UnholyTudor

         Catherine and Anne: Rivals, Queens, Mothers  By Dr Owen Emmerson, Kate McCaffrey and Alison Palmer.               Catherine and Anne were more similar than they might have liked to agree, Anne and Catherine had the same book of hours. Owen, Kate and Alison have curated an exhibition on the books of hours that Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon both owned. Dr Owen Emmerson has kindly agreed to have an interview with me on his new book and exhibition. So, Owen, please tell us a bit about yourself first! I am a social and cultural historian and, quite frankly, a bit of a nerd. I completed three degrees at the University of Sussex under Professor Claire Langhamer and Professor Lucy Robinson. While at Sussex, I volunteered at and then worked for the Mass-Observation Archive, which I enjoyed immensely. One of my enduring fascinations is with the minutiae of everyday life, both for the privileged few in society and for ...

                 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...

We all know the story of Henry VIII and his six wives, but I still like to talk about them from time to time.           Catherine   Howard, whored her way through life? Or innocent and used all her life? Catherine Howard was the youngest of Henry's wives and the second to be beheaded. She has had quite the slandering throughout history and it is much undeserved. Catherine was born to Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper. Edmund was the third son of his father, and he was not well off. Catherine was possibly her tenth mother's child, Joyce had five children from her previous marriage. They had very little to survive on in the marriage and often had to beg for help. Catherine was born between 1524 and 1528, but we really do not know when Catherine was born.  She was between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one when she was executed. Catherine's mother died in 1528, leaving the family destitute. Catherine, along with her siblings to the care of her f...

We all know the story of Henry VIII and his six wives, but I still like to talk about them occasionally.           The meek and docile third wife? Or a woman who had a heart of steel?  Jane earns the reputation as the quiet mouse, but was she just the quiet mouse? Or did she actually have quite a steely exterior and fought for her beliefs? Jane Seymour was born between 1504 and 1509, like most of Henry's wives it is hard to pinpoint her birth date, it is most likely to have been 1508. Her parents were John Seymour and Margery Wentworth, and she was one of many children. Jane had a good childhood growing up, she was taught the skills a housewife needed, sewing and being head of the household, Jane is said to not be as well educated as her predecessors but she could still read and write, even if it was at a basic level. Her needlework received high praise and she seems to have genuinely enjoyed it. We don't know much about Jane's early life, much of it was e...

                 An interview with Dr James Taffe                                                                On his new book, Courting Scandal  Dr James Taffe has recently written his first book, on Lady Jane Rochford, she was a servant of five of Henry VIII's Queens and was executed for treason. As James's book title suggests, Jane was often surrounded by a bit of scandal. So, let's speak to the man himself! He has very kindly accepted to do an interview with me on his new book. James, tell us a bit about yourself and why you wanted to become a Tudor historian? "My name is James, I live in Newcastle, UK, having moved from Birmingham to the northeast around four years ago to study at Durham University. I chose to study history initially because I wanted to be a journalist, but...

                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...

We all know the story of Henry VIII and his six wives, but I still like to talk about them from time to time. Anne Boleyn, witch, seducer, or just not that bad? Anne Boleyn is quite the infamous lady, whether it's good or bad, she's the most famous of Henry's wives. Anne Boleyn was born between 1501 and 1507, I believe she was born in 1501. She wasn't royal like her predecessor, Catherine of Aragon, but she was the daughter of a noble family, the Boleyns and the Howards. The Boleyns were very much social climbers, they had to climb their way into prominence. Thomas Boleyn, Anne's father, put the family into the limelight. However, Thomas was not the master manipulator everybody likes to believe, he didn't push Mary or Anne into the king's arms, there is actually documentation to show that Thomas tried to dissuade Anne from marrying the king  in 1531.  It is safe to say Anne Boleyn became the King's obsession. I think it is hard to say Henry VIII and Anne...