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Sunday Short Takes

Yes, the Sunday news round-up is back! Sorry it’s been quiet around here, I’ve been working on a few projects and taking some time off but now I should be back on a regular schedule until I take some more time off in August.

* I’ve mentioned this project many times over the past few years, and now the restored royal apartmetns at Stirling Castle are open! The video in the link to the STV story has some neat views and a snippet of the weavers still working on the reproduction tapestries for the castle. STV – Stirling Castle apartments reopen after makeover (with video) and BBC – Doors open after

Sunday Short Takes

Very short news summary today before I head out to food at Mom’s. 🙂

* Year of events in Winchcombe to celebrate Catherine Parr’s 500th birthday – (One nitpick – the article starts out: “She was the only one of Henry VIII’s wives to survive his rule …” It always bugs me when people are casual with their wording about Catherine outliving Henry because of course Anne of Cleves did as well. I’ve occasionally gotten emails from people telling me I must be wrong about Anne of Cleves being at Mary I’s coronation because as well all know, Catherine Parr was the only one who outlived Henry. *sigh*)

* The Making of a Monster – Another book examining the first part of Henry VIII’s life and reign (Amazon links below)

Sunday short takes

* Bess of Hardwick’s life of letters to go on display – Related: Hardwick Hall at the National Trust website

* Dr. Stephan Edwards has updated his Lady Jane Grey website Some Grey Matter with a new design and new information, including research on The Syon Portrait

* The Folger Shakespeare Library’s exhibit Manifold Greatness for the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible has a nice online companion site and there is some Tudor history content in the section on the lead-up to James’ reign and creation of the Bible. I was also thrilled to see that the only other US venue for the original version of the exhibition after its run at the Folger will be at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin!

(Updated 04-19-11: I should mention that the exhibition is currently at the Bodleian Library at Oxford until September before it goes to the Folger in Washington D.C. and finally comes to the Harry Ransom Center here in Austin)

* For my fellow needleworkers, a CBS story visiting the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace (Hopefully this video will work outside the US. If not, I apologize in advance!)

* There was a neat article with lots of images in the Daily Mail about a new reprint of Braun and Hogenberg’s Cities of the World, an atlas from the 16th century. Amazon links below, along with a couple of books that I have with Tudor-era maps that some of you may be interested in:

The Counties of Britain – A Tudor atlas by John Speed

Maps in Tudor England by P.D.A. Harvey

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

Questions for Sandra Worth – again!

Yep, we’re doing it again! In conjunction with the release of Sandra’s latest book (more info below) we’re doing another question and answer with readers of this site! If you have a question for Sandra, you can leave it in the comments below or email me directly – lara@tudorhistory.org – and I’ll pass them on. I’ll collect questions until March 31. The previous Q&A we did with Sandra can be seen here.

Sandra’s newest book is The Pale Rose of England, and here’s more about it from her website:

From the award-winning author of The King’s Daughter comes a story of love and defiance during the War of the Roses.

It is 1497. The news of the survival of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, has thundered across Europe, setting royal houses ablaze with intrigue and rocking the fledgling Tudor dynasty. Stepping finally onto English soil, Catherine arrives at the island of Saint Michael

C.J. Sansom’s “Heartstone” released

I have been remiss in not mentioning C.J. Sansom’s Shardlake mysteries, set in Tudor times, which I’ve heard some really good things about. I haven’t had a chance to read any of them yet, but they are on my “to read” list! I received an email from the publisher about the most recent one, and have pasted the press release information below:

The #1 international bestselling author brings us his fifth Shardlake novel

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:

Sunday Short Takes

* I meant to post this a few weeks ago – The November issue of BBC History Magazine has a cover article titled The Secret War Against the Tudors about the various plots against Henry VII and Henry VIII

* And because I thought it was really interesting – Heavenly illumination: The science and magic of stained glass (from The Guardian’s science blog)

* Was Henry Vlll’s first wife anorexic? Catherine of Aragon’s secret problem (I have no idea why they have a portrait of Charles V labeled as Prince Arthur)

The author of the above article also has a new book on Catherine (as far as I know, the first dedicated biography of Catherine since Garrett Mattingly’s) which just came out in the UK and will be out in a few weeks in the US. Usual Amazon links below:

