* All the King’s Fools: ‘Disability is deep in comedy’s DNA’ – Heritage entertainment develops historical accuracy at Hampton Court this week, as learning-disabled actors play Tudor jesters
* Milestone for work to save Astley Castle – Restoration work at a 13th century former stately home has reached a significant milestone with work ongoing to secure the building. (article with video) Previous story on the Astley Castle preservation here.
I have been remiss in not mentioning C.J. Sansom’s Shardlake mysteries, set in Tudor times, which I’ve heard some really good things about. I haven’t had a chance to read any of them yet, but they are on my “to read” list! I received an email from the publisher about the most recent one, and have pasted the press release information below:
The #1 international bestselling author brings us his fifth Shardlake novel
Sundial on a not-very-sunny day at Leeds Castle. Photo May 2003.
Tomb of Goronwy ap Tudur and his wife at St. Gredifael
Not quite as large a link-dump as last week. 🙂
* The Blood of Henry VIII – Site for the research into the possibility that Henry VIII had McLeod Syndrome and was positive for the Kell blood group. The researchers are also seeking permission to exhume Henry VIII for testing, although it doesn’t seem likely the Crown will approve it.
* A neat timeline of the English language from the British Library. Lots of neat documents there, including some from the Tudor period.
* A little more on the restoration work beginning at Chichester Cathedral that I mentioned last week
* And, in honor of the anniversary of the execution of Jane Parker Boleyn in 1542, The Accidental Thespian has written up her research into Lady Rochford for portraying her at the Maryland Renaissance Festival.
Gardens at Penshurst Place. Photo May 2003.
I think a lot of people (myself included) are ready for spring, so here’s a nice green picture for this week. 🙂
Lots of links piled up this week!
* Video: History comes alive at Katharine of Aragon festival – Some of the events from Peterborough Cathedral‘s Katharine of Aragon Festival
* Historic
Here’s an update on the fundraising efforts for much-needed conservation work on the National Portrait Gallery’s iconic image of Anne Boleyn that I posted about last month.
Natalie from On the Tudor Trail has started a Facebook page to raise awareness on the effort. If you’re on Facebook, head on over and “like” the page and share it with your friends! Even if you aren’t able to donate, it helps to spread the word. And as added incentive, when the page reaches 500 fans, there will be a give-away of an autographed copy of The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir. You can read Ms. Weir’s comments on the portrait and the conservation effort at Natalie’s site.
I’m sure a lot of you have already heard about the new Google Art Project, which gives you a street-view-like experience of 17 great art galleries (and with more to come, I’m sure). And while you’re “walking” around, you can stop and zoom in on some of the paintings and see them in great detail. When I noticed The Frick Collection in New York was one of the galleries, I’ll bet most of you knew what the first painting was that I looked for. Sure enough, Hans Holbein’s “Sir Thomas More” is one of the paintings that you can view in detail, right down to the salt-and-pepper beard stubble on his chin!
Other Holbein paintings I found: “The Ambassadors”, “A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling” and “Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan” from the National Gallery in London and “Henry VIII” in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
Just glancing around, I saw several English renaissance paintings close-ups in the Tate Britain collection as well, and I’m sure there are more to find in some of the other museums.
Of course this isn’t a substitute for visiting the museums and seeing the paintings in person, but it’s a nice way to lose a few hours of your day.
Gatehouse section of the remaining parts of Richmond Palace. Photo May 2000.
You can see the Tudor arms over the archway and the blue rectangle to the right side is one of the few signs identifying this as part of Richmond Palace. Close-ups of those will be featured here in the weeks to come.
Actually, not so short this week since I have quite a few stories with multiple links!
One of the big stories to make the Tudor news rounds this week was the discovery of a mural of Henry VIII on the wall of a house while the owners were doing renovations. The house was once the summer home of the Archdeacons of Taunton, including Thomas Cranmer before he became Archbishop of Canterbury. I noticed that pretty much every article, including the three I linked to below, called it a “medieval” mural. I’m assuming they are referring to the technique or style of the mural, since I’m pretty sure anything produced in the 1530s (as this has been dated to) would stretch the definition of the medieval time period.
* A medieval mural depicting Henry VIII has been uncovered by a couple renovating their home – The Telegraph
* Out with his head! DIY couple uncover medieval mural of King Henry VIII – The Daily Mail (including images)
* Medieval mural of King Henry VIII uncovered in Somerset – Article with video from the BBC
(Quick update – check out the comments thread at The Anne Boleyn Files’ post on this for some info from one of the homeowners! They plan to put up a website at http://milvertonmural.com/, although it isn’t up yet.)
New archaeological work is beginning at Sheffield Manor Lodge, once owned by the Earls of Shrewsbury and where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned, that will remove the soil above the kitchen quarters of the house. Previous archaeological work on the house was done in 2010 by students from the University of Sheffield, who kept a blog about the project.
* Project set to reveal secrets of ancient manor – The Star
* Fresh light on manor where Mary Queen of Scots held – Yorkshire Post
More articles have come out about research in to the tombs of Henry Fitzroy and Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk that I linked to in a previous Sunday Short Takes
* Research uses space-age technology on 16th-century history – The Guardian
* The truth behind Tudor tombs is out there – PhysOrg
And finally, a new work on Mary Tudor Brandon is due out in April in the US and May in the UK. Unfortunately it looks like it will have academic pricing (hopefully my university’s library will get it, although with the budget crunch we’re facing, who knows), but here are the Amazon links if anyone is looking to pre-order:
Yes, once again I’ve gone through all of last year’s emails for the Q&A Blog (including both the posted questions and ones I answered directly) and have looked for trends and themes.
