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Sunday Short Takes – Monday edition

Since I got side-tracked doing other things on Sunday and Monday is a holiday here in the US, you get a return of the “Sunday Short Takes – Monday edition”!

The big story that caused my Google alerts to light up was about a purported “last portrait” of Henry VIII. The story from The Daily Mail in the first link kicked it all off and I have to admit when I first saw the portrait and read the article, I was pretty skeptical about some of the claims of it being the last portrait Henry sat for. I’m definitely not a professional art historian but I was pretty sure people were jumping to conclusions. And thankfully some people who do know more about art history chimed have in with opinions on this being the “last” portrait of Henry VIII.

* Last ever’ painting of Henry VIII uncovered in Wiltshire after experts study TREE RINGS to prove it is from final year of his reign

* Not Henry VIII’s ‘last portrait’ – Good breakdown from Bendor Grosvenor, hitting the main points that immediately came to mind when I saw the first article.

* Henry VIII’s ‘last portrait’ at Longleat disputed by art historian

For the anniversary of Elizabeth I’s coronation on Wednesday, Culture 24 put together a nice summary of Elizabethan things to see in the UK:

* Elizabeth I: Where to find the 16th century Queen in museums and galleries

And finally, History Extra has launched a new video series with an introduction and an interview with Suzannah Lipscomb talking Tudors:

* Talking Tudors: Sam Willis meets Suzannah Lipscomb

Sunday Short Takes

We’re back! There were finally enough stories to put together a round-up this week!

* The Black Death and Tudor adventurers – The final History Extra podcast of 2013 featured James Evans, author of Merchant Adventurers: The Voyage that Launched Modern England

* Susan Bordo, author ofThe Creation of Anne Boleyn, discussed the Tudor queen on BBC Radio 4’s program “Woman’s Hour” and you can listen to that part of the show here (11 minutes).

* Wolf Hall: The changing faces of Thomas Cromwell – Tracy Borman discusses Cromwell for The Telegraph

* Sam Wanamaker Playhouse – The recreated Jacobean indoor theater next to The Globe in London (which I’ve linked to news on before) is now complete and open

And one final link for my follow needleworkers: I was looking through my latest issue of Cross Stitch & Needlework and saw they have a blackwork Tudor rose as one of the designs. And the cool thing is that they have the pattern as a free download on their website!

Frequently Asked Questions of 2013

Yes, it’s that time of year again – time to tally up the most popular topics of the questions that came in to the TudorHistory.org Questions and Answers Blog in the past year!

The number of questions declined a little from the previous year but not by much. For reasons that I’ve mentioned before, that’s not too surprising with the end of “The Tudors” and with the back-log of questions that have already been asked and answered. A few came in related to “The White Queen”, but not a whole lot.

The topics were pretty varied this past year. The highest number of questions were related to finding topics to research for college-level papers, in particular topics related to Tudor women. And, similar to previous years, people were looking for information on lesser-known figures of the court, etc. that they came across while doing family history research. There seems to be a little bit of an increase in architectural questions, which I love since that’s one of my big interests (that I still need to learn a lot about). A lot of the remaining questions were pretty specific topics, many asked by writers trying to get the details correct for their works in progress (which is great!), and some questions were just from good old-fashioned curiosity (which is great too!). And of course, the individual person named most often in questions was Anne Boleyn. Our fascination with her never fades!

Previous round-ups:
2012 questions
2011 questions
2010 questions
2009 questions
2008 questions

2014 Shakespeare challenge and other goals

Since news is still slow coming off the holidays, I figured this was a good chance to blog a little about my goals for 2014. I know several people who are ditching the ‘resolutions’ for the new year and instead doing distinct, quantitative goals. So, here are a couple that are relevant to this site that I’m posting about to help keep me accountable. 🙂

The first is to write 10 book reviews. Authors and publishers have been so generous in sending me books over the years and I’ve been terrible about writing reviews for them. I figure that even though some of these books have been out for a while, better late than never!

