Quite a few more news items this week than last!
* In a follow-up to last week’s video about the recreation of Henry VIII’s crown, here’s more about it from the Historic Royal Palaces website
* And for anyone with a little cash to spare: Henry VIII home goes on sale for
Sad news came this week of the death of Tudor historian Eric Ives. Here are two short obituaries, but I’ll post any others that I find in future news round-ups.
* From BBC History Extra – Eric Ives obituary
* From History Today – Obituary: Eric Ives
And the rest of this week’s news:
As most of you know by now, there were some exciting developments last week in the search for the grave of Richard III! When I last wrote about it on the Sunday news round-up of September 9, the archaeological team had confirmed that they had received an additional week to dig in light of their discoveries.
Here’s a timeline of relevant events prior to the 21st century [Source]:
* Richard III was buried in the church in 1485 after the defeat at Bosworth and a tomb was erected over the grave ten years later.
* In 1538, Greyfriars was closed during the Dissolution and by the early 17th century the church had fallen into ruin.
* In 1600 the Mayor of Leicester, Robert Herrick, bought the site and had a house built, with a memorial pillar of Richard III’s grave erected in the garden.
* The land was sold in the early 18th century to Thomas Novle and then is sold to the Leicester city council in 1914, who paved over the land for a car park in 1940.
Archaeologists confirmed that they had found the remains of the Greyfriars Church and the 17th century garden that contained the memorial pillar. They then extended the three trenches in hopes of finding the choir area of the church which is thought to be where Richard was buried. (I once again recommend this BBC article for a background on the historical detective work that lead to the dig and, now very importantly, the genealogy work that found a descendant of Richard III’s sister Anne of York for DNA testing.)
Unbeknownst to the public at the time, human remains had been found at the site and on September 4th exhumation began. On September 11 (in my time zone) news had leaked about the remains and that there would be a press conference at 11 a.m. UK time on Wednesday September 12th with details. At the time I was excited by the possibilities, but I knew that finding human remains while digging in a church site wasn’t that unexpected. But I was very curious to hear what they had to say. Given that they were putting together a press conference, I was thinking that they might have some additional evidence that they might have actually found Richard III – and that turned out to be the case!
Here’s a summary of the findings that point to the potential of this being Richard III’s skeleton [Source]:
1. The remains
The Tudor Ghost Story contest is on again! Head over to On the Tudor Trail for more information on this year’s contest.
And for some follow-up on a couple of previous stories:
The re-enactment of the funeral of Katherine Parr at Sudeley Castle was held today. See a gallery of photos from the event on the Sudeley Castle Facebook page.
And more news has come from the dig in search of the grave of Richard III! From the University of Leicester blog –
* Search for Richard III confirms that remains are the long-lost Church of the Grey Friars
And here’s an interesting article from the BBC on the background research:
* Richard III dig: How search reached Leicester car park
The initial run of the project was due to wrap up this weekend, with the possibility that it would be extended if significant progress has been made. And I saw on the University Leicester twitter account that is has been confirmed that they will get a third week!
In a follow-up to last Sunday’s news about the dig to find Greyfriars Church in Leicester and the possible resting place of Richard III, archaeologists have already found strong evidence that they’re digging in the right place.
To keep up with all of the news, check the official site from the University of Leicester’s Greyfriars Project site news section.
Additional news on the most recent finds from the dig – just a few selected from many:
* Richard III dig in Leicester car park ‘is definitely on the right track’
And another couple of 16th century properties have come on the market (I keep posting these in hopes that someone who reads this blog will buy one and invite me to visit!):
* Live like Henry VIII in your own Tudor mansion complete with pool and 300 acres (but at
The last few days have been abuzz with the start of an archaeological dig at a carpark in Leicester in search of the remains of Richard III. In the back of my mind I recalled a previous news article related to the topic and it turns out it was a news article that I linked to back in 2007 (the original news link is no longer active, but this 2012 dig appears to be the one archaeologists were hoping to do back then). There was also a story in 2008 about Richard III’s possible coffin, although I don’t know if further research has been done on that. I’m hoping to be in the area next year so I really hope they find something!
This whole thing reminds me of research I did in to trying to find the modern location of Jasper Tudor’s burial. He was laid to rest at Keynsham Abbey, but the abbey was dissolved in 1539 and now the A4 runs over part of the site. Depending on where within the building Jasper was buried, there is a chance he’s under the Keynsham By-Pass!
