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Category: Archaeology News

Sunday Short Takes

Since I didn’t do a round-up last week, I didn’t get around to posting about the discovery of Sir Francis Drake’s final fleet and the possible resting place of Drake himself. Here are a few of the many news stories that ran about the discovery:

* Sir Francis Drake’s final fleet ‘discovered off the coast of Panama’

Sir Francis Drake’s body ‘close to being found off Panama’

Wrecks that promise to unlock the mystery of Francis Drake’s final resting place

And a few other news items that caught my eye last week:

* Brierfield treasure hunter finds Tudor ring

* Britain’s oldest family business opened when Henry VIII ruled

And finally, Medievalists.net visited the Making History exhibition at the McMullen Museum at Boston College (I mentioned it in a previous Sunday short takes) and recorded an interview with the museum’s director. Tudor history fans will recognize the portrait in the background!

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!

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!

Sunday Short Takes

* Tudor coroners’ records give clue to ‘real Ophelia’ for Shakespeare – I saw a lot of articles going around last week on this discovery by Dr. Steven Gunn, but I liked the discussion in this one of safety in the period in general. I’m particularly intrigued by the fatal maypole accidents…

* Mary Arden’s Farm blog – If you’re interested in Tudor and Elizabethan daily life topics, check out this new blog from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

* English Heritage Free Sites Audio Tours – English Heritage has put up mp3 versions of audio tours for their free sites that you can download. Be sure to check out some of the other goodies in their multimedia library!

* Damon Albarn and the Elizabethan magical mystery man and The Mystical Artefacts Of John Dee At The British Museum – I don’t get a whole lot of hits on my “John Dee” news alert, so it was particularly surprising to get two in one week (even though they are related, prompted by a new opera)

* Gunpowder Plot documents among millions of papers put online by National Archives and Fourth and final part of State Papers Online – I’ve linked to related stories on this topic in the past and it’s nice to see that it is finally complete. Unfortunately there still doesn’t appear to be a way for individuals to access it without an institutional affiliation (which I’m lucky to have through work!).

* And finally, Mullions XP – Operating System For The Tudor Times, a fun video sent to me by Stephanie through twitter. Enjoy!

Piece of The Mary Rose onboard Space Shuttle Endeavour

I kept putting off posting this story until the shuttle actually launched and after several delays it finally has!

I first heard about the possibility of a piece of The Mary Rose flying on the space shuttle when the crew of a different shuttle flight visited the Historic Portsmouth Dockyard last summer. They took the artifact with the hope that it would be flown on a future flight, which is indeed what happened. Here are some of the article links I collected about it, back when Endeavour was originally supposed to launch back in April:

From nasa.gov: Robonaut Hand, Ship Bearing Head to Space

From The Telegraph: Mary Rose artefact to be sent into space on Endeavour

From The BBC: Mary Rose artefact on space shuttle Endeavour

Sunday Short Takes

* A couple of portraits of Tudor interest are up for auction at Sotheby’s next week, including this copy of a portrait of Jane Seymour. More interestingly, spotted on Hope Walker’s twitter @HansEworth, is this portrait of Edward Seymour Earl of Hertford, attributed to Eworth.

* Dig For Shakespeare is back and starting their new field season tomorrow (April 11). If you happen to be in the Stratford-upon-Avon area in the next few months, you can see the dig live.

* Margaret George has ventured back in to Tudor fiction with her new book Elizabeth I. I read The Autobiography of Henry VIII in high school and loved it, but I haven’t read any of her books since (although I have Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles on my shelf). I might have to pick this one up though since I haven’t read as much fiction on the later part of Elizabeth I’s life.

