Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide

More Books to look forward to in 2016…

Posted on 30th October 2015 by Tamise

10th March 2016 – Wolsey: The Life of King Henry VIII’s Cardinal (Paperback ) by John Matusiak

‘Cardinal Wolsey is a controversial figure: a butcher’s son, a man of letters and the Church, a divisive political expert, a man of principle – yet, to some, an arrogant upstart. As Lord Chancellor to the incorrigible Henry VIII he achieved much both at home and abroad, but his failure to achieve the mighty monarch’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon saw him brought to his knees. John Matusiak explores the pragmatic cardinal’s life and career to uncover a man of contradictions and extremes whose meteoric rise was marked by an equally inexorable descent into desperation, as he attempted in vain to satisfy the tempestuous master whose ambition ultimately broke him. Far from being another familiar portrait of an overweight and overweening spider or cautionary tale of pride preceding a fall, this is the gripping story of how consummate talent, noble intentions and an eagle eye for the main chance can contrive with the vagaries of power politics to raise an individual to unheard of heights before finally consuming him.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

15 March 2016 – Isabella of France: The Rebel Queen by Kathryn Warner

‘Isabella of France (c. 1295-1358), who married Edward II in January 1308, is one of the most notorious women in English history. In 1325/26, sent to her homeland to negotiate a peace settlement between her husband and her brother Charles IV, Isabella refused to return to England. She began a relationship with her husband’s deadliest enemy, the English baron Roger Mortimer, and with her son, the king’s heir, under their control, the pair led an invasion of England which ultimately resulted in Edward II’s forced abdication in January 1327 in favour of his and Isabella’s son. Isabella and Mortimer ruled England during Edward III’s minority, until he overthrew them in October 1330. A rebel against her own husband and king, regent for her son, Isabella was a powerful, capable, intelligent woman who forced the first ever abdication of a king in England and changed the course of English history. The Rebel Queen examines Isabella’s life with particular focus on her revolutionary actions in the 1320s, corrects the many myths about her, and provides a vivid account of this most fascinating and influential of women.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

4 April 2016 – Insurrection: Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell and the Pilgrimage of Grace by Susan Loughlin

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

31 May 2016 – Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen (Six Tudor Queens) by Alison Weir

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

2nd June – Six Queens: The Wives of Henry VIII by Suzannah Lipscomb

‘Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived’: so goes the famous mnemonic by which we recall the varied destinies of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

The stories of these six consorts of the second Tudor king – their fates the brutal corollary of the stark dynastic imperatives of the royal succession – have assumed mythic status in the annals of English history. Only three of these women would give Henry a child that survived infancy: two girls (Mary and Elizabeth) and one boy (Edward). All three would inherit the crown worn by their mighty father, but the Tudor dynasty would not outlive their deaths.

Suzannah Lipscomb’s crisply authoritative and insightful accounts of the lives of these six queens are embellished by beautiful images of the principal players in this most compelling of royal dramas.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

19th July 2016 – Henry VII: Destiny’s King by Terry Breverton

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

1st September 2016 – Tudor Monarchs: Lives in Letters by Andrea Clarke

(c) The British Library Publishing Division

‘The Tudor period (1485-1603) was one of the most tumultuous and transformative eras in English history. It was period of drama and intrigue, as well as great triumphs and progress, such as Henry VIII’s Reformation and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It saw the emergence of an English national identity and the beginnings of a British Empire. Four hundred years after the Tudor era ended with the death of Elizabeth I, this extraordinary period still fascinates and captures the public imagination like no other. The Tudor kings and queens – pious and conservative Henry VII, the tyrannical Henry VIII and his six wives, ‘Bloody Mary’, Edward the boy-King, and the virgin queen Elizabeth – remain the most well-known and fascinating English dynasty.The Tudor period is also the first in English history to be so thoroughly documented in manuscripts, letters and documents, of which the British Library holds an incredibly rich and important collection. This book contains the most significant examples, paired with concise commentaries, to illustrate the lives and personalities of the five Tudor monarchs, as well as the most important events of their reigns.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

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Blog Tour – The Middle Ages Unlocked – Why we wrote the book by Gillian Polack and Katrin Kania

Posted on 20th October 2015 by Tamise

I am delighted to host a stop on the blog tour to celebrate the US launch of…

You can buy the book from: Amberley Publishing

You can follow the authors on Social Media:

@GillianPolack
@katrinkania

Why we wrote the book by Gillian Polack and Katrin Kania

‘When I first saw the draft of what would become The Middle Ages Unlocked, I was in a conference bar, peeking over the shoulder of Gillian’s friend. Said friend had made Gillian promise to show her the draft, I was there because I had met Gillian a little bit before and we enjoyed each other’s company, and I am naturally curious. (I like to say that it’s a professional requirement, being curious.)

