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Sunday Short Takes

* Kenilworth Castle displaying mysterious portrait of Elizabeth I – This is the painting that I posted about last year that was studied by the National Portrait Gallery. Here’s more information from English Heritage.

* British Library’s Treasures in Full: Renaissance Festival Books – I thought I had posted about this collection before, but I couldn’t find it in the archives. This is a collection of over 250 16th and 17th century books from around Europe digitized by the British Library.

* Ancient music books accessible to all – Another great digitization project, this time of early music books. The archive is at Early Music Online.

And finally…

* Wendy Dunn is teaming up with Natalie Grueninger of On the Tudor Trail to bring back the Tudor Ghost Story Contest! I know some of you will be pleased to hear this since I still occasionally get emails asking if the contest would be back – and now it is! There will be a US $5 fee to enter, with all of the money going to the Mary Rose Trust.

Upcoming movies, exhibitions and books

Time for another round-up post of upcoming items of interest! This post covers the end of September and all of October. As always, I know I’m missing stuff – there is just too much to keep up with! I might have a follow-up “things I missed” post halfway through October. 🙂 As usual, I’ve added my Amazon affiliate links on the books. As a reminder of my standard disclaimer – purchases made through my affiliate links earn the site a small commission (which pretty much goes right back to Amazon when I buy more Tudor history books!).

Books

* David Loades latest Tudor history book “The Boleyns: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Family” is out September 28 in the UK (the US info is scant).

* Thomas Penn’s novel book about Henry VII “Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England” is out September 29, 2011 in the UK and March 6, 2012 in the US. It’s nice to see a novel work featuring Henry VII!
[Edit – I goofed, apparently this is a non-fiction book. Thanks for the correction Susan! And my comment about it being nice to see a book featuring Henry VII still stands. :)]

* Alison Weir’s “Mary Boleyn” is out officially (apparently it has been showing up in airport bookstores already!) October 4 in the US and October 6 in the UK

* “Bessie Blount: The Story of Henry VIII’s Longtime Mistress” by Elizabeth Norton is scheduled to be out October 28 in the UK (again, US info is scant, but it may be out the same date?)

Exhibitions

* Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible opened last week at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. and will run through January 15, 2012. (I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m so excited that the exhibit will be coming here to Austin, TX after its run at the Folger!)

* Mary Queen of Scots – a small display at the British Library about Mary’s last years as a prisoner in England. This also runs to January 15, 2012.

Movie

* The film “Anonymous” by director Roland Emmerich will be out in theaters on October 28 in both the US and the UK. I’m not a big fan of the whole “Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare” conspiracy theory – in particular the “Prince Tudor” variation in this film – but the film looks like it will be a visual treat. Vanessa Redgrave (who played Anne Boleyn in the 1966 “A Man for All Seasons”) is an older Elizabeth I and her daughter Joely Richardson (recently seen as Katherine Parr in “The Tudors”) plays the young Elizabeth. You can see trailers at the movie’s official site.

Sunday Short Takes

* Nancy Bilyeau’s debut novel “The Crown” will be out early next year, but US readers can enter to win an advanced copy through Goodreads! Find out more about the drawing here. And allow me a small moment of pride in mentioning that Nancy is a submitter and commenter on my Tudor Q&A blog. I’m always amazed by the knowledgeable and talented people who have stumbled across the site!

* A Tudor Herbal c. 1520 – I think How to Be a Retronaut is embarking on a campaign to get on to this round-up every week by continuing to post cool things like this!

* Market news: Elizabethan costume piece tops Cowdray sale – A portrait once thought to have been of Elizabeth I by Marcus Gheeraerdts, sold above the estimate for

Sunday Short Takes

A lot shorter than last week…

* Article by John Edwards, author of Mary I: England’s Catholic Queen – The book is the one I mentioned in my late-August round-up of Upcoming lectures, classes, exhibitions and books

* The Tudor Pattern Book – another gem from How to be a Retronaut

* The October issue of BBC History Magazine is out and features an article on Sir Francis Walsingham. Be sure to also check out the podcast interview with the article’s author.

And finally…

* Lady Jane Grey makes an appearance – This was tweeted to me and had a better version of the photo than the one that showed up in my news alerts. I’m still amused at the use of Tudor or Tudor-influenced art in fashion, although having Henry VIII on your knickers still takes the cake.

Elizabeth’s Haunted Portrait

No, not a tale of spooky happenings around a piece of art, but rather a funny Halloween decoration I stumbled upon at the craft store the other day.


(Sorry for the cruddy cell phone pics.)

This is one of those things that has one image when you look at it from one angle and then another when viewed from the other side. I should have taken the photos with the glowing red eyes on too. They had a couple of others, all based on Renaissance portraits, and I *think* one of them was Sir Walter Raleigh, or perhaps Sir Francis Drake.

And no, I didn’t buy it since I didn’t see how much it was and I was already spending enough money on the magnifying lamp I went in for. (Fellow needleworkers will understand – I was stitching on a small project that had some parts that were on 28-ct fabric over one and my eyes basically said “No way lady!”, hence the new lamp.)

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Picture of the Week #141

Arms of Marie de Guise at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo May 2000.

For ages I thought that this was a symbol of Mary Queen of Scots, but when I went to post it today I realized that didn’t make any sense and it eventually dawned on me that it had to be of Marie de Guise. This panel is facing one belonging to James V on the same part of the Palace (visible to the left end in Picture of the Week #34) so I realized the MR was probably his wife, not his daughter. I did a little digging and turned up an entry for it on the database of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and sure enough, it was Marie de Guise!

Sunday Short Takes

I had a really busy week and lots of interesting stories that should have had dedicated blog posts came along, but unfortunately I just didn’t have the time to write them up. So, you get a massive link dump today instead. 🙂

* Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in World – The electronic journal database JSTOR has opened up, for free access, content for which the copyright has expired.

* Oxford research ‘recreates’ Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace and A king’s ransom for Nonsuch Palace model – Neat reproduction of the lost palace

* Anne Boleyn gave birth to Princess Elizabeth on September 7th, 1533. Susan Walters Schmid provides an interpretation of Anne Boleyn’s life, who, even almost 500 years after her death, remains an intriguing figure. – Published on the History Today website on Elizabeth I’s birthday

* Mary Queen of Scots necklace on display – the necklace will be on display through October 31 at Annet House Museum in Linlithgow, Scotland

* Quadripartite Indenture – Indenture between Henry VII and the monks of Westminster Abbey from 1504 featured on the British Library’s Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts Blog

* McMullen Museum hosts rare treasures of British history – A great chance to see some Tudor and other British history treasures on display in the US. More information from the museum

From the “I really should pick up a lottery ticket department”:

* Homes of the Week: Castle Lodge, Ludlow – Just outside the walls of Ludlow Castle

* Up for sale at

Picture of the Week #140

Queen Elizabeth’s Oak, Greenwich Park. Photo May 1998.

The oak was thought to have been planted in the 12th century and got the name “Queen Elizabeth’s Oak” due to a tradition linking it to her parents, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. This seemed an appropriate pick for the anniversary of Elizabeth’s birth at Greenwich Palace.

Sunday Short Takes

* Elsyng Palace history unearthed as tile found on site in Forty Hall, Enfield – Archaeologists have unearthed a piece of Enfield history on a dig at the former palace of Henry VIII.

* Helen Castor on Queens and Power – Five Books interview at The Browser

* A Tudor Bestiary – From the great How to be a Retronaut site

* From the Historic Royal Palaces learning blog – Podcast series now available to download!

* And from the HRP’s relaunched gift shop site: Henry USB – in case you’ve always wanted to have Henry VIII sticking out of the site of your computer. They have lots of other Tudor-related stuff, some of it REALLY nice, but this one in particular gave me a chuckle.

