<p>Sometimes he seems so genuine and other times he’s pretty sketchy… kinda too good to be true. Poor Edith, she can’t catch a break.</p>
<p>I was thinking the document that Edith signed for Michael was power of attorney over his business. Thus, foreshadowing his untimely death/abduction/imprisonment in the increasingly violent Germany and leaving Edith with the ability to run his publishing business. Wouldn’t it be great if she was a publishing power executive?</p>
<p>Oh, that would be awesome! What a wonderful turn of events that would be!!</p>
<p>(Well, for her. I don’t think he’d be too happy.)</p>
<p>Oh, it’s sooooo hard to not spill on the spoilers I accidentally read last month! Actually it was only one spoiler regarding one character.</p>
<p>Rewatching episode 3 - Tom and Isobel at the dinner make me cry every time!</p>
<p>Chinablue… that would be an awesome turn of events…although I think he may be a bit shady. He did “outshark” the card shark.</p>
<p>Oh lord! now you all have me worried about Edith! What WERE those papers all about…</p>
<p>teriwtt, don’t you dare!</p>
<p>I am surprised how much sympathy there is for Edith here. I still don’t like her after what she did in the first few seasons. But I think the actress who portrays her is fantastic at capturing the kind of person her character is supposed to be.</p>
<p>At our house, we yelled “READ THE ^%$# DOCUMENT, Edith!”</p>
<p>Perhaps she has unwittingly made herself responsible for his debts…or the guardian of his wife, if he dies.</p>
<p>I thought Braithwaite had hit on Tom in the past. Appealing to his class consciousness and feeling left out, just like this time. He’s too easy!</p>
<p>Just read that Nellie Melba, the opera singer, was played by Kiri Te Kanawa.</p>
<p>Is it just me or am I remembering a flirtation not between Edna Braithwaite and Tom, but between her and Lord Grantham?? They had some kind of close encounter that could have led to something but at the last minute he thought twice and didn’t betray his fidelity to Cora. Please someone tell me I am not losing my mind.</p>
<p>No, no, no. The maid who had a pat and tickle with Robert Grantham had a son whom Robert got admitted to Eaton or Cambridge or some such. The boringly sincere Robert then apologized to her for his er, um…desires.</p>
<p>I heard that about Kiri too. I’m sorry I didn’t pay better attention while she was singing.</p>
<p>What if Braithwaite returns pregnant, and tries to bamboozle Tom again? What if Anna is pregnant from that awful rapist? What if Edith is pregnant and the German divorce hasn’t come through yet? What if all the babies are switched at birth?</p>
<p>Ahhh, thank you, LakeWashington! That has been bugging me.</p>
<p>I found this to explain who the heck braithwaite is: [url=<a href=“http://downtonabbey.wikia.com/wiki/Edna_Braithwaite]Edna”>Edna Braithwaite | Downton Abbey Wiki | Fandom]Edna</a> Braithwaite - Downton Abbey Wiki<a href=“You%20may%20want%20to%20read%20only%20the%20first%20section%20if%20you%20don’t%20want%20to%20know%20what%20happens%20to%20Braithwaite%20in%20season%204.”>/url</a></p>
<p>I still have no memory of this, but we binge watched the first three seasons of Downton over the course of a week or two, so things blend together a bit. The only semi-flirtation I remember Tom having besides Sybil was the girl he met at the political rally thingy. I have a vague memory of him eating lunch with somebody at the Grantham arms so I suppose it must have happened as the site says… I just don’t remember it.</p>
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<p>Hmmm…I wonder when marrying your brother’s widow became improper? Because Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was his older brother’s widow.</p>
<p>LOL!!! That was kind of the point!</p>
<p>Katherine was married to Arthur. He died. It’s not really clear whether the marriage was consummated before he died. The English had a problem on their hands because sending Katherine back to her father wasn’t an option. They applied for, and received, a dispensation from Canon law, to allow Catherine to marry Henry. </p>
<p>When Henry wanted to marry Anne Boelyn, he asked for an annulment --not a divorce, which didn’t really exist at the time in Christian Europe. He argued that his marriage was invalid because of Katherine’s marriage to Arthur. In essence his argument was that the Church did not have the power to grant a dispensation from the teaching, which is based on some words of Christ in the gospel. </p>
<p>The pope, of course, did not concede that he had no right to grant the dispensation. He refused to grant the annulment, i.e., to declare the marriage invalid.</p>
<p>Now, Protestants did NOT think the Church COULD grant such a dispensation and therefore many of them thought the marriage was invalid. Anne Boelyn herself was Protestant; it’s not clear how strong her faith was, but her brother George-- later executed on the trumped up charge he had sex with his sister–was a Protestant adherent. He appears to have believed sincerely that Henry and Katherine were never validly married.</p>
<p>Henry’s claim that the marriage to Katherine was invalid meant that his older D Mary was a ■■■■■■■. She was stripped of the title “Princess” and became “Lady” for a while there because the archbishop ANNULLED the marriage of her parents. </p>
<p>There were lots of other complications because back then a betrothal WAS the marriarge. Anne was almost certainly betrothed before she married Henry. Plus, the Church as a practical matter also said you couldn’t marry the sibling of someone you had sex with, even if the person you had sex with wasn’t your spouse. There were some good reasons back them for this, as there were a lot of illegitmate children. Heny had had sex with Mary Boelyn, Anne’s sister. So that too meant that the church would not allow the marriage.</p>
<p>^^ I hope Downton doesn’t get that complicated or I’m going to be lost!</p>
<p>Jonri, I love that era of British history. But bye I don’t remember what is true and what I read in Wolf Hall</p>