It was a huge draft, and it was full of everything. Medieval stories, literature, witty quotes, lists of all kinds of things, explanations, fascinating examples of things expected and unexpectable. It was also, very obviously, a draft, and it had a few holes left to be filled, among them the chapter about textiles and clothing. I foolishly offered to take a look at the clothes chapter. That, somehow, very quickly turned into I’d help with the rest of it, as well. So I became co-writer on a project so dauntingly large I’d never have dared take it on alone.

Gillian and I both like a challenge, and The Middle Ages Unlocked (or The Beast, as it was lovingly and sometimes not-so-lovingly called behind the scenes) was a challenge and a half. The first idea behind the book was to provide writers with a one-stop guidebook to all things medieval, and that quickly turned out to be an impossible task. What we could do, and what Gillian’s plan was when I joined her, was write a book to give a basic understanding of the era. A book that would help the reader understand how the many aspects of medieval life interconnected, and how much variation and how much humanity there was.

We aimed to show the connections, the cross-ties, the mutual influences. You can find general histories of about any era that will tell you about the political events (this king killed that one and took the throne, and then he married that princess). You can also find articles and sometimes even books about a specific topic, treating it in detail (such as charcoal analysis of industrial fuelwood from medieval and early modern iron-working sites in North Yorkshire). These are all useful reading, but they rarely place their topic into a wider context. A king might kill another king and justify this with a vision that God sent him, and to understand why this would have been a valid explanation for many contemporaries, you have to know about the role of religion in that time. Woodland management didn’t only provide wood for fuel and other uses, but also included wild harvesting, herding and hunting. Hunting, however, was a complex topic in itself, as hunting rights would differ depending on the animal being hunted, the ownership of the woodland and the type of legal system that applied.

With The Middle Ages Unlocked, we focus on making these connections clear. We aim for the middle ground between very broad overviews that omit a lot and very detailed knowledge that requires previous knowledge to understand. So we explain how the government worked in general, how important individual persons and families were, how it worked with religious structures from the Church (and sometimes against them). We do not go into detail about individual political events, as there are enough political histories of England available. We explain the basics of craft organisation, and of the crafts themselves so you can go and read detailed analyses about guild history, or look at archaeological finds and understand how they were made, or read about resources and tools necessary for crafts and will know why they were needed. We explain about the polyglottal society and about the languages that were used, as well as the kinds of literature they were used for, so you will know why a certain text was in French and another one in Latin.

We blended two different disciplines, that of the historian and that of the archaeologist. And we did our best to point out, again and again, that nothing was cut and dried. There was so much variety in the Middle Ages! We have a hard time grasping this today, with the limited sources that we have available. We’re also biased by our modern industries and modern lifestyles that provide us with the same brand items all over the world, with exactly the same books in exactly the same type. We are used to picking out pre-fabricated things from a catalogue when back in the Middle Ages, a craftsperson would have made things that, even in early mass-production, would be slightly different from each other. At times, it felt like every second sentence was “But this is just an example, and there were many other, different variations of this”.

We wrote The Middle Ages Unlocked to be a gateway book, something pleasant to read that would give readers a deep understanding of medieval life and society, across all its breadth. We’re hoping it will satisfy the curiosity of its readers, and that it will make them even more curious about individual topics and eager to read more about them.

