Home Archive by category "Tudor History news and events" (Page 30)

Category: Tudor History news and events

Who is England’s Greatest Monarch?

Two of the three in the contest are Tudors!

From the BBC:

British history is blessed by skilled and charismatic monarchs, but also tainted by incompetent and even murderous ones.

The argument over which king or queen was the greatest will never be settled – history is about interpretation, after all.

But here a trio of leading contenders are championed by three historians, ahead of a public discussion at the weekend organised by English Heritage.

The merits of King Henry VIII are outlined by Alison Weir, Queen Elizabeth I is endorsed by Sarah Gristwood and Queen Victoria is supported by Martyn Downer.

Go to the BBC article to read more of the debate and to cast your vote!

North Wales Church with Tudor ancestral connections vandalized

This is just sickening:

A church’s Elizabethan Tudor Rose window has been smashed to bits by thieves just a fortnight after clergymen proudly showed it off to the Prince of Wales.

They climbed in through the remains of the stained glass window at St Gredifael Church in Penymynydd, Anglesey, seized an ancient cannonball and hurled it through another Elizabethan window.

Full article (2 pages)

This is the window that was smashed, which some of you might recognize as the image that used to be on the front page of the website:

Click on the image to go to a page with a little bit more about the window and a link to the full sized picture. I’ve also got a few other pictures of the church itself, which I visited in 2000. (I’m in the process of re-doing all my photos from the negatives, so at some point I’ll have some nicer and bigger versions of the church photos up.)

Couple of short news items

Sixteenth Century Falconry tag to be auctioned

A rare silver varvel, or falcon’s tag, that belonged to the powerful and oppressive lawyer, Richard Rich, is to be sold at auction in July.
…
This silver tag is of shield form with one side engraved “Lord Rich” above a na

Another Tudor typo

Or more accurately, another example of a common Tudor history mistake making its way into a newspaper. I don’t necessarily expect a column in a mid-sized American town’s newspaper to get all their English history correct, but it still irks me when they get this particular one wrong:

Henry VIII is not buried in the abbey, but his daughters, Elizabeth I, and the half-sister she ordered beheaded, Mary, Queen of Scots, are.

I even had a history teacher in high school that couldn’t keep Mary “Bloody Mary” Tudor (the half-sister) and Mary Queen of Scots (the beheaded one, a COUSIN) straight, but it still frustrates me how many people mix these two up.

Okay, rant over. 🙂

Tudor play recreated at Hampton Court Palace

From UKTV:

Actors and academics are restaging a Tudor play at Hampton Court Palace 500 years after it was first performed.

A Tudor play is being restaged at Hampton Court Palace in London, 477 years after it was performed at the same location for King Henry VIII.

The Play of the Weather by John Heywood was written specifically for the English king and it uses the weather to parallel the varying demands placed on a king by his subjects, the Times reports.

Full article

And another one, from News Blaze

“The Tudors” Margaret/Mary Tudor info

I posted this over on the Q&A blog, but I thought it would be worth repeating here since I’m still getting questions about it:

As I’m sure some of you have figured out by now, the portrayal of Margaret Tudor’s story in the Showtime series is NOT the same as the life of the real Margaret Tudor. In the series, the story is basically that of Mary Tudor (Henry VIII’s sister), but my guess is that they decided to use Margaret’s name to avoid any confusion with the other Mary Tudor (Henry VIII’s daughter).

Since the series started out in 1520 when Francis I was already King of France, they couldn’t fit the real marriage saga of Mary Tudor into the series timeline as it actually happened in history. In reality Mary married Louix XII of France in 1514 and he died a few months later in 1515 and was succeeded by Francis I. Since this all took place before the time that the series started (1520), they moved it to a later year and used the King of Portugal instead of the King of France. Mary (or Margaret, in the series) does later marry Charles Brandon and they are the grandparents of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey.

The real Margaret Tudor was married to James IV of Scotland (and had two marriages after that) and was the mother of James V of Scotland, who in turn was the father of Mary Queen of Scots. Margaret’s great-grandson was James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England after the death of Elizabeth I. So, as you can see, Margaret’s real story is very different from that of the character with that name in the Showtime series.

Now, to complicate things even further, the character biographies on the Showtime series website give the history of the REAL characters, which will be quite confusing to anyone who reads them and is watching the series (and seeing a different story!).

Design of the new Kenilworth Elizabethan Garden

From Kenilworth Today:

If planning permission is given the go ahead, planting will start this autumn and the rest of the architectural features including the fountain, aviary, terrace steps and arbours will be installed in spring 2008.
The first stage of the work will involve the formation of the terrace and layout of the paths.
English Heritage has spent the last two years carrying out research on the scheme, including two seasons of archaeological investigation on the site.
The excavations identified the overall dimensions of the original Elizabethan Garden as one acre, slightly smaller than the area of the Elizabethan-style beds laid out on its site in the 1970’s.

Full article, including picture of the planned design

Elizabeth I’s christening gown re-discovered

I had several Google news alerts come through on this story today, but it has left me scratching my head a little.

From The Times Online (with picture)

The christening gown worn by the future Queen Elizabeth I nearly 500 years ago has been discovered during a clear-out at a stately home.

The gown, left, was found at Sudeley Castle in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, recently the setting for Liz Hurley

A few follow-ups

A bit more on the DNA testing of Mary Tudor’s hair (including a picture of the locket):

HOPES that a lock of royal hair kept in west Suffolk could solve the centuries-old mystery of what befell the Princes in the Tower appear to have been quashed by a leading cleric.
…
It is thought these [bones] might belong to the two princes which, using modern DNA testing techniques, could have been checked against the lock of hair in Bury, because Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII, would have the same mitochondrial DNA as the princes.

Such a possibility has now been ruled out by the Dean of Westminster Abbey who said:

DNA testing and The Princes in the Tower

A fascinating article that reader Linda passed along…

The hair that could unlock the riddle of the Princes in the Tower

The mystery of what happened to the Princes in the Tower is one of the most enduring in English history.

But an academic hopes that a locket of hair and the latest DNA testing techniques could at least reveal whether the skeletons of two children found in Westminster Abbey really are Edward V and his younger brother Richard.

…

But John Ashdown-Hill, a 56-yearold PhD student at Essex University, hopes that DNA analysis of a locket of hair believed to belong to the boys’ niece, Mary Tudor, could reveal the answer.

Full article

I’d love to see some real results come of this, although I’d like to see some additional comparisons done. Unfortunately it all will ultimately boil down to being able to test bones that are currently in Westminster Abbey, and they have been reluctant to give permission in the past. Since the technology just keeps getting better and the amount of material needed to get a sample can be small, perhaps they will allow testing now or soon?

First Female Beefeater

While I guess this isn’t strictly Tudor related (not like that has stopped me before), I was pleased to see that the first woman has been selected to the ranks of the Yeoman Warders at the Tower of London. Actually, I guess there is a Tudor connection, since they were started by Henry VII…

From the Times Online:

A woman has been appointed to the ranks of the Tower of London