Stained glass in the great hall at Hampton Court Palace. Photo May 2015.
I should have posted some of these last week, but better late than never I guess!
* Remains of real Wolf Hall discovered by archaeologists – The Tudor home of the Seymour family, setting of Hilary Mantel’s books, has been discovered in the grounds of a later manor in Wiltshire
* New evidence discovered regarding first English voyage to America – Historians from the University of Bristol have uncovered compelling new evidence concerning the first English-led expedition to North America in 1499 hidden deep within huge parchment rolls and only legible by using ultra-violet light.
* Ancient Anglesey church with links to Tudor dynasty needs your help – The Friends of St Gredifael’s Church, Penmynydd, have started renovating the historic building which houses a medieval alabaster tomb of Goronwy ap Tudor and his wife Myfanwy.
* Is this the real face of Elizabeth I? – Artist Mat Collishaw is on a quest to reveal the real woman behind the mask of this famously image-conscious monarch.
And finally –
Henry VIII Gate at Windsor Castle. Photo May 2015.
From along the walls of Framlingham Castle, England. Photo May 2015.
Happy October! Now I wish it would start feeling like fall here in central Texas.
Books
A couple of books that have previously had UK released will have US releases this month.
Nicola Clark’s Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485-1558 was released over the summer in the UK and will be out on October 9 in the US.
And Diarmaid MacCulloch’s Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life (US title) will be released in the US at the end of October.
And there are some new releases this month too!
Suzannah Lipscomb has written a book on Witchcraft for the Ladybird Expert Series which is out October 4 in the UK and US. Just in time for Halloween!
And if you want to get a head start on Christmas, you can read how to do it Tudor style in this new work by Alison Weir and Siobhan Clarke, also out in early October.
And finally, Sarah-Beth Watkins examines the life of Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife in a new work due out October 26 in both the UK and US.
Events
The 2018 BBC History Weekends will be in Winchester on October 5-7 and York from October 19-21. Click on either of the banners to go to the page for that event to see the line-up and book tickets. (One of these days I’m going to actually make it over there for one of these events…)
New Exhibitions
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is hosting an exhibition organized by the National Portrait Gallery, London entitled Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits from Holbein to Warhol which opens on October 7, 2018 and runs through January 27, 2019. (And I’m thrilled that finally something is coming to my neck of the woods – I’m only about 2.5 hours from Houston so I expect to get a chance to go see it over the holidays!)
‘We are Bess’ opens at Hardwick Hall on October 3 and runs through November 4, then will re-open from February 16 to June 2 next year. The exhibition will also be available online – something I always appreciate for those of us who can’t easily visit in person.
A bit about the exhibition from the press release:
In the late sixteenth century, Bess became the second richest woman in the country after Elizabeth I. Along the way she experienced great loss and hardship – two children and four husbands died, at times she had massive debts and lawsuits against her, while her last, broken marriage became a national scandal.
Throughout history Bess has been portrayed as greedy, overbearing, and controlling, a view that derives largely from comments made by the disinherited family of her third husband and those of her estranged fourth husband.
Now, for the exhibition, ‘We are Bess’, 16 women [1] have been invited to respond to Bess’s story and consider the similarities between the challenges she faced in the sixteenth century and their own experiences.
Within the Hall’s Long Gallery, the responses and portraits of each of the participating women, taken by award-winning photographer Rachel Adams, will hang alongside original Tudor portraits.
Continuing Exhibitions
Royal Sudeley 1000 – Trials, Triumphs and Treasures – Sudeley Castle has refurbished their exhibition rooms for their 2018 open season that runs from March 5 to December 21.
Hey, look – a Sunday Short Takes! It’s not like there has been a lack of Tudor news lately, but I have been lacking in time to sit down a write up a post about them.
A lot of the big news of late has been archaeology related and this first story managed to run it’s whole course before I had a chance to write about it.
* Campaigners lose 2nd Battle of Bosworth as £26m car testing track is approved – Councillors at Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council have controversially given the green light to the 83 acre testing facility that intrudes into a portion of the historic registered battlefield.
* ‘Would we build on Passchendaele?’ Anger as car track at Bosworth approved
And in better Tudor archaeology news…
* Likely birthplace of Henry VII found in Pembroke Castle – A dig in the castle’s grounds has uncovered the walls of a ‘showy’ late medieval house
* Trial trenching at Pembroke Castle – From the Castle Studies Trust, a funder of the dig.
And a few more stories of interest!
