Okay folks, here’s your chance to ask Sandra Worth some questions! I’ll collect questions in the comments through the end of the day Wednesday, December 3rd, and then Sandra will reply in a guest post on the blog (instead of in the comments). If you’ve already thrown out a question in the previous posts about her new book, please submit them again here too so I can collect them all in one place.

Previous related posts:
http://tudorhistory.org/blog/2008/11/11/the-kings-daughter-by-sandra-worth/

http://tudorhistory.org/blog/2008/11/23/more-on-the-kings-daughter-by-sandra-worth/

[Dec. 4 - Comments are now closed. Stay tuned for Sandra's answers!]

It’s so strange… I could have sworn that I posted this to the blog, but a search of the archives shows that I didn’t. I *did* post it over on the Movies and TV page, but not here. I remember a discussion of it, but it must have been on TudorTalk. Oh well, here it is now, if a bit late.

The Twisted Tale of Bloody Mary

Check out the site for a trailer, more about the film and ordering information.

(Thanks to Marty for the reminder!)

A virtual tour of the Young Henry VIII exhibition at Hampton Court Palace is now available on their website. For people like me stuck on the other side of the Atlantic, it is as close as I can get to seeing it in person. There are some neat paintings on display there and you can enlarge and zoom them. The rooms themselves are gorgeous too (I’m a sucker for old wood-paneled rooms).

Thanks to Tudor J. for the link and for creating such a great site!

From The BBC:

A mysterious Renaissance portrait has been identified as a painting of infamous Italian femme fatale Lucrezia Borgia by artist Dosso Dossi.

Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria said it could be the only surviving painted portrait of Lucrezia.
…
The painting will go on public display identified as Dossi’s Lucrezia Borgia later this week, following years of painstaking research, the gallery said.
…
“It has been very exciting to unlock the secrets of this beautiful and enigmatic painting, which now has unique standing in view of the fame of its sitter and the strength of the artist,” said Mr Villis.

“Generations of art historians have attempted to identify portraits of Lucrezia Borgia, but this appears to be the only one which contains direct personal references to this intriguing historical figure.

Full article (with image)

Lucrezia Borgia is yet another one of those interesting Tudor-period contemporaries that I need to read more about. Tip of the French hood to Kathy for the link!

Consider this is a teaser for our upcoming open thread with the author, which will probably be during the US Thanksgiving break (Nov. 27-30). Start thinking of questions!

From Sandra Worth:

My Dear Readers,

I’m back with a new book due out December 2nd– just in time for Christmas! THE KING’S DAUGHTER: A NOVEL OF THE FIRST TUDOR QUEEN is about Elizabeth of York who you may remember closed out the epilogue in the last book of The Rose of York trilogy. You may think there’s not much more to learn about her than what you already know. You may think there’s not much more to learn about her than what you already know, but new details and research have shed light on this forgotten queen. Her story is amazing — and shocking!

What intrigued me most about Elizabeth before I began my research was how much mystery clings to her– how little is really known about her How could this be? Sister to the Princes in the Tower and mother of Henry VIII, the first Tudor queen lived at the epicenter of momentous events. So why does she hover barely visible on the fringes of history?

In fact, so little was known about her that her biographer had to resort to novelistic techniques in order to fill in the gaps of her life–the first time this was ever done! So I went researching, and slowly I found the clues I needed to explain the questions that troubled me.

Some of the questions were addressed in Richard’s story, The Rose of York, but others are downright curious. For example, why has so little survived of Elizabeth when so much is known about her husband, Henry VII, her son Henry VIII, and even her mother-in-law, Margaret Beaufort? Did the Tudors keep her captive, and why should she be a threat to them? Did she believe the Pretender, Perkin Warbeck, was really her lost brother, Richard, Duke of York–and was Henry VII in love with the Pretender’s wife?

I’ve included some reviews for you below. I hope you will read THE KING’S DAUGHTER and remember that it makes a great Christmas gift for family and friends who enjoy historical fiction. Write me when you’ve read it! You know how much I love hearing from you. Meanwhile, if you’re in the Houston area, I hope you can stop by one of my two booksignings so I can sign it for you. The information is below. I hope to see you there.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Season’s Greetings, and a very, very Happy New Year!

Sandra Worth

Reviews:
From the publisher: “In this groundbreaking novel, award-winning author Sandra Worth vibrantly brings to life the people’s Queen, “Elizabeth the Good.”

From The Romantic Times: “Worth’s authentically detailed portrait of Elizabeth of York — the daughter, niece, wife and mother of kings — whose marriage to Henry VII ended the War of the Roses, displays the author’s passion for the period and her adoration of her characters. She turns what might be an ordinary fictionalized biography into a banquet of simply luscious and delicious history.”

