Book news

With all the books coming out (seemingly daily) about the Tudors, I don’t go out of my way to find them. But, if I come across a good review, or someone mentions a new book on my email list or in a blog comment, or when a publisher or author asks me to post something, then I’ll fire up Word Press. It would be practically a full-time job to post about just the books related to Tudor history, not to mention all the other stories that come through my Google news alerts!

First up is a new book by John Guy about the relationship between Thomas More and his daughter Margaret. I’ve vaguely been aware that she was a very well-educated and intellectual woman, but not much more. I think I’ll have to pick up a copy of this book to fill out my knowledge! Here’s a review in the Times Online. And below are links to pre-order at Amazon US and to buy at Amazon UK.

Next up are pre-order links for a book discussed in this thread over on the Question and Answer blog on the Tudors and Stuarts on Film. It sounds fascinating!


“Elizabeth” costumes on display at Hatfield House

From The Welwyn & Hatfield Times:

Universal Studios in California has loaned some of the outfits used in Elizabeth: The Golden Age for a new exhibition.

Parts of the movie, which stars Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Clive Owen, were filmed at the stately home.

And the display ties in with the 450th anniversary of Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne – which she discovered while she was at the Old Palace in Hatfield.

Full article

More on the cannon from the Alderney shipwreck

From The Times Online

The barrel of the cannon had been plugged with a tampion of wood and sealed with candle wax by sailors more than 400 years ago.

The stale air of another age whistled out with a hiss when the seal was broken finally last week. Archaeologists gathered around the weapon could smell the gunpowder and hydrogen sulphide as it escaped.

The cannon is one of a set that comprises the first archaeological evidence of a revolution in weaponry that took place during the reign of Elizabeth I

Videos of Bradgate House

The following email and videos are courtesy of Dave Postles (originally posted to H-ALBION and then forwarded to my Tudor list and sent to me directly by kb)

Bradgate House and Lady Jane Grey

The house is paradigmatic of a late-medieval courtyard house, constructed c.1490-1505 by Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, grandfather of Lady Jane Grey who was born in this house. Brick, but with stone quoins, from local Triassic clay with diaper work in vitrified brick. It was left to decay from 1739, the parkland and house bought in 1928 by Charles Bennion and entrusted to the City of Leicester.

The parkland is partly located in a small gorge. The pre-Cambrian rock which is the bedrock is the oldest in Britain. It was overlaid by Triassic clay. The R. Lin eroded the clay, encountering below the pre-Cambrian rock, cut a smaller channel, creating the small gorge – what geomorphologists call superimposed drainage. Despite its smallness, the Lin here represents all the elements of the cycle of erosion in this superimposed drainage system.

The vill of Bradgate was removed outside the park to the new site of Newtown Linford, a linear or street village along the edge of the park. Several cruck or raised cruck cottages are dispersed in this ‘new’ village.

The southern extension of the park was deer park, with the park pale still discernible on the boundary with the adjacent parish of Anstey.

The video clips are designed to illustrate all these features.

1 The small gorge at the Linford entry to the park

2 The deer park on the south bank of the Lin

4 The deer park again

5 The end of the gorge, opening out of the park and house in the distance

6 One of the many exposed outcrops of pre-Cambrian rock

7 The house

8 The house

9 The deer park

[Copyleft – i.e. copyright-free]

Be sure to check out his other videos!

[July 1 – corrected quoted email to read “Thomas Grey … grandfather of Lady Jane Grey”]

Couple of news items for “The Tudors”

First up – Live in Ireland and have a baby due in July? If so, you might be able to get your child a part in the third season of “The Tudors”, which is now casting for the part of the baby Prince Edward (the future Edward VI). You can read more about it here, with contact details.

Second, for the first time the US Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has issued a short list for the shows being considered for Best Comedy and Best Drama series. Usually they just announce the final nominees, but this time they are releasing a list of 10 for each category. And you’ve probably guessed by now that “The Tudors” made the short list for drama. You can see the full list here.

