Picture of the Week #249

Anne Boleyn wax figure. Photo June 2000.

That’s Henry’s hand on her shoulder, which was out of the frame in last week’s photo.

As I mentioned in the comments last week, when the wax museum closed they sold off the waxworks at auction if I understand correctly. I wonder if someone has this pair somewhere?

Sunday Short Takes

With the opening of the Cheapside Hoard exhibit at the Museum of London, there have been a few articles with more information on the fantastic collection of jewels:

* Mystery of the Cheapside Hoard – Includes a video and slideshow featuring some of the jewels

* A Priceless Treasure (And The Crime Behind It) Finally Exposed

The conservation of The Mary Rose enters its next stage:

* Drying times ahead for Henry VIII’s Mary Rose warship

More Richard III-related archaeological discoveries:

* Richard III’s lost chapel ‘has been found’

And speaking of Richard III…

* The mysteries of the Princes in the Tower – Leanda de Lisle is featured in the first half of the October 3rd History Extra podcast discussing the fate of the Princes

Picture of the Week #248

Wax Figure of Henry VIII. Photo June 2000

This was at Brading – The Experience waxworks museum on the Isle of Wight, the same place as the one of Elizabeth I that posted in Picture of the Week #116. I poked around to see what had become of the site since the museum closed and it looks like the newer parts were demolished last year for a housing development and the historic building is being repurposed.

Upcoming Books, Exhibitions, and Events for October 2013

Oh boy are there a bunch of reasons that I wish I was going to England in October (which sadly I am not)!

Books

Leanda de Lisle’s latest work on the Tudors will be out on October 8 in the US. It’s titled Tudor: The Family Story in the UK and Tudor: Passion. Manipulation. Murder. The Story of England’s Most Notorious Royal Family in the US.

Susan Higginbotham has written her first non-fiction book, The Woodvilles: The Wars of the Roses and England’s Most Infamous Family, which is out October 1 in the UK and will be out in January in the US.

Terry Breverton has a new biography of Richard III coming out at the end of October in both the US and UK:

And a couple of things from previous months that I missed:

An academic work entitled Reading and Writing during the Dissolution: Monks, Friars, and Nuns 1530-1558 by Mary Erler that came out in August (which you can learn more about here and here)

And just this week, Claire Ridgway of The Anne Boleyn Files has released The Anne Boleyn Collection II: Anne Boleyn and the Boleyn Family which you can get on Kindle and in paperback (the links go to the paperback edition):

Events

BBC History Magazine’s next History Weekend is on October 25-27 in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. There are lots of Tudor-related talks, and plenty of other topics for those of you who branch out from the 16th century! And for those of you who can’t attend (like me – sob), in the past they have put some of the talks up as podcasts, so check out the BBC History Extra podcasts if you haven’t already!

New exhibitions

* Elizabeth I & Her People opens at the National Portrait Gallery in London on October 10, 2013 and runs through January 5, 2014. Be sure to check out their Events Page for lectures, tours, and other activities associated with the exhibition.

* The Museum of London has a new exhibition on the Cheapside Hoard, a collection of Elizabethan and Jacobean jewels that were found in a cellar in 1912. The exhibition opens October 11, 2013 and runs through April 27, 2014.

* West Country to World

Sunday Short Takes

Sorry there wasn’t a round-up last week – there weren’t a bunch of articles and I was short on time anyway. So here is a nice assortment of Tudory links for your viewing pleasure!

* Astley Castle restoration project wins Stirling prize – I’ve posted about the efforts to save Astley Castle (which has Tudor history ties) in the past here and here, so it was nice to see it get this recognition.

* Photos: Astley Castle wins Britain’s biggest architecture award – another article about the prize, with a nice photo gallery.

* Lacey Baldwin Smith, a ‘Big Name Historian’, Dies as 90 – Thanks to Nasim for posting this on Twitter a couple of days ago. I was surprised that I hadn’t already heard about it!

* Richard III: Leicester Cathedral reveals burial plans – This was one of the stories that I had in the queue last week and of course the story has stayed in the headlines with the criticism of the design and the continuing battle over where Richard III should be buried.

* ‘Battle of Bosworth relic’ sells at Derbyshire auction – A fragment of a flag believed to have been carried into the Battle of Bosworth has been sold at auction.

* The South West in the Tudor age – Nice photo gallery from History Extra

Picture of the Week #247

Close-up of the sign in the stair in the White Tower. Photo May 2003.

As promised last week, here’s a close-up of the sign!

The text reads:

The tradition of the Tower has always pointed out this as the stair under which the bones of Edward the 5th and his brother were found in Charles the 2nds time and from whence they were removed to Westminster Abbey.

Picture of the Week #246

Stairway in the White Tower where tradition holds that the bones of two young boys thought to be the “Princes in the Tower” were discovered in the 17th century. Photo May 2003.

I was surprised to discover that I hadn’t used any of my photos of this sign and stairway before now. But with the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower being an even hotter topic than usual right now, it seemed like a good time to finally post one! Stay tuned for a close-up of the sign next week.

Sunday Short Takes

Lots of articles related to the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden on Monday the 9th:

* 500 years ago- the bloodiest of battles

* 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden – the last time a British king died in battle

* Your 60-second guide to the battle of Flodden

* Excavation search for soldiers killed on Flodden battlefield

* Battle of Flodden burial excavation work begins

One of the stories that lit up my news alerts and Twitter stream was, unfortunately, also quite “Ewwwwww”-inducing:

* Soil samples show Richard III suffered from roundworm – and here’s another version of the story with a short video clip with one of the scientists involved in the work.