The second is a Shakespeare challenge, since this April will be the 450th anniversary of his birth. I’m going to read, watch, or listen to all of Shakespeare’s works. I’m doing a sonnet a day and I’ve already watched two different versions of Much Ado About Nothing – the 2011 David Tennant/Catherine Tate stage one via Digital Theatre and the 2012 film version directed by Joss Whedon. Both were delightful! (I’ve seen the 1993 Kenneth Branagh version many times, so I’ll probably watch it again just for the heck of it.) I have a feeling that I’ll do the majority as movies and audiobooks, but I do have them all on my iPad for reading too.

The third goal is to check a few more things off my lengthy to-do list for the site, but that will have to remain a more vague and nebulous goal for now.

I’ll probably do a monthly accounting of the Shakespeare challenge, and of course the book reviews be posted as I get them written (I have to admit that the reviews will probably be the hardest of all my goals to meet, but I’m going to try!). And if you’re curious about all of my goals for the year, I’ve posted about them on my personal website.

And, once again, Happy New Year!

Upcoming Books, Events, and Exhibitions for January 2014

Books

In new releases:

Marilyn Roberts’ newest book Lady Anne Mowbray, The High and Excellent Princess is now in print. You can read more about the book and order it from Marilyn’s website by clicking the cover image below.

And a few books that have already been out for a while in the UK are out now in the US:

Chris Skidmore’s Bosworth will be out on January 14 in the US under the title The Rise of the Tudors: The Family That Changed English History

Susan Higginbotham’s The Woodvilles: The Wars of the Roses and England’s Most Infamous Family is now out in hardcover in the US

And Glenn Richardson’s The Field of Cloth of Gold will be out in the first week of January in the US after a November 2013 release in the UK

Continuing events and exhibitions

* The Royal Shakespeare Company’s plays based on Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies opened on December 11th and 19th respectively and will run through March 29, 2014. They are both being staged at the Swan Theatre of the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon. Click the links on each title for information on tickets, rehearsal photos, and more.

* Just a few days left! Elizabeth I & Her People opened at the National Portrait Gallery in London on October 10, 2013 and runs through January 5, 2014.

* West Country to World

Sunday Short Takes

Another relatively short round-up this week!

An update on some of the continuing work at the site of Shakespeare’s last house, called New Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon:

* Shakespeare’s last house is ‘found’ by archaeologists – Archaeologists have been working on the site since 2009 and believe they have now identified features including kitchens and a brew house.

I received an email about this event coming up in April, but I thought I would go ahead and post it now in case it sells out:

* Tudor England conference with Dr. David Starkey – The event is on April 27, 2014 in Cambridge.

And finally:

* A tour of Tudor Christmas Customs at Blakesley Hall –

Sunday Short Takes

News seems to be slowing down as we approach the end of the year, so it’s another short round-up this week. Two of the stories are more close to home for me than usual (one is *really* close), but first we start with the news from today:

* Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia star, dies aged 81 – Fans of “The Tudors” will remember him from season 2 when he played the Pope. Most people associate him with “Lawrence of Arabia” but for me, it’s his two turns as Henry II in “Becket” and “The Lion in Winter”.

The first closer-to-home story:

* What happened to the lost colony of Roanoke Island? Remote sensing unearths clues to 400-year-old American mystery – I’ve been interested in the Lost Colony since I first learned about it in my 8th grade American History class. Mrs. Lively, the teacher of that class, is responsible for more of my historical interests than probably anyone alive! (And yes, for those who have been around here for a long, long time, she’s the teacher who also sparked my interest in the Tudors.) Plus, it’s always fun to be reminded that there is Tudor history here in the States!

And finally, the very close-to-home story:

* Hans Holbein the Elder

“In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn” survey results and book give-away winners

The little survey I put together for the give-away is now closed and I’ll be emailing the two winners chosen through random.org shortly!

Unfortunately I messed something up on the survey and the data on the first question was lost, but the second one worked fine and here are the results:

These came out pretty much as I expected. For what it’s worth, I picked her coronation too. 🙂

Sunday Short Takes

* More cannon found on Alderney Elizabethan wreck – More news on a find that I’ve been following for a few years now. (Search on “Alderney” in the side bar for previous articles.)

