These should probably each get a post of their own, but I’m being lazy…

First, from The Independent:

The way we used to eat: The Tudor kitchen

They didn’t have tomatoes, potatoes – or chocolate. So what did the Tudors cook? Tim Walker steps back in time to find out

Jorge Kelman, a stout fellow in 16th century garb – which includes a codpiece – breaks off from straining his aromatic apple purée to make sure I note this down correctly: “The Tudors did not disguise raw meat with spices,” he insists. “I can’t tell you how many people get that wrong.” His colleague Mark Hawtree, whose face is framed by a beard like a bawdy Shakespearean actor’s, can’t help but join in. “What would be the point?” he says. Nutmeg, he has just explained, was sourced by the Tudors from an island 600 miles north of Australia: at least one very long sea voyage from London. “Spices were expensive. Meat was cheap. It wouldn’t make any sense!”
…
Hampton Court is gearing up to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession next year, so today we’re revisiting the 1530s, following the instructions of A Noble Book of Cookery, one of just two surviving cook books published under Henry’s rule. “The books are ambiguous,” Meltonville explains. “They have no measurements; they just say take this and that, put them together and cook it. They aren’t like modern cookery books – they’re a cook’s aide-memoire.”

Full article

Next up, from This is London, Elizabethan silver items going up for auction:

Carpetright founder Lord Harris of Peckham is set to add to his fortune when the items are auctioned at Christie’s next month,

Items under the hammer include a rare Elizabethan ostrich-egg cup and cover, known as The Whitfield Cup, which is expected to fetch up to £800,000. The carved 26in-high object was made in 1590 by Elizabeth I’s jeweller, John Spilman of London, at a time when ostrich eggs were prized.

Full article

And finally, a story on the Elizabethan inspiration for James Bond, from The Telegraph:

A diary has come to light detailing the exploits of John Bond, an Elizabethan secret agent whose family motto is “Non Sufficit Orbis” – The World Is Not Enough.

The Bond family are based in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, where Fleming went to prep school.
It was here, at the Durnford School, that he first started hearing Boy’s Own stories that inspired his most famous creation.

Experts believe he would have picked up the legendary tales of John Bond whose family are extremely well known in the area.

The journal, which has remained in the family but has previously been unseen in public, was written by Denis Bond, John Bond’s son.

Full article

My friend Heather Thomas, who runs ElizabethI.org, is making arrangements to have flowers sent to Hatfield to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne. If you would like to contribute, please visit her website for more information: http://www.elizabethi.org/flowers.html

The deadline is this Saturday, November 1.

Regular commenter Foose has been “live blogging” her read of Starkey’s new work on Henry VIII over on the Q&A blog. If anyone is interested, here is the link to the thread. Feel free to join in!

As most of you probably know by now, I’m a big fan of the project to recreate the Elizabethan gardens at Kenilworth Castle, based on archaeology and the accounts from Elizabeth’s famous visit in 1575.

Here’s an article from Building Design online about the architecture firm doing the gardens and the project in general, including some neat pictures (small version of one of them above).

In 1575, Elizabeth I’s summer progress arrived at Kenilworth Castle where she spent 19 days as the guest of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester. She was greeted by a display of opulence unrivalled at the time, including pageants, music, dancing, fireworks, hunting and feasting. Dudley, still hoping to persuade the queen to marry him, had added a suite of luxurious apartments to the medieval castle and created a pleasure garden, a sensual paradise with a 5.5m-high marble fountain at its centre, abundant scented flowers and fruits, shady arbours and a bejewelled aviary. But Dudley’s first wife had died in suspicious circumstances and he was unpopular at court, so despite his considerable efforts, the queen refused him.

No drawing of the garden survives and following the civil war, part of the castle’s keep was pulled down, covering the garden and destroying the original layout.

A Tudor garden was laid out in the 1970s, but archaeological excavations showed it to be an inaccurate representation of the original. After five years of work by historians, archaeologists, designers and gardeners, in May 2009 a £2 million recreation of the garden will be complete. Richard Griffiths Architects has co-ordinated the design, continuing its work at the castle, which has included restoration of the 16th century stables and a new green oak-framed admissions building.

Read the full article here

The “Tudor portraits on your knickers” that I mentioned back in February, are now available for purchase.

Twisted Twee is now selling the pants it designed for Betty Jackson direct to retailers. The pants, which feature the faces of historical figures such as Henry VIII, first appeared on the runway at Jackson’s show at London Fashion Week in February.

