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Category: Tudor History news and events

Exhibition on Henry VIII’s 500th anniversary in New York

The Grolier Club in New York will be holding an exhibition from March 4 to May 2, 2009 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne. This is the first big exhibition I’ve heard about to celebrate the anniversary here in the States, so I hope some of you get a chance to see it. They are going to have some really neat things there!

I have three PDFs with information about the exhibition, which you can download at the links below:
Press Release
Exhibition Highlights
Image Sheets (2.3 MB file)

Update on Kenilworth Gardens

As most of you probably know by now, I’m a big fan of the project to recreate the Elizabethan gardens at Kenilworth Castle, based on archaeology and the accounts from Elizabeth’s famous visit in 1575.

Here’s an article from Building Design online about the architecture firm doing the gardens and the project in general, including some neat pictures (small version of one of them above).

In 1575, Elizabeth I

Telegraph article on Syon monastery and Katherine Palmer

From the Telegraph Online:

Among the eminent people added this month to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (that endless labyrinth stuffed with curiosities) is a woman from the Tudor age who stands out for the strength of her perseverance against calamities. Her name was Katherine Palmer.

She was born early in the reign of Henry VIII. Her mother’s family had lived at Ightham Mote, the stone, timber and moated house in Kent, now in the care of the National Trust. Katherine gave up life among the gentry to join the monastery of Syon at Isleworth, on the Thames, where the Duke of Northumberland’s house now stands.

Syon was unusual because it was ruled by a woman, as a double foundation of 60 nuns, and a separate house of 24 brothers, some of whom acted as chaplains to the nuns. At this abbey, each half walled around in its own cloisters, nuns and monks lived a life of contemplative prayer.

…

These houses of prayer, trusted by successive kings and least in need of reform, were among the first targets for Henry VIII’s resentment over the matter of the divorce of Katharine of Aragon and his desire for plunder. Richard Reynolds, a monk of Syon, was hanged, drawn and quartered along with the Prior of the London Charterhouse and his fellows on May 4 1535.

Syon held together until 1539, when it was suppressed through Thomas Cromwell’s energy. Alone among English nunneries of which we have records, the sisters continued to live as best they could under the rule of their foundress in small groups, at first in England, then abroad. Katherine Palmer was a leader in these attempts.

Full article

Tip o’ the wimple to Foose for the recommendation of the article

Member of the Scottish Parliament seeks return of MQOS’ body

I was going to pass on this particular story since it will probably end up being one that is a bunch of talk that nothing ever comes of, but I couldn’t resist pointing out the historical error at the start of the article.

From the BBC:

A Nationalist MSP has called for the remains of Mary Queen of Scots to be returned to Scotland.

The Catholic monarch’s body has lain at Westminster Abbey in London since she was executed on the orders of her cousin Elizabeth I of England in 1587.

South of Scotland MSP Christine Grahame is to make a motion to the Scottish Parliament later this week demanding the body be repatriated.

Composer James MacMillan and Lib Dem MSP Hugh O’Donnell backed the call.

The phrasing implies that Mary was buried at the Abbey right after her execution, which isn’t correct – she was originally buried at Peterborough Cathedral. Her body was moved to Westminster Abbey during her son James I’s reign. Oh well, I guess I should just be glad that they didn’t call her “Bloody Mary” or say that she was Elizabeth I’s sister, both of which are errors I’ve caught in news articles before.

Full article

Edited to add: Just in case anyone reads the sentence up at the top and thinks that I *do* want something to come of it, I want to clarify that I don’t. James wanted his mother buried in the Abbey and that’s where I think she should stay. 🙂

More on the Tudor collar auction

I originally blogged about this item back in August, although the original auction date and estimated price have changed.

From The BBC:

The only known surviving chain of office from the time of Henry VIII is being put up for auction.

The king gave the gold Coleridge Collar to one of his closest advisers, Sir Edward Montagu, around 1546.

The chains showed allegiance to the monarch and the intricacy of the design and quality of the metal signified the status of the wearer.

It is expected to fetch

Search for a Tudor carnation

Here’s a neat article from The Telegraph that caught my eye last week:

The grim and impressive ruined battlements of Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire seem an unlikely setting for a garden of fragrance. But if English Heritage’s latest restoration project goes to plan, visitors moving from the dank environs of the Norman Keep into the light will be greeted by a waft of spicy clove scent, just as Elizabeth I was when she visited in July 1575.
…
John Watkins, head of gardens and landscapes at English Heritage, is patiently unpicking the genetic profile of a prized carnation that will occupy pedestalled clay pots at the top and bottom of the stairs. His study of engravings of contemporary gardens by Dutchman Hans Vredeman de Vries revealed that urns bearing plant rarities appear in strategic spots – and in some he could discern a trelliswork of willow holding carnations at nose height.

“The carnation was very much a fashionable plant at the time, introduced in 1540,” says Watkins. “It came over from the Turkish court and was probably Dianthus caryophyllus, the true carnation found in mountains around the Mediterranean. The true carnation has a very distinct, spicy nutmeg-clove fragrance. The pinks we know today are much sweeter.”

Full article

David Starkey’s new program on Henry VIII coming next year

From Broadcastnow.co.uk:

David Starkey is to produce a four-part “psychological profile” of Henry VIII for Channel 4.

The as-yet-untitled series will go beyond the facts of Henry’s six wives and his split with the Catholic church to piece together a sense of his character and motivations.

The first 60-minute episode will show Henry as a highly intelligent child, while subsequent episodes will paint him as a brilliant “A-list celebrity” character with an over-developed ego and “solipsistic sense of self”.

Full article

Repost: Flowers for Elizabeth I

Since today is Elizabeth’s birthday, I thought it would be a good day to repost the donation request to send flowers for Elizabeth’s accession anniversary.

Original post below:

My friend Heather Thomas, who runs ElizabethI.org, is making arrangements to have flowers sent to Hatfield to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne. If you would like to contribute, please visit her website for more information: http://www.elizabethi.org/flowers.html

Upcoming celebrations of Henry VIII’s 500th anniversary

That is, the 500th anniversary of him becoming king. Or the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry VII. Or both.

From the L.A. Times (and written by Susan James!):

Best known of the English kings, Henry VIII has usually been portrayed as a gargantuan party boy seducing court ladies, quarreling with the church, arresting friends and beheading wives. But he brought more to the throne than that.

Bright, cultured and handsome, Henry succeeded peacefully to the crown as he turned 18, securing the Tudor dynasty and making possible England’s golden age.

Next year marks the 500th anniversary of that accession, and a variety of special events will be held in and around London to explore his life and reign.

A major presentation at Hampton Court, Henry’s magnificent palace on the Thames, opens April 12 and runs daily through the year. It focuses on one day in the king’s life: July 12, 1543, the day he married his sixth queen, Catherine Parr.

…

Beginning Oct. 31, 2009, the palace will host a series of ghost tours through candlelighted rooms, including the Haunted Corridor where Henry’s fifth queen, Catherine Howard, ran screaming from guards sent to take her to the Tower.

Tudor Christmas (Dec. 27 to Jan. 1) will be celebrated with traditional music, dancing and live entertainment as well as an open-air ice rink.

Check out the full article for more upcoming events at Hampton Court and other places around England.