Astley Castle to be saved

From 24 Hour Museum:

Astley Castle in Warwickshire is one step closer to being saved by building preservation charity the Landmark Trust following news that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has given a pledge of support for a grant of

Book news – Toward the Setting Sun

I received an email from the author of this book, which looks really interesting! Sometimes the Tudor period being concurrent with the Age of Discovery, and the fact that Henry VII was a sponsor of the Cabots, gets lost in the shuffle of wives, heirs and other salacious bits. 🙂

Amazon links:



New book on Queen Mary I

I thought I had posted about this when the UK version came out, but I couldn’t find it in the archives, so I guess I didn’t!

Here are Amazon links (it comes out on July 8 in the US and has been out for a while in the UK):




And here is a neat list that I received from the author, Linda Porter:

TEN THINGS YOU DIDN

Another in a long list of properties I wish I had the money to buy!

This time it is a 16th century coaching inn that has been turned into a private residence. And as a bonus feature… Shakespeare is believed to have stayed at the inn.

From The Telegraph:

The inn at Grendon, where the playwright reputedly stayed, was The Ship, an enormous building for the time and purposebuilt in the 1570s: three floors of brick and timber; 20 bedrooms on the upper floors and several large public rooms with enormous fireplaces and intricate wall paintings on the ground floor.
…
The building, now a private home called Shakespeare House, has been saved from demolition at least twice and its present owners had to rebuild the back wall when they bought it five years ago. “It was a wreck,” says Nick Hunter. “The timbers in the back wall were so damaged and rotten that it was on the verge of collapse. At some time in the past someone had sawn through two major purlins [the horizontal roof beams which support the rafters] so they could install a dormer window and the rear roof was sagging.”
…
Shakespeare House is for sale through Strutt and Parker (01844 342571), as a whole for

Alderney wreck cannon raised

In a follow-up to a story that I’ve been keeping an eye on for a couple of years now, a cannon has been raised from an Elizabethan shipwreck off the coast of the Channel Islands.

The BBC has coverage, with a video:

A treasure trove of artefacts is being recovered from what experts describe as one of the most important maritime discoveries since the Mary Rose.

The late 16th Century shipwreck hails from a pivotal point in England’s military history.

The raised haul includes a 2m-long (7ft) cannon, which will give archaeologists an insight into Elizabeth I’s naval might.

The wreck, discovered 30 years ago, is situated off the coast of Alderney.

Dr Mensun Bound, excavation leader and marine archaeologist from Oxford University, said: “This boat is really grade A in terms of archaeology – it is hard to find anything that really compares with it.”

Full article with video

Official site for the wreck

Texts related to Anne Boleyn’s execution

Just in case anyone comes looking for these after last night’s finale of “The Tudors”, I thought I would go ahead and post links to these on both of the blogs.

The first is an excerpt from Kingston’s letter to Cromwell and the second is Anne’s speech at the scaffold. Both are modernized spelling versions. I think I got them from “Eyewitness to History” or a similar book.

Happy Birthday Margaret Beaufort!

I don’t generally make a habit of noting Tudor anniversaries unless it is a big one, but I thought I would post about this one since Margaret is a pet interest of mine and she is the entry for the 31st on the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography “Lives of the Week”. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the OBNB, it’s a great resource for information on important British figures, but it is often only available through the print version or subscription to their online version. I’m lucky to have access through the university that work for, but I know a lot of people don’t have that luxury. Thankfully, they feature a biography for free every day, which you can get either by email or through their RSS feed. More information is available on their website. They also have a free virtual reading room which is worth checking out if you don’t otherwise have access.

I’m not sure how long the free bio of Margaret will be up, so I suggest getting it soon if you’re interested. And happy 565th birthday to the Countess of Richmond and Derby, mother of the first Tudor king!