From Michelle Moran, author of the national bestseller, Nefertiti: A Novel: “Meticulously researched, exquisitely written, here is a rich, magnificent novel of the Tudor court evoking a once forgotten queen, now impossible to forget.”

Book signing information:

The River Oaks Book Store
Thursday, December 4th, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
3270 Westheimer Road
Houston, Texas 77098
(713) 520-0061
Signed copies available by phone order.

Barnes and Noble
Saturday, December 13th, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Galleria
5000 Westheimer Ste 100
Houston, TX 77056
(713) 629-8828

I love it when astronomy, archaeology, forensics and history come together!

From The BBC:

Researchers in Poland say they have solved a centuries-old mystery and identified the remains of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

A comparison of DNA from a skeleton in Poland and strands of the astronomer’s hair found in a book in Sweden almost certainly confirm it is his skeleton.

Archaeologists found the skeleton in north-eastern Poland three years ago in a cathedral where Copernicus lived.
…
Three years ago, archaeologists dug up a skull and partial remains of a man aged about 70, Copernicus’ age when he died, near an altar at the cathedral.

Jerzy Gassowski, the leader of the archaeologists’ team, said forensic facial reconstruction of the skull found that it bore a striking resemblance to existing portraits of the father of modern astronomy.

Scientists then matched the DNA from one of the skull’s teeth and a femur bone with two strands of Copernicus’ hair.

Full article

Article from The Guardian

Post from 2005 about the initial discovery

I have to admit that I was kind of amused at how they had to put in that the house was originally owned by someone related to Anne Boleyn. I guess they know what grabs the eyeballs these days! Well, and it is what caused the article to show up on my Google alerts…

From the BBC:

Prince Charles may have only recently bought his first home in Wales, but its royal connections go back centuries, an historian has discovered.

The original owner of Llwynywermod in Carmarthenshire was related to the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn.

Mark Baker, of Prestatyn, Denbighshire, unravelled the history of what was once one of Wales’ finest homes.
…
“I have uncovered that [the house] goes back to about the 13th or 14th Centuries when it was owned by relatives of Anne Boleyn, Henry V111’s second wife.

“And the Griffies-Williams family in the early 18th century were quite close to the royals and received a baronetcy.
…
Mr Baker said the house’s renaissance only began about 10 years ago when the previous owner John and Patricia Hegarty bought the farm and land for £352,000.

They began a restoration project before selling the estate to the Duchy of Cornwall in 2006.

Mr Baker said that now only the medieval kitchen and about 60% of the walls of the original mansion of the estate remained, but he hoped it could be restored under royal ownership.

“It really is one of the lost houses of Wales,” he said.

Full article

Remaining section of the Old Palace at Hatfield – Elizabeth’s residence when she became Queen.

“A Dominum factum est illud, et est mirabile in oculis notris”
“It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes” – 118th Psalm

According to legend, these are the words that Elizabeth said upon hearing that her sister Mary had died and she was now Queen of England. I got a message from Heather at ElizabethI.org that the flowers we were collecting for have been sent. I doubt we’ll get a picture, but if we do I’ll be sure to post it.

And since this is also the anniversary of Mary I’s death, I’d like to say Requiscat in Pace – Rest in Peace.

Update – The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has Elizabeth as the Life of the Day today.

This looks like fun (well, as fun as reading about women who you know met bad ends can be):

DOOMED QUEENS is a darkly humorous look at the dangers of being female and royal. Over the course of fifty illustrated and too-brief lives, it charts centuries of regal backstabbing and intrigue. Robin Maxwell, bestselling author of Mademoiselle Boleyn, described my book as “A smart, sassy overview of the ‘dark side’ of the crown and scepter. It makes a girl glad she was born a commoner.”

You can read an excerpt, watch the You Tube video, read an interview with the author and more at www.DoomedQueens.com. I also took the Facebook quiz and was delighted to find out that I’m “Decidedly not a Doomed Queen”.

And of course, the usual Amazon links below:

The article from the Telegraph focuses on Henry VIII’s letters to Anne Boleyn, but I’m sure a lot of you know what other treasures are in those papers. Being able to search them in this way is going to be wonderful. (Not to mention the book versions are darn heavy!)

From the article:

King Henry VIII’s passionate love letters to Anne Boleyn are to be made available to the public online for the first time.

The letters, penned by the King in 1527 when he was still married to Catherine of Aragon, reveal him to be besotted with the woman who would eventually become his second wife.

