A little slow on updates

I posted something on the Q&A blog, but I thought I should post it here too — I woke up last Thursday with a scratchy throat which has now developed into a full-blown cold. I thought I was improving, but I seem to have taken a step backwards today. So anyway, updates will be a little slow until I’m feeling better. I think I’m just going to curl up in bed with the Olympics tonight and leave the computer in another room…

Tudor-era paneling returned to Raglan Castle

After being part of a cow shed for a while…

From the BBC:

Tudor wooden panelling, missing from a castle for more than 300 years, is to be returned to its home after once being part of a farmer’s cow shed.

It was among items taken from Monmouthshire’s Raglan Castle during the Civil War in the 17th Century.

But the large panel, once owned by a courtier of Henry VIII, was found after it was sold by a collector, who bought it from a farm for

Large collection of royal books to go on display

Not until 2011 though. Maybe the exchange rate will have improved enough by then for me to travel over. 🙂

From the BBC:

Illustrated books once owned by English monarchs are to go on public display for the first time.

About 150 medieval and Renaissance books and other literary artefacts will be put on display at the British Library in London in 2011.

They are among almost 2,000 manuscripts donated to the British Museum by King George II in 1757.

The exhibition follows a major research project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Manuscripts featured in the exhibition will include a copy of Philippe de Mezieres’s letter to Richard II and the Shrewsbury Book of romances presented to Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI, as a gift for their marriage in 1445.

Full article

Tip of the gable hood to Kathy for the link

Shakespeare’s first theater found

From the BBC:

An archaeological dig has recovered what is thought to be the remains of the theatre where Shakespeare’s plays were first performed.

The Theatre was found in excavations by the Museum of London at a site in Shoreditch, east London, being prepared for the building of a new theatre.

It was one of London’s first dedicated playhouses when it opened in 1576.

It was dismantled and its timbers taken to the South Bank, where they were used to construct The Globe in 1599.

A spokesman for the Museum of London said it had long been known that an open air playhouse, called The Theatre, stood in this area, but traces of its exact location had proved elusive.

Full article (with photo)

Singer Joss Stone to play Anne of Cleves in “The Tudors”

I’m guessing that no matter how inaccurate the history in the series is, we won’t be seeing Anne of Cleves doing a soul or R&B number.

From the BBC:

Singer Joss Stone is to play Anne of Cleves in the third season of The Tudors, the BBC has confirmed.

It will be the first TV acting role for the 22-year-old, who made her debut in fantasy film Eragon in 2006.


The third series of the Tudors will follow the King as he weds third Queen Jane Seymour, played by Anita Briem, and then Anne of Cleves.

A daughter of a German nobleman, Anne was betrothed to Henry in a marriage treaty after the King was shown a portrait of her.

Full article

New Yorker article on Queen Claude and her prayer book

Claude of France was the Queen Anne and Mary Boleyn served during their time at the French court. Her prayer book went on display at the Morgan Library & Museum back in May.

From the article:

In May, a tiny, exquisite volume went on display at the Morgan Library & Museum: a prayer book made for Queen Claude of France, who was born in the penultimate year of the fifteenth century. Claude, a near-contemporary of Anne Boleyn, who served her at the French court as a prepubescent lady-in-waiting, was betrothed at the age of six to her cousin Fran