The Devil S Whore

The Devil S Whore
By Andrea Zuvich on Fri 1st Feb 2013 a.D. | 61,990 views | Comment
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The Devil’s Whore (2008) is a gorgeous four-part series set during the English Civil War which tells the tale of a beautiful teenaged girl, Angelica Fanshawe, who is rich, aristocratic, and lucky enough to be in the same social circles as King Charles I.
“The Devil’s Whore,” starring Andrea Riseborough.
She marries her best friend, Harry, who wants her to be submissive (rightly so, in this time period) when she is a free spirit. She believes she saw the Devil when she was a little girl, and he seems to appear again to her in times of crisis.
Harry Lloyd (famous for being Viserys Targaryen in Game of Thrones) is a very dashing Rupert of the Rhine in the first episode:
The story shows how Angelica touches the lives of all the men in her life (usually for the worse!) and her misadventures as she survives the tumultuous English Civil War era.
Most of the men she interacts with in the film are major historical figures from the time, including the aforementioned King Charles I, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Thomas Rainsborough, Edward Sexby, Oliver Cromwell, and John Lilburne. All these names are very recognisable to anyone who has made even the most rudimentary study of the English Civil War. The producers obviously had to pick a cast consisting of some very aesthetically-pleasing fellows (and Miss Riseborough is very lovely):
Michael Fassbender as Thomas Rainsborough, John Simm as Edward Sexby, and Dominic West as Oliver Cromwell.
As I watched the show, I thought that the landscape that was shot did not look English at all because the colours were completely wrong. I later looked up filming locations and the whole thing was filmed in South Africa. Apparently, producers incredibly thought that they were unable to find “old English” locations in England, which anyone who has gone through the huge amount of beautiful English countryside will tell you is a load of rubbish. The Wikipedia article on the film states that there was a great deal of negativity surrounding this decision, and I agree – it seems ridiculous to fly out all the actors and crew to Africa when there is so much gorgeous English countryside. Anyway, back to the film…
Angelica goes through some very hard times…
As a result of a very bad situation, Angelica adopts men’s clothing and becomes known as The Devil’s Whore, for reasons I shouldn’t divulge. She befriends Sexby, who has been in love with her since she married Harry. She doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. I found this storyline very moving – more so than any of the others in the series.
She begins a relationship with Rainsborough, played by a drool-worthy Michael Fassbender.
Michael Fassbender and Andrea Riseborough as Rainsborough and Angelica.
But her old problems catch up with her and threaten to ruin her new life. I quite enjoyed the juxtaposition of real life, supernatural, and historical in the series.
Besides the problem with the location, I thought the series had a modern feminist bias, especially with regard to her relationship with her first husband, Harry. Women in the seventeenth century were supposed to be submissive and yet they show this fact in a very negative light. We live in different times, to be sure, but by saying what they did back then was wrong is judging history through our 21st century minds, and this is wrong. Whilst there were some women, like the Cavendish sisters, and later, Aphra Behn, who were writers – they were not the norm at the time. And, lest we forget, people in the past did what they thought was right at the time, just as much as people now think they are in the right. I always agree with what Lady Louisa Stuart wrote:
“To judge fairly of those who lived long before us…we should put quite apart both the usages and the notions of our own age…and strive to adopt for the moment such as prevailed in theirs.”
Anyway, the film is visually stunning, with excellent costumes, a moving soundtrack, a well-written script, and all acted very well. West’s Cromwell was believable as the man who overthrew a king to rule in his stead. Peter Capaldi (the newest Doctor Who) as King Charles I was magnetic – he brought Charles to life, with his stuttering, his stubbornness, and his humanity as he approached the scaffold.
Next, The Devil’s Whore seemed to glorify the ideologies of the Levellers, the Diggers, and other rather extremist groups of the English Civil War era, and made the Royalists/Cavaliers look weak and evil. One scene in particular made Charles I look like a heartless, evil man, which he most certainly was not.
Seen through the eyes of Angelica Fanshawe, the series touches on numerous major events in mid-17th Century history, from the events leading up to the English Civil War, to the trial and execution of Charles I, through the Interregnum, and even Cromwell’s death:
Despite the few things that irked me, which I mentioned above, I really enjoyed watching this series. It was beautiful to watch, and I found the ending very moving. To be honest, it made me weep!
A sequel, New Worlds, is now being planned, which you can read about here . I certainly look forward to seeing it!
If you love periwigs as much as I do, you'll love this film. Periwigs galore! Set during the late Seventeenth century, The King's Whore (1990) also known as La putain du roi, or La puttana del re, is based on the true story of French-born Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, Countess of…
Happy Christmas! The Christmas tree, the carolling, the feasting with friends and family - all this is the result of an amalgamation of cultural practices since even before the birth of Christ. This holiday has had its share of controversy over the past two thousand years, most notably (for me,…
Many of you know that I was eagerly anticipating this programme ever since I heard about it. I am always so pleased when filmmakers decide to set a story in the 17th-century. The more programmes and films that are made about this time period will make it as popular as…
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Andrea Zuvich is a historian specialising in the Stuart period (1603-1714). She is also a historical consultant (for film, radio, & TV), an authoress, and an audiobook narrator.
September 2022: Currently unavailable for work due to ill health.
Enamoured with the Seventeenth Century?

