stopped working including my cable which is why my recap of the CW's REIGN is so late.  I had to watch the episode on my computer since Time Warner Cable doesn't have the CW on demand and my cable is also out until tomorrow when the technician can finally come to fix and hopefully give me a new cable box.  So without further ado here is the recap and my thoughts about this week's episode of REIGN.  Just an FYI, there will be spoilers in this recap, so please don't read further until you have watched the episode.

When last we left Mary, Queen of Scots things, weren't looking so good. Someone attempted to poison her at the convent where she was living, then when she arrived at the French court she discovered that her fiancé was not so keen on getting married.  Unbeknownst to Mary, Nostradamus (played by Donald Sutherland's other son) predicted that a marriage to the young Queen of Scots would result in his death. Catherine de Medici was not having that, so she bribed/coerced one of Mary's men to drug Mary and then seduce her or make it look like she'd been seduced. Unfortunately for Colin, Mary never drank the drugged wine, so she was quite awake when he attempted to ravish her.  Poor Colin, who was the sweetheart of one of Mary's maids, Lola, was tortured and then beheaded.

This week's episode opens with a surprise *SPOILER ALERT* young Colin is not dead after all.  The wrong door was marked with an X and a petty thief was beheaded in his place.  A small creature wearing a white hood releases him from the wrack and helps him escape.  Catherine de Medici is not pleased.  This means that if Colin is found, he might just spill the beans that the whole plot was her idea. Oops!

Mary and Lola are of course thrilled that Colin isn't dead after all.  This means that he can be questioned and Mary can deal with his transgression herself.  Colin had managed to tell her that the threat to her life was at the French court.  Who could possibly mean her harm? To Mary's credit, she does suspect that her potential mother-in-law doesn't have the best of intentions.

Another one of the royal children is trotted out, this time it's the future Charles IX who has been betrothed to someone named Madeleine who is not important because he never ended up marrying her, if she existed at all. Madeleine is arriving in France and Mary decides to accompany the little royal groom along with Francis to greet her.  An English ship is spied off the coast and Mary gets all bent out of shape, thinking the English have come to get her. It turns out that the English ship was just helping out little Madeleine's ship.

Back at court, the English envoy named Simon (no last name, no title, nothing. Just Simon) makes veiled threats against Mary, warning her not to marry Francis.  Mary stands up for herself and puts him on notice. While Charles and his future bride are playing, the boy wanders off and Mary follows him. He tells her that he has a friend who is invisible but who seems to know all sorts of stuff. Her name is Clarissa.  Mary thinks that Clarissa is the same entity who warned her in the last episode.

Back in her rooms, Mary discovers a strange woman trying on her dress. The woman falls to the ground claiming to be poisoned. Mary runs off to get help but when she gets back the woman is gone. There is a secret passage off of Mary's room but the woman is not there. Francis is most upset that Mary's guards were no where to be found.  Mary decides to ask Clarissa what she knows, using marbles that she found earlier.  The answer is unclear but Clarissa leaves a key for Mary. When Mary uses it, it turns out not to lead to Catherine de Medici's room but to Simply Simon's room. Mary enters his room and discovers him in flagrante delicto with the blonde woman that Mary thought was poisoned. Simon admits his dastardly plans and confesses that Catherine de Medici is involved. 

There's some discussion about Mary Tudor dying, which would leave the throne of England vacant, and that some would look to Mary as Queen since Elizabeth was considered illegitimate. Mary rejects the English crown and demands that England leave Scotland alone. That's about as historical as this episode got folks. Meanwhile poor Colin ends up dead in the woods.  Bastian finds him and reveals that he speaks an ancient Celtic language which surprises his brother Francis.  It turns out that Catherine de Medici had Colin killed yet again, but this time she tried to make it look like the heretics in the woods did it.

Oh, and in a minor subplot King Henri Horndog decided that he wanted a little more of one of Mary's ladies in waiting Lady McSlutty. However, Lady Slutty decided that she didn't want to be the King's mistress but Sadie, Sadie, married lady. So Henri Horndog comes to her door which she opens wearing the 16th century equivalent of a push-up bra and tells her that's arranged for her to marry a day player named Robert, Vicomte Lorraine. 

So that's it for this week's episode. It was about as scintillating as watching paint dry. It's beginning to look like every week Catherine de Medici is going to try and find some way to either kill Mary or get rid of her some other way.  That's going to get old fast.  In an effort to say something nice, the costumes this week look like they came from Anthropologie and Stevie Nicks' closet. Seriously they are all over the place, the women's dresses look medieval and the men's costumes look vaguely 18th century. In one scene, Francis was wearing a multi-colored turtleneck and a vest.

There was also a hilarious moment when Mary and her maids wandered through the halls in their unmentionables to get breakfast which was left outside in the hallway for some reason.  Oh, and Diane de Poitiers was not in this episode, she was at the 'country house' which is pretty funny when you consider the 'castle' in which everyone is living is also in the country.  However, it is a very pretty castle.

I know I've harped on this before but the actual history of this period is so rich, and what the writers are making up is just terrible.  If they want court intrigue, about including Mary's French family, the Guises? The Guise family was incredibly powerful and well-connected. They should be at court trying to protect Mary, trying to force the marriage while Catherine de Medici tries to curb their power.  Instead of a fictional bastard son of Henri II and Diane de Poitiers, why not a Guise cousin as the third part in this fictional love triangle the writers seem determined to create?