Medieval Bailey Gate of Castle Acre. Photo May 2015.
This is the reverse view of Picture of the Week #476
Medieval Bailey Gate of Castle Acre. Photo May 2015.
This is the reverse view of Picture of the Week #476
Here we are… the end of the year! I know it’s cliche to say that time seems to be going by faster and faster the older you get, but I really seem to be feeling it this year. (I think the ridiculous amount of work I was doing in the lead up to the April 8 total solar eclipse was part of that…)
I don’t have a lot of book info for December and I have a feeling that it’s going to get a little more difficult for me to find new works to post about for a while since I’ve decided to leave Twitter. But I’m starting to find most of the history people I followed there on other platforms, so hopefully I’ll be able to catch exciting new Tudor works coming in 2025!
Everything I have for this month are US releases of books previously released in the UK:
First is Lady Anne Bacon: A woman of learning at the Tudor court by Deborah Spring, which was released earlier in the fall in the UK and is out now in the US:
And The Illustrated Tudor Dictionary by Simon Sandys-Winsch came out at the end of October in the UK and will be out at the end of 2024 in the US.
That’s it for this month!
Engraved portrait of Elizabeth I from “Pacata Hibernia”. Photo April 2016.
Since today is the 466th anniversary of the death of Mary I and therefore also the anniversary of Elizabeth I becoming Queen, I thought I would dig out another image from the Shakespeare in Print and Performance exhibit at the Harry Ransom Center at my university. One of these days I’ll finish editing all of my images from the exhibit and do a full write-up of it (only 8+ years too late…)
So… it’s now November and autumn seems to have decided to skip visiting Texas this year (other than for a few days, which we not-so-lovingly call “false fall” around here).
It’s a pretty light month for book news, but here is a title I missed when compiling last month’s round-up – Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots by Jade Scott. It came out at the end of October in the UK and will be released in February in the US.
And here is one other book that I previously highlighted when it was released in the UK back in the spring, Estelle Paranque’s Thorns, Lust, and Glory: The Betrayal of Anne Boleyn which will be out on November 12 in the US:
And that’s all I have for this month!
Welcome to Spooky Season! I’m so happy we’re in my favorite time of year, even if it isn’t quite feeling like it yet here.
New Books
First are a couple of books that I missed last month!
Birth of the Red Dragon: Wales and the Wars of the Roses by Stephen David was released in mid-September in the UK and will be out next year in the US. The book of course includes Edmund and Jasper Tudor and the future Henry VII, born in Wales at the start of the Wars of the Roses.
And Caroline Angus’ Planning the Murder of Anne Boleyn was released in early September in the UK and will be out in late October in the US.
The Tragic Life of Lady Jane Grey by Beverley Adams was also released in early September in the UK and will be released in the US at end of October.
And in new releases this month, Lady Anne Bacon: A woman of learning at the Tudor court by Deborah Spring will be out October 1 in the UK and November 1 in the US. Great to see more work on Tudor noblewomen!
Finally, Simon Sandys-Winsch has written a book that I’ve always wanted to, The Illustrated Tudor Dictionary, and it will be out at the end of October in the UK and at the end of 2024 in the US.
Passport for Dr. Valentine Dale, signed by Elizabeth I on December 27, 1563. Photo April 2016.
I wanted something Elizabeth-related today since yesterday was her 491st birthday. (Note to self: prepare to go to England again in 9 years for all of the 500th birthday special exhibits that are bound to be coming…)
This was on display at the exhibit for the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death at the Harry Ransom Center on my university’s campus. From the exhibit’s info card on the letter:
“The passport provided Dr. Valentine Dale (d. 1589) safe passage to the Low Countries where he attempted to convince Margaret, duchess of Parma, to lift an embargo on English cloth. Elizabeth’s seal on the letter communicated her authority to the recipient, but also kept the contents from being read in the pre-envelope sixthteenth century.”
Happy September! Even though the summer here in Texas was pretty tolerable this year, I’m still looking forward to fall. And, if I’m being honest, I look forward to fall every year regardless of how bad the summer was!
Books
I don’t have any new books on my tracking sheet for this month, but I see quite a few new US releases of books that are already out in the UK.
First up is Heroines of the Tudor World by Sharon Bennett Connolly, which came out back in June in the UK and will be released on September 10 in the US.
Next is The Female Tudor Scholar and Writer: The Life and Times of Margaret More Roper by Aimee Fleming, which will be out in the US on September 9.
Susan Doran’s From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I that came out earlier in the year in the UK and will be out on September 24 in the US.
Next up, out at the end of the month in the US – Henry VIII and the Plantagenet Poles by Adam Pennington.
And finally, Helene Harrison’s Tudor Executions: From Nobility to the Block will be out on September 9 in the US.
Continuing Exhibits – Ending Soon!
The National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition, Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens opened on June 20 and runs through September 8. Click through for more information on the many related events the gallery will be hosting!
About the exhibition:
Tudor paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger and contemporary photography by Hiroshi Sugimoto meet in the National Portrait Gallery’s first exhibition of historic portraiture since reopening, presenting a study of the lives and afterlives of the six women who married Henry VIII.
Six Lives will chronicle the representation of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr throughout history and popular culture in the centuries since they lived. As a frequent source of fascination, the stories of the six women has repeatedly inspired writers and artists of all kinds to attempt to uncover the ‘truth’ of their lives: their characters, their appearance and their relationships. From historic paintings, drawings and ephemera, to contemporary photography, costume and film, the exhibition draws upon a wealth of factual and fictional materials to present the life, legacy and portrayal of six women who forever changed the landscape of English history.
Another old door at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo May 2015.