Lots of things this week!
* Historic milestone for 500-year-old wreck of Mary Rose warship – Scientists have stopped spraying the 500-year-old wreck of the Mary Rose with a protective wax for the first time in nearly two decades, an historic milestone in the conservation of Henry VIII’s Tudor warship.
* My poignant journey in search of the martyrs – Article by Nancy Bilyeau for the Catholic Herald on her research for The Crown and The Chalice
How can it already be May?
Books
From last month – In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion was released last month in the UK and will be released on May 15 in the US. More about the related exhibition below. And John Guy’s Children of Henry VIII has been moved up in the US and is now due out on May 8 (and actually appears to already been in stock).
The Tudor Rose: Princess Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s Sister by Jennifer Kewley Draskau is due out May 1 in the UK and September 1 in the US:
Anna Whitelock’s Elizabeth’s Bedfellows is due May 23 in the UK. US publication information is unavailable at this time, but I’ll update when I hear more.
And the same with Bosworth: The Birth of the Tudors from Chris Skidmore. I’m really looking forward to this one, so it’s a good thing I have a review copy coming. 😀
And finally for the books this month, Elizabeth I is finally getting a biography in the Yale English Monarchs series! It will be authored by Simon Adams and is simply titled Elizabeth I: A Biography. It is due out May 28 in both the US and UK.
Exhibitions
As mentioned above with the book news above, the exhibition In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion debuts this month in the The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. It opens May 10 and runs through October 6. More information is available at the Royal Collection website, which also includes an online gallery of exhibition highlights and a TEDx talk by the exhibition curator.
Events
* The next Sudeley Castle Tudor Fun Day will be on May 19. Check out the website for more information!
* Marilyn emailed to say that Alison Weir would be speaking at Gainsborough Old Hall on May 11. I went to the website and saw that Ms. Weir had a whole bunch of events scheduled the year, so if you’re interested in seeing her speak check the whole calendar of events!
* Suzannah Lipscomb posted on her blog that she participated in a new BBC2 program on the last days of Anne Boleyn that is scheduled to air in mid-May.
And finally…
I think I’m the last person in the Tudor blog-o-sphere to post about the play Fallen in Love: The Secret Heart of Anne Boleyn, which I have heard excellent things about. The play will be performed at the Tower of London and Gippeswyk Hall, Ipswich at various dates in May and June. More information and links for tickets are available at their website.
Finally, enough stories to do another round-up!
* I posted this on Twitter earlier in the week, but for those of you not on Twitter: Smithsonian Channel gets North American rights to
I’m going to put the three non-Richard III stories at the top, so all of you who are tired of that story can just skip the rest of the post. 🙂
* Shoulder of wren with salad: diets and debt in Elizabethan England – Interesting article on the UK National Archives blog about a draft letter by Elizabeth I
* Fit for a king – Article by Jonathan Foyle (who is a fun follow on Twitter!) for the Financial Times about an extraordinary bed
* BBC2 builds on Richard III frenzy with Tudors season – So if I’m reading the article correctly, Thomas Penn will be doing a documentary on Henry VII? Yay!
And now for more Richard III stories! I’ve chosen some more articles that came out after my initial round-up that I found particularly informative.
* The Search for King Richard III – The Scientific Outcome – YouTube video of Monday’s press conference
* Who, What, Why: What is the method for reconstructing Richard III’s face? – Information on the methodology of reconstructing Richard’s face from the skull
As occasionally happens, a story that isn’t really “new” all of a sudden becomes “news”. In this case, the portrait above, which was called Katherine Parr for years, has been re-identified as Catherine of Aragon. I knew of the new identification a few years back (which is why there is a note about it in my Katherine Parr gallery… and I still haven’t re-done the galleries so it is still there waiting to be moved!) And it appears that the reason that it is all over the news now is that the National Portrait Gallery in London has put it on display with a portrait of a younger Henry VIII. Be sure to check out their article about the conservation of the portrait. (My copy, above, is pre-conservation.) Here’s just a sampling of the links that came through my news alerts:
* National Portrait Gallery reunites Henry VIII with Catherine of Aragon
* Catherine of Aragon reunited with King Henry VIII… but only as an oil painting
* Tudor portrait re-identified after experts notice Henry VIII’s wife was wearing the wrong clothes
The University of Leicester has announced the date and time for the Richard III excavation press conference and the associated documentary from Channel 4! Unfortunately the press conference will be at 4 a.m. in my time zone so I probably won’t be watching live.
