Picture of the Week #375

The Arden Family Farmhouse in Wilmcote, near Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo May 2015.

When the building that was formerly identified as Mary Arden’s Farm was discovered to actually belong to the Palmer Family, it was fortunate that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust had also purchased the other Tudor-era building at the site, since THAT was the one that turned out to actually belong to the Arden Family! And it just happened to be the building that I could see out of my window when I stayed at the Mary Arden Inn right across the street. 🙂

In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII Blog Tour – May the Force be with You

I’m happy to be the final stop on the blog tour for Natalie Grueninger and Sarah Morris’ newest book: In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII, following their previous fantastic title, In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn. In this post, Sarah will share her top five locations that left an imprint on her. I don’t think that Sarah knew I’m a life-long Star Wars fan but I got a little thrill when I saw the title for her guest article. 🙂

May the Force be with You

By Sarah Morris

Over the last three to four years, I have been privileged to travel to around 130 locations associated with each of Henry VIII

Sunday Short Takes

Sunday Short Takes Mega Edition! This is what happens when I actually have time to do things. (I took Spring Break off at work – although the fact that I was able to mostly use comp time accrued in the last month to take the *whole week* off tells you something…)

More interesting Shakespeare news:

* Shakespeare’s grave scanned in 400th anniversary – Shakespeare’s grave in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford upon Avon has never been excavated, but a scan has been carried out to search below ground. The findings are expected to be revealed in the next few weeks.

* William Shakespeare’s handwritten plea for refugees to go online – Sir Thomas More script is only surviving copy of a play in the bard

Picture of the Week #372

Palmer’s house at Mary Arden’s Farm, Wilmcote (near Stratford-upon-Avon). Photo May 2015.

This month’s theme will start a few months of things related to Shakespeare! March will start things off with Mary Arden’s Farm, the childhood home of Shakespeare’s mother. The building above was discovered to actually be Palmer’s Farmhouse, but the Arden’s home is on the property too and will be featured later this month.

Upcoming Books and Events for March 2016

Even with an extra day in February this year, it seemed to fly by!

Books

One book that I missed in last month’s round-up that came out in early February is John Dudley – The Life of Lady Jane Grey’s Father-in-Law by Christine Hartweg, who runs the great All Things Robert Dudley site.

In new books this month, first up is Amy License’s latest, Red Roses: Blanche of Gaunt to Margaret Beaufort. It is out March 7 in the UK and the US Kindle edition is out March 15.

Next up is So Great a Prince: England in 1509 by Lauren Johnson, which is out in the UK on March 10 (I don’t have info on a US release at this point). The book takes a look at England at the time of the death of Henry VII and the accession of the 17-year-old Henry VIII.

And finally for this month – Sarah Morris and Natalie Grueninger have teamed up again for In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII: The visitor’s companion to the palaces, castles & houses associated with Henry VIII’s iconic queens, a sequel of sorts to their previous collaboration In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn. The book is out March 15 in the UK and May 19 the US. Stay tuned for a post here on TudorHistory.org as part of Sarah and Natalie’s blog tour for the book!

Continuing Exhibitions

I can’t hope to find all of the Shakespeare exhibitions being put on this year, so I’m mainly trying to get the big ones and a few I come across that are outside the UK. If you’re in the UK and want to keep up with special events occurring throughout the year, check out Shakespeare400.

Shakespeare Documented – Celebrating 400 years of William Shakespeare with an online exhibition documenting Shakespeare in his own time. The partners in this exhibition include The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, The British Library, The Folger Shakespeare Library, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and The National Archives. The exhibition will continue to expand throughout the year.

Shakespeare, Life of an Icon opened January 20 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC and will run through March 27. This is the first of three exhibitions they will put on, in addition to other events, during their year-long Wonder of Will celebrations.

By me William Shakespeare: A Life in Writing opened at the National Archives on February 3 and will run through May 29 and features Shakespeare’s will as the centerpiece of the exhibition.

Windsor Castle will host Shakespeare in the Royal Library from February 13 through January 1, 2017 and includes works of Shakespeare collected by the royal family, accounts of performances at Windsor Castle, and art by members of the royal family inspired by Shakespeare’s plays.

The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin launched Shakespeare in Print and Performance on December 21, 2015 and it will run through May 29, 2016.

Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee opened January 18 and will run through July 29, 2016 at the Royal College of Physicians in London.

Sunday Short Takes

The Sunday Short Takes have accidentally become a monthly thing of late, but that’s just the way it has worked out between lack of enough stories on a weekly basis and my recent work schedule. But I actually had a whole weekend and enough stories today, so here we go!

* The March issue of BBC History Magazine is a Tudor special – it’s on my iPad now just waiting for me to find enough time to read it!

* Getting Clean, the Tudor Way – A historian attempts to follow Tudor hygiene with a daily regime of linen underwear. – Excerpted from How to Be a Tudor by Ruth Goodman – currently on my Audible wishlist 🙂

* Researchers seek Henry VII’s Pembroke Castle birthplace – Details of the exact location of Henry VII’s birthplace at Pembroke Castle could be uncovered by researchers using geophysical techniques. – I’ll keep an eye out for their results!

* It’s curtain-up for

Picture of the Week #371

The Poorhouse of Framlingham Castle. Photo May 2015.

