In this week's Claire Chats video, I talk about Tudor letters and share two of Elizabeth I's letters, one from her youth and another from the last weeks of her life. Below my talk, you can find links to books of letters and archives where you can read Tudor letters. Enjoy!
Here are links to help you find more Tudor letters:
- My Claire Chats on Tudor Love Letters - https://www.tudorsociety.com/tudor-love-letters/
- The love letters from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn in the original French and translated into English can be found at https://archive.org/stream/harleianmiscella03oldyiala#page/50/mode/2up.
- Original letters, illustrative of English history edited by Sir Henry Ellis are in several volumes and can be read at https://archive.org/search.php?query=original%20letters%2C%20illustrative%20of%20english%20history
- Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain edited by Mary Anne Everett Wood – these are in several volume and can be read at https://archive.org/search.php?query=Letters%20of%20Royal%20and%20Illustrious%20Ladies
- Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer – volumes online at https://archive.org/search.php?query=Miscellaneous%20Writings%20and%20Letters%20of%20Thomas%20Cranmer
- Letters and Papers (Henry VIII's reign) - https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/
- Treasures of the National Archives - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/museum/dates.asp?date_id=2
- Women as letter-writers : a collection of letters a collection of letters /
selected and edited by Ada M. Ingpen. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b260481&view=1up&seq=15 includes Margaret Paston, Anne Boleyn, Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, as well as women from other periods. - John Strype’s Ecclesiastical Memorials contains letters - https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalm05strygoog/page/n4/mode/2up
- Early Modern Letters Online - http://emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
- The Paston Letters - https://fiftywordsforsnow.com/ebooks/paston/
- Clarke, Andrea - Tudor Monarchs: Lives in Letters (British Library Publishing, 2017).
- ed. Marcus, Leah S., Mueller, Janel, Rose, Mary Beth - Elizabeth I: Collected Works (University of Chicago Press, 2000).
- ed. St Clare Byrne, Muriel - The Lisle Letters (six volumes), University of Chicago Press, 1981).
Dear really love Henry’s love letters to Anne! Crazy they are at the Vatican, or all places! I also love Elizabeth’s letter to Edward and/or his council after the Thomas Seymour debacle. Such a level headed response for someone so young, during what was a frightening time. Not a letter per se, but I also love Henry Howard, Lord Surrey, his poem, his sonnet, about life. “The happy life, he these, I find: …” Just beautiful. Thanks for sharing Elizabeth’s letters! Michelle t