From the BBC:

A 15th Century hall once owned by Henry VIII has opened its doors.
Work to rescue the dilapidated Grade I listed Apethorpe Hall has been carried out by English Heritage after it was labelled an “irreplaceable treasure”.

The comment was made in 2004 by then Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell after the Northants site was recommended for compulsory purchase by the government.

Tours around the hall for visitors are being run by English Heritage, as it nears the completion of £4m repairs.

Apethorpe Hall and estate, dating from 1470, deteriorated after it was left empty since 1982.

Full article

English Heritage website for the restoration project

(tip of the cap to Kathy for the BBC link)

I’ve been having quite a bit of trouble getting my various TudorHistory blogs to publish since Sunday. I’ve been reading through the Blogger help groups and it appears that a lot of other folks are having the same issues. I tried one strange thing with the TudorCast blog which actually worked, although it then did NOT work when I tried to put up a post explaining why the podcast was two days late.

Now I’m going to try the same trick with this blog, so let’s see if this works… It’s obvious that there is still a big underlying problem at Blogger, so posting might still be a bit spotty until it is fixed.

A few more books of interest will be coming out shortly…

First up, another book on Katherine Swynford, ancestor of the Tudors through the Beaufort line. It will be out in October in the US and appears to already be out in the UK.

And next is a book on George Boleyn’s infamous wife Jane, Lady Rochford. For some reason two versions are showing up at Amazon.uk, so I’ve linked to both below. One is available for purchase now and another is due out in . The US version is due in December.

Thanks to Kate for mentioning the book on Jane!

Amazon.com has put a release date on DVD set for the first season of “The Tudors” series from Showtime. It will be in January 8, 2008 for the US and December 10, 2007 for the UK.

I’m having trouble getting the affiliate link to work for the UK pre-order, but you can just go to this page for information.

Via Bitsofnews.com

And at a pretty good price too! I only have these on video tape, so I might have to grab this set for myself at some point:

It’s always nice to see people taking interest in some of the previously “behind the scenes” people in Tudor history!

Information on the book and its launch is available at BlancheParry.com

From The Guardian:

The Anglo-Saxon kings, newly restored and on public display for the first time in 500 years, gaze out regally, showing no signs of having spent a century walled up in an outside lavatory in Kent.

The kings are among the treasures which the Society of Antiquaries is putting on display to celebrate its 330th birthday, in the galleries of its next door neighbour, the Royal Academy. The imposing but eccentric collection includes Tudor royal portraits described by David Starkey, an expert on the history of the period, as “staggering”[.]

…

The life size paintings of Athelstan, and another unidentified Anglo Saxon king, are also royal propaganda. They are completely fictional portraits, but were painted for Henry VII, probably for his great hall at Eltham Palace, to assert his own place in the pagaent of English history. They were rediscovered in 1813, turned back to front and used as wainscotting in an outside lavatory at Baston House in Kent, along with fragments of four other kings, all hacked to pieces to fit the wall space.

The exhibition runs through December.

Full article

Society of Antiquaries of London website

Update: Here’s another good article (with slideshow) from The Guardian

The Creative Emmys were announced and “The Tudors” picked up two: “Costumes for a Series” and “Original Main Title Theme Music”. Congrats!

As a follow-up to the article that I posted back in January, the first female Beefeater has now begun her work at the Tower of London.

Just a couple of articles:

From AP (including some great photos)

And from The Guardian