Lady Jane Grey Reference Guide

Win copies of ‘The Creation of Anne Boleyn’ by Susan Bordo

Posted on 9th April 2013 by Tamise

You can win a copy of Susan Bordo’s ‘The Creation of Anne Boleyn’ from:

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Books 2013 – The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England’s Most Notorious Queen by Susan Bordo

Posted on 9th April 2013 by Tamise

9th April 2013 (US edition) – The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England’s Most Notorious Queen by Susan Bordo

‘Part biography, part cultural history, The Creation of Anne Boleyn is a fascinating reconstruction of Anne’s life and an illuminating look at her afterlife in the popular imagination. Why is Anne so compelling? Why has she inspired such extreme reactions? What did she really look like? Was she the flaxen-haired martyr of Romantic paintings or the raven-haired seductress of twenty-first-century portrayals? (Answer: neither.) And perhaps the most provocative questions concern Anne’s death more than her life. How could Henry order the execution of a once beloved wife? Drawing on scholarship and critical analysis, Bordo probes the complexities of one of history’s most infamous relationships.

Bordo also shows how generations of polemicists, biographers, novelists, and filmmakers imagined and re-imagined Anne: whore, martyr, cautionary tale, proto “mean girl,” feminist icon, and everything in between. In this lively book, Bordo steps off the well-trodden paths of Tudoriana to expertly tease out the human being behind the competing mythologies.’

From Amazon.com

Further details – The Creation of Anne Boleyn.com

Amazon.com

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Fit to Rule – New TV Series with Lucy Worsley

Posted on 7th April 2013 by Tamise

‘Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History’ the new BBC 2 series with Lucy Worsley starts tomorrow night at 9pm.

‘In this first episode, Lucy explores the medical histories of the Tudor and Stuart dynasties, beginning with the ascension of Henry VIII and tracing the changing fortunes of these two very different royal families up to the execution of Charles I. Five hundred years ago our monarchs derived their authority from God alone, but despite their semi-divine status, they were subject to exactly the same harsh physical realities as the rest of us. Lucy discovers how the Tudors and Stuarts coped with royal bodies that were often too young or too old, too infirm or too infertile and sometimes simply the wrong sex at a time when male heirs were all important.

Lucy investigates the most critical medical problems and family psychodramas faced by a fascinating cast of royal characters, including the trouble Henry VIII had in producing a male heir and the cause of his daughter Mary I’s phantom pregnancy. She sheds new light on the biological and psychological make-up of some of our greatest rulers by examining their personal correspondence and private possessions, including intimate love letters exchanged between James I and his lover the Duke of Buckingham, and the special orthopaedic boots worn by Charles I.’

From BBC Two – Fit To Rule

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Talk by Linda Porter at Hampton Court

Posted on 4th April 2013 by Tamise

Dr Linda Porter is giving a talk about Mary Tudor at Hampton Court next month.

Linda Porter – Mary Tudor: the first queen
Tuesday 28 May
18.30-20.00
Hampton Court Palace

To book tickets and for further information:
Hampton Court Palace

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Peterborough Cathedral – Resting place of Queen Katharine of Aragon

Posted on 1st April 2013 by Tamise

In January I visited Peterborough Cathedral, the final resting place of Queen Katharine of Aragon.

Peterborough Cathedral

‘The funeral cortege left Kimbolton on 27th January, stayed overnight at Sawtry Abbey and arrived at Peterborough on the 28th for the funeral on the 29th…The chief mourner was Henry’s niece, Eleanor, daughter of the Duke of Suffolk.’ (Higham)

Grave of Queen Katharine of Aragon

‘Above her tomb now hang the Royal Arms of Henry VIII and the arms of Aragon, Castile and Leon with her own personal emblem, the pomegranate.’ (Higham)

North Aisle

The 1539 Inventory of the Cathedral is on display. ‘When the Abbey was closed the commissioners made a complete list of the Abbey’s possessions.

‘Item in the inclofed place where the Lady Katherine lieth buried one Altar cloth, of black cloth, one Pall of black velvet, with white cloth of Silver croffed, and one white Altar cloth.’ (p.61, Inventory)

1539 Inventory

There is also a display about Katharine.

Katharine of Aragon display

‘Peterborough Cathedral is also the former burial place of Mary, Queen of Scots, which can be found in the South Aisle. Buried here after her execution at Fotheringhay in 1587, her body was removed to Westminster Abbey in 1612 by order of her son, James.’ (p.16, Peterborough Pocket Guide)