New book – The Tudors: The Complete Story of England’s Most Notorious Dynasty

I received an email about a new book on the whole Tudor dynasty that is coming out next year (apologies to the person who sent it… this post was accidentally still sitting in my drafts folder!). I don’t have any additional information about it and there isn’t much on the Amazon page, but I’m sure more will come as the publication date gets closer.

The usual Amazon pre-order links below:

Real posts returning soon

Sorry I’ve been quiet for the past week, it’s been crazy at work (including two extra nights of working until 10 p.m. – thankfully my regular telescope night was rained out because three nights of working until 10 p.m. probably would have made me homicidal!). Next week will also be very busy, but I’ll do my best to keep up.

In the meantime, here’s a screen shot of my WordPress dashboard for this blog from last week showing that, for this blog at least, 99% of the comments are spam. Thank you Akismet for making it manageable!

New book – Cromwell to Cromwell: Reformation to Civil War

I received an email about this new book from The History Press – Cromwell to Cromwell: Reformation to Civil War

From the link above:

The English reformers of the 1530s, with Thomas Cromwell at their head, continued to have a strong belief in kingly rule and authority, despite their radical approach to the power of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. Resisting the king was tantamount to resisting God in their eyes, and even on a matter of conscience the will of the king should prevail. Yet just over 100 years later, Charles I was called the ‘man of blood’, and Oliver Cromwell famously declared that ‘we will cut off his head with the crown on it’. But how did we get from the one to the other? How did the deferential Reformation become a redical revolution? Following on from his biography of Thomas Cromwell, John Schofield examines how the English character and the way it perceived royal rule changed between the time of Thomas Cromwell and that of his great-great-grandnephew Oliver.

And here is an info sheet about the book (PDF) which includes a discount offer.

And finally, the standard Amazon affiliate links below:

UK National Archives early maps of Ireland

From the BBC:

Wild wolves, fearsome chieftains, forts, castles and sea monsters – one could be forgiven for thinking this a fairytale. But it isn’t – this was the serious business of State map making – four centuries ago. Today, for the first time, The National Archives is launching a digitised collection of Early Irish maps (c.1558 – c.1610) from the ‘State Papers Ireland’.

The collection comprises more than 70 different maps , amongst the earliest cartographic representations of Ireland, depicting plantations, fortifications and townships during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I.
…
The maps were usually made in response to a particular threat, to show a siege or battle, or to help inform defence strategy against a background of ongoing clashes with Irish chieftains.

Maps were one of the English colonists’ tools, along with the written survey and the gun. They show information useful for defence, such as the location of castles and forts, difficult terrain for armies such as mountains and lakes, and strategic islands and river crossings.

The job of map making required quick-witted, brave and determined men who were willing to risk life to paint a picture of the countries beyond the seas from England.

Full article

Link to slide show of some of the maps

Link to the Irish Maps collection at the National Archives

Holbein painting of Henry VIII featured in The Bulletin

The headline made me do a double-take:

Henry VIII In Wedding Dress (1540) By Hans?Holbein The Younger

I know what they meant, but of course my brain instantly jumped to a vision of Henry VIII in white satin and lace with a bridal veil.

The article is an informational one about Holbein, his painting in general and specifically his portrayal of Henry VIII. Read it here

(And while I’m on a kick of being pedantic and talking about some of my reporting pet peeves, there is one in this article. Holbein was not at the British court, he was at the English court!)

Oatlands exhibition now open

The exhibition that I mentioned in this post from August is now open. Here is the website for the Elmbridge Museum, which is hosting the exhibition.

Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Surrey Comet about the exhibition:

Oatlands Underfoot: Stones and Stories From a Forgotten Palace, was opened on September 26 by the mayor of Elmbridge, Councillor James Vickers.

It reveals the story of Oatlands Palace, which was built by Henry VIII and once stood near the centre of Weybridge.

Coun Vickers said:

Update on archaeological investigation of Bosworth Field

I’ve posted about this ongoing investigation a few times in the past and I’m not too surprised that it is now looking like the traditional site for the battle is incorrect. Some of the early results were pointing in that direction. I’m looking forward to reading the final report!

From The Telegraph:

For hundreds of years history followers have visited Ambion Hill in Leicestershire, believing it to be the site of the Battle of Bosworth, which marked the end of the War of the Roses and the beginning of the reign of the Tudors.

… Richard Knox, curator of Bosworth Battlefield, said it was now likely that the proper site was on low-lying ground between the villages of Shenton, Stoke Golding and Dadlington, first proposed by the historian Peter Foss in 1990.

The key to the mystery is likely to be finding the former marshland that Henry is said to have used to his advantage to attack the vastly larger army of his enemy from the flanks.

Investigations there have found ancient names given to the area such as Fenn Hole and Fenn Meadow, and a team is currently scouring the area with metal detectors.

Mr Knox said: