This would be a fun conference to attend –
From The Guardian:
Scholars seek to rescue image of John Dee, last royal wizard
He was accused of sorcery, but many claim John Dee was one of the most original thinkers of his day
A group of international scholars are meeting in Cambridge today to rescue the reputation of the last royal wizard, Dr John Dee, from the false charge of sorcery that has dogged him for 400 years
Just a follow-up to the post I made earlier this month – The National Library of Scotland now has a section about the letter on their website, including an English translation, french Transcription, images of all pages of the letter and historical background.
Yeah, it’s time for another catch-up post since I’ve been busy and I wasn’t feeling well for a few days, which is always a bad combination for productivity!
* Leanda deLisle has an article in the September issue The New Criterion entitled Faking Jane about the Spinola letter which purported to have an eyewitness description of Lady Jane Grey. Some of you might be able to access it through libraries, but you can also buy the individual article for $3. There has also been some discussion of the article over on the Q&A blog.
* Dame Judi Dench is looking to recreate The Rose theater in the north of England with the set from Shakespeare in Love. I think I had a news article about her saving the set back in the pre-blog days, but it apparently didn’t make it over when I switched from the old “News and Events” page to the blog.
* A rare Elizabethan hammerbeam roof in a barn at Westenhanger Castle has been restored by English Hertiage.
* And finally – a neat story from The Telegraph about How two Tudor lion statues came home to Hampton Court. Many years ago someone sent me some photos of some similar statues that they were looking for more information on and unfortunately now I can’t find the email or photos. I had to go through and clear out a lot of that stuff at one point so I might have deleted them. But it makes me wonder how many other things like this are still out there waiting to be found!
Looks like there will be some fun family events and some neat documents on display.
From The Wiltshire Times:
The age of the Tudors will be brought to life at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham at an annual open day later this month.
Visitors will get to meet the crew of Henry VIII
From The Times Colonist:
Newfoundland and Labrador’s top archeologist has revealed plans to search for the remains of a 510-year-old church on the western shore of Conception Bay
From the Times Online:
A letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots, to her brother-in-law Henri III of France six hours before her execution at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587 is to go on display in Edinburgh for seven days.
The letter, which is stored in conditions that ensure its preservation, was last seen in public 30 years ago; since then, visitors have only been able to see a digitally enhanced reproduction.
This looks like so much fun! I wish I could attend, but it’s just not in the cards this time. Here’s the press release for the tour and a link for more information:
The only way to really walk in Anne Boleyn’s footsteps
May 19th,1536 was the day when Anne Boleyn was executed in the Tower of London – a sad day for Anne Boleyn fans. To commemorate this day, TheAnneBoleynFiles.com has organised a luxury tour, beginning on May 17th and ending May21st, 2010.
Claire from TheAnneBoleynFiles said “I wanted Anne Boleyn Fans to come together and walk in the footsteps Anne Boleyn on this important day, so I have put together a trip-of-a-lifetime”.
Those who attend will be staying in the luxury Tudor “Astor Wing” of Hever Castle, the very childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Claire has arranged exclusive use of this normally private part of the castle for the whole tour. There will be a unique guided tour around Hever, focusing on the Boleyns, a Tudor costumer giving information about what was worn at the time, and the well known author Dr Josephine Wilkinson will be a guest speaker. Of course, there is a day trip to the Tower of London on the 19th, and a trip to Hampton Court on the following day – all with an award winning “Blue Badge” guide.
For more information or to book your place on “The Anne Boleyn Experience 2010” visit http://tour.theanneboleynfiles.com/?ab_uid=tudor and see what Anne Boleyn fans will be doing in May next year.
Yet another big anniversary this year…
From The Telegraph:
Six centuries in the same house
Sacred mysteries: The Throckmortons arrived at Coughton Court in 1409. Christopher Howse went to see the traces the generations have left
Side by side on the stairs at Coughton Court, in Warwickshire, hang two portraits of brothers born in the reign of Henry VIII.
One, Sir Nicholas, followed fortune at Court, died, some said of a poisoned salad, and left his name to Throgmorton Street in the City.
The other, Sir Robert, ruined his career by holding to the religion in which he was raised. Fines and prison dogged his family, but this year his descendants mark the 600th anniversary of the arrivals of Throckmortons at Coughton.
Also, David Starkey will be at the Throckmorton Literary Festival at Coughton Court later this month. Here is the official site for Coughton Court and information on the Literary Festival.
And David Starkey has written the introduction to a forthcoming book on the Throckmorton Family and an extract of that introduction has been published by the Catholic Herald – The family who defied the taint of treason
Update: Leanda de Lisle will be at the Throckmorton Literary Festival on September 20 if anyone wants to ask questions!
I was going to write up a post about this, but the Medieval News blog did one already, so I’m just going to link to their post: Historical Research devotes special issue to Henry VII
From The Daily Mail:
Scotland’s earliest harp music was encrypted in an unknown binary code in a ceilings at Stirling Castle.
Wood carver John Donaldson discovered the mysterious code around the head of a woman in a wood panel that adorned the bed chamber of King James V of Scotland.
And now, for the first time in almost 500 years, the historic music has been brought to life on harps played by pupils at Allan
A member of my email list posted about an upcoming lecture on Elizabethan shipbuilding at Gresham College (founded by Thomas Gresham in 1597), so I took a look and starting exploring their site. I was delighted to find a bunch of past lectures online, some of which are Tudor history topics.
