From The BBC:

Dog skeleton from Mary Rose displayed in Portsmouth

A dog which sailed aboard the Mary Rose ship 465 years ago is to take up residence in the Mary Rose Museum at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

The animal’s skeleton, which has been reconstructed by staff at the Mary Rose Trust, will go on display from Friday 26 March.

The dog was discovered trapped in the sliding door of the carpenter’s cabin of the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545.

The dog, named Hatch by museum staff, was probably used as a ratter.

Full article

Lots of photos of the skeleton (and other things Mary Rose) are at the MaryRose500 photostream on Flickr.

And other articles:

* From the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard website: Lost dog returns home…after nearly 500 years!

* From The News (Portsmouth): Mary Rose chief meets Hatch, the Crufts star with historic pedigree

* From The Telegraph: Mary Rose’s dog unveiled for the first time

* From The Times Online: Riddle of an old sea dog who died in the service of her king

* Not exactly Tudor related, but cool: SepiaTown – mapped historical photos from around the world.

* Shakespeare’s Kings and Westminster Abbey – RSC actors performing excerpts from the history plays in the coronation ‘theater’ of the Abbey. I wish I could attend some of these!

* Presentation on objects from Tudor and Stuart playhouses at the Museum of London on April 24

As promised, here are links to more stories about the announcement of the new site for the Battle of Bosworth.

From the BBC (video and pictures):
New Battle of Bosworth Field site revealed

From The Daily Mail:
Is this the field where Richard III lost his kingdom for a horse? Real location of Battle of Bosworth finally revealed after 500 years

From The Guardian:
Silver badge and lead shot pinpoint site of Battle of Bosworth
Archaeologists pinpoint long-disputed site of Battle of Bosworth

And last, but certainly not least, the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Center website
(Their site appears to be down, perhaps from a large influx of traffic? – I’ll keep checking for it to come back up and add a link directly to their news on the battlefield discoveries.)
The site is back up. Here’s a link to their page on the official announcement.

Although there will no doubt be a slew of additional articles, this is the first to land in my news alerts in-box! I’ll do a round-up of all the other articles in a separate post when I have a chance.

From The Times Online:

For centuries it has been impossible to revisit the battlefield because its location was lost after the Civil War. Then, last October, Leicestershire County Council announced that it had found the site but would not reveal its whereabouts for fear of scavengers.

Today the wait is over. The Times can reveal that the Battle of Bosworth was settled round the back of Alf Oliver’s arable farm, just off the old Roman road from Atherstone to Leicester in a field as featureless as any in England.

To get there you drive south and west from the Bosworth visitor centre on Ambion Hill, which is now, rather awkwardly, two miles adrift of the true site. Past a farm selling “battlefield beef” you park in a lane, tramp round one small field with a dip, cross a drainage ditch and arrive at a flat, triangular ploughed field exposed to the elements on all sides.

On a viciously cold morning this month Glenn Foard, the archaeologist who led the search for the battlefield, stood on this spot looking as pleased with himself as Henry Tudor must have done when the fighting was over.

Full article

For all the previous posts I’ve had on this topic, it might be easier to just go straight to the search results, since I’ve had quite a few about Bosworth!

I guess I’m sort of debuting a new blog feature in this post. I’ve done news round-up/catch-up posts in the past, but I thought I would give them an official name. Sometimes they might be “Saturday short takes” instead, but they will probably always be one of the weekend days since that’s when I have time and both Saturday and Sunday start with “s” and I get to use an alliterative title.

* You Tube video of the commemoration service for Catherine of Aragon at Peterborough Cathedral. I never got around to posting about this year’s event, but here is a link to a past post about it.

* Rosary from the Mary Rose featured at the BBC’s A History of the World

* Reconstructed face from the Mary Rose goes on display (BBC article). This is the reconstruction that I linked to an article about last March. Additional articles from the Times Online and The Telegraph

* Stirling Castle carvings will be on display at the castle until Feb. 21 (BBC article). This is a continuation of the project that I’ve blogged about a few times (most recently here). The carvings will soon be painted and put in place as part of the project to reconstruct the renaissance royal palace inside the castle. You can learn more at the official Stirling Castle website

* Snack food of Shakespearean theater-goers (Discovery News article). I’m not a fan of seafood but the nuts and dried fruit sounds good. I’ll probably stick with popcorn and Junior Mints though.

