The Tudor Society
  • Happy New Year 2017

    Tim and I just wanted to wish all Tudor Society members a very Happy New Year and to thank you for all the support you’ve given us in 2016. We hope that 2017 brings you joy, health and prosperity – Happy New Year!

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  • Expert Talk – Into the Tudor Spicery

    This month we have a wonderful video from Rioghnach O’Geraghty, a medievalist with a strong interest in the spices which were used during the medieval Tudor period. In this video, Rioghnach discusses some typical spice blends and their uses – they may sound strange to us, but the Tudors really did know how to make food delicious.

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  • January 2017 Tudor Life Magazine

    Here’s the complete edition of our full-colour 62-page January edition of Tudor Life Magazine. The theme this month is “Tudor Propaganda”, and, as you probably know, they were very good at it!

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  • Grimsthorpe Castle – Sarah Bryson

    Sarah Bryson talks about her visit to Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire. She had a wonderful time visiting the castle and found some remnants of its Tudor past. This video is the third of four in her series on Tudor castles.

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  • 30 December 1546 – Henry VIII signs his will

    On 30th December 1546, Henry VIII signed his last will and testament, authorising changes he’d instructed William Paget to make on his behalf on 26th December 1546.

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  • 6 January 2017 – Live chat with Gareth Russell

    If you joined December’s live chat on Henry VIII as a military leader with Gareth Russell then you’ll know that Gareth’s wifi kept dropping out. Gareth has very kindly offered to do another live chat on 6th January at 11pm UK time – hurrah!

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  • John Davis, navigator and explorer

    On this day in history, 29th December 1605, John Davis (Davys), navigator and explorer, died near Bintang, off the coast of Borneo. His ship, The Tiger, was attacked by Japanese pirates who killed Davis in hand-to-hand combat.

    Davis was one of the main Elizabethan navigators and explorers, and the Davis Strait in the Northwest Passage is named after him. He is also known for being the first Englishman to document a sighting of the Falkland Islands. Davis also wrote the 1594 The Seaman’s Secrets and The World’s Hydrographical Description (1595).

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  • Anne of Cleves – If by land or by sea

    Thank you so much to our regular contributor, Heather R. Darsie, for writing this article on Anne of Cleves for us. Heather is working on a biography of Anne at the moment and is researching her using the German archives.

    Anna von Kleve, known to English speakers as Anne of Cleves, left her homeland in December 1539 to join her new husband, Henry VIII of England. The two had been married by proxy a couple of months earlier, in October. After Henry successfully negotiated the marriage alliance with Anna’s younger brother Wilhelm, Duke of Cleves since early 1538, there was the simple matter of getting Anna to England. But which way to take, a sea route or over land? Both options would take Anna through Imperial and French territory, which was no small matter at the time.

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  • Childermas or the Feast of the Holy Innocents

    Childermas (Children’s Mass) or Holy Innocents’ Day was part of the Twelve Days of Christmas celebrated in the Tudor period and was celebrated on 28th December.

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  • This week in history 26 December – 1 January

    26th December:

    526 – Birth of Rose Throckmorton (née Lok, other married name: Hickman), Protestant and businesswoman, in London. She was the third child of Sir William Lok, a mercer who had also served Henry VIII as a gentleman usher. Rose was married twice: to merchant Anthony Hickman and to Simon Throckmorton of Brampton.
    1545 – Death of Sir George Bowes, soldier, rebel and Captain of Norham Castle. He was buried at Alnwick. Bowes was a member of the rebel army during the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace, but the patronage of his uncle, Sir Robert Bowes, protected him. He fought in the 1542 Anglo-Scottish War and in the 1544 expedition. He was granted the Barony of Coldingham as a reward for seizing Coldingham Priory on November 1544, but was then taken prisoner in January 1545 and lost the barony.
    1546 – Henry VIII made some changes to his will, a document which had been prepared two years earlier. These changes were made to ensure successful transfer of royal authority to his son, the future Edward VI, and to prepare for Edward reigning during his minority.

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  • Christmas Quiz

    Merry Christmas from all of us here at the Tudor Society! Have a wonderful festive period! If you have a spare few minutes then why not test yourself with this fun quiz.

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  • A Christmas Message from Claire and Tim

    A Christmas message from Claire and Tim Ridgway.

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  • Six Wives with Lucy Worsley Episode 3

    Episode 3 of “Six Wives with Lucy Worsley” looked at Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

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  • The Tradition of Kissing Under the Mistletoe

    Thank you to regular contributor Heather R. Darsie for writing this interesting article on the history of the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe.