Full article (with photo… you know you want to look!)

And the Twisted Twee site, where you can buy some for yourself (if you’re willing to shell out £20!) Personally I think the kids’ version with the faces on your backside is even funnier.

From the Telegraph Online:

Among the eminent people added this month to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (that endless labyrinth stuffed with curiosities) is a woman from the Tudor age who stands out for the strength of her perseverance against calamities. Her name was Katherine Palmer.

She was born early in the reign of Henry VIII. Her mother’s family had lived at Ightham Mote, the stone, timber and moated house in Kent, now in the care of the National Trust. Katherine gave up life among the gentry to join the monastery of Syon at Isleworth, on the Thames, where the Duke of Northumberland’s house now stands.

Syon was unusual because it was ruled by a woman, as a double foundation of 60 nuns, and a separate house of 24 brothers, some of whom acted as chaplains to the nuns. At this abbey, each half walled around in its own cloisters, nuns and monks lived a life of contemplative prayer.

…

These houses of prayer, trusted by successive kings and least in need of reform, were among the first targets for Henry VIII’s resentment over the matter of the divorce of Katharine of Aragon and his desire for plunder. Richard Reynolds, a monk of Syon, was hanged, drawn and quartered along with the Prior of the London Charterhouse and his fellows on May 4 1535.

Syon held together until 1539, when it was suppressed through Thomas Cromwell’s energy. Alone among English nunneries of which we have records, the sisters continued to live as best they could under the rule of their foundress in small groups, at first in England, then abroad. Katherine Palmer was a leader in these attempts.

Full article

Tip o’ the wimple to Foose for the recommendation of the article

Makes me wonder what other treasures are still waiting to be found in these country houses!

From The Times Online:

A portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, completed just months after she came to the throne, has been found in a dusty and dirty condition in a country house in East Sussex.

Elizabeth became queen 450 years ago next month. The picture shows her as a simply dressed woman in her mid-twenties with a pale face. It is a far cry from later portraits where she is depicted in full regalia after defeating the Spanish Armada.

Its discovery is being hailed by historians because only two other portraits of Elizabeth in the first few years of her reign are known to exist. There are many from later in her reign, including 10 in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Even more tantalising is that x-rays of the painting have revealed another, earlier picture of the queen beneath.

Full article (with photo of the portrait and the x-ray)

From Mail Online:

Archaeologists working at Hampton Court Palace have uncovered the earliest foundations ever found at King Henry VIII’s famous royal residence.

The significant 13th century building remains predate any other finds made at the palace by nearly 200 years.

The unexpected discoveries were made during excavations as part of a project to recreate Henry VIII’s Tudor 16th century courtyards.

Stone foundations and walls of a substantial medieval structure measuring 10metres by 25metres were found in Base Court, the largest interior courtyard of the Tudor palace.

….

The project to represent Base Court for the 500th anniversary of King Henry VIII’s accession to the throne will be complete by March 2009.

This will then herald the beginning of a series of exhibitions, events and activities to mark the historic anniversary.

Full article (with some neat overhead pictures of the excavations)

From Metro.co.uk

If portraits capture not just appearance but the soul then what are we to make of the cherubically grinning, charmingly animated features of a young Henry VIII? Guido Mazzoni’s Laughing Boy is believed to be a bust of the chubby-faced prince – and if the portrait’s soul-penetrating properties are to be believed, moral corruption seems a long way off.

Full article (short, but I chose this one because it has a nice photo of the bust mentioned above)

National Gallery website

I was going to pass on this particular story since it will probably end up being one that is a bunch of talk that nothing ever comes of, but I couldn’t resist pointing out the historical error at the start of the article.

From the BBC:

A Nationalist MSP has called for the remains of Mary Queen of Scots to be returned to Scotland.

The Catholic monarch’s body has lain at Westminster Abbey in London since she was executed on the orders of her cousin Elizabeth I of England in 1587.

South of Scotland MSP Christine Grahame is to make a motion to the Scottish Parliament later this week demanding the body be repatriated.

Composer James MacMillan and Lib Dem MSP Hugh O’Donnell backed the call.

The phrasing implies that Mary was buried at the Abbey right after her execution, which isn’t correct – she was originally buried at Peterborough Cathedral. Her body was moved to Westminster Abbey during her son James I’s reign. Oh well, I guess I should just be glad that they didn’t call her “Bloody Mary” or say that she was Elizabeth I’s sister, both of which are errors I’ve caught in news articles before.