The poorhouse buildings date from the 17th and 18th century and are built on the site of the medieval great hall. Some parts of the great hall were incorporated into the poorhouse and can be seen in the foreground of this picture. The fireplace and chimney to the far right in the photo date from the 16th century.

Picture of the Week #368

Framlingham Castle. Photo May 2015.

Later this month, Mary Tudor (daughter of Henry VIII) will have her 500th birthday so I chose Framlingham Castle for the theme of the February Pictures of the Month. The castle was where Mary rallied her troops to her cause as she asserted her claim to the throne after the death of her brother Edward VI.

Upcoming Books and Events for February 2016

Books

Ruth Goodman’s How to Be a Tudor: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Everyday Life was released in early November 2015 in the UK and will be out February 15 in the US:

And Amy Licence’s Edward IV & Elizabeth Woodville: A True Romance was released in January in the US and will be out February 15 in the UK:

New Exhibitions

I can’t hope to find all of the Shakespeare exhibitions being put on this year, so I’m mainly trying to get the big ones and a few I come across that are outside the UK. If you’re in the UK and want to keep up with special events occurring throughout the year, check out Shakespeare400.


Celebrating 400 years of William Shakespeare with an online exhibition documenting Shakespeare in his own time. The partners in this exhibition include The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, The British Library, The Folger Shakespeare Library, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and The National Archives. The exhibition will continue to expand throughout the year.

Shakespeare, Life of an Icon opened January 20 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC and will run through March 27. This is the first of three exhibitions they will put on, in addition to other events, during their year-long Wonder of Will celebrations.

By me William Shakespeare: A Life in Writing opens at the National Archives on February 3 and will run through May 29 and features Shakespeare’s will as the centerpiece of the exhibition.

Windsor Castle will host Shakespeare in the Royal Library from February 13 through January 1, 2017 and includes works of Shakespeare collected by the royal family, accounts of performances at Windsor Castle, and art by members of the royal family inspired by Shakespeare’s plays.

Continuing Exhibitions

The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin launched Shakespeare in Print and Performance on December 21, 2015 and it will run through May 29, 2016.

Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee opened January 18 and will run through July 29, 2016 at the Royal College of Physicians in London.

Sunday Short Takes

I had no intention of waiting a whole month into the new year to finally post a Sunday Short Takes, but that’s just kind of how things worked out! So here’s a round-up of Tudor history-related news that caught my eye from the very end of 2015 and the first month of 2016:

* Archaeologists believe Thames gold hoard may have come from Tudor hat – Experts say 12 tiny pieces of gold recovered from the banks of the Thames may have come from a hat blown off the head of a high-status Tudor figure

* Explore Shakespeare

Picture of the Week #367

The grave of Catherine of Aragon at Peterborough Cathedral. Photo May 2016.

Rounding out Peterborough Cathedral month of the Picture of the Week, is, of course, the grave of Catherine of Aragon. When I visited in May of last year it was the cap of a 17-year journey of visiting all of the graves of the wives of Henry VIII. Friday marks the 480th anniversary of her burial at the Cathedral (which was actually an abbey at the time) and as you can see in the photos, people routinely leave pomegranates and other mementos at the gravesite.

Picture of the Week #366

South Aisle of Peterborough Cathedral. Photo May 2015.

Peterborough is probably best known among Tudor history fans as the burial place of Catherine of Aragon, but it was also the original burial place of Mary Queen of Scots after her execution at nearby Fotheringhay Castle. Mary’s body was later moved to Westminster Abbey after her son inherited the English throne as James I. The Scottish flags in the photo above are across the aisle from the area that is now marked as Mary’s former burial spot.

Picture of the Week #364

West front of Peterborough Cathedral. Photo May 2015.

I’m planning to do a monthly theme with the Pictures of the Week this year and since Catherine of Aragon was buried in Peterborough in January that’s going to be the first theme for 2016.

Upcoming Books and Events for January 2016

Happy New Year! I’ll have a proper post later with a wrap-up of last year and some things I want to accomplish in 2016 but for now – on to the round-up for January!

Books

I’ll start out with a couple of books that have already been released in the UK and will be out later in January in the US:

Elizabeth Norton’s The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor: Elizabeth I, Thomas Seymour, and the Making of a Virgin Queen is out January 4 in the US –

Alison Weir’s latest Tudor biography is The Lost Tudor Princess: The Life of Margaret Douglas Countess of Lennox will be released January 12 in the US –

And in new books this month, Amy Licence’s Edward IV & Elizabeth Woodville: A True Romance will be released January 19 in the US and February 15 in the UK –

Events

Peterborough Cathedral’s annual Katharine of Aragon Festival will be January 28 to 31 this year. I was so happy to finally get a chance to visit Peterborough in 2015 and maybe some year I’ll find myself there at the end of January so I can visit during the festival.

New Exhibitions

Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee opens January 18 and will run through July 29, 2016 at the Royal College of Physicians in London.

From the website:

Our exhibition explores Dee through his personal library. On display for the first time are Dee’s mathematical, astronomical and alchemical texts, many elaborately annotated and illustrated by Dee’s own hand. Now held in the collections of the Royal College of Physicians, they reveal tantalising glimpses into the ‘conjuror’s mind’.

Continuing Exhibitions

The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin launched Shakespeare in Print and Performance on December 21, 2015 and it will run through May 29, 2016.