Sunday short takes

And to complete the catch-up on stuff, a Sunday short takes!

* BBC History Magazine offers a digital sample from their March 2010 issue (which has two Tudor history related articles)

* Spectator article about Mary Grey by Leanda de Lisle

* Little Miss Sunnydale’s Flickr set retracing Anne Boleyn’s coronation procession through modern London

* An article on the enduring popularity of the Tudors

* Design for Wolsey statue to be revealed in Ipswich

Shakespeare Dig Begins

The dig at New Place that I posted about last November has begun! Here are some articles about the early finds:

From The Guardian:

Dig seeks William Shakespeare’s shards for ale in his Stratford back garden

Pottery scraps and other finds unearthed on site of New Place mansion may help to rewrite playwright’s story

Archaeologists in Stratford-upon-Avon have made a sensational discovery: Shakespeare’s broken beer jug. Possibly.

Scraps of pottery, broken clay pipe and a 19th century penny have emerged from a muddy hole in what was a garden until a week ago. But this is the most extensive hunt for Shakespeare in his own backyard in 150 years, and every scrap is precious.

In 1597 the playwright returned from London a rich and famous man and bought New Place, the second best house in his home town. He had a fair copy made of his title deeds, now in the archives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, owner of the site and a string of other properties linked with the most famous playwright in the world. The house vanished centuries ago but Birmingham Archaeology and volunteers are joining forces to recover any evidence left in the ground.

Full article

And another from The Telegraph:

Archaeologists dig up Shakespeare’s ‘cesspit’

Archaeologists believe they are on the cusp of shedding new light on the life of William Shakespeare

More on “Death and the Virgin”

I totally forgot about several posts in my “draft” folder! So this article is a couple of weeks old – sorry!

Here’s an article by the author of “Death and the Virgin”, Chris Skidmore, from The Express:

A TUDOR MURDER MYSTERY

Was Elizabeth I implicated in the death of Amy Robsart, neglected wife of dashing Lord Robert Dudley, widely believed to have been the Queen’s lover? The author of a new book, Chris Skidmore, has fresh evidence.

It is a 450-year-old mystery that has baffled generations of historians.
One September afternoon in 1560, Amy Robsart, the wife of Lord Robert Dudley, Queen Elizabeth I

Picture of the Week #66

Mary Arden’s Farm. Photo May 1998.

This is another place on my list of places to revisit on a future trip to England. I spent the previous day in Stratford, but only stopped briefly at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and Mary Arden’s Farm and didn’t actually go in to either property. But I was happy with the few photos I got on my way up to Warwick.

[Update: As Marilyn pointed out in the comments – I totally forgot that this property was re-identified as Palmer’s Farm in 2000, even though I posted about it on the old News Page (the pre-blog blog) and changed it on my personal homepage travel section. Age is catching up to me!]

Death and the Virgin by Chris Skidmore

I mentioned this book in a “Sunday Short Takes”, but it was kind of buried so I thought I would move it to its own post and update the info now that it is available at the US Amazon.

This is the article that I linked to in the previous post – from the Times Online:

FOR more than four centuries it has been one of the great unsolved deaths of the Tudor age. Did Amy, wife of Elizabeth I

Connected Histories search engine

This sounds pretty cool –

From the BBC:

Search engine collects historical resources

A search engine is being created to help historians find useful sources.

The Connected History project will link up currently separate databases of source materials.
Once complete, it will give academics or members of the public a single site that lets them search all the collections.

Once completed the search engine will index digitised books, newspapers, manuscripts, genealogical records, maps and images that date from 1500-1900.

“There are a number of electronic resources that have been created by universities and by commercial providers,” said Professor Robert Shoemaker from the University of Sheffield which is heading the project. “They are all available, and all separate and some require subscriptions.”

“What we are trying to do is join them up to create an integrated search facility so you do not have to conduct more searches than necessary,” Professor Shoemaker told BBC News.

Full article

Here’s the project page from the Institute for Historical Research:
http://www.history.ac.uk/connectedhistories

And their blog:
http://connectedhistories.wordpress.com/

Update on blog migration

I never got around to posting an update, but it looks like all of the comments did eventually find their way over to the proper places, this blog included.

And anyone who has seen the old blog will probably note that I updated the design to a new Blogger template. I may change it more in the future, but I kind of like this one. 🙂

[Comments are closed on older posts. If you wish to make a comment, please contact Lara via the link in the sidebar.]

Stewarts get stamp of approval

I know, *groan*, but I couldn’t resist.

From the BBC:

First Mary Queen of Scots stamp issued
The first stamp featuring Mary Queen of Scots has been unveiled by Royal Mail.

t is part of a new set celebrating the royal dynasty of the Stewarts, who ruled Scotland until 1603.

TV historian and archaeologist Neil Oliver launched the stamp series at Stirling Castle, the historical home of the Stewarts.

Full article

You can get first day covers and other collectible items at the Royal Mail website.

Six Dead Queens & an Inflatable Henry

Now this looks like fun – the Piccolo Theatre in Illinois has an upcoming play called Six Dead Queens & an Inflatable Henry! which will run from mid-April to early June.

Created by The Foursight Theatre Company in Wolverhampton, England in 1999, “Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry!” is a devised theatre piece packed with intrigue, rowdy good humor, and duels of words. The action takes place in eternity where Henry’s consorts are forced to spend their days and nights vaulting over each other for the top spot and the answer to the question: Who is the true Queen?

The cast members have also been humorously blogging at Six Dead Queens during their research.

Sunday short takes

A few more links that I hadn’t gotten around to posting yet:

The UK National Archives has a page on Flickr which includes, among other interesting images, the infamous “Culpepper Letter” of Kathryn Howard.

Last But Not Least: The Enduring Fascination of Katherine Parr – Guest post by Linda Porter for The Anne Boleyn Files

Leith restages its biggest ever drama 450 years on

London museums: four new openings – including the opening of Discover Greenwich which among other things, will have some displays on and artifacts from the Tudor palace.