Amazon affiliate links below:

Sunday Short Takes

* Dr. Susan Bordo is writing at new book called “The Creation of Anne Boleyn” and wants to hear from Anne Boleyn fans, particularly women 20 years old and younger. She and her research assistant Natalie have started a Facebook group for discussion: The Creation of Anne Boleyn

* Dame Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) – Elizabeth Taylor, Mary I and Hans Eworth

* Lucy Worsley: ‘Lots of historians are sniffy about re-enactors’ – Interview with Lucy Worsley including information about her new series If Walls Could Talk

* Spotted at The Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide Blog – Lecture by Anna Whitelock “Woman, Warrior, Queen

Sunday Short Takes

* All the world’s a stage: British Museum to hold blockbuster Shakespeare show ahead of London Olympics

* Mary Rose treasures to go on show – Video story from the BBC. They talk longbows with Robert Hardy, whom some will recognize as Robert Dudley from “Elizabeth R” with Glenda Jackson, and others will recognize as Cornelius Fudge from the Harry Potter movies (and of course, many, many other things). I always forget that he is an expert on longbows until something like this comes along to remind me!

* David Starkey and Jennifer Scott discuss the Royal Portrait

Sunday Short Takes

Actually, not so short this week since I have quite a few stories with multiple links!

One of the big stories to make the Tudor news rounds this week was the discovery of a mural of Henry VIII on the wall of a house while the owners were doing renovations. The house was once the summer home of the Archdeacons of Taunton, including Thomas Cranmer before he became Archbishop of Canterbury. I noticed that pretty much every article, including the three I linked to below, called it a “medieval” mural. I’m assuming they are referring to the technique or style of the mural, since I’m pretty sure anything produced in the 1530s (as this has been dated to) would stretch the definition of the medieval time period.

* A medieval mural depicting Henry VIII has been uncovered by a couple renovating their home – The Telegraph

* Out with his head! DIY couple uncover medieval mural of King Henry VIII – The Daily Mail (including images)

* Medieval mural of King Henry VIII uncovered in Somerset – Article with video from the BBC

(Quick update – check out the comments thread at The Anne Boleyn Files’ post on this for some info from one of the homeowners! They plan to put up a website at http://milvertonmural.com/, although it isn’t up yet.)

New archaeological work is beginning at Sheffield Manor Lodge, once owned by the Earls of Shrewsbury and where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned, that will remove the soil above the kitchen quarters of the house. Previous archaeological work on the house was done in 2010 by students from the University of Sheffield, who kept a blog about the project.

* Project set to reveal secrets of ancient manor – The Star

* Fresh light on manor where Mary Queen of Scots held – Yorkshire Post

More articles have come out about research in to the tombs of Henry Fitzroy and Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk that I linked to in a previous Sunday Short Takes

* Research uses space-age technology on 16th-century history – The Guardian

* The truth behind Tudor tombs is out there – PhysOrg

And finally, a new work on Mary Tudor Brandon is due out in April in the US and May in the UK. Unfortunately it looks like it will have academic pricing (hopefully my university’s library will get it, although with the budget crunch we’re facing, who knows), but here are the Amazon links if anyone is looking to pre-order:

France’s Henri IV’s head identified

A lot of you know that I get a big kick out of being able to link to articles on Scientific American here at a history blog. 🙂

From SciAm:

The severed head of King Henri IV has been identified from the jumbled remains in the mass graves in Paris’s Royal Basilica of Saint-Denis. A team of researchers used a host of scientific strategies to confirm the head’s owner, who was killed in 1610.
…
Henri IV was embalmed and then interred at the Basilica of Saint-Denis. But his – along with other royal graves there – was destroyed during the 1793 revolution. The remains were mutilated and mixed together in mass graves.
…
[…] although there were traces of hair left on the head and face, the researchers lacked adequate mDNA material to run a genetic test. So they turned to other methods to confirm the regal provenance of the cranium, including the following:

* Radiocarbon dating provided a 200-year window (1450 to 1650), which matched with Henri’s lifespan (1553 to 1610).

* Computed tomography (CT) scans of the head matched up nicely with details in a mould that was made just after the king’s death (now at the Saint-Genevieve Library in Paris).