* Wherefore art thou? Exhibition celebrates Shakespeare’s Shoreditch origins – A permanent exhibition is to be created in Shoreditch on the site of the London theatre where William Shakespeare perfected his trade as a playwright and actor.
* Palace where Henry VIII once slept is set to be saved from being turned into housing – Plans are in place to hand over ownership of the historic Archbishops’s Palace in Otford to an independent conservation trust – saving it from housing developers.
* Glamping goes Tudor: historians to remake Henry VIII’s opulent tent – A spectacular temporary palace designed to impress the king of France is to be reconstructed at Hampton Court
St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St. Edmunds. Photo May 2015.
Leicester’s Gatehouse and garden at Kenilworth Castle. Photo May 2015.
Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo May 2015.
One of the embroideries worked by Mary Queen of Scots and Bess of Hardwick on display at Oxburgh Hall. Photo May 2015.
Books
Quite a few new releases this month!
First up, Matthew Lewis has a biography of Richard III coming out on September 15 in the UK and US:
Next up, Rival Queens: The Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots by Kate Williams will be out September 20 in the UK and later this fall in the US under the title The Betrayal of Mary, Queen of Scots: Elizabeth I and Her Greatest Rival:
Diarmaid MacCulloch’s newest work, Thomas Cromwell: A Life is out September 27 in the UK and October 30 in the US with the slightly different title Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life:
Lauren Mackay takes a look at the male part of the Boleyn family in her newest work Among The Wolves of Court: Thomas and George Boleyn which is out in the UK at the end of the month and February 2019 in the US:
And finally for this month, Margaret Tudor: The Life of Henry VIII’s Sister by Melanie Clegg will be released September 30 in the UK and early in 2019 in the US.
Events
The 2018 BBC History Weekends will be in Winchester on October 5-7 and York from October 19-21. I know tickets sometimes run out for these, so I’m posting them a month ahead of schedule. Click on either of the banners to go to the page for that event to see the line-up and book tickets! (One of these days I’m going to actually make it over there for one of these events…)
Continuing Exhibitions
Royal Sudeley 1000 – Trials, Triumphs and Treasures – Sudeley Castle has refurbished their exhibition rooms for their 2018 open season that runs from March 5 to December 21.
Sundial in the Hall’s Croft gardens in Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo May 2015.
Marker for Henry VII at the Bosworth Battlefield Memorial Sundial. Photo May 2015.
Marker for Richard III at the Bosworth Battlefield Memorial Sundial. Photo May 2015.
Ruins of the Abbey of St. Mary, Kenilworth. Photo May 2015.
St. Mary’s was founded in the 12th century and, not surprisingly, was dissolved in the reign of Henry VIII. The ruins are now part of a park that also houses the parish church and is a short walk from the castle.
Remains of Castle Acre Caste. Photo May 2015.
The original motte and bailey castle (parts of which you see here) were built in the early medieval period and had fallen into ruins by the late 14th century. In the Tudor period it passed through the hands of several prominent figures such as Thomas Howard, Thomas Gresham, and Thomas Cecil (son of William Cecil and half-brother of Robert Cecil).
Books
I knew some things got past me in recent months, so here are a couple of those books:
Imagining Shakespeare’s Wife: The Afterlife of Anne Hathaway by Katherine West Scheil came out in the UK back in late June, but the US version will be released at the end of August:
And the most recent work of the late John Ashdown-Hill, The Mythology of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ was released in July in the UK and will be out in November in the US.
And in other new releases Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485-1558 by Nicola Clark is coming out on August 9 in the UK and October 9 in the US.
Continuing Exhibitions
Royal Sudeley 1000 – Trials, Triumphs and Treasures – Sudeley Castle has refurbished their exhibition rooms for their 2018 open season that runs from March 5 to December 21.
Ceiling of the nave of Peterborough Cathedral. Photo May 2015.
Yes, really, a Sunday Short Takes!! I finally had a confluence of enough stuff to post and time to actually post it.
First up – a couple of competitions are back this year!
* Tudor Ghost Story Competition at On the Tudor Trail
* Tudor Calendar Competition from The Anne Boleyn Files
Next – a few other things!
* Talking Tudors – Natalie at On the Tudor Trail has started a podcast!
* Tudor shipwreck discovered by local group on Kent beach
* Royal Mail will release stamps featuring Hampton Court Palace
And finally…
The first trailer for the Mary Queen of Scots movie starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie has been released:
(Thankfully I’m pretty good at disconnecting my amateur historian brain when watching historical fiction on TV or the big screen.)
Looking through an arch down the north aisle of the church at Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk. Photo May 2015.
