UnholyTudor

                    September book recommendation                             The Private Life of the Tudors by Tracy Borman Hello, my history nerds! How are you all doing?  Just how is it September already?...   I seem to blink once, and a month has gone! This month, I recommend 'The Private Life of the Tudors' by Tracy Borman. I read this joyous book a few years ago and I absolutely adored it. Tracy demonstrates how stressful it could be for a Tudor monarch.  The Tudors were an increasingly paranoid dynasty. The Tudors were a new dynasty, but there were many contenders to the throne.  During the 15th century, Henry VI, a Lancastrian King was overthrown by his Yorkist cousin, Edward IV, and these ongoing wars would eventually be called 'The Wars of the Roses'. When Henry VII won his throne by conquest on the 22nd of August at the battle of Bos...

  The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn    B y Sir Eric Ives Hello, my fellow history nerds! H ow are you all doing? This month I am recommending The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Sir Eric Ives. This book is a holy grail when it comes to reading and researching Anne's life. This book was published in the 1980s. So it has been around for a long time, but it is such a good book, for me, this is the holy grail when it comes to reading about Anne Boleyn, there is much more up-to-date research and books about Anne, but I always refer to this.  Eric Ives has gone into such detail, but it is not a hard read, it feels very much like he is having a conversation with you. It does not feel like a lecture, because sometimes non-fiction feels like someone throwing so much information at you and you are not actually learning anything. I only bought this book last year as I have always thought maybe it was overhyped because it was the first of its kind regarding Anne Boleyn, but as ...

  Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I The Mother and Daughter Who Changed History By Tracy Borman Hello, my fellow history lovers, this month I am recommending a new book, it was released last month by the incredible Tracy Borman, she is joint curator of Historic Royal Palaces and author of multiple non-fiction books and historical fiction. This book solely focuses on Anne and her daughter Elizabeth, and the impact Anne had on her daughter and her very successful reign. Anne Boleyn is often a figure of controversy and was an unpopular figure in her lifetime, but, this book shows how much of a positive impact she made on her life and her ideals shaped Elizabeth's life.  If you know me, you know I am obsessed with Anne Boleyn and accept no slander about her whatsoever, so if you are the same as me, this book is for you, it highlights Anne's brilliance, how intelligent she was and how much she fiercely loved and protected her daughter till the very end. As we all know Anne Boleyn was e...

The Fall of Anne Boleyn A Countdown by Claire Ridgway Hello my fellow history lovers, how are you all doing in the month of May? Claire is the founder of the Anne Boleyn Files and has written many books on the Boleyn family. Seeing that May is the downfall of Anne Boleyn, I decided to recommend a book on the last weeks of Anne Boleyn. This book is utterly fabulous, it goes into enough detail but does not overcomplicate it. The book actually begins in January 1536 with her miscarriage which is a major factor in Anne Boleyn's fall, it factors in everything that will have contributed to the events of May 1536. She does not exclude anyone or forget anyone that was in the events of 1536. When I read this book I was overcome with emotion, because Claire wrote it so beautifully, Anne could not do anything to change what was happening nor did she have any idea of what was going to happen to her.  I do also like that this book goes day by day and month by month as someone who is an avid Tud...

                 Crown and Sceptre by Tracy Borman This month I recommend this fabulous book by Tracy Borman, a history of the British monarchy from 1066 to our current monarch, Charles III. The book goes into a lot of detail on each monarch and how every monarch reigned, if they reigned well if they were successful or were a really terrible monarch.  Tracy doesn't pick favourites when it comes to each monarch, she gives a very unbiased view but is very level-headed. You end up learning a lot about each monarch so you have a general history of all the monarchs yourself. I was lucky enough to get this book for Christmas and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I can be quite slow at reading but I practically ate this book up. It is engaging, thorough and well-written. When reading about these monarchs it is interesting to see how much has changed, but also how we still have some of their royal practices hundreds of years later. This book also goes in...

                Courting Scandal by Dr James Taffe   Hello, my fellow history nerds, I hope you are doing well! Spring is upon us! So this month I recommend this fabulous book by Dr James Taffe, Courting Scandal, The rise and fall of Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford. This book focuses on one lady in waiting, Jane Boleyn, James goes into depth on the lives of people in court, and how they lived, serving their master/mistress on a daily basis.  We start with Jane's early years at possibly Hallingbury Place, Great Hallingbury, Essex. The thing about Jane Boleyn is we actually have few surviving documents on Jane's life, and James wonderfully highlights that. He fills the gaps in Jane's life very well, Jane marries Anne Boleyn's brother George, and considering how high the family rose, little survives in their marriage, so we don't know if it was successful, happy or if it was toxic. Jane served five of Henry's Queens, starting with Catherine of A...

       February's book recommendation                                           is         "Queens of the Crusades" by Alison Weir Hello, fellow history nerds! I have picked this book because I have recently read it and I have fallen in love with it, to be completely honest.  The book goes into the lives of 5 Queens, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Berengaria of Navarre, Isabella of Angloume, Alienor of Provence and Eleanor of Castile.  The book is non-fiction but when reading the book it feels like a novel, it is written very engagingly. The book highlights the lives of these Queens, and how they have mostly been forgotten. It covers the years 1154-1291, this also covers the reign of Henry II, Richard I, John, Henry III and Edward I.  We discover how these women lived, what they endured and how they dealt with the medieval constraint...

          All the Queen's Jewels by Dr Nicola Tallis Hello, fellow history and book nerds, this month I am recommending this wonderful book by Dr Nicola Tallis. This book focuses on the wives from the War of the Roses to the end of Henry VIII's reign. The research and detail that has gone into this book are absolutely astounding and I applaud this lady for the work she has put into this, however, it has absolutely paid off.  This was so fascinating and interesting to read, that I actually went back and had to reread parts! The book focuses on the inventories of what we have of these queens, but also how jewels could be used. Jewels could be used to show the prominence, power, and ownership of a certain lady. Jewels back in the Medieval/Tudor times were very much used to convey messages, the book also goes into how jewels were passed down through each queen or recut or even melted down and made into something else. Sadly as the book discloses a lot...

Becoming Anne by Dr Owen Emmerson and Kate McCaffrey I am reccomending this book because I recently got the pleasure of meeting the authors of this book, and they highlighted the importance of Anne Boleyns upbringing. When thinking of Anne Boleyn, we only think of her once Henry VIII has taken interest in her. However, Anne became the woman she was because of influential figures, cultures and politics. The book highlights how Anne became so outspoken, and lets be frank wilful to a T! Anne was the epitome of the renaissance, she was for the new religion, she was a patron of the arts, she liked music and many more things. In the book, it includes people that heavily influenced Anne Boleyn in her formative years. For example, Margaret of Austria, Louise of Savoy, Queen Claude and Marguerite of Angouleme. These extraordinary ladies showed Anne women could be in power, and be  very successful. They also introduced Anne to the new religion, which would eventually shape the fate...