* The December issue of BBC History Magazine is out and features an article by Steven Gunn and Tomasz Gromelski on animal accidents in Tudor England (another interesting product of their research into coroner’s reports).

* Revealed: the tomb of Henry VIII’s forgotten son – Digital reconstructions of the tombs of Henry Fitzroy and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. (See this previous round-up for 2011 for some more articles related to this project.

* Spotted via the Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide, Dr. Stephan Edwards of Some Grey Matter has found and translated two Italian letters concerning Lady Jane Grey that seem to have been previously overlooked by scholars. Start here for the background on the letters and links to the originals and translations.

And finally:

* The annual Tanner Ritchie Holiday Sale is on! – A great time to stock up on their Tudor-era primary source texts.

Guest Post: The Tudor Court on Progress

I’m delighted to be hosting Day 5 of the In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn Virtual Book Tour with this guest post from Natalie and Sarah! Amberley Publishing is kindly giving away two copies of the book at each blog on the tour, so I’ve done another survey – a short one this time! – to collect entries for the drawing. Click here to take the survey and leave your email address if you wish to be entered in the drawing. (You can take the survey and just leave the email address field blank if you don’t wish to be entered in the give-away.) You’ll be directed back to the blog once you’ve finished the survey. I’ll close the survey and choose the winners at noon US central time on Friday December 13th.

And now, over to Natalie and Sarah!

The Tudor Court on Progress

In the 21st century, celebrities, politicians and even royalty are more accessible than ever. Not only can you can watch them on television and read about them online and in newspapers and magazines, you can also follow their personal accounts and interact with them on social media sites, including Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook, with many high-profile people also opting to share personal videos and photos with the public via sites such as Instagram, Flickr and YouTube.

Even the British Monarchy use social media as a way of connecting with the public, and sharing Royal news and events

Upcoming Books, Exhibitions, and Events for December 2013

Books

I’m struck by how many books I’ve been posting lately are by people that I know through the Tudor web-o-sphere… maybe that’s a sign I need to get off my duff and get writing. 😉

Barb Alexander of the Tudor Tutor website now has a book out of the same title! I just snagged a copy on Kindle, but these links go to the physical book:

A new novel by Ann Turner entitled Heartsease, set in turbulent times at the court of Henry VIII, is out in both the US and UK as of the first of the month:

And Alison Weir’s newest work on Tudor history, about Elizabeth of York, is now out in the US.

Events

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s plays based on Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies open on December 11th and 19th respectively and will run through March 29, 2014. They are both being staged at the Swan Theatre of the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon. Click the links on each title for information on tickets, rehearsal photos, and more.

Continuing exhibitions

* Elizabeth I & Her People opened at the National Portrait Gallery in London on October 10, 2013 and runs through January 5, 2014. Be sure to check out their Events Page for lectures, tours, and other activities associated with the exhibition.

* West Country to World

Sunday Short Takes

Another short round-up this week!

* Double Take: Versions and Copies of Tudor Portraits – another fascinating post from the NPG “Making Art in Tudor Britain” research program.

* Tudor Medicine and Gingerbread Houses – Kyra Cornelius Kramer writes about how Tudor medicine is related to all the lovely spices we enjoy in our foods and drinks this time of year.

And finally…

* The Marie Stuart Society (in association with Historic Scotland) has launched an appeal for a statue of Mary Queen of Scots to be erected at her birthplace of Linlithgow Castle. The maquette for the statue design can be seen above.

Picture of the Week #256

Stained glass window of St. Margaret of Scotland in her chapel at Edinburgh Castle. Photo May 2000.

Since tomorrow (or possibly Friday, but most of my sources have the 28th) is the anniversary of the birth of Margaret Tudor, I thought this would be a good opportunity to use this photo of a previous Queen Margaret who began life as an English princess and married a King of Scotland.