Sunday Short Takes

Long overdue! Some of these date back over a month, but in my defense, most of February was a blur so it feels like we just went from January straight to March.

* The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries to open on 11th June – A date has been announced for the opening of Westminster Abbey’s new galleries up in the medieval Triforium. I can’t wait to visit this (someday)!

* Blanche Parry’s life at the side of Queen Elizabeth IBlanche Parry is one of history’s most influential Welsh women, yet few know the name and only a handful know her story.

* Victoria Art Gallery

Sunday Short Takes

Mix of stuff this week!

* Sad news to start with: Robert Hardy, star of Harry Potter and All Creatures Great & Small, dies aged 91 – Although most of the articles I saw focused on his recent work in the Harry Potter films, Tudor history fans will probably also know him from his portrayal of Robert Dudley in the BBC Elizabeth R series.

* And speaking of Harry Potter: Merlin’s beard! Harry Potter’s childhood home in Godric’s Hollow is on the marketThis is one of the most historically significant houses in the area, owned from the 14th to the 17th centuries by the de Veres, the richest family in the country after the monarch. – I really wanted to make it to Lavenham when I was in England in 2015 but I just couldn’t fit it in. Another for the “reasons to go again” list!

* Next up – more digging in Leicester!: Archaeologists are set to carry out a dig at Leicester’s Abbey Park – here’s why – The dig is concentrating on discovering more about medieval life at the abbey, but I’m secretly hoping they find the burial of Cardinal Wolsey, who died there while traveling to London. Abbey Park was another place that I had originally hoped to visit when I was in England two years ago but I ended up spending more time at the cathedral and Richard III visitor center than I originally planned so I skipped the Abbey Park to give more time for my visit that afternoon to the Bosworth Battlefield.

* Big announcement – The Tudor Summit 2017 is coming in just a few weeks! I wish I could participate this year but the timing didn’t work out. Hopefully my schedule will actually allow me to join in on in the future!

Join 16th century historians and bloggers at The Tudor Summit 2017 happening online on September 3 and 4!

The Tudor Summit is a two day online event bringing together Tudor history enthusiasts from all over the world to connect with each other, and listen to interviews and lectures from some of the leading Tudor History historians, bloggers, and podcasters. With lecture topics ranging from Tudor portraiture, fashion, and music; to Henry VIII’s wives, and the Princess Mary’s relationships with them, it will be a jam packed and engaging agenda!

The event will be broadcast live on September 3 and 4, starting at 4pm UK time, and registration is free to attend live!

For more information, please visit:
http://www.englandcast.com/the-2017-tudor-history-day-summit/

* The Society of Antiquaries put up a neat video about the volume of the Inventory of Henry VIII from their collections:

* And finally, enjoy a flyover of a digital reconstruction of Edinburgh from 1544

Edinburgh 1544 – Location Compilation from Smart History on Vimeo.

Sunday Short Takes

More entries for the “OMG I want to win the lottery and buy this place!” wishlist!

First up is Otley Hall in Suffolk, which was mostly built in the 16th century. You can see the listing at Savills here.

And next is Flemings Hall, also in Suffolk, which has parts dating back to the 14th century with 16th century additions. You can see the listing at Savills here.

In other news:

The Rex Factor podcast will soon be launching a Kickstarter for an animated show, which you can see a teaser trailer for here:

Rex Factor – The Animated Show Teaser Trailer from Tinmouse Animation Studio on Vimeo.

Sunday Short Takes

Yes, finally, another long-overdue news round-up! I thought that I would be able to stay on top of things a lot better after the four major things at work were done, but of course everything that got put off during that time had to be dealt with after. But now I’m in the middle of a two-week stay-at-home vacation to start making a dent in the comp time and vacation hours I have to use before the end of August and I have finally recovered some of my energy.

On to the news!

* ‘Incredibly rare’ William Caxton print discoveredPages printed more than 500 years ago by William Caxton, who brought printing to England, have been discovered by the University of Reading.

* Did Thomas Seymour sexually abuse the teenage Princess Elizabeth? – In a new series for Channel Five, Suzannah Lipscomb and Dan Jones examine the allegation that the teenage Princess Elizabeth was sexually abused by her stepfather, Thomas Seymour. Here, Suzannah Lipscomb considers the evidence

Sunday Short Takes

More buildings to save your pence for!