First in a set of follow-ups – some results from the 3-D scanning of tombs that I linked to previously here and here have been revealed:

* Tudor sculptures reassembled with help from 3D scanning

* Unfinished Tudor Sculptures Recreated

And a couple of follow-up stories related to Kenilworth Castle:

* Kenilworth Castle moat flood plans put on hold – I thought I had previously mentioned the discussions about re-flooding the mere at Kenilworth but I couldn’t find a post about it. Well, it looks like the plans are on hold for now anyway.

* Viewing platforms set back until February – (previous mention of the viewing platforms here back when I still thought I was going to get back there this year! *pout*)

And last, but definitely not least…

* The Tudor Ghost Story Contest is on again this year over at On the Tudor Trail!

Picture of the Week #244

St. Mary’s Church at Sudeley Castle. Photo May 1998.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the death and burial of Katherine Parr at Sudeley Castle, so it seemed like a good time to use the last of my photos of St. Mary’s. I’ll have to get back and take more photos someday!

Upcoming Books, Exhibitions, and Events for September 2013

Books

Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors, a collection of essays from the English Historical Fiction Authors blog (which you should be reading if you aren’t already!) will be released on September 23rd to mark the second anniversary of the blog. You can learn more about the book at Madison Street Publishing and you can enter to win a copy at Goodreads.

I totally missed Elizabeth Freemantle’s The Queen’s Gambit last month (and back in March, when the UK version was released)! You can also read an excerpt on Simon & Schuster’s website.

Jennifer Kewley Draskau’s The Tudor Rose: Princess Mary, Henry VIII’s Sister is now out in the US (it was released a few months ago in the UK):

Sarah Morris and Natalie Grueninger’s In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn is out on September 28 in the US and UK. You can read the introduction to the book on Natalie’s website On the Tudor Trail. And if you want to meet the authors and get your copy of the book signed, they’ll be at Sudeley Castle this month (see below)!

Events

The last Sudeley Castle Tudor Fun Day for 2013 is on September 22nd. And there is a special bonus this month – Sarah Morris and Natalie Grueninger will be there selling and signing copies of In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn!

Continuing exhibitions

This first one wraps up this month, so catch it soon if you haven’t already:

* Shakespeare and London, an exhibition by the London Metropolitan Archives, opened in May and will run through September 26, 2013. One of the highlights of the exhibition is a 1613 deed signed by Shakespeare and is one of only six known examples of his signature. If you want to be sure to see that item, please check the website since it is only on display for some of the dates the exhibition runs.

* The exhibition In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion opened in May and runs through October 6. More information is available at the Royal Collection website, which also includes an online gallery of exhibition highlights and a TEDx talk by the exhibition curator.

* The National Museum of Scotland’s exhibition on Mary Queen of Scots opened on June 28 and will run through November 17.

Sunday Short Takes

* National Portrait Gallery unveils earliest known portrait of a guinea pig – This painting will be on display in an upcoming exhibition that I’ll blog more about in the future.

* Mary, Queen of Scots Manuscripts On Loan – Nice overview of some of the manuscripts on loan from the British Library to the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh.

* Charles Brandon: Norfolk hawk death reveals ‘royal’ hunt – A “rare” 16th Century “royal” silver vervel found in a Norfolk field has revealed the hunting habits of Charles Brandon, the first duke of Suffolk.

* James IV: Renaissance Monarch – An article in the newest issue of History Today by Linda Porter. The rest of the article is pay-only, but I wanted to bring it to people’s attention in case it was of interest. Also, if you attend or work at a university, you might check to see if you have access to a digital version through your university library. I do, and although it usually takes a couple of weeks for the latest issue to show up, it’s a nice resource to have access to!

* Another History Extra podcast with Tudor history discussion, this time on the Battle of Flodden which has its 500th anniversary next month. If you have an iPad, the September issue that I mentioned last week has some nice digital extras on the Battle of Flodden cover article. I haven’t had time to fully explore the extras yet, but they look neat! If you’re not already a subscriber you can get a 30-day free trial.

Around my hometown

I can’t believe I’ve managed to do half a month of the August blogging challenge so far!

Today’s post is photos of my hometown. I’m lucky enough to live in Austin, Texas, a great city for food, music, education, technology, and all-around fun! Yes, it can get beastly hot in the summers, but the winters are usually mild and the spring and fall are often quite lovely. We’re especially proud of our amazing wildflowers in the spring!

I wasn’t organized enough to pull together a bunch of around town photos, so I’ll post a couple of night time shots, one from the top of my building at work and one from just south of the river that runs through town. In the top photo, you’re looking south towards downtown Austin from the roof of Robert Lee Moore Hall which houses the Physics, Math, and Astronomy programs. Most of the buildings in the foreground are part of the University of Texas (my alma mater and my employer). The view is a little hazy because central Texas had had an influx of dust from the Sahara that week. (Yes, the big African desert – Austin is the same latitude as Cairo and the jet stream can carry dust right across the globe!) In the second photo, the thing off to the right is a full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope (launching in a few years) that was brought to Austin during the weeks of craziness in March known as South By Southwest.