* Raman spectroscopy showed traces of an amorphous carbon known as ivory black, which was used by the physician Pierre Pigray during the embalming process (specifically requested by the king to be “in the style of the Italians” rather than conforming to more typical French burial preparations). “This charcoal, obtained by anaerobic calcinations of animal bones, corresponds to that deposited by the surgeon Pigray on the surface of the cadaver to absorb decomposition fluids and putrefactive gases,” the researchers noted.

Full article

For context, Henri IV was King of France from 1589-1610 and King of Navarre from 1572-1610, contemporaneous with the last part of Elizabeth I’s reign.

You can see the research article at the British Journal of Medicine here, including imagery of the head.

New Mary Rose collectible items


Image from The Royal Mint

From Portsmouth.co.uk:

THE MARY Rose has been chosen to feature on a set of commemorative coins for 2011.

The historic ship, housed at Portsmouth’s dockyard, is one of six coins that will be in circulation from next year and has been produced by the Royal Mint.

The Mary Rose, which was King Henry VIII’s flagship, has been chosen as next year marks the 500th anniversary of the great ship’s maiden voyage.

The image has been done by designer John Bergdahl and around the edge of the coin, a Latin inscription reads ‘your noblest shippe 1511’.

Full article

You can get a collectible version with an information folder from The Royal Mint here. I’ll be getting one to go with my Henry VIII 500th and Elizabeth I 450th accession anniversary special coins. 🙂

And…


Press release image from The Mary Rose 500 Appeal

Unfortunately this particular collectible is a little out of my price range…

Press release from The Mary Rose 500 Appeal:

Alan Titchmarsh Pledges Support to New Mary Rose Museum Campaign

Broadcaster and author Alan Titchmarsh is putting his weight behind the campaign to build a spectacular new

16th Century Danish Astronomer Tycho Brahe Exhumed


Image of Tycho Brahe from the University of Texas at Austin Department of Astronomy image collection

This is another one of those stories that comes along every so often that allows me to geek out from both the history and science perspective (and in this case, my actual career science field – astronomy!). Tycho is one of those interesting characters of science that seems to cause endless fascination, so I’m not surprised to see this. And yes, he’s the one who famously had a metal replacement nose after losing the flesh one in a duel!

From The BBC:

Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe exhumed to solve mystery

Tycho Brahe was a Danish nobleman who served as royal mathematician to the Bohemian Emperor Rudolf II.

He was thought to have died of a bladder infection, but a previous exhumation found traces of mercury in his hair.

A team of Danish and Czech scientists hope to solve the mystery by analysing bone, hair and clothing samples.

Tycho was born Tyge Ottesen Brahe in 1546 in Scania, which at the time was a Danish province, and studied astronomy at the University of Copenhagen, as well as German academic institutions.

He catalogued more than 1,000 new stars and his stellar and planetary observations helped lay the foundations of early modern astronomy.
…
Professor Jens Vellev, from Aarhus University, is leading the team of scientists and archaeologists which opened the tomb in Tyn Church on Monday.

He says he hopes to get better samples of hair and bones than were taken in 1901.

The use of the latest technology to test the samples may also help shed more light on the mystery of the astronomer’s death, although Professor Vellev is not promising anything.

“Perhaps, we will be able to come close to an answer, but I don’t think we will get a final answer to that question,” he said.

The scientists also hope to determine what kind of metal Brahe’s prosthesis was made of – it was commonly believed to have been gold and silver, but others suggested it might have contained copper.

Full article

More articles (all of the articles have interesting pictures):
NPR: Danish Astronomer’s Remains Exhumed In Prague
Scientific American: Was Tycho Brahe poisoned? 16th-century astronomer exhumed–again

And finally, a bunch of photos and some video from the research are available on the Opening of Tycho Brahe’s Tomb pages from Aarhus University

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Archaeologists dig at Kirk o’ Fields

From the BBC:

Archaeologists at the University of Edinburgh are hoping to uncover the scene of a historical unsolved crime.

Work has begun to unearth remnants of buildings which became infamous for the murder of the second husband of Mary Queen of Scots, Lord Darnley.

The remains of the buildings have been buried beneath Old College for more than 200 years.

The dig is being carried out prior to a