* Help Romeo collect flowers for Juliet (appropriate for Valentine’s Day!) in the Shakespeare Game from Shakespeare Country Tourism

If you recall this post from last October, archaeologists have found evidence for what was probably the actual site of the Battle of Bosworth and now that information is set to be revealed at a conference on February 20. The Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre has information on the event and a document with the program. The Heritage Centre is also planning to open a new exhibition called “Bosworth Battlefield Lost and Found” on February 22.

There is also an article in the March issue of BBC History Magazine, as well as an article by Leanda de Lisle about Lady Jane Grey. I’ll have to make sure I remember to pick one up!

First up is a time lapse of the initial building work on the new museum for The Mary Rose. I love how the ships in the port go up and down on the tide – it makes them look like toys in a bathtub!

And Adieu from Henry 8.0

I had to shudder at Henry’s treatment of Catherine’s iPod nano though! I got a green one for Christmas and I love it… I’d hate to see it shoved into a jar of chocolate spread.

Sorry to do another “link dump” post so close on the heels of the last one but it’s just a lot quicker this way (and I’m sure you all don’t want to be bombarded with a bunch of posts at once).

* National Portrait Gallery on the Iconography of Lady Jane Grey

Here’s the article from Art Daily about it and here’s a little information from the National Portrait Gallery’s website. And just a reminder that Painting History – Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey will be opening at the National Gallery (around the corner from the NPG) at the end of February.

* Large medieval waterwheel uncovered at Greenwich

It’s a little before the Tudors, but I’m a sucker for medieval archaeological finds. Here’s an article (with a few pictures) from Medieval News.

* Showtime picks up a series on The Borgias

According to Variety Showtime is looking to continue playing in the Renaissance with a new series about The Borgias. Jeremy Irons will be starring so I’ll probably be watching!

I’m clearing out all the articles that I have saved over the past couple of weeks and dumping them all into this post:

* Debunking the Myth of Lady Jane Grey

Thought-provoking article by Leanda de Lisle at Intelligent Life (a lifestyle and culture magazine from The Economist)

* Mary Rose Trust photos on Wikipedia

Mary Rose Trust releases photographs onto Wikipedia
Unseen Mary Rose pictures revealed in groundbreaking Wikipedia deal

* Exhibition features documents suggesting Shakespeare was Catholic

Shakespeare was a ’secret Catholic’ new exhibition shows

* Greenwich to become a Royal Borough in 2012

This honors its long connection with the English and British monarchy (lots of Tudor connections there!). The other Royal Boroughs are Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, and Windsor and Maidenhead.

Greenwich Becomes Royal Borough
Queen to grant Greenwich Royal Borough status for Diamond Jubilee

* Catch up on “The Tudors”

Season Three is now available on iTunes (this link goes to the Showtime site, which has a link to the iTunes store)
Unfortunately I didn’t see it in time for the first episode, but Showtime is replaying all of the previous seasons in a lead-up to the season 4 premiere in April. Here’s a link to the schedule.

And finally…

* 2010 sees the 450th anniversary of the refoundation of Westminster Abbey

The history of Westminster Abbey, London – The coming year is the 450th anniversary of Elizabeth I’s refoundation of Westminster Abbey as the collegiate church we know today

[I caught a few errors in the first paragraph after the ad in the middle of the article. I'm going to post a comment on the article and hopefully someone will see it and correct it.]

I know this is already old news, but I still wanted to post about it.

The new Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London opened last week. Here’s a video and article from the Guardian.

And here’s a link to the page for the new galleries at the V&A website.

From the BBC:

Archaeologists are preparing to excavate the site of Shakespeare’s final home to find out more about the history of the building.

The New Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, was built in 1483 and is thought to be where the playwright died in 1616.

The building itself was demolished in 1759, but it is thought remains of the old house are still underground.

Archaeologists will start initial tests on the site on Tuesday and a full dig could be carried out next year.

The experts from Birmingham Archaeology will be searching for the foundations of the New Place and will be looking through the original wells and possibly rubbish pits.

Full article

New Place showed up here back in June as Picture of the Week #23

My Google news alerts went crazy with all of these articles on the Bosworth Field investigation! Here is my last post on the subject and I’ve linked to several of today’s stories below this excerpt from the Guardian article:

Five centuries of searching for one of Britain’s most significant battlefields has finally ended with the discovery of “extraordinary and unexpected” pieces of artillery in a Leicestershire field.

The finds near Market Bosworth at last pin down the notoriously “wandering site” of the battle that overthrew Richard III – the last English king to die at the head of an army – and established the Tudor dynasty and the modern state.