* Thornbury Castle, Honeymoon Spot of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, On Sale for $10.3 million – Although since this one is also a hotel, I think I would settle for just staying there instead of buying the whole thing. I know several readers of this site have been there, but it’s still on my ‘to do’ list!

* Barsham Manor House on rightmove – This property in Norfolk intrigues me. Henry VIII apparently stayed there several times and it’s in an area that some of my ancestors are from!

* Knole House has

Sunday Short Takes – Saturday edition

I wanted to get this final round-up of 2016 actually *in* 2016, hence the Saturday post. A lot of stories piled up in the final weeks of 2016 that I never got around to posting, so this is going to be a long one!

* Pembroke Castle study uncovers possible Henry VII birthplace

* Through foreign eyes: the forgotten ambassadors to the Tudor court

* V&A acquires earliest picture of Henry VIII

Sunday Short Takes

Good grief, I didn’t expect a month to go by before I got a chance to do one of these again… To say that things have been busy lately would be a wild understatement. The good news is that I’ve earned a fair amount of comp time but the bad news is that I have no idea when I will ever be able to use it!

But enough whinging from me – on to the news round-up!

* The Tudor London Tube Map – This one has already been going around social media for a while now, but it was so clever (and useful for planning a Tudor-themed trip to London) that I had to post it.

* Lost in the Great Fire: which London buildings disappeared in the 1666 blaze? – A look at some of the reasons that many Tudor (and earlier) buildings of London aren’t around to see anymore.

* Bosworth: the dawn of the Tudors – From childhood imprisonment in Brittany to the violent execution of Richard III in a Leicestershire field, Henry Tudor

Sunday Short Takes

Time for a Sunday Short Takes!

* Dynastic Rivalry and Digital Reconstruction at Bradgate House – Interesting work on the reconstruction of Bradgate House for a new visitors center at Bradgate Park.

* Tudor Calendar Photography CompetitionThe Anne Boleyn Files is hosting a calendar photo competition again this year, so pick out your best Tudor-related photos!

* Tudor women: what was life like? – Elizabeth Norton writes about the life of women in all levels of Tudor society

* Tour Westminster Abbey on Google Street View

Sunday Short Takes

There were a bunch of Shakespeare events last weekend for the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death (and 452nd anniversary of his birth), and here are a few related articles:

* William Shakespeare, Playwright and Poet, Is Dead at 52 – The New York Times obituary for Shakespeare

* Shakespeare’s ‘original classroom’ revealedThe original classroom where William Shakespeare is believed to have studied and seen his first plays opens to the public for the first time this weekend.

* BBC Shakespeare Lives – The main page for all of the Shakespeare celebrations of the BBC. It looks like at least some (maybe all?) of the videos on this site are viewable outside the UK – yay!

And in other news…

* Princely pleasures at Kenilworth: Robert Dudley’s three-week marriage proposal to Elizabeth I
Described as Elizabeth I

Sunday Short Takes

A terse round-up this week since I think a cold virus has finally managed to catch me… I’m really surprised it took this long given the exhaustion I’ve had over the past 8 months and the fact that I interact with college students, globe-trotting faculty and research scientists, the general public, and school-aged kids on a regular basis! I guess my immune system just didn’t have enough energy left to fight off this one.

* Conservation plan set to preserve Woking Palace’s future

* Shakespeare first folio discovered at stately home on Scottish island

* Shakespeare’s Buildings

* Conserving Shakespeare

In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII Blog Tour – May the Force be with You

I’m happy to be the final stop on the blog tour for Natalie Grueninger and Sarah Morris’ newest book: In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII, following their previous fantastic title, In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn. In this post, Sarah will share her top five locations that left an imprint on her. I don’t think that Sarah knew I’m a life-long Star Wars fan but I got a little thrill when I saw the title for her guest article. 🙂

May the Force be with You

By Sarah Morris

Over the last three to four years, I have been privileged to travel to around 130 locations associated with each of Henry VIII

Sunday Short Takes

Sunday Short Takes Mega Edition! This is what happens when I actually have time to do things. (I took Spring Break off at work – although the fact that I was able to mostly use comp time accrued in the last month to take the *whole week* off tells you something…)

More interesting Shakespeare news:

* Shakespeare’s grave scanned in 400th anniversaryShakespeare’s grave in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford upon Avon has never been excavated, but a scan has been carried out to search below ground. The findings are expected to be revealed in the next few weeks.

* William Shakespeare’s handwritten plea for refugees to go online – Sir Thomas More script is only surviving copy of a play in the bard