The Daily Telegraph reports on a talk by Dr John Guy at the Hay Festival 2013. During this talk, the author of the recently published, ‘The Children of Henry VIII’ mentioned some new evidence relating to Lady Jane Grey.
‘The historian said that new information was casting new light on some of the “doctored documents” of the 16th century about her.'(Martin Chilton, The Telegraph).
You can read the full report at:
I started a new series last weekend called ‘Events By Place.’ The first article is about Durham House, where the wedding of Lady Jane Grey was held on 25th May 1553.
More places will follow as we reach dates significant with the life and death of Lady Jane.
Reviews of ‘Elizabeth’s Bedfellows An Intimate History of the Queen’s Court’ by Anna Whitelock have started appearing.
Review: Elizabeth’s Bedfellows – The Independent – 1 June 2013
World of Secrets by Miranda Seymour
‘…Anna Whitelock’s engrossing and admirably researched book…Whitelock’s excellent life of Queen Mary was published in 2009. With this dazzling portrait of Mary’s successor, she takes her place amongst the foremost – and most enthrallingly readable – historians of the Tudors.’
The Culture (Sunday Times), 26th May 2013, p34-35
Elizabeth’s Bedfellows Review by Iain Finlayson
‘With the lively imagination of a dramatist and the rigor of an academic, Whitelock discards the chastity belt of conventional royal history and presents Elizabeth in terms of the intimate politics of her life.’
Saturday Review (The Times), 25th May 2013, p 14
The Bedroom Secrets of the Virgin Queen by Frances Wilson
‘Whitelock’s fearless approach to Elizabeth…She too, has burst into the bedroom and shown us the Queen in her most private state. This is an intimate history of the court and a brilliant history of intimacy.’
Event (The Mail on Sunday), 19th May 2013, p 42-43
23rd May 2013 – Elizabeth’s Bedfellows: An Intimate History of the Queen’s Court by Anna Whitelock
‘Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558, restoring the Protestant faith to England. At the heart of the new queen’s court lay Elizabeth’s bedchamber, closely guarded by the favoured women who helped her dress, looked after her jewels and shared her bed.
Elizabeth’s private life was of public, political concern. Her bedfellows were witnesses to the face and body beneath the make-up and elaborate clothes, as well as to rumoured illicit dalliances with such figures as Robert Dudley. Their presence was for security as well as propriety, as the kingdom was haunted by fears of assassination plots and other Catholic subterfuge. For such was the significance of the queen’s body: it represented the very state itself.
This riveting, revealing history of the politics of intimacy uncovers the feminized world of the Elizabethan court. Between the scandal and intrigue the women who attended the queen were the guardians of the truth about her health, chastity and fertility. Their stories offer extraordinary insight into the daily life of the Elizabethans, the fragility of royal favour and the price of disloyalty.’
Further details – Amazon.co.uk
23rd May 2013 – Bosworth: The Birth of the Tudors by Chris Skidmore
‘The Battle of Bosworth has a legendary significance in British history. The last battle fought on English soil until the seventeenth century, and the last occasion that an English king would die on the battlefield, it was also the battle that brought an end to the dynasty of Plantagenet kings who had ruled since 1154, and heralded the birth of the Tudor dynasty. Yet the story of Bosworth is more than just the result of a few hours bloodshed on the battlefield. It is the culmination of the rise of the House of Tudor, a remarkable story which began fifty years earlier, when a page of Henry V’s ran off with his widow. It is the tale of the turbulent life of Henry Tudor, who, against the odds, rose from relatively humble origins and exile in France to overthrow the deeply unpopular Richard III. When this inexperienced young soldier landed in England in 1485 with 2,000 French mercenaries and a handful Lancastrian lords and knights, few could have predicted his campaign would end in with him seizing the throne of England. Drawing on a wide range of unpublished sources as well as new research that has only recently come to light, Chris Skidmore will disentangle fact from legend and relate the compelling story of the battle in full. BOSWORTH will also set the battle against the background of the storms of the Wars of the Roses, and paint a vivid portrait of this time of immense political ferment and social change.’
Leanda de Lisle emailed to say that she has been interviewed by BBC History Magazine for History Weekend.