Surrounded by school parties still studying at least four wrong locations, a bevy of archaeologists unveiled 22 primitive pistol bullets and cannonballs, alongside soil surveys and data from metal detection over 2.7 square miles.

The revelations arise from an overlooked trough of rolling countryside two miles from the previously most widely accepted battlefield, below Ambion Hill.

The scale of the ammunition haul transforms the battle of Bosworth’s significance from a national landmark (it is usually ranked with Hastings, Naseby and the Battle of Britain) to international importance.

Glenn Foard, who led the £1m three-year survey for the Battlefields Trust, said: “We are seeing here the origins of firepower which led to an empire spanning the globe. Now this needs to be explored on every battlefield of the period in Europe.”

Pictures of stalwart yeomen with bows and arrows have been instantly outdated by the find, which shows how the battle, in 1485, was a change from previous encounters in the Wars of the Roses.

Full article

More articles:

BBC: New battle over Bosworth’s site

The Daily Mail Online: 500 years of history missed Bosworth Field by two miles

And 3 articles from Times Online:
Battle of Bosworth moves two miles, thanks to archaeologist Glenn Foard
Battle of Bosworth Field… located in the wrong field
Why the Battle of Bosworth Field is difficult to reconstruct

Update:
Here’s a video report from the BBC
and I’m also moving the link Kathy posted in the comments up here:
From the Bosworth Field Official Site: New Archaeological Find

The Mary Rose Trust unveiled some previously unseen artifacts as part of their new fundraising initiative that I posted about yesterday. Here is the press release and a few articles with photos of some of the artifacts.

BBC: New Mary Rose artefacts on show

The Guardian: The Mary Rose ship reveals a haul of old treasures

The Daily Mail: Saved from the sea, the secret Tudor hoard of the Mary Rose on display for the first time

The Mary Rose Trust will be launching their public appeal tomorrow (Oct. 12) and have sent out this informational email. I previously mentioned the new appeal briefly here.

Five things you probably didn’t know about the Mary Rose

1. The debate continues as to why the Mary Rose mysteriously sank off the Portsmouth coast in 1545. Four of the suggested possibilities are:

* Too many cooks and not enough skilled seamen on board
* Poor communication and slow responses from an international crew
* A hole made by a French cannonball in battle led to the Mary Rose taking water onboard
* The Mary Rose was too top heavy and keeled over when changing course

2. On 19th July 1545 Henry VIII was watching his fleet set sail to battle the approaching French and saw the Mary Rose sink. So did the wife of Vice Admiral Sir George Carew, who was on board – not surprisingly, she fainted

3. Scientists have used Facial Reconstruction technology to illustrate the facial features of the crew of the Mary Rose from skulls found on board (click image for a larger view):

4. As well as iron bolts The Mary Rose was held together by thousands of wooden pegs – each one made by hand

5. Celebrated Marine Artist Geoff Hunt researched the Mary Rose for 113 hours before he began his new painting of the ship, unveiled earlier this year. His research revealed that King Henry VIII’s flagship had one more fighting castle deck than had previously been thought, fuelling speculation that it was the ship’s top heaviness that may have led to her mysterious sinking (click image for a larger view):

Links for more information:

www.maryrose500.org

www.facebook.com/MaryRose500

www.twitter.com/MaryRose500

www.youtube.com/maryrose500appeal

www.maryrose.org

www.historicdockyard.co.uk

From The Times Colonist:

Newfoundland and Labrador’s top archeologist has revealed plans to search for the remains of a 510-year-old church on the western shore of Conception Bay — a project aimed at adding to a string of recent discoveries about explorer John Cabot’s history-making voyages to Canada in the late 15th century.

If the purported church is found near the town of Carbonear — the site targeted by Memorial University’s Peter Pope in what he calls a “longshot” dig proposed for next summer — the discovery of North America’s earliest Christian settlement would join the 1,000-year-old Viking site at Newfoundland’s L’Anse-aux-Meadows, Jacques Cartier’s recently unearthed 1541 fort near Quebec City and Virginia’s Jamestown ruins among the continent’s most important archeological sites.

Full article

And because I’ve been playing around with embedding Google maps for the website, here’s one for Carbonear:

View Larger Map

I just wanted to post a reminder for anyone heading to or in the vicinity of Portsmouth that the Mary Rose ship hall will be closing on September 20 in order for construction of the new museum to begin. The new facility is due to open in 2012.