The private correspondence is among tens of thousands of Tudor documents which will be made available on the internet this week.

The documents, which are known as the State Papers and which were collected by the all-powerful Secretaries of State, provide a unique insight into key historical events such as the Reformation, the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the execution of Anne Boleyn.
…
Visitors to the site, which goes live on Tuesday 18 November, can draw up material by typing any word into its search engine. Key royal documents include those relating to the funeral of Henry VII and the succession of Henry VIII, love letters from Henry VIII, and the Dispensation by Archbishop Cranmer which allowed Henry VIII to marry Jane Seymour, who became his third wife.
…
State Papers Online, which is launched on Tuesday, contains thousands of original documents as well as summaries and translations known as calendars which were compiled in the nineteenth century.

At the moment only the papers for the period 1509 to 1603 are available. But by 2010 the site will be expanded to cover the years leading up to 1714.

Full article

State Papers Online site

The “request a free trial” implies that this will be a subscription service (presumably along the lines of the OED and ODNB), so I hope my university subscribes!

From This Is Leicestershire:

Mystery surrounding one of the county’s medieval legends has been reignited after an ancient stone coffin linked to Richard III was unearthed on a building site.

The solid stone sarcophagus was discovered in the grounds of a property in Earl Shilton, by the home’s former gardener Reg Colver, where it had formed part of a water garden built in the early 1900s.

Archaeologists believe it dates from the time Richard died and could have been buried in the same church, Greyfriars, which once existed near Leicester Cathedral.

Richard Knox, of the county council’s archaeological services, said: “It is an important medieval artefact in its own right, it also shows the strength of the Bosworth myth which makes all local medieval finds somehow relevant to Richard and the Battle of Bosworth.”
…
Archaeologists have said they are confident the coffin unearthed yesterday is not that of Richard, but would never be able to rule out the possibility.

Mr Knox said: “It is also quite possible that Richard’s coffin is still buried at the church at Greyfriars and was never dug up at all.”

Full article (with photo)

Seems like a tenuous link to me, but it is an interesting discovery regardless.

Previous post on the search for Richard’s bones (the news link in the post is no longer active)

Update: November 25, 2008 – Coffin to be donated to Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Center

From 24dash.com:

Ernie White, Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet member for Community Services, said: “It’s fantastic that such an important piece of history will be displayed at Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre for members of the public to enjoy.”

Philip Lacey, Sales Director for David Wilson, says, “This has been a very exciting project for us and we are delighted to have been able to share it with The Battle of Bosworth Heritage Centre, preserving this piece of history for generations to come.”

The dramatic events of the Battle of Bosworth,1485, can be experienced in a new, interactive exhibition at the Battlefield Heritage Centre, which recently won the bronze award for Small Visitor Attraction at the East Midlands Tourism Enjoy England Awards.

Full article

Website for the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Center

From The Telegraph:

For almost 500 years, the sinking of the Mary Rose has been blamed on poor seamanship and the fateful intervention of a freak gust of wind which combined to topple her over.

Now, academics believe the vessel, the pride of Henry VIII’s fleet, was actually sunk by a French warship – a fact covered up by the Tudors to save face.
…
Traditionally, historians have blamed the sinking, not on the intervention of the French, but on a recklessly sharp turn and the failure to close gun ports, allowing water to flood in.
To exacerbate the situation, the craft, already overladen with soldiers on the top decks, was also struck by a strong gust of wind.
…
But new research, carried out by academics at the University of Portsmouth, suggests the ship was fatally holed by a cannonball fired from a much smaller French galley.

They have analysed a remarkably detailed engraving of the battle, created shortly after the event, and used modern mapping techniques to create a virtual 3D account of the battle.
…
To support the new theory, the academics also point to possible shot damage discovered on the muzzle of one of the Mary Rose’s big guns as well as finds of a large cannonball made of French granite found within the ship and fragments of lead shot found outside the vessel.

When the wreck was raised, skeletal remains were found in the hold, along with carpentry tools, indicating they may have been trying to carry out repairs to damage in the hull moments before the ship sank.

Dr Fontana believes the fatal hole was blasted in the port side, probably near towards the stern – a part of the vessel that has eroded away.”

Full article

The article is quite long and detailed, so it you’re interested in the full story of this new theory, I suggest reading the whole thing. It’s quite interesting!

Here’s a link to a previous post on another theory for the cause of the sinking:
http://tudorhistory.org/blog/2008/07/31/new-ideas-about-why-the-mary-rose-sank/

I’ve posted about the ship many times over the years, so you can find more articles by going through the search box on the right. I can’t guarantee that all of the links to various news sources will still work though.