The overall number of questions was down from last year – 250 for 2010 compared to 465 in 2009. Some of this may have had to do with “The Tudors” ending its run in the US in the first half of the year and the 4th season not airing in the UK until 2011. It also could be that more people are searching through the archives and finding that their questions had already been answered.
So, the data:
– Anne Boleyn and her family still lead the pack for the people who have been asked about the most. I think some of the topics of interest in Anne and her family have changed somewhat and in the case of Anne, more were about her life than her death. Although her death and burial was definitely still a topic of interest! And her daughter, Elizabeth I, is probably the most asked about of the monarchs.
– I think Catherine of Aragon came in a close second for number of questions. I’m not sure if that is up from previous years, but if it is, it might be due in part to the new biography of her by Giles Tremlett. The rest of the wives were asked about as well, of course, but not as much as #1 and #2. (I think Anne of Cleves would rank third in questions about the wives.)
– There seemed to be an increase in people looking for primary sources, which is a great thing. And there were still quite a few people trying to find out the truth behind some of the fictional portrayals of the Tudors (the TV series, movies and novels all included), as well as looking for recommendations of accurate non-fiction books and verification of quotes. I would also group into this section people looking for information for novels (authenticity of names and name choices cropped up a fair amount), as well as ideas for dissertations and school projects.
– There is still a sustained interest in illegitimate children of Henry VIII (and at least one question about children of Elizabeth I, as well as bastards of queens in general)
– Some of the pre-Henry VIII Tudors have gotten some attention lately, which pleases me since some of my interests fall in that area. There were a few questions about Margaret Beaufort, although I had expected more with Philippa Gregory’s new novel about her.
– Outside of the Kings and Queens, Thomas Cromwell seems to be leading in questions, probably due to “Wolf Hall” and “The Tudors”. Charles Brandon cropped up a few times as well (in part, I’m sure, because of his portrayal by the hunky Henry Cavill on “The Tudors”). Thomas Wolsey got a few questions too.
– Executions were still a popular topic, in terms of customs, techniques and treatment of remains.
– Medicine, health and daily life (hygiene and cleanliness in particular) cropped up a fair amount as well.
– Places to visit and information on the layouts of great houses, castles and palaces were popular last year.
– In a broad sense, there were a number of questions about the nobility, ladies in waiting, royal and noble households and forms of address. I think that some of these, as well as the questions about the layouts of palaces, were for people writing novels, but the questions weren’t always explicitly stated as such.
– And finally, I have to mention what is probably the single most-asked question since I’ve started running the site – “What happened to Mary Seymour, daughter of Katherine Parr?”. For a child who probably died very young she has garnered a lot of interest and I love the fact that we’re still wondering about her over 450 years after her birth.
Previous round-ups:
http://tudorhistory.org/blog/2009/01/08/frequently-asked-questions/
http://tudorhistory.org/blog/2010/01/18/frequently-asked-questions-2009-edition/
Henry VII tower at Pembroke Castle. Photo May 2003.
For those of you who get the National Geographic Channel, tomorrow night they will be running a show called “Secrets of the Virgin Queen” (and rerunning “Inside the Body of Henry VIII right after). Here’s a link to info on the show from the National Geographic Channel website.
(If the captions of the photos on the website are an indication, I don’t have high hopes… they call Robert Dudley “Arthur Dudley” in a few captions, although I think the final one that mentions him might actually be referring to the “Arthur Dudley” that was the supposed son of Elizabeth and Robert.)
* If you’re in or planning to visit the Portsmouth area, be sure to check these out: Emmy Award-Winning Costumes from
The Stirling Heads in place with some of the palace painters. Image from the Stirling Castle blog.
I’ve been linking to stories about the restoration of Stirling Castle’s Royal Palace to its 16th century appearance, including the recreation of the Stirling Heads for several years (see here, here and here), and I’m pleased to now link to several stories about the completion of the project!
Renaissance heads of Caesar and Henry VIII to return to Stirling Castle Royal Palace of James V – Culture 24
Kings and queens and classical heroes return to Stirling Castle – The Scotsman
Meticulous work comes to a head – The Edinburgh Evening News
Castle masterpiece work unveiled – The Galloway Gazette
Sudeley Castle. Photo May 1998.
* Details of Peterborough Cathedral’s 2011 Katherine of Aragon Festival have been posted at their website. Here’s littlemisssunnydale’s video from the 2010 candlelight procession that I linked to last year.
* Renaissance Fashion: The Birth of Power Dressing is the cover article from the January 2011 issue of History Today and is available to read on their website.
* I totally forgot to post about this ahead of time, but BBC America is starting to show “The Tudors”, so those who haven’t had a chance to see it on Showtime or DVD can catch it there. And I’ve heard that UK viewers will finally see Season 4 starting later this month!
Side aisle of the 11th-century Chapel of St John the Evangelist in the White Tower of The Tower of London. May 2003.
Another photo from one of my favorite parts of the Tower of London.
I know most of you have probably already seen this through other sites since I’m a little late posting it. (It’s been a rough week packing up my office and lab at work to move before some renovations… the upshot is that I’ll finally get a window office!)
From the National Portrait Gallery:
This important portrait of Anne Boleyn is in urgent need of conservation treatment. It is in a particularly vulnerable and unstable condition as a result of structural problems with the wooden panel. Vertical cracking has occurred across the picture causing minor paint loss where the wood has split (see the photograph taken in raking light alongside). We need to act now as the damage is being caused by the long term effects of an unsuitable cradle (an applied wooden panel support) which must be removed. Therefore this important and much loved painting needs urgent conservation treatment to ensure it can be put back on public display.
The Gallery hopes to raise