* Date set for Search for Richard III press conference
* Richard III: The King in the Car Park
And a few other stories:
* Views fit for a queen for first time in centuries – Kenilworth Castle will proudly show off views not seen in centuries thanks to plans by plans by English Heritage to transform the remains with innovative viewing platforms. (I hope they have it finished by mid-May, when I hope to be there!)
* Elizabeth’s faithful tutor – Simon Adams and David Scott Gehring explain how the Virgin Queen’s little-known teacher may have influenced the religious policies of her reign
* RSC wins rights to stage Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell novels
The Telegraph has posted its obituary for Eric Ives:
* Professor Eric Ives – Professor Eric Ives, who has died aged 81, was the author of the definitive biography of Anne Boleyn and a much-loved figure at the University of Birmingham, where he served as head of the Modern History faculty and pro-vice-chancellor.
And in other news:
Just a few books this for this month’s round-up:
* Alison Weir’s latest novel A Dangerous Inheritance about Katherine Grey will be released in the US on October 2. The UK release info and ordering links are back in the June round-up.
* David Loades’ latest Tudor biography, Catherine Howard: The Adultress Wife of Henry VIII is due out on October 28 in both the US and the UK
Events and Exhibitions
Just a reminder that the Katherine Parr Quincentenary Exhibition at Sudeley Castle will be closing on October 28 when the castle’s open season ends. Also continuing are the Tudor Revels events in Southampton which run through November 1 and the Shakespeare: Staging the World exhibit at the British Museum continues to November 25.
Just one new event for this month’s round-up: October 11 will mark the 30th anniversary of the raising of Henry VIII’s ship the Mary Rose and there will be a boat trip and talk in Portsmouth to mark the day. More information is available at the Mary Rose website.
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:
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:
Short round-up this week. I’m sure there were some things that got past me during the ridiculously busy week I just had, but here are a couple of things I managed to catch:
* Cromwell and royal letters to stay in Northamptonshire – Letters signed by Queen Elizabeth I and Oliver Cromwell are to stay in Northamptonshire thanks to a
* 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:
* Shakespeare’s ‘co-author’ named by Oxford scholars – All’s Well That Ends Well has another author as well as William Shakespeare, according to research from Oxford University academics.
* Boleyn family bible to go on display at Norfolk Heritage Centre – A rare and historic bible once owned by Anne Boleyn
* To celebrate the upcoming Shakespeare: Staging the World exhibition at the British Museum, BBC Radio 4 is doing a 20-part series called Shakespeare
* BBC1 to screen War of the Roses epic – I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I’m happy to see some more historical drama on TV (especially that period) but on the other, we’ll have to deal with more distortions, misconceptions, and mistakes that need to be set straight.
* Bloody Tales of the Tower – Presented by Suzannah Lipscomb and Joe Crowley for National Geographic. Now *this* one I am unreservedly looking forward to!
I was originally planning to save the latest news on the sequel to Hilary Mantel’s award-winning Wolf Hall until the Sunday news round-up but the news started stacking up enough that I thought it deserved a dedicated post.
The first bit of news was that the name of the sequel has been changed to Bring Up the Bodies and the previously announced title The Mirror and the Light (that I blogged about here) will be used for the third book. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought that she had at least hinted that her Cromwell books might end up as a trilogy and now it seems to be the case.
News articles:
Hilary Mantel writes second sequel to Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel novel Wolf Hall will be part of a trilogy
Hilary Mantel reveals plans for Wolf Hall trilogy
And the other interesting piece of news – which isn’t really all that surprising given the success of The Tudors – HBO and the BBC are developing a mini-series based on Wolf Hall! I’m pretty optimistic that they’ll do a really good job of this although the plans are for four episodes which will mean a lot will have to be cut from the book.
News articles:
BBC and HBO line up Wolf Hall drama
HBO And BBC Developing Miniseries Based On Wolf Hall
BBC, HBO Team for ‘Wolf Hall’ Miniseries
* 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.
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.
* 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!
