Cultural artifact is a term used in the social sciences for anything created by humans which gives information about the culture of its creator and users. The artifacts can provide knowledge about technological processes and way of life in different historical eras.

The story is set in England in the period of the reign of Tudors dynasty.

The main artifacts in the film:

Gorgeous tapestry with the family coat of arms, the gold-plated dishes, adorned with gems, ancient jewelers (rings, necklaces) belong to the Royal family. (In this period more and more attention was paid to surroundings and atmosphere in the house)

The tapestry includes fashionable decoration of foliage, birds and other creatures which perfectly show the age of Renaissance. Rooms were hung with costly and marvellous tapestries of pure gold and fine silk garnished with pearls and precious stones. In marked contrast to gilded ceilings, costly tapestries and princely attire were stark floors covered with rushes, trestle tables, and wooden benches in the great hall and draughty corners.

Furniture: The number of pieces of furniture has increased. The furniture was decorated with sculptures, carvings, paintings, different upholsteries, and detected propensity to antique images.

Heavy wooden pieces with carved details & iron hardware like pulls, hinges, studs, & latches. Four poster beds & headboards in carved designs with canopies & drapery. Refactory tables with bulbous turned legs & carved wooden chairs. Built-in sideboards & cabinets along with storage benches were often seen in classic Tudor homes. Pewter dishware & glassware displayed in open cabinet shelves with an occasional exotic porcelain piece. Leather strapped wooden chests. Books with leather covers were a status item since the invention of the printing press.

On the age of Renaissance one of the problems was the problem of lightening and heating. Fireplaces – the focal point for any Tudor room provided necessary heating. Chandeliers - handing with many candles to provide lighting.

Changes in clothing in XIV - XVI centuries traced stronger than many centuries before. Linen and wool were the most common fabrics used during this period. The luxurious fashions depicted in art work most often reflect the clothing worn by royalty, the nobility, and the elite. The upper classes wore garments made of silk, satin, velvet, damask, and taffeta, in addition to wool and linen. Finer linens were bleached in the sun, embroidered, or block printed. Fashionable embellishments included braiding, borders, embroidery, lace, guarding (ribbon trim), and gems or pearls sewn onto the fabric.

Mikhailenko and Kuznetsova

Sociofacts cover customs, traditions, ceremonies of the society. There are all elements due to we can see an image of the society and understand how it works. We can find a lot of sociofacts in films. Our group decided to choose "The Other Boleyn Girl". In our case we consider English society in the 16th century. At those times the King was Henry VIII.
The main tradition in the royal family was to give birth to a heir, only a boy. And you had to get a boy at any price. We can see in the film how it was important for woman to have a boy because the Henry was interested in only a son. Only son became the heir of the English throne.
But the queen couldn't do it. She had a weak health. That's why the King became cold with her and found other women called favorites. It was normal for their time, after such relationships woman could find a wealthy husband, for example a Duke. From the religious point of view it was amoral. But the society accepted the willingness of The King. The power of the King was absolute and his desires always came true.

Men were the heads everywhere: as in their family so in the society. We saw it in the scene of the Anne's judgment; you don't find a woman among the judges.

In the family last word was always said by the man. The father, Mr. Boleyn, chose the destinies for his children without their agreements. Parents took decisions for their children very often: the marriage, the carrier and etc. If a family wanted to be successful (rich and powerful) in the society their children would be the best tool to achieve it.
The hunting is the main ritual when we mention the King and his court. We saw it on the scene when the King visited Boleyn's estate.
Traditions and customs have been forming by years, sometimes centuries. But the history shows us even centuries-old traditions can change in one moment. Some situations and personals can change the image of the country. We can see such personals in this film: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth (we saw her as a little girl at the end of the film). Such great personals can break the rules, traditions and the whole history. Their motivations and actions were not always right and good. But due to these personals we can see England such as it exists now.

Ovchinnikova Lera and Kasatkina Inna

Mentifacts (the ideas, beliefs, and values that people hold)

The movie ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ gives us a picture of medieval England, specifically England in the 16th century during the reign of King Henry the 8th(1509-1547). The people of the Middle Ages were very superstitious, religious, devout. They were serious about the notion of family, divorces were not acceptable because people were afraid to be condemned by society besides religious considerations. But people put the king above everything, servicing to him was their main aim. (Mary's father disregarded for her marriage for the sake of serving the King.) No one had the right to contradict the King’s will, otherwise he would be accused of treason.

Due to Catherine of Aragon’s (the first wife of Henry the 8th) inability to give him an heir Henry decided to annul his marriage at the insistence of Anne Boleyn. Having been refused by the Roman Catholic Church, the king declared the Church of England independent of the pope in 1534, which marked the beginning of a new era in the religious culture of England.