Here are some upcoming lectures on Tudor history topics (and that I hope will be posted in their archives):
Elizabethan Merchant Ships and Shipbuilding
The Faces of a King: New research on portraits of Henry VIII
And I’ve got to put a plug in for this one:
400 years of the telescope
I just wanted to post a reminder for anyone heading to or in the vicinity of Portsmouth that the Mary Rose ship hall will be closing on September 20 in order for construction of the new museum to begin. The new facility is due to open in 2012.
More information at the Mary Rose Trust website
From The National Post (Canada):
British historians have unearthed a letter written 510 years ago by King Henry VII that sheds startling new light on Canadian history.
The letter reveals a previously unknown English expedition to this country in 1499 and may add the name of William Weston — an obscure shipping merchant from the west England port of Bristol — to the pantheon of early New World explorers.
The regal dispatch, believed to have been written the year after Anglo-Italian navigator John Cabot perished on his second voyage of discovery to Canada, indicates Weston was set to embark on his own transatlantic journey to “serche and fynde” the same distant territory.
Specifically, the king names Weston’s destination as “the new founde land” reached by Cabot in June 1497 — the first European landfall in North America since the age of the Vikings.
That makes Henry’s letter, believed to have been written on March 12, 1499, the earliest known use of the phrase that would eventually be used to designate Canada’s easternmost province.
Until now, the first mention of “new found land” in connection with Canada’s Atlantic shore was from a 1502 entry in Henry VII’s royal daybook.
And another article, with the same text but includes an image of the letter
Update: BBC History Magazine will have an article about this discovery in the September issue.
From the BBC:
Rare Valencian tiles have been uncovered by archaeologists during excavations at the ruins of a Surrey palace, once owned by Henry VIII.
The items, which were made in Valencia, Spain, between 1450 and 1490, were discovered at Woking Palace.
More than 100 members of the public took part in the dig at the palace, which fell into disrepair in 1620 and was later virtually demolished.
…
A spokeswoman for the authority said: “The teams uncovered walls of the Palace of Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth, and evidence for earlier medieval buildings.“The most exciting finds were rare Valencian tiles which were made in Valencia, Spain. They have only been found in a few other locations across the UK, according to the archaeologists working at the dig site.”
If any of you subscribe to the newsletter of the National Archives (UK) you may have already seen this, but they mentioned in the most recent issue that they are offering a one month trial of the State Papers Online Part II. Just follow the link for instructions.
This poem should be familiar to a lot of fans of Tudor history
Whoso List to Hunt by Thomas Wyatt
This week, a heartfelt but enigmatic love poem from the court of King Henry VIII
Thomas Wyatt’s double life as poet and Tudor courtier brings to mind a famous aphorism of WH Auden’s: “Private faces in public places/ Are wiser and nicer/ Than public faces in private places”. Wyatt was a successful “public face”: he first entered the service of Henry VIII at the age of 13, and, despite vicissitudes (including two spells of imprisonment), he retained his head, and enjoyed a triumphant later career as ambassador to the court of Charles V. He travelled widely through southern Europe: he imported, popularised and, with the help of the Earl of Surrey, gave an English shape to the Petrarchan sonnet. But what we hear in his poetry is never secondhand or artificial: it is a personal note, a note of authentic private feeling, which dominates, and is never dominated by, poetic conventions. Perhaps it was a similar note of personal credibility that sustained his popularity in the public glare of the court. Or perhaps it was sheer cunning.
…
Whoso List to HuntWhoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, alas, I may no more;
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that furthest come behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow; I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I, may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain,
There is written her fair neck round about,
‘Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.’
From The Telegraph:
Tomb search could end riddle of Shakespeare’s true identity
A sarcophagus in an English parish church could solve the centuries-old literary debate over who really wrote the plays of William Shakespeare.
Parishioners at St Mary’s church in Warwick have sought permission to examine the contents of the 17th monument built by Fulke Greville, a writer and contemporary of Shakespeare who some believe is the true author of several of the Bard’s works.
In an echo of the blockbuster book and film, The Da Vinci Code, the search has been prompted by the discovery by an historian of clues in Greville’s writings which suggest he had several manuscripts buried there, including a copy of Antony and Cleopatra.
A radar scan of the sarcophagus has already indicated the presence inside of three “box like” shapes. The searchers believe these could contain documents and a further examination is now being proposed which they hope will finally prove the link between Greville and Shakespeare.
The initial search, using ground penetrating radar, was approved by the parochial church council and the diocesan council. The team now wants to use an endoscope
This has been sitting in my “draft” folder for a while, so of course I now have forgotten who pointed this out. The image below was taken from the video tour of an exhibit at Hampton Court this year for the Henry VIII 500th anniversary events.
(Click for a larger view)
Notice the death date for Mary?
Because several articles have stacked up and I don’t want to make these in to separate posts, here’s a quick round up:
** Henry VIII talks from the Historic Royal Palaces (podcasts)
** Mary Rose 500 – a final fundraising appeal from the Mary Rose Trust and info on how you can “join the crew” by helping to raise money for the new museum
** From The Surrey Comet:
Elmbridge Museum holds exhibition on Oatlands Palace
Elmbridge Museum is holding an exhibition starting next month on the now destroyed Oatlands Palace in Weybridge.
The museum, which is based in Church Street, Weybridge, is holding the exhibition called Oatlands Underfoot: Stones and Stories from a Forgotten Palace, which will attempt to bring to life one of Henry VIII
I saw word of this upcoming exhibition at the National Gallery in London floating through articles, but I was waiting until the gallery had a page on their website before I posted about it. And now they do!
Thanks to the Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide blog for posting the link to the exhibition since I kept forgetting to go back and look for it. 🙂
