Upcoming events and exhibitions

And here are the events and exhibitions for September (book info is in a previous post since there were so many of them).

Just a reminder that both The National Maritime Museum‘s Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames and the National Portrait Gallery‘s Double Take: Versions and Copies of Tudor Portraits exhibitions end September 9, 2012.

I should also mention that the re-enactment of Katherine Parr’s funeral that I slipped in to a Sunday Short Takes since I figured it would sell out before I got it into this round-up has indeed sold out. But you can still enjoy Sudeley’s exhibition celebrating the 500th anniversary of Katherine Parr’s birth until the end of October.

Also at Sudeley, Alison Sim (author of Food and Feast in Tudor England and The Tudor Housewife, etc.) will be joining Lady Ashcombe for a lunchtime event on September 3rd. See Alison Sim’s website for more information.

On September 13, Maria Hayward (author and editor of several works on the inventories and clothing of the Tudors) will be giving a talk at the National Archives entitled “Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn: clothing, courtship and consequences”. Check the National Archives site for more information. They often have free podcasts of their talks so if they post this one I’ll put it in a future blog entry.

Closer to my neck of the woods, Texas Early Music Project‘s next concert will be “The Tudors: From Henry To Elizabeth” on September 15 & 16 in Austin. I’m not 100% sure if I can make it to the concert but I’m going to try!

Description of the concert:

Popular culture has been interested in all things Tudor in recent years, so more people than ever are interested in the very important courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. We will perform lovely works written by Henry VIII as well as masterpieces from the court composers from both rulers. Our renowned singers will present solo and small ensemble vocal works and viola da gamba superstar, Mary Springfels, will lead our consort of viols.

And finally…

There have been and will be a bunch of events in Southampton’s Tudor Revels but I wanted to point specifically to their Michaelmas Faire on September 29 and 30 that will have a lot of events over those two days. From the press release:

On Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th September the Michaelmas Fair in Southampton sees the oldest part of the city transformed in to a Tudor festival of workshops, living fair, historical re-enactments, storytelling, townsfolk and walks.

The Michaelmas Fair is the busiest weekend of the Tudor Revels project – An exciting programme of events and activities based on the heritage, archives and real lives of Southampton’s Tudor period.

Bugle Street, St Michael

Upcoming books for September 2012

[I’m going to split the upcoming books, exhibitions, and events into two posts this month since there are SO many this time!]

Some of these are already out since they were August (or earlier) releases that I just found out about. These first four are already out in both the US and UK and I believe all are available as print and ebooks. (I’ll be linking to the print version, but if you click through you can also see the Kindle versions listed.) I have or will have copies of several of these that I hope to review in the next few months. Of course I have to finally finish writing the three reviews I already have in the queue first!

First up is The Sultan’s Organ: The Diary of Thomas Dallam 1599, put into modern spelling by John Mole. I’ve wanted to learn more about the Tudors’ interactions with cultures beyond Europe and the New World and this looks to be an interesting insight. You can also learn more about the book at the author’s website.

Next up is Henry VIII: His Life and Legacy by Kristin A. Sinclair which is meant to be an introduction to Henry VIII and his successors.

Next is Blood Will Tell: A Medical Explanation for the Tyranny of Henry VIII by Kyra Cornelius Kramer. This work further expands on the theory of Henry VIII having a Kell positive blood type and the possibility he had McLeod syndrome. I will have a guest post on the topic from the author soon!

And finally in the “already out” category – The Merry Wives of Henry VIII: A Tudor Spoof Collection by Ann Nonny and launched by the Anne Boleyn Files (you can learn more about the book here at the site).

And now to the books released in either the US or UK (or both) in September:

Nancy Bilyeau’s debut novel The Crown will be coming out in paperback in the US on September 4 and February 21, 2013 in the UK. Her follow-up The Chalice will be coming next year as well!