Popova Dasha and Vasilevskay

1.      How many children did Anne Boleyn give birth to?

a.       1 +

b.      2

c.       3

d.      4

2.      Anne Boleyn was:

a.       The 1^st Henry VIII’ s wife

b.      The 2^nd Henry VIII’s wife +

c.       The 3^rd Henry VIII’s wife

d.      Wasn’t Henry VIII’s wife

3.      The 1^st Henry VIII’s wife was:

a.       Catherine of Aragon +

b.      Mary Boleyn

c.       Anne Boleyn

d.      Jane Seymour

4.      The name of Anne, Mary & George’ s mother was

a.       Kristin

b.      Catherine

c.       Elizabeth +

d.      Victoria

5.      Mary Boleyn had been married:

a.       Hadn’t been married

b.      Once

c.       Twice +

d.      Three times

6.      The 1^st Henry VIII’s child was:

a.       Edward

b.      Elizabeth

c.       Philip

d.      Mary +

7.      Anne Boleyn was:

a.       Beheaded +

b.      Imprisoned till the end of her life

c.       Exiled to France

d.      Was the wife of Henry VIII till the death of Henry VIII

8.      Mary Boleyn’ last marriage was with:

a.       William Carey

b.      William Stafford +

c.       Henry Percy

d.      Thomas Howard

9.      Catherine of Aragon gave birth to:

a.       A girl +

b.      A boy

c.       Twins

d.      Boy & girl

10.  Mary Boleyn gave birth to:

a.       A Henry VIII’s legitimate daughter

b.      A Henry VIII’s legitimate son

c.       A Henry VIII’s illegitimate daughter

d.      A Henry VIII’s illegitimate son +

1) Henry VIII established new church of England . (T)

2) Ann was the youngest child in the family. ( F) - Her sister Mary was the youngest.

3) Catherine of Aragon managed to give birth to a boy. (F) - She gave birth to a daughter Mary.

4) Ann Boleyn was the third legal wife of the king. (F) – She was the second legal wife.

5) Mary gave birth to illegitimate son. (T)

6) Henry was obliged to break off relations with Catholic Church. (T)

7) Ann Boleyn gave birth to twins. (F) – She gave birth to daughter Elizabeth.

8) George Boleyn was accused of incest. (T)

9) George Boleyn was imprisoned. (F) - He was executed.

10) Ann Boleyn was beheaded. (T)

 Adamovich Sofia and Popova Arina

Analysis

On the first step we analyzed mentifacts (the ideas, beliefs, and values that people hold).

Speaking about Russia of the 16^th century we should mention about most people’s society position – they were serfs. It meant the maximum limit of political and civil rights; at the same time serfs maintained individual and property rights and their lives were kept by the law.

Spiritual life of society was determined by religious ideology. In particular, norms of Christian morals had huge impact on family life, marriage and education of children. At this time the role of the head of the family, the father, was extremely great. It represented a family as a whole in all its external functions. In a family the power of the head was almost unlimited. He disposed property and destinies of each of his members.

Russian people had big families consisted of several generations of parents and children. Speaking about marriages, we should stress that the restrictions for marriage were quite rigid. First of all in the social relations which were regulated by customs. Moreover, divorce was pretty difficult. The Orthodox church allowed one person to marry no more than three times.

Political thought of problems of that time: about character and a government essence, about church, about a place of Russia among other countries, etc.

After analysis of sociofacts in this film we came to the conclusion that situations in England of the 16^th century and Russia of the 16^th century were very similar. It was time of two cruel rulers – Henry VIII (England) and Ivan IV (Russia).  

It was very important for the king or the tsar to have a son as an heir. But we can see difference between these two countries: Russia of the 10^th century was ruled by Princess Olga, when England had never been ruled by a woman. Unfortunately, in spite of this fact the society of the 16^th century couldn’t imagine a woman on the throne. For people it was an established stereotype of a man as a head of the state. Then their stereotype had been broken after the reins of Queen Elizabeth I in England and Empress Catherine I in Russia.

In that time a man was a head of the family, who worked, made crucial decisions, chose rich husbands with high social status for their daughters with the purpose of achievement of the best life and found well-paid jobs for sons to raise a status of the family.

In our country people had special old traditions: sing national songs with their visitors, dance, play musical instruments and have feasts with skomorokhs. In England dinners with guests were not so sincere, they were more intelligent with playing classical musical instruments, balls and polite conversations.  

The main difference between England and Russia of the 16^th century was religion, which influenced a lot of customs, traditions and views of people. Englishmen had the Catholic church, and the king was under the pressure of pope until Henry VIII had become the head of the government and the Catholic church. In that time Russian had the Orthodox church, and the tsar had the power over the government, but not the church.

This comparison of main sociofacts of the 16^th century in England and Russia helps us to see the difference of development of these powerful countries and understand the influence of traditions and customs of that time to our today’s life. It is the same as in 16^th century in many cases. In England we can see the royal family and the Catholic church, when in Russia we have presidents, who all are men, and the Orthodox church.   

After all we compared artifacts of England and Russia of the 16^th century. By the influence of two powerful leaders a lot of cultural things were similar in these countries of that time.

Portraits of kings and rich people help us to bring much information about artifacts of the 16^th century. We saw luxurious jewellery, symbols of power and splendid costumes of kings and their subjects. Indeed, silver, copper and tin tableware was very popular.

Moreover, a lot of people lived in two-storeyed houses, but in Russia people preferred wood to stone, when in England it was quiet on the contrary.

One of the most important artifacts was books. The members of a British royal family in their marvelous castle have impressive libraries with a huge amount of books with amazing drawn illustrations. The same picture we can see in Alexandrov Kremlin, where the tsar kept priceless books, a lot of which were written by monks and had old leather covers.

In conclusion, we want to concentrate student’s attention that it was not a huge amount of differences between life in England and Russia in the 16^th century according to the film “The Other Boleyn Girl”. After our analysis we understood that two main distinctions are religion and mentality. Today we can notice changes in these countries in many spheres (political, social, economical, ect.), which have made them completely different.     

Ann Aristova and Ann Lebihova