Books 2016 – on sale today – The Lady Jane Grey’s Prayer Book by J Stephan Edwards


15th July – The Lady Jane Grey’s Prayer Book by J Stephan Edwards


(c) Stephan Edwards

(c) Stephan Edwards


‘As the Lady Jane Grey Dudley walked solemnly across the frozen ground of the Tower of London and toward the scaffold on which she was to be executed, she read silently from a tiny hand-written book of reformist prayers that she carried with her. The prayers contained within the book were already very familiar to the seventeen-year-old Lady Jane, but she drew strength from reading them again, allowing her to remain remarkably composed as she approached the block and the executioner’s axe. The Lady Jane’s exceptional dignity in the face of death would earn for her the title of religious martyr. She was but the first of many such Protestant martyrs during the brief reign of Queen Mary Tudor, known today as “Bloody Mary.”

The Lady Jane’s prayer book has survived the centuries and is now held by the British Library, where it is occasionally displayed as part of the Treasures of the British Library permanent exhibition. Access to it is otherwise strictly limited, so that its full contents have until now not been seen by the general public. This volume offers for the first time a page-by-page photographic reproduction of the colorfully-decorated miniature book, British Library Harley Manuscript 2342, in its entirety. Each page of the original volume is depicted in full color and at actual size, and each image is accompanied by a precise transcription of its text together with a rendering of that text in modern English. The volume also includes an Introduction by Dr J. Stephan Edwards, an academic expert on Lady Jane Grey and on the Tudor succession crisis of 1553 with which she is associated. His Introduction places the prayer book in its full historical context and provides a brief biographical sketch of the Lady Jane Grey.

The book is a valuable resource for scholars of religion, of the Reformation, and of women’s devotional literature. It is also an inspirational text for modern persons of faith and carries a compelling personal association with one of the first of the Marian Protestant martyrs from the early years of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details and to order– Some Grey Matter

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Books 2016 – on sale today – Prince Arthur: The Tudor King Who Never Was by Sean Cunningham


15 July 2016 – Prince Arthur: The Tudor King Who Never Was by Sean Cunningham


(c) Amberley Publishing

(c) Amberley Publishing


‘During the early part of the sixteenth century England should have been ruled by King Arthur Tudor, not Henry VIII. Had the first-born son of Henry VII – Arthur, Prince of Wales (1486-1502) – lived into adulthood, his younger brother Henry would never have become King Henry VIII. The subsequent history of England would have been very different; since the massive religious, social and political changes of the Henry VIII’s reign might not have been necessary at all.

In naming his eldest son Arthur, Henry VII was making an impressive statement about what the Tudors hoped to achieve as rulers within Britain. Since the story of Arthur as a British hero was very well-known to all ranks of the crown’s subjects, the name alone gave the young prince a great deal to live up to. Through Arthur’s education, exposure to power and responsibility, his key marriage to a Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon, and his preparation for kingship, did Henry VII hope to shape his heir into a paragon of kingship that all of Britain could look up to?’

This biography explores all of these aspects of Prince Arthur’s life, his relationship with his brother and imagines what type of king he might have been. The book is illustrated with 50 illustrations, 30 in colour.

From Amazon.co.uk

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My 2015 ‘Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor’ interview with Elizabeth Norton


The paperback of the excellent ‘The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor’ by Elizabeth Norton is published in the UK today.


(c) Head of Zeus

(c) Head of Zeus


You can read my 2015 interview with Elizabeth here:


The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor


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Books 2016 – on sale today – The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor (paperback) by Elizabeth Norton


14 July 2016 – The Temptation of Elizabeth Tudor (paperback) by Elizabeth Norton


(c) Head of Zeus

(c) Head of Zeus


‘England, late 1547. Henry VIII is dead. His 14-year-old daughter Elizabeth is living with the old king’s widow Catherine Parr and her new husband Thomas Seymour. Ambitious, charming and dangerous, Seymour begins an overt flirtation with Elizabeth that ends in her being sent away by Catherine.

When Catherine dies in autumn 1548 and Seymour is arrested for treason soon after, the scandal explodes into the open. Alone and in dreadful danger, Elizabeth is closely questioned by the king’s regency council: Was she still a virgin? Was there a child? Had she promised to marry Seymour? In her replies, she shows the shrewdness and spirit she would later be famous for. She survives the scandal. Thomas Seymour is not so lucky.

The Seymour Scandal led to the creation of the Virgin Queen. On hearing of Seymour’s beheading, Elizabeth observed ‘This day died a man of much wit, and very little judgement’. His fate remained with her. She would never allow her heart to rule her head again.

From Amazon.co.uk


Further details – Head of Zeus

Further details – Elizabeth Norton

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Books 2016 – on sale now – The Birth of a Queen: Essays on the Quincentenary of Mary I edited by Sarah Duncan and Valerie Schutte


14 July 2016 – The Birth of a Queen: Essays on the Quincentenary of Mary I edited by Sarah Duncan and Valerie Schutte


(c) Palgrave Macmillan

(c) Palgrave Macmillan


‘Marking the 500th year anniversary of the birth of Queen Mary I in 1516, this book both commemorates her rule and rehabilitates and redefines her image and reign as England’s first queen regnant. In this broad collection of essays, leading historians of queenship (or monarchy) explore aspects of Mary’s life from birth to reign to death and cultural afterlife, giving consideration to the struggles she faced both before and after her accession, and celebrating Mary as a queen in her own right.’

From – Palgrave Macmillan

Further details – Palgrave Macmillan

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