Questions for Sandra Worth – again!

Yep, we’re doing it again! In conjunction with the release of Sandra’s latest book (more info below) we’re doing another question and answer with readers of this site! If you have a question for Sandra, you can leave it in the comments below or email me directly – lara@tudorhistory.org – and I’ll pass them on. I’ll collect questions until March 31. The previous Q&A we did with Sandra can be seen here.

Sandra’s newest book is The Pale Rose of England, and here’s more about it from her website:

From the award-winning author of The King’s Daughter comes a story of love and defiance during the War of the Roses.

It is 1497. The news of the survival of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, has thundered across Europe, setting royal houses ablaze with intrigue and rocking the fledgling Tudor dynasty. Stepping finally onto English soil, Catherine arrives at the island of Saint Michael

Happy Sixth Blogiversary!

I still have a lot of catching up to do – life has been a big blur since the start of March, but I’m taking off this week since it’s spring break and will try to catch up. But before I forget, I wanted to mention that this is the sixth anniversary of the start of this blog as an actual blog (it was just a manually updated “News and Events” page before that, going back to 1997). As I always say, thanks so much to the readers and commenters! I’m sorry that I don’t have the output of a lot of other sites, at least not lately, and that I can’t always reply to comments. But I do really appreciate everyone who stops by, whether they leave a comment or not.

Thanks again everyone!

Picture of the Week #114

St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Photo May 1998.

Construction of St. George’s Chapel began in the reign of Edward IV and was completed in the reign of Henry VIII (and both kings are buried there). Henry VIII of course lies alongside Jane Seymour, and his longtime friend Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk is also interred in the chapel.

Sunday Short Takes

* 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.

* Architect creates model of monarch

C.J. Sansom’s “Heartstone” released

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

Sunday Short Takes

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.

Update on the Anne Boleyn portrait conservation

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.

Google Art Project

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.

Picture of the Week #109

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.

Sunday Short Takes

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:

Frequently Asked Questions – 2010 edition

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/

“Secrets of the Virgin Queen” on US TV tomorrow

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.)