Full article

Edited to add: Just in case anyone reads the sentence up at the top and thinks that I *do* want something to come of it, I want to clarify that I don’t. James wanted his mother buried in the Abbey and that’s where I think she should stay.

Regular readers will know that I get a kick out of Tudor/Elizabethan references in popular culture, so I thought this little bit of “The Starter Wife” where Debra Messing imagines herself as Elizabeth I was cute. You can see the clip here or by clicking on the screen capture above.

Tip of the red-colored wig to Sonja Marie for the link!

The Westminster Abbey choir will be performing a concert on Nov. 20 to mark the 450th anniversary of Mary I’s death and Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne, and will be releasing a CD of period music. More details here.

You can order the CD through Amazon US and UK here:

(Thanks to TudorRose for the info!)

With the news that Cambridge and Oxford have joined in, I thought it was time to bring attention to iTunesU for anyone who hasn’t heard of it before now. Basically, colleges and universities have started joining in with Apple to podcast audio and video of lectures, as well as information about their schools for potential students, etc. Some universities have been doing things like this through their own websites, but having them all under one umbrella at iTunes is pretty useful.

I haven’t had a chance to check for any Tudor history specific lectures yet, so if anyone finds some please post them in the comments. I downloaded the 50 minute “Monarchy” lecture by David Starkey (over 400MB!) from Cambridge but I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet.

I originally blogged about this item back in August, although the original auction date and estimated price have changed.

From The BBC:

The only known surviving chain of office from the time of Henry VIII is being put up for auction.

The king gave the gold Coleridge Collar to one of his closest advisers, Sir Edward Montagu, around 1546.

The chains showed allegiance to the monarch and the intricacy of the design and quality of the metal signified the status of the wearer.

It is expected to fetch £300,000 when it goes under the hammer at Christie’s in London on 6 November.

Full article (with photograph)

And a second article from The Telegraph with a couple of close-up photos.

Here’s a neat article from The Telegraph that caught my eye last week:

The grim and impressive ruined battlements of Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire seem an unlikely setting for a garden of fragrance. But if English Heritage’s latest restoration project goes to plan, visitors moving from the dank environs of the Norman Keep into the light will be greeted by a waft of spicy clove scent, just as Elizabeth I was when she visited in July 1575.
…
John Watkins, head of gardens and landscapes at English Heritage, is patiently unpicking the genetic profile of a prized carnation that will occupy pedestalled clay pots at the top and bottom of the stairs. His study of engravings of contemporary gardens by Dutchman Hans Vredeman de Vries revealed that urns bearing plant rarities appear in strategic spots – and in some he could discern a trelliswork of willow holding carnations at nose height.

“The carnation was very much a fashionable plant at the time, introduced in 1540,” says Watkins. “It came over from the Turkish court and was probably Dianthus caryophyllus, the true carnation found in mountains around the Mediterranean. The true carnation has a very distinct, spicy nutmeg-clove fragrance. The pinks we know today are much sweeter.”

Full article

First, the excerpt, at the Times Online:

David Starkey offers a fresh vision of Henry VIII

Before he was a brutal dictator, he was a virtuous king: in a new biography, David Starkey offers a fresh vision of Henry VIII

Henry and I go back a long way.

My first essays at Cambridge were on his grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. My doctoral dissertation was a study of his privy chamber and its staff. One of them, William Compton, has a part here.

Full excerpt

And next is John Guy’s review of the book, also from The Times online:

Here, ready for the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession, is the first volume of David Starkey’s two-volume life of the king, which has been eagerly awaited for at least 10 years. “The point is this,” he explains. “There are two Henrys … the one old, the other young.” The mature king, the one everyone recognises from Holbein’s spectacular paintings, is the “hulking tyrant, with a face like Humpty Dumpty of nightmare”. The other Henry is different: “young, handsome … slim, athletic, musical and learned as no English ruler had been for centuries”.

Full review

And finally, a link to Amazon UK (still nothing on a US release as far as I could find):

Hopefully the final time for a while!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I’ll be moving into my new place this weekend and will check in to approve comments and post news when time allows. I’m not in as much of a rush in this move, since I don’t have to clear out so someone else can move in, like with the first one. I’m probably going to float between the two places for the next week since I haven’t set up the cable and internet at the new place yet. Boy will I be happy when this is finished!