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This post comes to us from our friend Laurel Marr. Though with a scornful wonder […]
This post comes to us from our friend Laurel Marr.
Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed:
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song!
(The Church’s One Foundation, v. 3)
Can the right amount of faith remove the suffering and sickness that interferes with our daily lives and our ability to faithfully serve our neighbor? Francis MacNutt, a pioneer and a well-respected expert in the revival of the “ministry of healing,” suggests in his book Healing that by exercising faith, we can work to “Christianize” and in turn better society, as “God cannot play on a broken violin.” He claims a cross such as suffering or sickness should not be accepted as something we must bear in the Christian life when, because of Jesus Christ, we have the power to overcome it. According to MacNutt, if belief in Jesus, the son of God, grants us the forgiveness of sin “as long as we do our part and repent” then we must learn how to apply this same faith for healing since Christ not only took upon himself all of our sin, but our sickness, too. In his book he quotes Rufus Mosely: “I was put on a cross of bliss–while He had been put on a cross of agony.”
In reading healing accounts in the Gospel, this might seem true, but common sense does not get us very far in understanding God’s word (Not to mention the false ideas conceived of God and prayer when we think he might say “no” to our request for healing). Martin Luther calls “natural reason” the “devil’s whore” when understanding the purpose of the Law and its relationship to the Gospel. When the scriptures exhort us to “Believe!” this doesn’t mean we can so God graciously gives us what He commands. Is the devil at work in contemporary healing prayer ministry divorcing the creative work of Christ and his cross?
To summarize Acts 3:1-16: A man lame from birth was laid daily at the gate of the temple so he could ask for alms from those entering the Temple. As Peter and John were entering the temple, Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” He took him by the right hand and raised him up. This crippled man’s feet and ankles were made strong and he entered the temple with Peter and John walking and leaping and praising God. Peter tells the crowd watching with amazement that faith in the name of the one whom God raised from the dead made this man strong that “Faith in the name of Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.”
Reason might want us to take the story of Peter healing a crippled beggar as a literal direction for healing prayer, but this story is the story of us! “We are beggars, this is true” . These words of Luther were found written on a scrap of paper in his pocket as he lay dying. Martin Luther knew man’s sinful condition and would agree with the words of the Apostle Paul: “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.” (1 Tim 1:15)
“Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘rise and walk’?” (Mt 9:5)
The greater miracle that the healing of the sick and the casting out of demons points to is that Jesus has the authority to forgive sin and to deliver us from the devil’s power. This is the Kingdom mission. God’s new creation is coming through the work of Christ. It is not up to us to transform society through healing by faith. The meaning of these Kingdom parables is our response in faith to the message of repentance (to change one’s mind).
God has rescued you in the person of Jesus Christ, conquering sin and death. He has justified you and restored you to perfect health with Christ’s righteousness and His grace restores you to faith. The Holy Spirit works in the Word of God to raise us up as new believers in Christ. Because the Law exposes the spiritually bankrupt condition of the old creature that does not believe, we are driven to Christ for the salvation we cannot attain on our own. The new creature, raised up in faith, believes in Christ who mirrors the heart of the gracious God who saves sinners. But as this faith uncovers the truth about us and we recognize we are beggars, the old self fights back in unbelief, and we view the cross as if it is transparent–we look beyond it for a less painful truth about ourselves. But there is none. Eventually the reality of our sinful self becomes as tangible as the heavy wood of the cross.
Carrying my own cross has caused me to see that I am anything but faithful. I am always running after a god other than the One who died for me. Contrary to MacNutt, the only chance at faithfully serving my neighbor is by way of the faithful son who died to set me free – through him working in me. I can do nothing good on my own.
When faith is put to our uses for salvation and healing, we are only pointed away from the truth. There is a danger in believing that we have not been made whole in our baptism, for it sends us out believing that we must do something more . Faith is a gift from God, from the One who is faithful! The Holy Spirit exercises, strengthens, increases, and perfects this faith through the Word of God. Faith believes the Gospel promise and faith trusts in the God who bestows His grace-giving rise to hope in the promise of resurrection and a new creation.
The remedy for our condition is rest. It is in the agony of the cross of Christ that God seeks you to make you His own. The claims of contemporary healing ministry misdiagnose the real disease: our addiction to sin. When superficial healing prayer promises fail, the Great Physician has a better cure in mind.
‘Mid toil and tribulation
and tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forever more;
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Till, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blest
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.
(The Church’s One Foundation, v. 4)
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Set between the years 1642 and 1660, "The Devil's Whore" charts the progress of the English Civil War through the eyes of the a 17 year old girl, the fictional Angelica Fanshawe.

