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.

Picture of the Week #617

Spiral stairs in Castle Rising, Norfolk. Photo May 2015.

Every time I go up or down one of these when visiting a castle, I think of the women having to climb them in all those clothes (regardless of the era). I’m such a klutz, I’m pretty sure I would have gotten my legs tangled in fabric and ended up with a concussion more than once.

Picture of the Week #616

Portrait of Elizabeth I in “The Arte of English Poesie”. Photo April 2016

I needed a picture of the birthday girl Elizabeth I and it looks like I don’t have any more in my 2015 trip photos, so I pulled this from my photos of Shakespeare in Print & Performance from 2016. This exhibit was put on by the Harry Ransom Center at my university to mark 400 years since Shakespeare’s death.

The Arte of English Poesie was printed in London by Richard Field in 1589 and was dedicated to Elizabeth I. The Latin caption translates as: “For the one who is ever the same, and no other.”

Upcoming Books for September 2020

Just a book round-up this month!

I missed a couple of things that did manage to come out in the past couple of months. The publication schedules do seem to still be in flux though so I can’t promise that some of these release dates are 100% accurate!

Previously Released

First up, the third book in Elisabeth Wheeler’s Catherine Howard trilogy, The Queen Shall Fall is now available and can be ordered through her website.

Next up, 1520: The Field of the Cloth of Gold by Amy Licence was released in the UK back in July and will be out September 1 in the US:

New This Month

Lauren Mackay’s Wolf Hall Companion will be out on September 3 in the UK and in October in the US:

Sean Cunningham has written the entry for Henry VII for the Penguin Monarchs series and it *might* be out in the US on September 1 and in June 2021 in the UK. I’m going to go ahead and list it now just in case it does actually release in the US this week. (The Penguin Monarchs edition is the new release, but the paperback version listed with it is actually the bio of Henry VII that Sean Cunningham wrote for the Routledge Historical Biographies series that was published several years ago).

That’s it for this month! I hope you all are doing well. We’re still in “stay at home as much as possible” mode here in central Texas pretty much through the end of the year, so I’m still primarily working from home and only going out for groceries. It’s a little monotonous, but I do like staying out of the Texas summer heat as much as possible! 🙂

Picture of the Week #614

Half groat of Henry VII at the Bosworth Battlefield visitor center. Photo May 2015.

The photo itself might not be great (sorry… displays like these can be difficult to photograph) the object is really interesting and a good example of some of the challenges in archaeology.

Picture of the Week #610

Part of the ruins of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. Photo May 2015.

Last week was the anniversary of Mary Tudor Brandon’s burial at the Abbey, so I thought I would use another picture of the ruins. From the shape of this section, I’m guessing it was the apse of the abbey church. I’m not 100% where in the ruins Mary’s original burial would have been, but her body was moved just a few years later to the church of St. Mary’s when the abbey was dissolved.

Picture of the Week #608

Garden center at Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk. Photo May 2015.

I loved this little space next to the information center at Castle Acre Priory which is evocative of a medieval walled garden. If I had a house with a yard I would totally do something like this!

Picture of the Week #607

Part of the kitchen area at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Shottery, near Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo May 2015.

I think this choice of picture is emblematic of the fact that I’ve been following a lot of cottagecore Tumblrs lately.

Upcoming Books, Events, and Exhibitions for July 2020

I finally have enough things to do a round-up post again! Yay!

Books

Tudor Textiles by Eleri Lynn was actually released back in April in the UK and US and I completely missed it, so better late than never:

Laura Brennan’s Elizabeth I: The Making of a Queen was released back in April in the UK and is now out in the US too:

Nicola Tallis’ book on Margaret Beaufort Uncrowned Queen: The Fateful Life of Margaret Beaufort, Tudor Matriarch (UK title) Uncrowned Queen: The Life of Margaret Beaufort, Mother of the Tudors (US title) was released back in late 2019 in the UK and will be out in late July in the US:

And finally, Glenn Richardson’s biography Wolsey (part of the Routledge Historical Biographies) will be out July 20 in both the UK and US:

Exhibits

To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Field of Cloth of Gold, Hampton Court Palace was due to open a new exhibition on April 10, but is now delayed until the Palace interiors re-open on July 17. In the meantime, enjoy the information about it on the Palace’s website.

The Royal Museums Greenwich will be uniting the three versions of the Armada Portrait for the first time for the Faces of a Queen exhibition. I would love to see this so I’m going to be jealous of anyone who gets to visit! (This exhibition is currently closed but this is still some interesting information about the portraits on the page.)

The exhibit has been pushed back to February 2021, so I’ll post it again in the new year!