Here are just a few of the articles about the dig from the past few days:
* Richard III’s remains: Leicester car park dug up (BBC)
* Is this the lost grave of King Richard III? Archaeologists dig under council car park for monarch killed in Battle of Bosworth (Daily Mail)
* Is Richard III ‘buried under council car park’? (The Telegraph – this one has an informative interview with one of the archaeologists)
Another story that got a lot of coverage last week was the announcement that the BBC will be developing Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” into a six part mini-series. Like the story above, this rang some bells for me, and sure enough, I posted about it last year (although it doesn’t appear that HBO is involved now).
* Wolf Hall adaptation planned for BBC Two (BBC)
* BBC turns best-selling Henry VIII novel and Booker Prize winner ‘Wolf Hall’ into a mini-series (Mail Online)
And here are a few other interesting things that caught my eye over the past week:
* Chance to get involved in Woking Palace history dig – A free ‘Dig for a Day’ scheme will be run at the monument in Carters Lane, Old Woking, with heritage teams on site from September 13 until the end of the month and the weekends open to let the community try their hand at archaeology. (Sounds like fun!)
* Wolsey’s Gate in Ipswich covered in graffiti – A piece of Tudor Ipswich, built by Henry VIII’s chancellor, has been covered in graffiti. (I will never understand people who vandalize…)
And finally, on a lighter note, the Olympic Torch and the Hampton Court maze –
Since a lot of stuff piled up while I was traveling for work (and then recovering from a cold I brought back with me) there will be a lot of links today!
There were several articles about the discovery of medieval underwear in an Austrian castle last week. The items are of interest since they show that these types of undergarments are older than had been generally thought.
* Discovered in a castle vault, the scraps of lace that show lingerie was all the rage 500 years ago – From The Daily Mail
* Medieval lingerie – From History Extra
* Medieval lingerie from Lengberg Castle, East-Tyrol – From Universit
* 16th century French queen’s pin found in toilet – A hairpin belonging to 16th century French Queen Catherine de Medici has been discovered at a royal residence outside Paris. What has conservators scratching their heads is exactly where it was found: down a communal toilet.
* The remains of The Curtain have been found in London – here are several articles about the find:
Shakespeare’s Curtain theatre unearthed in east London
Shakespeare’s Curtain Theatre remains found (with video)
Does the rediscovery of Shakespeare’s Curtain theatre matter? Absolutely
* Mary Rose sailors ate diet of salt beef and biscuits, bone analysis shows
* Thomas Cromwell letter to Henry VIII before Anne of Cleves marriage discovered
* Woking Palace attacked by arsonists for a second time – During the Tudor period, Woking Palace was an important residence. Henry VIII spent considerable sums of money on Woking during his reign.
* Fort on St Catherine’s Island, Tenby, could reopen as visitor attraction – Once owned by Henry VII’s uncle Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, the island was sold by Tenby Corporation to the War Office in the 1860s to house a fort.
* Alice Simpson’s artist book The Dancing Chancellor about Sir Christopher Hatton is complete and now for sale. I’ve been exchanging emails with the artist for years and it is wonderful to see the final product. It’s gorgeous!
And finally, a humorous video for your enjoyment:
Sorry I didn’t get around to doing one of these last weekend (which was the long Memorial Day holiday here in the US).
* The June issue of BBC History magazine is out and features a cover article about Elizabeth I by Anna Whitelock titled “Saving the Virgin Queen”. I decided to subscribe to the digital edition on my iPad but I’m still a month behind on reading the issues!
* Tudor Gresham Ship wreck moves to National Diving Centre – The wreck of an Elizabethan merchant ship has been transported to a new home in Leicestershire after being raised from a Portsmouth lake.