Since I just posted a story yesterday about a property for rent, I was going to pass by this one for sale, until I read the following sentence:

It is run as a hotel for part of the year, with visitors able to enjoy a 17th century medieval experience and six-course banquet along with typical medieval housekeeping staff.

So, what is a 17th century medieval experience? Is that anything like the 21st century renaissance experience I had last weekend? And I’m kind of scared of what a ‘medieval housekeeping staff’ would be like. (Apologies to my friends and any readers who hate hearing the word ‘medieval’ used as a colloquial term for all things bad.)

All snark aside, it is an amazing-looking house. I’m a sucker for black-and-white timbering.

Original article

Property listing (with more photos)

From 24 Hour Museum:

Past Pleasures Ltd needs you to be Henry VIII.

Hampton Court Palace is on the lookout for a couple of men with the stature and regal posture to play England’s most famous king, Henry VIII, as part of the 2009 celebrations at the historic royal palace.

Candidates need to be over six feet tall with a large frame, a playing age between 40-50 and be able to grow a beard. They also need to live within an easy commute of Hampton Court Palace.
…

The company, which supplies costumed interpreters for Hampton Court, Tower of London and other properties, have had young, middle aged and old Henrys on their books over the years. However the plan is that from March 1 2009, every visitor to Hampton Court Palace will be able to take part in the wedding of a decidedly ageing and grouchy Henry VIII and his last wife Catherine Parr.

The wedding will be part of Hampton Court’s celebrations marking the 500 years since Henry VIII took the throne in 1509.

Full article

Past Pleasures website

Yet another one of those neat properties … although this one is only for rent, not for sale.

From The Times Online property pages:

Renting a country house is in. Potential buyers biding their time for further price falls are in need of a stopgap home, and are renting from those who are holding off from selling. Stables House, in Kent, is to let – for £2,500 a month – and comes with a bonus for heritage fans. The owner of neighbouring Hever Castle is offering tenants an annual pass to its castle and grounds. The moated fortress dates from the 13th century and was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.

Full article at the Times Online

Page at the estate agency’s website (including a few interior shots – I like the brick patterns on the fireplace!)

It’s only by a week, but I wanted to update the info. The new release date is January 6, 2009. The DVD set was released back in October in the UK.

Amazon links (US on left, UK on right):

Sandra Worth, who has written several novels set in the period of the Wars of the Roses has a new book coming out in December on Elizabeth of York, the first Tudor Queen.

Here is a link to more information about the book on Sandra’s website. If you are interested in being entered in a drawing for one of five free copies, just send her an email at: roseofyork@sandraworth.com

And as a special treat, I will be hosting a thread here on the blog where readers can ask Sandra questions and she will respond. We haven’t set an exact day for it yet, but keep your eyes open!

Last but not least, here are the Amazon links (US on the left, UK on the right) to pre-order the book:

I should have posted a couple more of these reminders over the past few months, but better late than never I guess.

The deadline for the Tudor Ghost Story contest is coming up on December 1st, so if you’re planning to enter you’d better get your story in soon!

But I couldn’t let another big spam milestone go by without a note:

So, I moved the blog to WordPress in April and hit 1000 spam comments in August. Now I’ve hit 5000 in November. This doesn’t bode well for the future.

Actually, one of the reasons that I posted this is to apologize in advance for any delays in the appearance of real comments. The spam-catcher is actually quite good at getting the spam, but unfortunately it also catches some non-spam from time to time. I try to check the spam queue at least twice a day, but sometimes I get a little behind and then I find that I have to wade through a couple hundred comments checking to see if there is a legitimate message buried in between the ads for drugs, pics of naked celebs and other things that I won’t mention but will leave to your imagination. (I personally I don’t care what people’s private fetishes are, but really, I don’t need some of those mental images.)

One quick additional note – I’m going to be working at a science conference for the rest of the week, so things might be a little spotty. I usually find that my days at meetings like this are quick bursts of activity sandwiched between lots of equations and plots (which is when I usually check my email since these conferences are rarely on the topics that I’m most interested in).

The collar that I linked to in these two previous posts:

http://tudorhistory.org/blog/2008/10/05/more-on-the-tudor-collar-auction/

http://tudorhistory.org/blog/2008/08/22/couple-of-upcoming-auctions/

ended up selling for a little over £300,000 (around $500,000 US). Here’s the first article that came up in my news alerts, but if anyone comes across some other articles (especially if there is info on who bought it), please post it in the comments.

First article – from 24dash.com