Sunday Short Takes

Just two stories again this week! But the first one is pretty funny. 🙂

* Henry VIII may have lied on his Match.com profile

* And a new book that I’ve been hearing about and realized that I hadn’t posted about to the blog: Helen Castor’s She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, which sounds really interesting. It’s out in the UK now and will be out in February 2011 in the US. Usual Amazon link below:

Sunday Short Takes

Just a couple of stories today:

* Elizabeth Jenkins dies at 104 – Articles from the New York Times and from The Telegraph. Two of Ms. Jenkins’ books were some of the first I picked up when I started to collect them in earnest – “Elizabeth the Great” and “Elizabeth and Leicester”

* Sotheby’s to auction a Shakespeare First Folio and a collection of letters from Elizabeth I, Cecil and more (and not Tudor-related – but really cool – Audubon’s “Birds of America”)

Sunday Short Takes (Monday edition)

Since I was off doing my Labor Day cookout on Sunday, I figured I would so my Sunday blogging on Labor Day. 🙂

* Shakespeare’s face recreated for UK HIstory Channel program called “Death Masks”

* Reformation documents go on show – New exhibition from the National Library of Scotland. Additional article here.

* Hilary Mantel’s award-winning “Wolf Hall” is now available in paperback in the US (Amazon links below, of course). Macmillan has a nice page up for the book that includes links to a book club discussion guide, videos and more.

The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare

I really need to start checking my draft posts folder more often! I’ve had this one in there for a couple of months, so my apologies that I’m just now posting about it.

The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare

IN LONDON IN THE WINTER OF 1795, a 19-year-old apprentice named William-Henry Ireland pretended he

Sunday Short Takes

* Bosworth Battlefield Anniversary Re-enactment at the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and Country Park on August 21 and 22nd. Also, if you are descended from someone who fought at the Battle of Bosworth, the Centre wants to hear from you! Here’s an article about the search for descendants: Visitor Centre curators in search to locate descendants of men from the Battle of Bosworth, as well as this article with the headline that seems to imply they only want people from Richard III’s side, even though the article explains further: Did your ancestors fight for Richard III?
[Added August 9 – Here’s another article on this that I had to add. Apparently someone at BBC Leicester thinks “ancestor” and “descendant” are interchangeable terms: Search for ancestors of Battle of Bosworth soldiers]
[Updated August 10 – The BBC article has now been corrected.]

* An update on the development plans for Westminster Abbey that I blogged about back in 2009. Unfortunately they will not be going ahead with the plan to add a corona to the Abbey at this time but they will be finishing the new cafe and the plans to open the Triforium (which I’m really looking forward to seeing one day!).

* An interesting article from the Guardian about accuracy in historical fiction: The lying art of historical fiction

* Little Miss Sunnydale has posted a neat Mary I themed tour of London on her Mary Tudor: Renaissance Queen blog

* And finally, Philippa Gregory’s latest novel, The Red Queen came out last week in the US and will be out in a couple of weeks in the UK. It continues her look at the Wars of the Roses, this time from the perspective of Margaret Beaufort. I haven’t read any of Gregory’s books, but I’m tempted to pick this up since Margaret is one of my Tudor interests and I’m curious to see how she fares in the author’s hands, especially since she hasn’t been featured very often in fiction. Standard Amazon links below:

TannerRitchie Publishing Summer Sale

If you’re itching to get into reading some primary source documents, this is a good time to stock-up on ebooks from TannerRitchie – downloads are on sale for $10 through August 15. They are also offering a 10% discount on Medieval and Early Modern Sources Online (MEMSO) short-term access subscriptions.

For those not familiar with TannerRitchie, they publish hundreds of rare and out of print historical sources as ebooks and specialize in British History, especially Tudor and Stuart England, British Colonial history (especially in North America and the Carribean), Medieval history and Scottish medieval and early modern history.

You can keep up with sales and new titles through their blog, Twitter and an RSS feed of new publications.

Sunday short takes

This is the first time in a few weeks I’ve had a few stories stack up so I could do a “short takes”!

* First up, from Foose, a review from the Spectator of G.W. Bernard’s book “Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions” (which I posted about back in February)

* More excavations at the site of The Theatre in Shoreditch (previously mentioned here and here) are going on this summer, and you can follow along at the Museum of London’s “Working Life of the Museum” blog (here’s a , , , 1