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Introducing… TudorCast!

Yes, I’ve finally been bitten by the podcasting bug! For those of you who don’t know what a podcast is, this Wikipedia article is pretty good at explaining it all. I’m still working on writing up all the instructions for how to subscribe and adding links to the iTunes directory etc., but if you have iTunes and are familiar with podcasts, you can just search the directory for “TudorCast” and it will show up.

Here is the website for the podcast, which has all the show information and direct links to the mp3s, as well as the links for subscribing with a podcast grabber: http://podcast.tudorhistory.org

I only have the introductory episode up so far, but the first full episode is in the works. Stay tuned!

(the podcast site has been discontinued and all of the posts have been migrated to this blog and are available under the “podcast” category)

New Holbein Exhibit in London

From the BBC:

Portraits of Henry VIII, his third wife Jane Seymour and their son Edward are to be hung together for the first time since Henry himself owned them.
…
The works by 16th Century court painter Hans Holbein the Younger will go on display in an exhibition at the Tate Britain in London in September.
…
It will feature 30 portrait drawings, six paintings and several miniatures from the Royal Collection, along with some of Holbein’s jewellery designs.

Full article

Update 1: more links

Another article from the Independent

And from the Guardian

And from The Times

Update 2: one more…

From the Telegraph

Update 3:
I completely forgot to add a link to the Tate and their own page for the exhibition (including ticket information). Here it is – Holbein in England: 28 September 2006

Cast news for Showtime “The Tudors” series

From Reuters:

Sam Neill, Jeremy Northam and Henry Cavill have joined the cast of Showtime’s Henry VIII drama “The Tudors.”
…
Neill will play Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s most important government minister, who possessed great power until he failed to secure for Henry a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

Northam will play famed lawyer, writer and politician Sir Thomas More, who is chiefly remembered for his principled refusal to accept Henry VIII’s claim to be the supreme head of the Church of England, a decision that ended his political career and led to his execution as a traitor.

Cavill will play Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Brandon was Henry VIII’s closest friend, but their friendship was sorely tested when Brandon secretly married Henry’s favorite sister, the beautiful Princess Mary Tudor.

Full article

I’m excited to see Sam Neill in the cast, although he might not be rotund enough for Wolsey!

(original links have expired and have been removed)

TudorCast Introductory Episode

Welcome to the introductory episode of TudorCast! This is a little about myself and what I hope to do with the podcast.

Show notes: Not much for this one except to note that the music pieces I used are from Jon Sayles and are a combination of the pieces Now is the Month of Maying and Sweet Nymph come to thy lover.

Episode transcript

Direct mp3 download

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Slightly off-topic: Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth II!

Celebrating the Queen’s 80th Birthday

The reason I say “slightly” off-topic, instead of just plain off-topic is that Elizabeth II is a descendent of Henry VII. Okay, maybe that’s stretching it, but it was a good opportunity for me to finally put up the big genealogical tree from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II that has been rotting on my thumbdrive forever. I meant to put this up ages ago but it got lost in the shuffle. You can see the file here (120K jpg).

I am hoping that this is the first of many of these I’ll put together in the future. I had always wanted to try my hand at making my own charts in Photoshop (instead of trying to mark them up in HTML) so people could download or print them as references. A lot of books will put the basic one (Henry VII to Elizabeth), but there are other families that might be useful, so maybe I’ll get some of those up too. I also want to redo a couple of the images I have on the site now, which were scanned from books. I am pretty sure there are a couple of errors in the one of the Descent of Henry VIII’s wives from Edward I, so I might redo (and slightly simplify) that one. I also would like I better one of the descent from Henry VII to James VI/I.

For now, back to sorting through Church and nobility titles… I’ve been doing a big update on that section and it is taking for bloody ever!

(original links have expired and have been removed)

Press release for Anne Boleyn book

Hello folks! As promised in the post from last week, here is the press release for the Joanna Denny book, Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England’s Tragic Queen

Here’s an excerpt:

No queen has made more impact on the history of England than Anne Boleyn, yet most accounts of her life thus far have been passed down to us by her detractors. Denny’s biography offers a bold new interpretation of Boleyn, demonstrating that she wasn’t the evil temptress of myth, but rather a devout Protestant, an intellectual, and a dutiful queen.

You can download a PDF of the full release here

Want to be *IN* the new Elizabeth I movie?

Do you look pale and interesting?

Men with beards and pale, interesting ladies step forward – you could be in line for a part in a major new film.

Cambridge residents will have the chance to act in a sequel to the Oscar-winning 1998 film, Elizabeth. Producers are looking for extras for The Golden Age, parts of which will be filmed in Cambridge and Ely this May.

Find out more here

(original links have expired and have been removed)

Book News – Plain Jane: A Novel of Jane Seymour by Laurien Gardner

Jane Seymour is the latest of Henry VIII’s wives to get a novel, which is a welcome addition given the small number of books about her. I’ll be interested to see what approach the author takes. Gardner has previously written books on Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, so my guess is that she is going to write one for each of the wives.

(original links have expired and have been removed)

Movie news round-up

Because several people have emailed me about these things lately, I thought I would put a note here on the blog about movie news. I’ve added links to the IMDB listings for recently announced Tudor-related movies over on the Movies and TV page. There have been lots of rumors floating around and I’m trying to find out more concrete information for two movies in particular.

The first is a big-screen version of The Other Boleyn Girl. The two names that have been coming up are Keira Knightly as Anne Boleyn (a good choice, I think) and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Henry VIII. Hoffman recently won the Academy Award for playing the lead role in the film Capote.

The other is a sequel to Elizabeth, entitled Elizabeth: The Golden Age, set during the later years of the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots and will climax with the conflict with the Spanish Armada. I’ve been hearing news on and off for over a year now about whether or not this project is going forward and if Cate Blanchett will be returning as Elizabeth. Well, today several news articles (a few links below) came out about production starting next month with Cate in the lead. Here’s hoping the history is a little better this time around (but I’m not holding my breath).

From The Guardian: Cate back for Elizabeth II – the sequel that is

From the BBC: Blanchett revives Elizabeth role

Medieval bridge uncovered in Shrewsbury

From the BBC

Archaeologists have been revealing details about the discovery of a medieval bridge in Shropshire.
…
The bridge, known as St George’s Bridge, once acted as a gateway to the town from Wales and was in existence during the 15th Century.

And why is this of interest to Tudor fans?

It is thought that future King of England, Henry Tudor, used the bridge in 1485 to enter England from Wales on his way to the battle at Bosworth.

Here’s another article, with a picture: Historic gateway discovered at dig

(some original links have expired and have been removed)

Searching for Shakespeare

The National Portrait Gallery in London is marking its 150th anniversary and will be celebrating with a special exhibit on Shakespeare and the “Chandos” portrait, which was the first in the gallery’s collection. More information and a review of the exhibit from The Observer

There has been a slew of news articles out lately about the portraits of Shakespeare and this exhibit, so I’ve just selected a few to point to here:

Britain’s National Portrait Gallery unveils ‘true’ image of Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Likeliest Likeness, Forsooth

To be or not to be the Bard’s portrait?

The only true painting of Shakespeare – probably

(some original links have expired and have been removed)

Remains of Bermondsey Abbey on display

The major development on the Bermondsey Square site has provided the unprecedented opportunity for archaeologists to explore this important site.

Bermondsey Abbey was founded from Cluny in France shortly after the Norman conquest.

More here

Katherine of Valois, grandmother of Henry VII, died at Bermondsey and Elizabeth Woodville (widow of Edward IV and mother of Elizabeth of York) retired there in Henry VII’s reign.

Mostly better now

Thanks for everyone’s patience while I’ve been sick over the past few weeks. I’m mostly on the mend now (even managed to work in the garden for a couple of hours today!) and will be back at posting and emailing and working on the site.

My Ladye Nevells Booke – British Library Fundraising campaign

The British Library is fundraising to secure the unique 16th-century music manuscript ‘My Ladye Nevells Booke’ for the nation. It is one of the finest Tudor music manuscripts in existence and contains 42 pieces for keyboard by William Byrd, the greatest English composer of his age.

Click for images and information on how you can donate

(original links have expired and have been removed)