320 mins

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Look I just watched all of MF's scenes in this and I take back everything I said about him with a beard because wow
I mean, if Forrest Gump, instead of having scoliosis in post-war Alabama, held a driving desire to interrogate the true meaning of faith and its place in the state against the backdrop of the English Civil War, you'd probably get The Devil's Whore . There's a similar historical-tour warping of the plot, which has many more hours to become even more improbable - I think Andrea Riseborough gets hit on by both Charles I and Oliver Cromwell? The internal combustion powering this thing is really John Simm, and his noble, tortured, long-suffering Twue Wove for Riseborough's fallen lady, so if tortured anti-heroes are your romantic ideal, then this series will really work for you. For the rest of us, it is…
When this was first broadcast 10 years ago it was little more than a darkly entertaining historical drama about the tumultuous and seemingly apocalyptic events surrounding the English Civil War and the reign of Cromwell.
Watching it again now, and it's like a manual for what lies ahead in 2019.
She might be the devils whore but I surely am Michael fassbender's
Let’s say, you have a streaming service. Let’s say, hypothetically, you have Amazon Prime even. Okay, and if you were Amazon, you would also own IMBd Pro, right? Then hypothetically speaking if you had an Amazon Prime subscription you would also have one for IMDb Pro. Now that we’ve established that Amazon is both Amazon Prime and IMDb Pro, then I believe you'd agreed with me when I say that they're shouldn't be fucking ads when I try to watch something that's only available on IMDb pro.
I watched this to cross something else off my Fassbender list: 1. The filmmaking, execution, and writing are sub-par throughout but there are effective moments. The deaths of…
the devil’s whore indeed… the whore being me, the devil being michael fassbender
I didnt cry I'm not a pussy I didnt cry
The story is a little too Forrest Gump in the English Civil War for its own good, but it's still enjoyable. Andrea Riseborough is a great center to a wide orbit of stories and characters, though Peter Capaldi (while looking the part) seems miscast. The best part of all of this though is the cinematographer's penchant for artistic framing and wonderfully textured coloration. And it's suuuper brutal and for a miniseries about war and how it destroys, that's well done.
TV-movie in four parts, in which the life and times of Angelica Fanshawe are recounted for; a fictional character that in this story has high involvement in 17:th century British politics. Oliver Cromwell is the key player in this historical drama, but I feel it is hard to judge how much of this really is authentic reenactment and to what level plot elements are made up or exaggerated.
Even though I enjoyed the near four hours the narrative follows the one of any TV-production: it is drawn out and filled with unnecessary fluff.
im not wasting two years of my life doing a level history for this cpr? really?? what the fuck was this honestly

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