Picture of the Week #38

Chirk Castle in northern Wales, on the border with England. Photo May 2000.

Chirk was built in the late 13th century as part of Edward I’s conquest of Wales and has been nearly continuously occupied since then. The castle passed through many important medieval families until ending up in the hands of Thomas Stanley at the beginning of the Tudor period. After his execution, the castle became property of the crown. In 1563 Elizabeth I granted the castle to her favorite, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester. After his death, the castle was bought by Thomas Myddelton in 1595 and his descendants have lived in the castle ever since.

John Dee Quatercentenary Conference

This would be a fun conference to attend –

From The Guardian:

Scholars seek to rescue image of John Dee, last royal wizard

He was accused of sorcery, but many claim John Dee was one of the most original thinkers of his day

A group of international scholars are meeting in Cambridge today to rescue the reputation of the last royal wizard, Dr John Dee, from the false charge of sorcery that has dogged him for 400 years

Catch-up post

Yeah, it’s time for another catch-up post since I’ve been busy and I wasn’t feeling well for a few days, which is always a bad combination for productivity!

* Leanda deLisle has an article in the September issue The New Criterion entitled Faking Jane about the Spinola letter which purported to have an eyewitness description of Lady Jane Grey. Some of you might be able to access it through libraries, but you can also buy the individual article for $3. There has also been some discussion of the article over on the Q&A blog.

* Dame Judi Dench is looking to recreate The Rose theater in the north of England with the set from Shakespeare in Love. I think I had a news article about her saving the set back in the pre-blog days, but it apparently didn’t make it over when I switched from the old “News and Events” page to the blog.

* A rare Elizabethan hammerbeam roof in a barn at Westenhanger Castle has been restored by English Hertiage.

* And finally – a neat story from The Telegraph about How two Tudor lion statues came home to Hampton Court. Many years ago someone sent me some photos of some similar statues that they were looking for more information on and unfortunately now I can’t find the email or photos. I had to go through and clear out a lot of that stuff at one point so I might have deleted them. But it makes me wonder how many other things like this are still out there waiting to be found!

Other Worlds: Rare Astronomical Works exhibition

I hope you all will allow me the small indulgence of bragging on an exhibition near and dear to my heart! The Harry Ransom Center on the University of Texas campus (my alma mater and current employer) has put on the exhibit Other Worlds: Rare Astronomical Works in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy. Some of the works on display do coincide with the Tudor period though, so it isn’t totally off-topic! Up at the top is a photo I took of the HRC’s copy of Copernicus’ “De Revolutionibus”, printed in 1543 (the photo was from a different exhibition earlier this year).

More information is available here

And by the way, if any of you are in the area and visit the HRC, they also have an exhibit on Edgar Allen Poe on right now too, celebrating the bicentennial of his birth. See what I mean about all the cool things with anniversaries this year?

Mary Queen of Scots’ last letter to go on display

From the Times Online:

A letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots, to her brother-in-law Henri III of France six hours before her execution at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587 is to go on display in Edinburgh for seven days.

The letter, which is stored in conditions that ensure its preservation, was last seen in public 30 years ago; since then, visitors have only been able to see a digitally enhanced reproduction.

Full article

And another article with a small picture of the full page

Site of the National Library of Scotland

The Anne Boleyn Experience Tour

This looks like so much fun! I wish I could attend, but it’s just not in the cards this time. Here’s the press release for the tour and a link for more information:

Anne Boleyn Tour 2010

The only way to really walk in Anne Boleyn’s footsteps

May 19th,1536 was the day when Anne Boleyn was executed in the Tower of London – a sad day for Anne Boleyn fans. To commemorate this day, TheAnneBoleynFiles.com has organised a luxury tour, beginning on May 17th and ending May21st, 2010.

Claire from TheAnneBoleynFiles said “I wanted Anne Boleyn Fans to come together and walk in the footsteps Anne Boleyn on this important day, so I have put together a trip-of-a-lifetime”.

Those who attend will be staying in the luxury Tudor “Astor Wing” of Hever Castle, the very childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Claire has arranged exclusive use of this normally private part of the castle for the whole tour. There will be a unique guided tour around Hever, focusing on the Boleyns, a Tudor costumer giving information about what was worn at the time, and the well known author Dr Josephine Wilkinson will be a guest speaker. Of course, there is a day trip to the Tower of London on the 19th, and a trip to Hampton Court on the following day – all with an award winning “Blue Badge” guide.

For more information or to book your place on “The Anne Boleyn Experience 2010” visit http://tour.theanneboleynfiles.com/?ab_uid=tudor and see what Anne Boleyn fans will be doing in May next year.

The Throckmortons of Coughton Court

Yet another big anniversary this year…

From The Telegraph:

Six centuries in the same house

Sacred mysteries: The Throckmortons arrived at Coughton Court in 1409. Christopher Howse went to see the traces the generations have left

Side by side on the stairs at Coughton Court, in Warwickshire, hang two portraits of brothers born in the reign of Henry VIII.

One, Sir Nicholas, followed fortune at Court, died, some said of a poisoned salad, and left his name to Throgmorton Street in the City.

The other, Sir Robert, ruined his career by holding to the religion in which he was raised. Fines and prison dogged his family, but this year his descendants mark the 600th anniversary of the arrivals of Throckmortons at Coughton.

Full article

Also, David Starkey will be at the Throckmorton Literary Festival at Coughton Court later this month. Here is the official site for Coughton Court and information on the Literary Festival.

And David Starkey has written the introduction to a forthcoming book on the Throckmorton Family and an extract of that introduction has been published by the Catholic Herald – The family who defied the taint of treason

Update: Leanda de Lisle will be at the Throckmorton Literary Festival on September 20 if anyone wants to ask questions!

Apologies, apologies

I’m sorry for the paucity of podcasts this summer- it was just a bit busier than I had expected. I think I’m going to just skip July and August now and just resume with the September podcast, which should be available by the end of the month. I have a couple of science meetings this fall, but they aren’t nearly as long (or as often) as the ones I was at last year so hopefully they won’t eat in to my spare time as much as in 2008. And no moving twice in the space of a month this year either!

Thanks to everyone for their patience and continued interest in my semi-regular podcasts. 🙂

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

Musical discovery in the Stirling Castle carvings

From The Daily Mail:

Scotland’s earliest harp music was encrypted in an unknown binary code in a ceilings at Stirling Castle.

Wood carver John Donaldson discovered the mysterious code around the head of a woman in a wood panel that adorned the bed chamber of King James V of Scotland.

And now, for the first time in almost 500 years, the historic music has been brought to life on harps played by pupils at Allan

Gresham College lectures

A member of my email list posted about an upcoming lecture on Elizabethan shipbuilding at Gresham College (founded by Thomas Gresham in 1597), so I took a look and starting exploring their site. I was delighted to find a bunch of past lectures online, some of which are Tudor history topics.

Here are some upcoming lectures on Tudor history topics (and that I hope will be posted in their archives):

Elizabethan Merchant Ships and Shipbuilding

The Faces of a King: New research on portraits of Henry VIII

And I’ve got to put a plug in for this one:
400 years of the telescope