* It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of these – WANT: Stable Cottage, Old Palace Yard, Richmond, Surrey – It’s a little smaller than some of the previous places that I’ve posted about, but in this case it’s all about location!

The Elizabethans by A.N. Wilson

I missed at least one (and I’m sure many more) book in the batch I posted about last weekend, but that turned out to be a good thing since The Daily Mail has been publishing articles based on the book this week (compete with sensationalist headlines!). This book is out this week in the UK and in October in the US (I’ve put the ordering links for both below, although the US one may not be useful at the moment).

* Virgin Queen? She was a right royal minx! The outrageous flirting, jealous rages and nightly visits to a courtier’s bedroom of Elizabeth I

* Pirate who plundered Elizabeth’s heart: How Walter Raleigh’s silver tongue and broody looks bewitched the Virgin Queen

* Elizabeth I and the men she loved: How the Queen gave an Essex toyboy her heart, then lopped off his head

Sunday Short Takes

Yes, they’re back! I think the relatively slow summer news time is past and things are starting to pick up again.

* Archive discovery reveals the identity of Yorkist footsoldier at the Battle of Bosworth – Historians searching through a medieval register at Norfolk Records Office last week revealed the will of Thomas Longe, made on August 16 1485, which they say gives them the first positive ID of an ordinary Yorkist soldier involved in the Battle of Bosworth.

* Simon Forman: The Astrologer’s Tables – Lauren Kassell reveals how the casebooks, diaries and diagrams of the late-16th-century astrologer Simon Forman provide a unique perspective on a period when the study of the stars began to embrace modern science.

* Tudor dress hook treasure – A Tudor silver gilt dress hook believed to be more than 400 years old was pronouned to be treasure at an inquest in Lynn.

* It’s Nostra-dumbass! Astrologer predicted Henry VIII would marry well and take care of the church – A medieval astrologer who predicted that Henry VIII would have a happy marriage and be a devoted servant to the Catholic church must have been gazing at anything other than the stars.
(Noted in the article – this is the same astrologer who said that Elizabeth of York would live to be 80. She died at age 37.)

* And finally, some YouTube videos of note! Claire of The Anne Boleyn Files has uploaded two new videos on Anne Boleyn’s Appearance and Anne Boleyn’s Prison and Execution Spot to her YouTube Channel. Also, the creator of AskMeHistoryStuff alerted me to several Tudor-related videos on her channel. Check them out!

Upcoming lectures, classes, exhibitions and books

I’m way overdue for a round-up of upcoming lectures, events, books, etc. I’ll try to do these periodically to catch stuff a few weeks before they come out – so in late September I’ll catch the rest of the October things and maybe stuff coming in early November, and so forth. I have finally put together a spreadsheet where I can keep track of all these things! I know there will be some I miss, but I’ll do my best. 🙂

A couple of upcoming National Portrait Gallery talks of interest: September 1 – Alison Weir “Images of Tudor Queens” and October 6 – John Cooper “The Queen’s Agent” (about Francis Walsingham, Secretary to Elizabeth I)

This fall’s Adult Learning events at Hampton Court Palace from Historic Royal Palaces focuses on Elizabeth I. See the website for full details.

And Thereby Hangs a Tale – A new exhibition exploring the mysteries surrounding Anne and William’s marriage. From September 15, 2011 to January 29, 2012 at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon

Mary I finally joins the Yale English Monarchs Series this month in the UK and next month in the US. More information from Yale University Press and Amazon US and UK affiliate links below:

Picture of the Week #137

Axe and block in the Tower of London. Photo May 2003.

The block seen here is made of oak and weighs 56.75 kg (125 lbs) and probably dates from the 18th century. The axe is thought to be one of the four noted in the Tower inventory from the 17th century, but may date from the 16th century.