Sunday short takes

I guess I’m sort of debuting a new blog feature in this post. I’ve done news round-up/catch-up posts in the past, but I thought I would give them an official name. Sometimes they might be “Saturday short takes” instead, but they will probably always be one of the weekend days since that’s when I have time and both Saturday and Sunday start with “s” and I get to use an alliterative title. 🙂

* You Tube video of the commemoration service for Catherine of Aragon at Peterborough Cathedral. I never got around to posting about this year’s event, but here is a link to a past post about it.

* Rosary from the Mary Rose featured at the BBC’s A History of the World

* Reconstructed face from the Mary Rose goes on display (BBC article). This is the reconstruction that I linked to an article about last March. Additional articles from the Times Online and The Telegraph

* Stirling Castle carvings will be on display at the castle until Feb. 21 (BBC article). This is a continuation of the project that I’ve blogged about a few times (most recently here). The carvings will soon be painted and put in place as part of the project to reconstruct the renaissance royal palace inside the castle. You can learn more at the official Stirling Castle website

* Snack food of Shakespearean theater-goers (Discovery News article). I’m not a fan of seafood but the nuts and dried fruit sounds good. I’ll probably stick with popcorn and Junior Mints though.

* Help Romeo collect flowers for Juliet (appropriate for Valentine’s Day!) in the Shakespeare Game from Shakespeare Country Tourism

Picture of the Week #58

Marker for Lady Jane Grey and others in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London. Photo May 1998.

I thought this would be an appropriate picture for this week since the anniversary of Jane’s (and Guildford’s for that matter) execution is Friday. I took this photo on my first visit to the Tower – May 19, 1998. There were roses on Anne Boleyn’s marker that day since it was the anniversary of her execution and I asked the Beefeater if I could take a photo of them. I don’t know if it was because I looked like a young and clueless American (which I was!) or what, but he said yes. After snapping that photo, I quickly shot this one as well.

Picture of the Week #57

Thomas More’s cell in the Bell Tower in the Tower of London. Photo June 2000.

During the millennium celebrations, the Tower had a special display on Thomas More (with his hair shirt among other items) and opened the Bell Tower to the public. If I remember correctly, they escorted us in small groups through the private residences/offices and then up in to the tower. I seem to recall it being a tight fit, and of course, a working and living space, so not really appropriate to being open all the time. I’m glad I got a chance to see it while I did!

Round-up of a few other interesting things…

Because it’s getting late and I’m tired, here are the other three things I wanted to post tonight, all in one post:

* Alison Weir, Arguing the Case for Anne Boleyn – Interview and book excerpt at NPR

* The British Library’s new Timelines: Sources from History – Neat timelines with document images, and the few that I looked at included links where you could print or download a PDF of the documents.

* Middle Temple Hall launched a new website with some cool virtual tours. The Hall is one of the Inns of Court and was constructed between 1563 and 1572. It was also the site of the first performance of Twelfth Night in 1602.

Bosworth Field news coming this month

If you recall this post from last October, archaeologists have found evidence for what was probably the actual site of the Battle of Bosworth and now that information is set to be revealed at a conference on February 20. The Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre has information on the event and a document with the program. The Heritage Centre is also planning to open a new exhibition called “Bosworth Battlefield Lost and Found” on February 22.

There is also an article in the March issue of BBC History Magazine, as well as an article by Leanda de Lisle about Lady Jane Grey. I’ll have to make sure I remember to pick one up!

The Final Act of Mr. Shakespeare

This hasn’t been published yet, but I thought I would go ahead and ask if any of you have read this? It looks interesting:

Review from The Times Online:

Robert Winder may just have redefined literary chutzpah. Not only has he produced a novel with Shakespeare as its principal character, he has also put into it the complete text of Shakespeare

Picture of the Week #56

Nursery scene from the Henry VII tower at Pembroke Castle. Photo May 2003.

Okay, so maybe this is a little cheesy, but since Henry VII’s birthday is tomorrow I figured what the heck. 😉 And I love that medieval chair Margaret is sitting on!

National Trust Properties in Google Street View

This is very cool! I first saw mention of this collaboration in this Birmingham Post article:

Solihull National Trust property added to Google street view

It was a case of try before you buy but now you can see before going.

Baddesley Clinton, near Solihull, is one of the newest National Trust properties which has been added to Google Street View, available through Google Maps.

The atmospheric house dates from 15th century and visitors can discover the priest

Remembering Jean Simmons

I posted when Deborah Kerr died in 2007 about how I came across “Young Bess” early in my early teens, so I of course have to mention it again with the news that Jean Simmons died yesterday. And as with Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons is probably mostly known for other roles, but it’s always “Young Bess” that I think of. She’ll always be a young Queen Elizabeth I to me!

Jean Simmons’ Obituary from The Telegraph and The New York Times

Oh, and for my fellow geeks who are also fans of Felicia Day, why did it take me so long to realize that it was a young Jean Simmons that she reminded me of? Geez I’m thick sometimes. (See this photo if you don’t know who I’m talking about. And then watch The Guild!)

