Home Archive by category "Tudor History news and events" (Page 31)

Category: Tudor History news and events

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

Letter from Catherine of Aragon to be auctioned

From This is London:

A document that records one of the defining moments behind England’s split from the Roman Catholic Church will go under the hammer next month.

The letter was penned by Catherine of Aragon in 1534 as she desperately tried to cling on to her marriage to King Henry VIII.
In it the estranged noblewoman begs her nephew Roman Emperor Charles V to ask Pope Clement VII to uphold her marriage to the King.

Full article

The article also has a picture of the letter, although not large enough to read.

Tower of London Memorial

Here’s another story that has gotten lost in the shuffle over the past couple of months…

From 24 Hour Museum:

TOWER OF LONDON UNVEILS MEMORIAL TO THE EXECUTED
By Richard Moss

English Queens, nobles and a trio of unfortunate Scottish soldiers are amongst the names commemorated on a new permanent memorial, unveiled at the Tower of London on September 4 2006.
…
Comprising two engraved circles with a glass-sculpted pillow at its centre, the larger circle of dark stone bears a poem – written by the artist – around its rim, whilst the upper glass circle bears the engraved names of the ten famous and not so famous individuals executed in front of the Chapel Royal.

Full article

Replica of Mary I’s Wedding Dress on Display

From EDP24:

[V]isitors to a Norfolk National Trust property have a unique chance to see a reproduction of the magnificent bright purple gown she wore – a reproduction which has been made by costume historian Tanya Elliot after three years of painstaking research.
…
The replica wedding dress – featuring layer upon layer of shifts in rich materials, including satin and pearls, and “goldwork” embroidery – will be on display in the King’s Room at Oxburgh Hall, near Swaffham, until Wednesday, October 4.

Full article

Hans Holbein article from The Telegraph

There is a nice extended article on Hans Holbein from this past weekend’s Telegraph:

The artist who brought down a chancellor

The hand of Holbein: how the royals got a brand makeover

Martin Gayford explains how a single, misguidedly flattering portrait by Hans Holbein turned Henry VIII fatally against his most faithful ally, while John Guy looks at Holbein’s brilliant re-branding of the Tudor tyrant

Full article

And just a reminder, the Holbein exhibit at the Tate in London will be starting at the end of September.