Picture of the Week #635

Cross stitch of Catherine of Aragon’s badge and other mementos at her grave in Peterborough Cathedral. Photo May 2015

Since I didn’t do a books and events round-up for this month because of the continued delays, etc. due to the pandemic, I did want to mention that the Katharine of Aragon Festival at Peterborough Cathedral will still happen this year and will be in part online (so maybe I’ll be able to see some of it from here in Texas!). You can learn more about this year’s festival at the link above.

Picture of the Week #629

Hampton Court Palace. Photo May 2015.

This is a view of the south and east sides of the William & Mary section of Hampton Court. I’m glad that they weren’t able to complete their plans to tear down all of the Tudor section! But I do like the hodgepodge of building styles you see there now since it is a good way to learn the different architectural eras.

Picture of the Week #627

Ruins of the Abbey and Bury St Edmunds with the later Cathedral in the background. Photo May 2015.

The Feast of St Edmund was a couple of days so I thought I would use another photo from Bury. As I’ve mentioned before, the Abbey was the original burial place of Mary Tudor Brandon, Queen of France and Duchess of Suffolk, before the Dissolution when her remains were moved to the nearby St. Mary’s Church.

Upcoming book releases for the rest of 2020

My schedule for making these posts is just totally messed up these days, so I’m going to try to do a round-up for a few things I’ve missed and some books I’m anticipating will be released from now through the end of the year. Anything new I come across that comes out in 2020 I’ll put in a post at the end of December or early January.

Books

In recent new releases, Lauren McKay’s Wolf Hall Companion is now out in both the UK and the US.

And Medical Downfall of the Tudors: Sex, Reproduction & Succession by Sylvia Barbara Soberton came out in late October, focussing on what the archives reveal about the medical history of the Tudors.

And coming later this year…

Chronos Crime Chronicles – The Death of Amy Robsart: An Elizabethan Mystery by Sarah-Beth Watkins, first in a new true crime series from Chronos Books, is due out on December 11 in the UK and on January 1 in the US.

Events

I’m not anticipating any more events and exhibitions to be opening in person for the remainder of 2020. There have been a lot of virtual events that I probably should have tried to track and post over recent months but I know it would have been as hopeless as trying to track all of the Tudor-related fiction books that come out!

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Picture of the Week #623

Remains of The Pleasance at Kenilworth Castle, built for Henry V. Photo May 2015.

Even though Kenilworth has many, many associations with Tudor history, the reason I’m featuring it today has to do with its ties to Henry V. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m doing the Shakespeare 2020 Project and we’re reading Henry V right now as it coincides with the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt (October 25, 1415). Henry V was at Kenilworth Castle when he received the infamous gift of tennis balls from the French king in Act I, Scene 2 of the play (probably based on a real incident).

Henry V had The Pleasance constructed along the mere, where it was reached by boat from the castle. It was eventually dismantled in the reign of Henry VIII and only the earthworks remain. To reach it now, you take a footpath from the castle until you reach the information plaque you see in the photo. It’s hard to appreciate the remains from ground level, so I’ve added a screen shot from Google Earth below with the location of where I took the photo from circled in blue.