Upcoming Books and Exhibitions for May 2014

Books

One book of interest that I missed that came out in April is Richmond Park: From Medieval Pasture to Royal Park by Paul Rabbitts.

And Digging for Richard III: How Archaeology Found the King by Mike Pitts was originally listed to be released in early May in the UK but managed to sneak past me and was released in mid-April. The US version will be out in November with a slightly different title – Digging for Richard III: The Search for the Lost King.

And in just under the wire, Claire Ridgway of The Anne Boleyn Files and co-author Clare Cherry have released George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat.

And now for an actual May release: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and the World of Elizabethan Art by Elizabeth Goldring looks really interesting, but a little out of my price range! It is due out on May 19 in the US and May 31 in the UK.

New events and exhibits

* Treasures from the Royal Archives opens at Windsor Castle on May 17, 2014 and runs through January 25, 2015 and will feature some items from the Archives that have never been on display before.

* Raglan Castle, childhood home of Henry Tudor (later Henry VII), will have a Tudor Weekend on May 31 and June 1.

* And this isn’t technically new, but the Royal Shakespeare Company will be moving their plays of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies to London to run from May 1 to September 6.

Continuing exhibitions and displays

* Closing soon: Strange Beauty, an exhibition on painters of the German Renaissance (including Hans Holbein) opened at the National Gallery in London on February 19, 2014 and runs through May 11, 2014.

* If you missed out on In Fine Style when it was at Buckingham Palace, you can catch it now at the Palace of Holyroodhouse from March 14 to July 20.

* Hans Holbein Re-made: Copies and versions of portraits from the Tudor court, went on display at the National Portrait Gallery on March 4th and will be up through August 31.

Sunday Short Takes

A variety of links this week:

* Clippers and coiners in 16th-century England

* What happened to William Shakespeare’s theatres? – In London, no purpose-built theatres survive from his day. Where did they all go?

* BBC History Magazine’s May Issue features a cover article by Jessie Childs on Catholics under Elizabeth I

* Routledge is offering a limited free trial to English Historical Documents online through May 11. Try it here!

And finally:

* Shakespeare

Picture of the Week #277

Elizabethan garden at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C. Photo September 2006.

I had already used up the best of my photos from Stratford a while back, so I decided to use this photo from the Folger since I HAD to use something Shakespeare-related today. So, happy (probable) 450th birthday to the Bard!

And an update on my 2014 Shakespeare Challenge: I’m a little behind where I hoped to be at this point, having only read 8 of the plays so far. But I’m on track with the sonnets, which I’m doing one a day (today was no. 113). I’ll probably catch up some when I take a little time off work in May (I hope!).

Sunday Short Takes

Clearing out a miscellaneous back-log of things that I haven’t gotten around to posting over the past few weekends:

* William Shakespeare at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – The ODNB is making the Bard’s bio free to read all month in honor of the 450th anniversary of his birth on the 23rd.

* Richard III revamp at Bosworth Battlefield while Cathedral tomb plans get approval

* Hans Holbein

Guest Post and Give Away: Inside the Tudor Court by Lauren McKay

I’m delighted to be part of Lauren McKay’s virtual book tour for Inside the Tudor Court, a look at the court of Henry VIII and his six wives through the correspondence of Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys. Below you’ll find an excerpt from the book.

Amberley Books is giving away a free copy of the book at each stop on the tour, so if you would like to be entered in the drawing, click over to the contest form and leave your email address here:

“Inside the Tudor Court” book give-away

The contest will be closed at noon US CDT on Sunday April 13th and the winner will be contacted shortly after!

Update 04-13-14: The contest is now closed and the winner has been contacted. Thanks to all who entered!

Excerpt

Royal Rivals

It is true that in an indirect manner they have occasionally hinted at what they call Your Majesty

Upcoming Books and Exhibitions for April 2014

Books

Catching up on book releases the slipped past me in the last few months:

Robert Stedall’s second volume on Mary Queen of Scots, Survival of the Crown was released in February in both the UK and UK. Check out his website MaryQueenofScots.net for more information on both the books and the history!

Next is The Third Plantagenet: George, Duke of Clarence, Richard III’s Brother by John Ashdown-Hill. It is out in hardback in the UK and on Kindle in the US, but won’t but out in print in the US until June (where the link below goes).

And finally, I mentioned in last month’s round-up that Jessie Childs’ God’s Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England would be out in April in the US, but now it looks like it won’t be until September. Sorry!

New Display

* Hans Holbein Re-made: Copies and versions of portraits from the Tudor court, went on display at the National Portrait Gallery on March 4th and will be up through August 31.

Continuing exhibitions

* Closing this month: The Museum of London’s exhibition on the Cheapside Hoard, a collection of Elizabethan and Jacobean jewels that were found in a cellar in 1912. The exhibition opened October 11, 2013 and runs through April 27, 2014.

* Strange Beauty, an exhibition on painters of the German Renaissance (including Hans Holbein) opened at the National Gallery in London on February 19, 2014 and runs through May 11, 2014.

* If you missed out on In Fine Style when it was at Buckingham Palace, you can catch it now at the Palace of Holyroodhouse from March 14 to July 20.

Sunday Short Takes

Quick run-down this week as I get back to enjoying my last few hours of spring break:

* Seminal portrait of Queen Elizabeth I on display at the Museum of Reading – Painting commissioned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, as part of a pair of portraits depicts the Queen wearing a white satin jewel-encrusted doublet

* Is this the bed which launched the Tudors? – Dumped in a hotel car park this four poster could be where Henry VIII was conceived and is worth

Doing some upgrades today

Just wanted to warn everyone that I’m going to do some necessary upgrades on the WordPress theme today so things might look a little wonky while I’m working on it. I’ll update this post when I’m done, but if after I update you notice any weird behavior, please leave a comment or send me an email.

Update: Well, upgrading to the new theme seemed to break more things that it fixed, so I’ve gone back to the old one for now.

Sunday Short Takes

Quick and dirty round-up this week – I’ve worked the past two Saturdays and I’m completely knackered after yesterday in particular (working this, for those interested) and in general.

* March 2014 issue of BBC History Magazine out now – featuring a cover article on Chapuys and the Six Wives of Henry VIII by Lauren Mackay

* Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn: Suzannah Lipscomb dispels myths about the lovers who changed history

* The Lovers Who Changed History – Related to above, a post from the British Library Manuscripts Blog about Anne Boleyn’s Book of Hours

* TannerRitchie and the Scottish Record Society announce new agreement

* York’s