Posted in Book Blog Tour, Books 2016, Guest article | Tagged Gillian Polack, Katrin Kania, The Middle Ages Unlocked | Comments Off

More books to look forward to in 2016

Posted on 19th October 2015 by Tamise

3 May 2016 – Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years by John Guy

15 March 2016 – In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII by Sarah Morris and Natalie Grueninger

‘This guidebook takes a fresh perspective on the tale of Henry VIII’s six wives, by taking you on a journey through a selection of manors, castles, and palaces that played host to Henry s unforgettable queens. Explore the Alhambra Palace in Spain, childhood home of Katherine of Aragon; stand in the very room at Acton Court, where Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII publicly dined; walk the cobbled grounds of Hampton Court Palace, which bore witness to both triumph and tragedy for Jane Seymour; visit Dusseldorf in Germany, birthplace of Anne of Cleves; travel to Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire, where Henry VIII and Catherine Howard rested on their way to York in 1541 and wander the picturesque gardens and panelled rooms of Sizergh Castle in Cumbria, where Katherine Parr spent time in mourning, after the death of her first husband. Each location is covered by an accessible and informative narrative, which unearths the untold tales and documents the artifacts, as well as providing practical visitor information based on our first-hand experiences of visiting each site. Accompanied by an extensive range of images, including family trees, maps, photographs and sketches, this book brings you closer than ever before to the women behind the legends, as it takes you on your own personal and illuminating journey in the footsteps of the six wives of Henry VIII.’

From Amazon.co.uk

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‘The Middle Ages Unlocked’ Blog Tour

Posted on 17th October 2015 by Tamise

I am very pleased to be participating in the blog tour for the US launch of ‘The Middle Ages Unlocked: A Guide to Life in Medieval England, 1050–1300’ by Gillian Polack and Katrin Kania.

Amberley Press Release:

‘To our modern minds, the Middle Ages seem to mix the well-known and familiar with wildly alien concepts and circumstances. The Middle Ages Unlocked provides an invaluable introduction to this complex and dynamic period in England.

Exploring a wide range of topics from law, religion and education to landscape, art and magic, between the eleventh and early fourteenth centuries, the structures, institutions and circumstances that formed the basis for daily life and society are revealed.

Drawing on their expertise in history and archaeology, Dr Gillian Polack and Dr Katrin Kania look at the tangible aspects of daily life – ranging from the raw materials used for crafts, clothing and jewellery to housing and food – in order to bring the Middle Ages to life.

The Middle Ages Unlocked dispels modern assumptions about this period to uncover the complex tapestry of medieval England and the people who lived there.

Dr Gillian Polack is a novelist, editor and medieval historian as well as a lecturer. She has been published in both the academic world and the world of historical fiction.

Dr Katrin Kania is a freelance textile archaeologist and teacher as well as a published academic. She has published books and articles in both German and English.’

Travelling History- Travelling into the Past: The Middle Ages Unlocked

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation Blog Tour Interview: The Middle Ages Unlocked

Medieval Archives: The Middle Ages Unlocked: Author Interview

Felicty Pulman: An Insight into the Middle Ages with Gillian Polack

Henry the Young King: And Death Will Have His Day’: Guest Post by Gillian Polack, Author of The Middle Ages Unlocked

My blog: Why we wrote the book by Gillian Polack and Katrin Kania

Nerdalicious: Tools and Crafts

Posted in Book Blog Tour, Books 2016 | Tagged Gillian Polack, Katrin Kania, The Middle Ages Unlocked | Comments Off

Books 2015 – on sale today – Charles Brandon by Steven Gunn

Posted on 15th October 2015 by Tamise

15 October – Charles Brandon: Henry VIII’s Closest Friend by Steven Gunn

‘We don’t really consider Henry VIII to have had friends, rather subjects, cronies and dutiful wives and ministers of state. But Henry was a very sociable person and craved genuine relationships. Charles Brandon, the son of Henry VII’s standard bearer at the Battle of Bosworth, was to be his closest friend and companion for his entire life. They were educated together and Charles would hold a succession of important offices in the royal household. Henry VIII trusted Charles with some of the dirtiest jobs at the Tudor court, including clearing out Katherine of Aragon’s household and later arresting and extracting a confession from Anne Boleyn. Henry also forgave him for marrying in secret his favourite sister, Mary Rose. Yet Brandon’s life was by no means free from misadventure. His marriage to Henry’s sister Mary was disastrous, and his relationship with Anne Boleyn fraught. He was accused of treason and was responsible for a military fiasco. Steven Gunn explains how Brandon not only survived these vicissitudes of fortune and managed to retain the king’s friendship, but steadily increased his own power, wealth and standing. When Charles died in 1545, Henry ordered a lavish funeral and he was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel in Windsor, where Henry had buried his favourite wife, Jane Seymour, and where he would be buried himself a mere eighteen months after his one true friend.’

From Amazon.co.uk

Further details – Amazon.co.uk

Amberley Publishing