Home 2010 (Page 2)

Year: 2010

Sunday Short Takes

* I meant to post this a few weeks ago – The November issue of BBC History Magazine has a cover article titled The Secret War Against the Tudors about the various plots against Henry VII and Henry VIII

* And because I thought it was really interesting – Heavenly illumination: The science and magic of stained glass (from The Guardian’s science blog)

* Was Henry Vlll’s first wife anorexic? Catherine of Aragon’s secret problem (I have no idea why they have a portrait of Charles V labeled as Prince Arthur)

The author of the above article also has a new book on Catherine (as far as I know, the first dedicated biography of Catherine since Garrett Mattingly’s) which just came out in the UK and will be out in a few weeks in the US. Usual Amazon links below:

The Shadow of the Tower finally coming to DVD

It’s hard for me to believe, but early next year the BBC is finally releasing “The Shadow of the Tower” on DVD! I first heard about this program a long time ago when I was putting together my Tudors in the Movies and on Television page and someone emailed me saying that the BBC had done a program on Henry VII during the years they also made the more well-known “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” and “Elizabeth R”. I searched in vain for more information on the program, tried finding it on video, and even wrote to the BBC at one point asking if they had plans to release it. I almost doubted that it had even existed until I found a companion book to the series that had a photo of James Maxwell as Henry VII on the cover. I would periodically search around to see if it had finally been released, and then one day one of my Google news alerts contained a link to this page from the TV Shows on DVD site: The Shadow of the Tower – Before Henry VIII had 6 Wives, Henry VII Established England’s Tudor Dynasty. I believe I actually squeaked when I saw it (I was at work, so anything louder might have startled a few people!).

I know Henry VII isn’t as sexy as his children and grandchildren and he is totally reviled by fans of Richard III, but I find him fascinating. I don’t know if the programs feature much of Henry’s life before 1485 (which is the part I find most interesting), but there is still plenty of politics and intrigue from his reign to fill out 13 hours. And of course, anyone who knows me will not be surprised that I’m very interested in seeing the portrayal of Jasper Tudor (who is in 6 of the episodes if my info is correct), as well as Margaret Beaufort.

The DVDs will be released on January 25, 2011 in the US (appropriately enough, three days before Henry VII’s birthday), but I haven’t been able to find a release date for the UK yet. If you’re interested in pre-ordering from Amazon through my affiliate store, here’s the link:

[edited to add UK ordering information]

The Death of Queen Jane

I was going to wait until we got a little closer to the release dates to post about Loreena McKennitt’s new album but then I realized that today is the day to post about it!

I’ve been a huge fan of Loreena McKennitt for years (her version of Greensleeves still makes me tingle) so I was very excited that she has a new album titled The Wind the Shakes the Barley out next month and as an added bonus, one of the songs on the new CD has a Tudor history connection. Several of Loreena’s previous albums have included poems or ballads set to music, such as The Lady of Shallot by Tennyson and the new album has The Ballad of Queen Jane, a popular ballad that dates from the 17th century. Folklorists have collected various versions of the ballad (I knew that folklore class I took a few years back would come in handy here someday!) and here is the version I’ve had in the poetry section of the site for ages: The Death of Queen Jane. Although the poem itself is not very historically accurate, I thought that the anniversary of Jane Seymour’s death would be an appropriate day to post about this.

You can listen to clips from the new CD on the Quinlan Road website and pre-order links to my Amazon affiliate store are below:

Sunday Short Takes

Just two stories again this week! But the first one is pretty funny. 🙂

* Henry VIII may have lied on his Match.com profile

* And a new book that I’ve been hearing about and realized that I hadn’t posted about to the blog: Helen Castor’s She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, which sounds really interesting. It’s out in the UK now and will be out in February 2011 in the US. Usual Amazon link below:

Picture of the Week #92

Decorations on the outside of Henry VII’s chapel at Westminster Abbey. Photo May 2003.

In particular, you can see that the Beaufort portcullis is featured many times on this part of the Abbey. There are some Tudor roses and French fleurs-de-lis as well.

Sunday Short Takes

* The October edition of History Today features Elizabeth I on the cover and you can read the article Elizabeth I: Exception to the Rule free on the site.

* The Vivat Rex! exhibition that was at the Grolier Club in New York last year celebrating the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne is now on at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. Click the link for an online exhibition.

* The Harry Ransom Center (at the University of Texas – my alma mater and employer) has published a three-part series on Books of Hours, from medieval times to the post-Reformation period. The first part is here, with links to the second and third parts at the bottom of that page.

* The always entertaining Cracked.com posted 5 Fictional Stories You Were Taught in History Class and readers of this site might be interested to see what the number 1 entry is!

* The Tudors Complete Series DVD set will be coming out in the US on November 23 (just in time for the holidays!). Amazon pre-order link below:

See the Phoenix and Pelican portraits together this week only

Oh boy do I wish I was in London!

From the BBC:

Art historians are one step closer to discovering the identity of a royal painter thanks to scientific research.

Analysis by the National Portrait Gallery of two renowned portraits of Elizabeth I has shown they were painted on wood from the same two trees.

The 16th century paintings have been associated with artist Nicholas Hilliard for many years.

Curator Tarnya Cooper said the research meant the work is probably that of Hilliard or someone working with him.

Full article

More from The Guardian

And more from the National Portrait Gallery website, including a really interesting infrared image of the Phoenix portrait.

Sunday Short Takes

Just a couple of stories today:

* Elizabeth Jenkins dies at 104 – Articles from the New York Times and from The Telegraph. Two of Ms. Jenkins’ books were some of the first I picked up when I started to collect them in earnest – “Elizabeth the Great” and “Elizabeth and Leicester”

* Sotheby’s to auction a Shakespeare First Folio and a collection of letters from Elizabeth I, Cecil and more (and not Tudor-related – but really cool – Audubon’s “Birds of America”)