More information at the Mary Rose Trust website

From the BBC:

Rare Valencian tiles have been uncovered by archaeologists during excavations at the ruins of a Surrey palace, once owned by Henry VIII.

The items, which were made in Valencia, Spain, between 1450 and 1490, were discovered at Woking Palace.

More than 100 members of the public took part in the dig at the palace, which fell into disrepair in 1620 and was later virtually demolished.
…
A spokeswoman for the authority said: “The teams uncovered walls of the Palace of Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth, and evidence for earlier medieval buildings.

“The most exciting finds were rare Valencian tiles which were made in Valencia, Spain. They have only been found in a few other locations across the UK, according to the archaeologists working at the dig site.”

Full article

From The Telegraph:

Tomb search could end riddle of Shakespeare’s true identity

A sarcophagus in an English parish church could solve the centuries-old literary debate over who really wrote the plays of William Shakespeare.

Parishioners at St Mary’s church in Warwick have sought permission to examine the contents of the 17th monument built by Fulke Greville, a writer and contemporary of Shakespeare who some believe is the true author of several of the Bard’s works.

In an echo of the blockbuster book and film, The Da Vinci Code, the search has been prompted by the discovery by an historian of clues in Greville’s writings which suggest he had several manuscripts buried there, including a copy of Antony and Cleopatra.

A radar scan of the sarcophagus has already indicated the presence inside of three “box like” shapes. The searchers believe these could contain documents and a further examination is now being proposed which they hope will finally prove the link between Greville and Shakespeare.

The initial search, using ground penetrating radar, was approved by the parochial church council and the diocesan council. The team now wants to use an endoscope – a tiny video camera on a long thin tube – to be inserted into the monument to test his claims.

The work would be supervised by Professor Warwick Rodwell, consultant archaeologist to Westminster Abbey, who is keen for the project to go ahead.
…
The parochial council also wants the sarcophagus to be opened because it believes that any new evidence will bring extra visitors and save the church, the foundations of which date back 900 years, from bankruptcy.

“St Mary’s is a beautiful church but is in desperate financial straits,” a spokesman said. “Any manuscripts that are found would safeguard its future.”

However, the diocesan advisory committee and the Church Buildings Council are resisting the new search, on “ethical grounds” and a final decision could now be taken by the diocese’s consistory court.

Full article

This is the same church I mentioned in Picture of the Week #21. And here is a link to their official website.

Because several articles have stacked up and I don’t want to make these in to separate posts, here’s a quick round up:

** Henry VIII talks from the Historic Royal Palaces (podcasts)

** Mary Rose 500 – a final fundraising appeal from the Mary Rose Trust and info on how you can “join the crew” by helping to raise money for the new museum

** From The Surrey Comet:
Elmbridge Museum holds exhibition on Oatlands Palace

Elmbridge Museum is holding an exhibition starting next month on the now destroyed Oatlands Palace in Weybridge.

The museum, which is based in Church Street, Weybridge, is holding the exhibition called Oatlands Underfoot: Stones and Stories from a Forgotten Palace, which will attempt to bring to life one of Henry VIII’s lesser-known palaces.

** From The Yorkshire Post:
Henry saw resort as northern stronghold, historic map reveals

SCARBOROUGH played a key part in Henry VIII’s defence against invasion, a recently unearthed map reveals.

A town plan, drawn around 1539, has been found among thousands of documents in British Library archives

** From The Daily Mail:
Saved for the nation: The oak trees that shaded Henry VIII and his bride-to-be Jane

Their towering trunks and gnarled boughs once bore silent witness to the courtship of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour.

Little wonder, then, that the oaks and beeches have been identified as some of Britain’s most historic trees, so that they can be protected for future generations.

In the biggest project of its kind, experts have painstakingly identified and mapped 4,500 of the oldest trees in the royal hunting forest of Savernake.

Great project – I love gnarly old trees!

In the literal sense, of course:

From the Oxford Mail:

FOR more than 400 years she has been soaking wet, but Oxfordshire scientists are looking for a hi-tech way to allow the Mary Rose to dry out and remain intact.
…
Initially, the ship was sprayed with chilled, fresh water to rinse out harmful salts and acids and, since 1994, has been continually sprayed with polyethylene glycol, a water-soluble wax.

That stabilises the wood structure and prevents shrinkage during drying.

Researchers are now working on developing a treatment for the wood to extract compounds within it where it was in contact with iron, such as bolts or artefacts like cannons. If they can do that then it will mean the ship will not have to be continually sprayed.

Full article