Visit to the Katherine Parr exhibit at Sudeley Castle

Sadly, not a visit that I was able to make myself! Debbie sent in this wonderful photo of one of Katherine Parr’s books on display at Sudeley Castle‘s exhibition celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Katherine Parr:


Click for a great full-sized view! Note Katherine’s signature at the bottom right.

You can read more about Debbie’s visit at her website:
http://thetudorkey.blogspot.de/2012/05/sudeley-castle-visit.html

And if you want to catch the exhibition yourself, you’d better hurry since the castle’s open season ends on October 28th!

Upcoming books and events

Just a few books this for this month’s round-up:

* Alison Weir’s latest novel A Dangerous Inheritance about Katherine Grey will be released in the US on October 2. The UK release info and ordering links are back in the June round-up.

* David Loades’ latest Tudor biography, Catherine Howard: The Adultress Wife of Henry VIII is due out on October 28 in both the US and the UK

Events and Exhibitions

Just a reminder that the Katherine Parr Quincentenary Exhibition at Sudeley Castle will be closing on October 28 when the castle’s open season ends. Also continuing are the Tudor Revels events in Southampton which run through November 1 and the Shakespeare: Staging the World exhibit at the British Museum continues to November 25.

Just one new event for this month’s round-up: October 11 will mark the 30th anniversary of the raising of Henry VIII’s ship the Mary Rose and there will be a boat trip and talk in Portsmouth to mark the day. More information is available at the Mary Rose website.

Book Review – The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story from Inside the Vatican

The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story from Inside the Vatican
(UK Title: Our Man in Rome)

by Catherine Fletcher

With so many books out on Tudor history it is always nice to see someone fill in a gap that has been neglected. Such is the case in Catherine Fletcher’s debut work The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story form Inside the Vatican. Fletcher’s book focuses on Gregorio Casali, Henry VIII’s ambassador to Rome, and rescues him from being consigned to the footnotes of other works on The Divorce and fleshes him out. In the process we get a view that had been too long overlooked.

The story of the divorce is one that is well-covered in general works on Tudor history, specific books on the English Reformation, and biographies of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn (and often at least in summary in books on Mary I and Elizabeth I). Anyone who has devled into the subject is familar with the happenings in England – Henry VIII’s desire for a male heir, Catherine’s resistance to the annulment and Anne Boleyn’s long wait to become Henry’s queen. When the events on the Continent are covered, it is usually in passing discussion of the Sack of Rome in 1527 by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V – nephew of Catherine of Aragon – and how that complicated matters. But what of the actual men who worked on Henry’s behalf in Italy? That’s where Gregorio Casali and his family come in.

By following Gregorio’s career, Fletcher brings us an insight in to the complicated world of a Renaissance ambassador. Besides having to communicate back to and receive funds from a king over a thousand miles away in a day before telephones or the internet, he had to keep up appearances and dress and live in a certain style. There was also the matter of money for well-placed and well-timed bribes, a staple of the trade. Casali solved the problem in part by marrying an heiress, although there were legal issues that prevented her (and by extension her husband) from receiving the full amount of money she was due. And in addition to troubles negotiating with the Papacy, Casali sometimes faced difficulty with his own English delegation and unofficial agents.

I wouldn’t suggest this book as an introduction to the Divorce (and I don’t think it is meant to be one) and having a familiarity with the issues, the important players, and the legal and ecclesiastical arguments is helpful before reading this work. But for those seeking a fresh and different perspective on Henry VIII’s “Great Matter” I highly recommend The Divorce of Henry VIII.

Richard III dig news round-up

As most of you know by now, there were some exciting developments last week in the search for the grave of Richard III! When I last wrote about it on the Sunday news round-up of September 9, the archaeological team had confirmed that they had received an additional week to dig in light of their discoveries.

Here’s a timeline of relevant events prior to the 21st century [Source]:

* Richard III was buried in the church in 1485 after the defeat at Bosworth and a tomb was erected over the grave ten years later.

* In 1538, Greyfriars was closed during the Dissolution and by the early 17th century the church had fallen into ruin.

* In 1600 the Mayor of Leicester, Robert Herrick, bought the site and had a house built, with a memorial pillar of Richard III’s grave erected in the garden.

* The land was sold in the early 18th century to Thomas Novle and then is sold to the Leicester city council in 1914, who paved over the land for a car park in 1940.

Archaeologists confirmed that they had found the remains of the Greyfriars Church and the 17th century garden that contained the memorial pillar. They then extended the three trenches in hopes of finding the choir area of the church which is thought to be where Richard was buried. (I once again recommend this BBC article for a background on the historical detective work that lead to the dig and, now very importantly, the genealogy work that found a descendant of Richard III’s sister Anne of York for DNA testing.)

Unbeknownst to the public at the time, human remains had been found at the site and on September 4th exhumation began. On September 11 (in my time zone) news had leaked about the remains and that there would be a press conference at 11 a.m. UK time on Wednesday September 12th with details. At the time I was excited by the possibilities, but I knew that finding human remains while digging in a church site wasn’t that unexpected. But I was very curious to hear what they had to say. Given that they were putting together a press conference, I was thinking that they might have some additional evidence that they might have actually found Richard III – and that turned out to be the case!

Here’s a summary of the findings that point to the potential of this being Richard III’s skeleton [Source]:

1. The remains

Sunday Short Takes

The Tudor Ghost Story contest is on again! Head over to On the Tudor Trail for more information on this year’s contest.

And for some follow-up on a couple of previous stories:

The re-enactment of the funeral of Katherine Parr at Sudeley Castle was held today. See a gallery of photos from the event on the Sudeley Castle Facebook page.

And more news has come from the dig in search of the grave of Richard III! From the University of Leicester blog –

* Search for Richard III confirms that remains are the long-lost Church of the Grey Friars

* September 7 update: Archaeologists uncover remains of 17th century garden where memorial pillar once stood.

And here’s an interesting article from the BBC on the background research:

* Richard III dig: How search reached Leicester car park

The initial run of the project was due to wrap up this weekend, with the possibility that it would be extended if significant progress has been made. And I saw on the University Leicester twitter account that is has been confirmed that they will get a third week!

Sunday Short Takes

In a follow-up to last Sunday’s news about the dig to find Greyfriars Church in Leicester and the possible resting place of Richard III, archaeologists have already found strong evidence that they’re digging in the right place.

To keep up with all of the news, check the official site from the University of Leicester’s Greyfriars Project site news section.

Additional news on the most recent finds from the dig – just a few selected from many:

* Richard III dig in Leicester car park ‘is definitely on the right track’

* Breakthrough in the search for King Richard III as archaeologists find ‘tantalising clues’ to the location of his body (and it really could be under a council car park in Leicester)

And another couple of 16th century properties have come on the market (I keep posting these in hopes that someone who reads this blog will buy one and invite me to visit!):

* Live like Henry VIII in your own Tudor mansion complete with pool and 300 acres (but at