Peter Ackroyd is working on an epic History of England series and the second volume, focussing on the Tudors, is out on September 13 in the UK. (The US market seems to be lagging way behind on this series… if I’m reading it right, the print edition of the first volume isn’t even due out until October of this year).

Next is Sarah Gristwood’s Blood Sisters: The Hidden Lives of the Women Behind the Wars of the Roses – technically not Tudor, but of course many women important to the Tudor dynasty are covered! It is also out on September 13 in the UK and will be out next February in the US.

Susan Brigden has a work on Thomas Wyatt coming out on September 20 in both the US and UK entitled Thomas Wyatt: The Heart’s Forest.

And finally…

Tarnya Cooper, the Chief Curator and 16th Century Curator for the National Portrait Gallery in London, has a new book called Citizen Portrait: Portrait Painting and the Urban Elite of Tudor and Jacobean England and Wales out on September 30 in the UK and November 27 in the US.

Sunday Short Takes

The last few days have been abuzz with the start of an archaeological dig at a carpark in Leicester in search of the remains of Richard III. In the back of my mind I recalled a previous news article related to the topic and it turns out it was a news article that I linked to back in 2007 (the original news link is no longer active, but this 2012 dig appears to be the one archaeologists were hoping to do back then). There was also a story in 2008 about Richard III’s possible coffin, although I don’t know if further research has been done on that. I’m hoping to be in the area next year so I really hope they find something!

This whole thing reminds me of research I did in to trying to find the modern location of Jasper Tudor’s burial. He was laid to rest at Keynsham Abbey, but the abbey was dissolved in 1539 and now the A4 runs over part of the site. Depending on where within the building Jasper was buried, there is a chance he’s under the Keynsham By-Pass!

Here are just a few of the articles about the dig from the past few days:

* Richard III’s remains: Leicester car park dug up (BBC)

* Is this the lost grave of King Richard III? Archaeologists dig under council car park for monarch killed in Battle of Bosworth (Daily Mail)

* Is Richard III ‘buried under council car park’? (The Telegraph – this one has an informative interview with one of the archaeologists)

Another story that got a lot of coverage last week was the announcement that the BBC will be developing Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” into a six part mini-series. Like the story above, this rang some bells for me, and sure enough, I posted about it last year (although it doesn’t appear that HBO is involved now).

* Wolf Hall adaptation planned for BBC Two (BBC)

* BBC turns best-selling Henry VIII novel and Booker Prize winner ‘Wolf Hall’ into a mini-series (Mail Online)

And here are a few other interesting things that caught my eye over the past week:

* Rare Elizabethan sundial presented to Oxford University

* Henry VIII

Picture of the Week #190

Wider view of the gatehouse in the remaining parts of Richmond Palace. Photo May 2000.

Since I still haven’t made it up to the Bosworth Battlefield (although it is high on the list of places for the trip I’m planning for next year), I didn’t have a photo directly related to today’s anniversary of the battle. So instead I chose a photo of part of the Richmond Palace remains, built by Henry VII and named for his title of Earl of Richmond which he held at the time of the decisive battle that ultimately made him king.

Sunday Short Takes

Lots of interesting links this week!

* Hilary Mantel discusses Thomas Cromwell’s past, presence and future – The Wolf Hall author tells the Edinburgh book festival of her plans for the conclusion of her Tudor trilogy

* Sudeley Castle: the curious life and death of Katherine Parr – Sudeley Castle commemorates 500 years since the birth of Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s wives.

* Lambert Simnel, a counterfeit king – Once upon a time a good-looking Oxford youth, the son of a carpenter, was taken away from his home city and crowned King of England by an archbishop

Picture of the Week #187

Entrance to Hampton Court Palace. Photo June 2000.

This view looked a lot different today – and not just the gorgeous blue sky! This was the setting for the start and medal ceremonies for the Olympic cycling time trial events today, which I watched on an internet stream. There were some great aerial shots of the Palace and gardens, really showing off the area’s beauty.