    Oh, the romantic kiss under the mistletoe. The viridian, sturdy, parasitic mistletoe. Varieties of the plant are found all over the world, growing on trees and shrubs. The mistletoe eventually kills the branch of the host plant upon which it is preying, feeding on the host plant throughout the winter. Mistletoe is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “dung twig.” So how did this plant become a holiday decoration prompting kisses?

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  • Tudor Christmas with Sarah Bryson

    Regular contributor Sarah Bryson talks to us about Tudor Christmas traditions.

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  • Tudor Buttered Beere Video

    In my latest Tudor Cooking with Claire video I’ve made a recipe from Thomas Dawson’s 1594 book The good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin which presumably was the inspiration for the drink butterbeer in the Harry Potter book

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  • This week in history 19 – 25 December

  • General Tudor History Quiz

    Clear the cobwebs and get that brain working with this fun Tudor history quiz!

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  • Tudor Christmas at Little Moreton Hall

    Jane Moulder, Tudor Life magazine regular contributor and a member of the Renaissance music group Piva, has just shared this ITV News video with me. It talks about the different Tudor Christmas traditions, including marchpane.

    It was filmed at the beautiful Tudor property Little Moreton Hall and features Piva too! I hope you enjoy it!

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  • Transcript of Gareth Russell Live Chat

    Even though Gareth was battling wifi issue, we still managed to have an enlightening chat about Henry VIII as a military leader. Thank you so much to everyone who attended.

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  • Chatroom Christmas Party – 18th December

    I know many of you will be super busy in the lead-up to Christmas, but I thought it might be nice to pile into the chatroom for a bit of a Christmas do.

    I’m inviting you to join me at 10pm UK time on Sunday 18th December on the chatroom. Bring your favourite tipple and be prepared to socialise.

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  • Catherine of Aragon resources

    As today is the anniversary of the birth of Catherine of Aragon on 16th December 1485, I thought I would share with you some book recommendations and resources for finding out more about Catherine.

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  • Six Wives with Lucy Worsley Episode 2

    Episode 2 of “Six Wives with Lucy Worsley” focused on Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, although Jane didn’t get much attention, and took us from Anne’s rise through to Jane’s death. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

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  • Tales from the Green Valley documentary

    One of my all-time favourite history programmes is the 12-part series “Tales from the Green Valley” which was aired back in 2004. It was the fore-runner of the popular Victorian Farm/Edwardian Farm/Tudor Monastery Farm series and featured Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands, Peter Ginn and other historians and archaeologists living as rural people would have done in the early Stuart period. It really is a wonderful series…

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  • The Forme of Cury and medieval recipes

    Today’s Claire Chats is about “The Forme of Cury” manuscript and primary sources for medieval and Tudor cookery and food.

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  • Tudor Cooking Videos

    Here are some video resources on medieval and Tudor food and cookery…

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  • Tudor Cooking and Food Primary Sources

    Many medieval and Tudor cookbooks and recipe manuscripts have been transcribed and are available to read online or in books. Here are links to those I have found so far. I hope you find them useful.

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  • This week in history 12-18 December

    12 December:

    1546 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey was led through the streets of London from Ely Place, where he had been held since the 2nd December, to the Tower of London. There, he was joined by his father, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, who was taken to the Tower by barge along the Thames.
    1574 – Birth of Anne of Denmark, Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland as consort of James I, at Skanderborg Castle, Jutland, Denmark. Anne was the second daughter of Frederick II, King of Denmark and Norway, and his wife, Sophia. She married James I, when he was James VI of Scotland, by proxy on 20th August 1589, and in a proper church ceremony on 23rd November 1589. The couple’s children included the future Charles I and Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia. Anne died on 2nd March 1619 of consumption and dropsy, and was buried in Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.
    1595 – Death of Sir Roger Williams, Protestant Welsh soldier and author, from a fever with his patron, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, at his side. He was buried at St Paul’s Cathedral. William served as a soldier in the Low Countries and France, and was second in command to Essex of the cavalry gathered at Tilbury in 1588. He wrote the 1590 “A Briefe Discourse of Warre”.

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  • Maria of Austria, Duchess of Jülich-Kleve-Berg

    On 11 December 1581, Maria of Austria, Duchess of Jülich-Kleve-Berg, passed away at Hambach Castle. Maria began her life on 15 May 1531 in Prague, where she was welcomed as the third daughter and fifth of what would be fifteen children from the marriage of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Anna Jagiello of Bohemia and Hungary. Ferdinand was a younger brother of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and took up the position vacated by Charles in 1558. Maria was, therefore, niece to Charles V and cousin to Christina and Dorothea of Denmark.

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  • Anne of Cleves Quiz

    Today’s quiz is on Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII’s fourth wife – good luck!

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