Frequently Asked Questions – 2009 edition

I had fun doing the 2008 tally of the most common themes in the questions submitted to the Q&A blog, so I thought I would do it again with the 2009 submissions.

The total number of submission emails that I still had in my saved box from 2009 was 465, although not all of those ended up posted to the blog.

Anne Boleyn, once again, was Queen (if you’ll pardon the pun) of the Q&A blog with inquiries into every part of her life and death. The rest of her family cropped up quite a bit too, although I don’t think quite as much as they did in 2008. I think a lot of the interest continues to come from people watching and reading fiction about Anne, Mary, Jane (Parker/Boleyn/Rochford), George and their parents. The rest of the wives also cropped up a bit, but even combined I don’t think they got close to Anne!

Although there were still questions on the subject, the interest in possible mistresses and bastards of Henry VIII seems to have fallen off from 2008 and earlier. The Greys (of course Jane in particular) were asked about a bit and Mary I seems to have come up more, perhaps because of her character on “The Tudors”?

One thing that struck me were a large number of questions related to tangible items of the Tudors that still survive, be it buildings, personal and household items, portraits, modern descendants, fashion and jewelry and above all – tombs, graves and remains. I don’t know if we’re just a morbid lot or what, but graves and bones were very popular topics last year! Kind of related to the bones and bodies was an interest in medical issues, both physical and psychological. Trying to diagnose long-dead people with certain diseases (of the body or mind) is difficult at best, but I have to admit that the speculation is kind of fun.

A lot of questions had to do with the factual basis of fictional representations of the Tudors (tv, books, movies) and how reliable some non-fiction works are. With regards to the fiction, it’s great to see people wanting to dig deeper into the real history.

And finally, I’m guessing that a lot of teachers were doing Tudor crime and punishment this year since that showed up a fair amount and was almost always for a school project.

I’m looking forward to seeing what questions 2010 brings!

New “Bloody Mary” London Dungeon attraction

Yeah…. I’m not so sure how I feel about this. I’m not a Mary “fan” by any stretch of the imagination, but I really hate to see people of history reduced to stereotypes. I know the job of The London Dungeon is to entertain through horror, but this just kind of rubs me the wrong way.

The London Dungeon is turning the temperature up this February half term with a flaming new experience

Some fun videos

First up is a time lapse of the initial building work on the new museum for The Mary Rose. I love how the ships in the port go up and down on the tide – it makes them look like toys in a bathtub!

And Adieu from Henry 8.0

I had to shudder at Henry’s treatment of Catherine’s iPod nano though! I got a green one for Christmas and I love it… I’d hate to see it shoved into a jar of chocolate spread.

Another round-up post

Sorry to do another “link dump” post so close on the heels of the last one but it’s just a lot quicker this way (and I’m sure you all don’t want to be bombarded with a bunch of posts at once).

* National Portrait Gallery on the Iconography of Lady Jane Grey

Here’s the article from Art Daily about it and here’s a little information from the National Portrait Gallery’s website. And just a reminder that Painting History – Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey will be opening at the National Gallery (around the corner from the NPG) at the end of February.

* Large medieval waterwheel uncovered at Greenwich

It’s a little before the Tudors, but I’m a sucker for medieval archaeological finds. Here’s an article (with a few pictures) from Medieval News.

* Showtime picks up a series on The Borgias

According to Variety Showtime is looking to continue playing in the Renaissance with a new series about The Borgias. Jeremy Irons will be starring so I’ll probably be watching!

News link round-up

I’m clearing out all the articles that I have saved over the past couple of weeks and dumping them all into this post:

* Debunking the Myth of Lady Jane Grey

Thought-provoking article by Leanda de Lisle at Intelligent Life (a lifestyle and culture magazine from The Economist)

* Mary Rose Trust photos on Wikipedia

Mary Rose Trust releases photographs onto Wikipedia
Unseen Mary Rose pictures revealed in groundbreaking Wikipedia deal

* Exhibition features documents suggesting Shakespeare was Catholic

Shakespeare was a ‘secret Catholic’ new exhibition shows

* Greenwich to become a Royal Borough in 2012

This honors its long connection with the English and British monarchy (lots of Tudor connections there!). The other Royal Boroughs are Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, and Windsor and Maidenhead.

Greenwich Becomes Royal Borough
Queen to grant Greenwich Royal Borough status for Diamond Jubilee

* Catch up on “The Tudors”

Season Three is now available on iTunes (this link goes to the Showtime site, which has a link to the iTunes store)
Unfortunately I didn’t see it in time for the first episode, but Showtime is replaying all of the previous seasons in a lead-up to the season 4 premiere in April. Here’s a link to the schedule.

And finally…

* 2010 sees the 450th anniversary of the refoundation of Westminster Abbey

The history of Westminster Abbey, London – The coming year is the 450th anniversary of Elizabeth I