And finally, the article (well, one version of it at least – there were many re-workings of it in various news outlets) that lit up Twitter last week:
* ‘Tudor era’ is misleading myth, says Oxford historian
One observation I had, especially after @NasimT pointed to an earlier article by the same historian, is that it is odd how some topics suddenly become “news”. In my profession (astronomy/astrophysics for those who don’t already know) I’ve seen this same phenomenon happen as well. A reporter stumbles across something that they think will cause a buzz (even years-old research), will write a story, and all of a sudden it is everywhere! My other observation was that I could see the point Prof. Davies is making, but I don’t know that it would be “misleading” to call it the Tudor Era. We call the era before them “The Wars of the Roses” even though the participants didn’t call it that and the name came along centuries later. As Suzannah Lipscomb (@sixteenthCgirl) pointed out on Twitter, the Plantagenets didn’t call their era by their name either, so why make a point about the Tudors? I also haven’t seen an alternative label offered. We already note the individual reigns when we’re speaking more specifically, and often books about the whole era include the dates 1485-1603 in their titles or subtitles. Oh well, it was an interesting article and got a lot of people talking, which I guess was the point! 🙂
And one final off-topic note, while I’m thinking about it – if you’re in an area that the Transit of Venus on June 5/6 is visible please make an effort to see it! I’ll be hosting one part of the public outreach viewing at UT. Any central Texas readers, please stop by! (More info here)
* Historical Reconstruction: Anne Boleyn ‘The Moost Happi’ Portrait Medal – A restored copy of the only surviving undisputed contemporary portrait of Anne Boleyn. (And the copies are for sale!)
* Rare church artefact to be restored – Depicting the royal coat of arms during Edward VI’s seven-year reign from 1547-1553, it is thought to be the oldest of just three in existence.
* e-Petition:Campaign for Statue of Henry VII in Pembroke – Just a note, you do not have live in the UK to sign
One of the big stories that showed up a lot on my news alerts this past week was the discovery of a map that may have clues to Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony. Here’s a selection of links about it:
* Map
* The Google Art Project (which I first mentioned back in February 2011) has expanded and now includes over 150 collections from 40 countries.
* Summer was the most dangerous time for Tudors – Fatal accidents were much more likely to take place during the agricultural peak season, a study of 16th Century coroner reports has revealed. (Related articles from last year based on the same research by Steven Gunn.)
* Audacious Magazine Call For Submissions – A new magazine is looking for submissions for their issue on Henry VIII
And finally, a couple of interesting video stories from the BBC:
* Sudeley Castle to host lectures on Henry VIII’s wife Katherine Parr
A few stories from the always-fascinating wreck of the Mary Rose:
* Mary Rose skeletons studied by Swansea sports scientists
* Acid damage is latest battle for the warship Mary Rose
And the latest History Extra podcast from BBC History Magazine features Suzannah Lipscomb talking about Tudor courtiers and Kate Hay talking about the Great Bed of Ware. Be sure to check out the related slide shows:
* Claire Ridgway of The Anne Boleyn Files has published The Anne Boleyn Collection which includes the most popular articles from the site. I downloaded the US Kindle version for my iPad and the UK Kindle edition is available along with paperback editions.
* Several interesting stories about the Welsh port town of Tenby hit my news alerts this week, which was exciting! In my continuing research on Jasper Tudor and Henry VII’s early years, Tenby plays a role, as you will see from these news items:
* The tunnel of Tenby where Henry VII hid as a teenager – Photo gallery
* Why future Henry VII hid in a Tenby cellar in 1471 – Audio story from BBC news (warning: the audio auto-starts when you go to the page)
* New light shed on the history of Tenby and its 16th Century boom
* And from the Really-Interesting-Looking-Program-That-I’ll-Probably-Never-Be-Able-To-Legally-Watch-In-The-US Department, Helen Castor is doing a 3 part program for BBC 4 based on her book She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizbeth. The trailer is embedded below:
She Wolves: England’s Early Queens from Matchlight on Vimeo.
Sorry for any trouble you’ve had reaching the blog this week – the database server at my webhost has been hiccuping and causing problems. It seems to be up most of the time now but a little slow at times. Hopefully they’ll get it all worked out soon!
Now, on with this Sunday’s links:
* Hope Walker has posted the first seven entries of her PhD work on Hans Eworth. See the entries here at the Hans Eworth Catalogue!
* Royals’ own set of kings and queens paintings revealed – “A set of paintings of England
* Tanner Ritchie’s annual Holiday and New Year sale is on again! If you’re in to primary sources this is a great place to get some at a good price.
* Chatham dig finds Tudor dockyard remains
* Novel Approaches: From Academic History to Historical Fiction – The IHR had their first virtual conference on this topic and you can see all the presentations at the website.
And finally…
* If you have a few spare tens of thousands of pounds, you can bid on some late 16th century (or later) portraits of Catherine of Aragon and Katherine Parr on auction next week at Christie’s. And if you have a few spare MILLION – you can bid on some of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry, including La Peregrina, a pearl given to Mary I by her husband Philip of Spain. Many centuries later it was given to Taylor by her husband Richard Burton (who played Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days).
