Whew… Links finally checked and updated

That’s what I get for putting off some of those maintenance tasks so long! I keep thinking I have another batch of links to add somewhere, so there might be a few more up soon.

And, if anyone I had a link to had a Geocities site that went away when it closed last year, would you please send me the new links? I tried to track down a few of them but was unsuccessful. Drop me an email at lara@tudorhistory.org (you can also try leaving a link in the comments but sometimes those get tagged as spam and I don’t always catch the things incorrectly tagged). Thanks!

Happy New Year!

And before anyone asks, I’m not sure when or if the podcast will be starting up again. For now it’s just on the back-burner and may make a triumphant return in 2010. We’ll just have to see!

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Happy New Year!

I’m not making any resolutions this year, but I will make a promise to blog more! I’ve also been doing some “behind the scenes” stuff on the rest of the site over my break from work, as well as finally working on my review of “Wolf Hall” (short review – I liked it a lot!). I knew going in that 2009 was going to be an extraordinarily busy year for me but there were times that it still managed to surprise me. (I still can’t believe how nuts parts of October were.) I think 2010 will also be busy, but hopefully not quite as much as 2009 was!

Picture of the Week #52

Patterned brick chimneys at Hampton Court Palace. Photo May 2000.

Because a lot of us have cold weather right now, a reminder of how the Tudors kept warm in winter. 🙂

I can’t believe we’re at POTW #52, meaning that I’ve been posting every week for a whole year. And there are still lots of photos out there for me to keep putting up – and hopefully I’ll add to the collection in the next few years.

Merry Christmas!

I’m recycling the image from the past couple of years, but here they are again, our favorite family decked out in holiday cheer:

And here’s Henry 8.0 trying to order Christmas puddings:

Henry in that hat looks kind of like the version in the “family photo” up top. 🙂 And Henry going on about The Stig – love it! (Yes, I’m a Top Gear fan.)

And last but not least, here’s an article about how Henry VIII really celebrated the holidays, from the Mail Online:

Stuffed peacock, fake snow and lashings of dancing girls… Henry VIII had a VERY merry Christmas indeed!

Five hundred years ago this Christmas, there was a new king on the throne of England. He was 18 years old, as handsome as a prince in a fairytale, sporty and over 6ft.

He spoke elegant French and Italian – and Latin, of course, like all educated people – wrote his own songs and sang them himself.
He was credited with a sweet nature and was in love with his wife. So, what would you give the young Henry VIII for Christmas? What was there left for him to want?

Full article

Picture of the Week #51

Overlooking the entrance to Raglan Castle, Monmouthshire, Wales. Photo May 2003.

Raglan was the home of Henry VII as a boy when he was in the custody of the Herberts in the 1460s. Raglan is under the care of Cadw which oversees many Welsh historical places.

The Plimoth Jacket revealed!


Photo: Ed Nute

I first blogged about this project back in October 2007 and have been following the progress ever since (now at the Thistle Threads blog after the original project funding ran out). The project recreated an embroidered lady’s jacket from just after the Elizabethan period. You may remember a similar jacket in the Victoria and Albert Museum that I featured as a Picture of the Week back in July.

Scroll back through the last few posts at the Thistle Threads blog for more photos of the jacket from the big reveal. The photos in candlelight are particularly captivating.

TannerRitchie Publishing’s annual sale

This year it is 50% off downloads! Just head on over to the TannerRitchie Publishing website to take advantage of the offer.

They also have a blog, are on Twitter and an RSS feed of new titles, which I just added to my newsreader so I can keep up with things they are adding to their collection. It has been a while since I checked their site and it turns out I missed a lot of new additions!

Archaeological dig at Shakespeare’s New Place

From the BBC:

Archaeologists are preparing to excavate the site of Shakespeare’s final home to find out more about the history of the building.

The New Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, was built in 1483 and is thought to be where the playwright died in 1616.

The building itself was demolished in 1759, but it is thought remains of the old house are still underground.

Archaeologists will start initial tests on the site on Tuesday and a full dig could be carried out next year.

The experts from Birmingham Archaeology will be searching for the foundations of the New Place and will be looking through the original wells and possibly rubbish pits.

Full article

New Place showed up here back in June as Picture of the Week #23

Henslowe-Alleyn archive now online

From The Guardian:

A unique archive on the theatre of Shakespeare’s times, revealing everything from the price of a ferry ticket across the Thames to the cost of a tumbler’s breeches, becomes available free to the world today when the papers of the theatre owner and entrepreneur Philip Henslowe and his actor son-in-law Edward Alleyn go online.

Henslowe built one of the first theatres in London, the Rose, on the site of a bear-baiting ring and brothel. Shakespeare almost certainly worked as an actor there and some of his plays, including Titus Andronicus, were first performed there.

Shakespeare earned fortunes

Another Tudor property up for sale

Yet another interesting property up for sale to add to the list that I’ve blogged about. It’s probably a good thing I don’t have a ton of money, since I’d never be able to decide what place to buy! 🙂

From the BBC:

Henry VIII’s love nest for sale

A property where newlywed Henry VIII stayed with his second wife Anne Boleyn has gone on the market after being rebuilt from a state of near collapse

The gatehouse on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent is all that remains of Shurland Hall, the Tudor palace owned by a courtier of the King, Thomas Cheyney.

It was probably built especially for Henry and Anne’s visit, when the King spent three days hunting.

The Spitalfields Trust has restored it and put it up for sale for