Upcoming books

Time for another round-up of upcoming books (no events or exhibitions this month) – only two this time since a couple of books I originally had down for coming out in August have been moved back.

First up on August 7 in the UK and the US, Susan Ronald’s Heretic Queen: Queen Elizabeth I and the Wars of Religion

And second is The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I by Stephen Alford, which is out August 30 in the UK but not until November 13 in the US.

Sunday Short Takes

* Chance to get involved in Woking Palace history dig – A free ‘Dig for a Day’ scheme will be run at the monument in Carters Lane, Old Woking, with heritage teams on site from September 13 until the end of the month and the weekends open to let the community try their hand at archaeology. (Sounds like fun!)

* Wolsey’s Gate in Ipswich covered in graffiti – A piece of Tudor Ipswich, built by Henry VIII’s chancellor, has been covered in graffiti. (I will never understand people who vandalize…)

And finally, on a lighter note, the Olympic Torch and the Hampton Court maze –

Sunday Short Takes

Since a lot of stuff piled up while I was traveling for work (and then recovering from a cold I brought back with me) there will be a lot of links today!

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There were several articles about the discovery of medieval underwear in an Austrian castle last week. The items are of interest since they show that these types of undergarments are older than had been generally thought.

* Discovered in a castle vault, the scraps of lace that show lingerie was all the rage 500 years ago – From The Daily Mail

* Medieval lingerie – From History Extra

* Medieval lingerie from Lengberg Castle, East-Tyrol – From Universit

Picture of the Week #185

Moat and outer wall of Beaumaris Castle on the Isle of Anglesey in north Wales. Photo May 2000.

The Tudor connection is a little bit of a stretch, although not *too* much since Beaumaris is near (or maybe was part of?) the Tudor ancestral lands in north Wales. But this is one of my favorite photos from my visit there, so I had to use it eventually.

Traveling for work for a few days

I’ll be headed out to our observatory in west Texas for a few days and while I should have good internet access, I don’t think I’m going to have a whole lot of time to spend on the computer! So apologies in advance for any delays in approving blog comments and the lack of posts until early next week.

15 years!

Well, sort of, by one way of counting.

On July 1, 1997, I launched the stand-alone version of this site, which had previously been part of my personal homepage for a couple of years. As more and more people were contacting me about that part of my homepage, it became obvious that it was time to split it off into its own site. I moved everything to tudor.simplenet.com and re-routed all the traffic from the cumbersome address I had on the webserver at work (which was actually running on the desktop machine I was working on!). Three years later I bought tudorhistory.org and moved everything again, and that is where it has been ever since.

For grins, here is a screen cap of the site as it looked before I moved it off the old server:

(I’m still not sure why the first version of the vine had all-red flowers and not a proper red-and-white Tudor rose! Later I changed it from this four-petal version you see here to a better five-petal one.)

And here’s a link to the archive post on the blog from the move: Archive post: What’s New July 1997.

(This is one of the posts that I migrated over from the “What’s New?” and “Tudor News and Events” pages I used to run before I moved it over to a real blogging platform in March 2005.)

And while I’m at it, here’s a short update of what I’m working on at the moment: Some of you might have noticed that some of the pages have been (slowly) switching over to a slightly different design. I needed to update some of the search box code, so I took it as an opportunity to tweak a few things. I’m still slogging through the Glossaries and Who’s Who sections (which have the most pages to update) but I should have it finished by the end of the summer. Once that is done I’ll get back to working on adding more real content! I have a lot of research on title holders (church, nobility and government) and I’ve been compiling a portrait database for ages and am working on a good way to get that info on to the site. I’m also working on getting more illustrations and entries into the glossaries section. And of course, for everything I update I think of about 10 other things I want to do! As anyone who has developed and run a website knows, it is never truly “complete”.

Thanks for indulging me in this little trip down memory lane. 🙂