Tudor

This marvellous new book sets the developments in the government of England under the early Tudors in the context of recent work on the fifteenth century and on continental Europe.

Forty-five gruesome but not gratuitous accounts from the Tudor reign, including the death of Richard III and the botched execution of Mary Queen of Scots. This decidedly darker take on the Tudors, from 1485 to 1603, covers a whole host of horrors from the Tudor reign. Particular attention is paid to the various gruesome ways in which the Tudors despatched their various villains and lawbreakers, from simple beheadings, to burnings and of course the dreaded hanging, drawing and quartering. Other chapters cover the various diseases prevalent during Tudor times, including the dreaded “Sweating Sickness”—rather topical at the moment, unfortunately—as well as the cures for these sicknesses, some of which were considered worse than the actual disease itself. The day-to-day living conditions of the general populace are also examined, as well as various social taboos and the punishments that accompanied them, i.e. the stocks, as well as punishment by exile. Tudor England was not a nice place to live by twenty-first-century standards, but the book will also serve to explain how it was still nevertheless a familiar home to our ancestors. “He does not shy away from the gory details, which adds another element to stories that are familiar to those who are Tudor fans. If you want something spooky to read in October or know more about the darker side of Tudor history, I recommend reading House of Tudor.” —Adventures of a Tudor Nerd “It really does cover so many different things that there will be something for everyone whatever your interests are; political, personal, medical, or death. A brilliant gory discourse on my favourite period of history!” —Tudor Blogger

From King Henry VII to Queen Elizabeth I, this detailed English history brings the past to life through the sights and personalities of the Tudor dynasty. This lively and engaging book will transport the armchair traveler with a taste for the colorful time of Henry VIII and Thomas Moore to palaces, castles, theaters, and abbeys to uncover the stories behind the politically dynamic Tudor era. Author Suzannah Lipscomb visits more than fifty historic sites, from the luxurious palace at Hampton Court, where dangerous intrigue was rife, to lesser known estates such as Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn’s childhood home, and Tutbury Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned. In the corridors of power and the courtyards of country houses, we meet the passionate but tragic Kateryn Parr, Henry VIII’s last wife, and Lady Jane Grey, the Nine–Days’ Queen, and we come to understand how Sir Walter Raleigh planned his trip to the New World. A Journey Through Tudor England reveals the rich history of the Tudors and paints a vivid, captivating picture of what it would have been like to see England through their eyes. It is “a genuinely useful and discriminating guide for all Tudor fans” (Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall).

The Tudor dynasty presided over one of the most dynamic periods in English history, an era that witnessed courtly conspiracies and public executions, religious reformation and exploration. Its fearsome monarchs transformed England from a minor medieval kingdom into a major player on the world stage. The Tudors reveals the complex personalities behind this powerful family, and the passions and jealousies that spurred them on. From the penny-pinching Henry VII to his profligate, wife-hungry son Henry VIII, and from the religious persecutions of Mary I to the 'golden age' of her sister Elizabeth I, this is a gripping, entertaining romp through a fascinating age.

This book reveals the most popular instrument in the world as it was in the age of Elizabeth I and Shakespeare.

The first history of childhood in Tudor England What was it like to grow up in England under the Tudors? How were children cared for, what did they play with, and what dangers did they face? In this beautifully illustrated and characteristically lively account, leading historian Nicholas Orme provides a rich survey of childhood in the period. Beginning with birth and infancy, he explores all aspects of children's experiences, including the games they played, such as Blind Man's Bluff and Mumble-the-Peg, and the songs they sang, such as "Three Blind Mice" and "Jack Boy, Ho Boy." He shows how social status determined everything from the food children ate and the clothes they wore to the education they received and the work they undertook. Although childhood and adolescence could be challenging and even hazardous, it was also, as Nicholas Orme shows, a treasured time of learning and development. By looking at the lives of Tudor children we can gain a richer understanding of the era as a whole.

Early modern governments constantly faced the challenge of reconciling their own authority with the will of God. Most acknowledged that an individual's first loyalty must be to God's law, but were understandably reluctant to allow this as an excuse to challenge their own powers where interpretations differed. As such, contemporaries gave much thought to how this potentially destabilising situation could be reconciled, preserving secular authority without compromising conscience. In this book, the particular relationship between the Tudor supremacy over the Church and the hermeneutics of discerning God's will is highlighted and explored. This topic is addressed by considering defences of the Henrician and Elizabethan royal supremacies over the English church, with particular reference to the thoughts and writings of Christopher St. German, and Richard Hooker. Both of these men were in broad agreement that it was the responsibility of English Christians to subordinate their subjective understandings of God's will to the interpretation of God's will propounded by the church authorities. St. German originally put forward the proposition that king in parliament, as the voice of the community of Christians in England, was authorized to definitively pronounce regarding God's will; and that obedience to the crown was in all circumstances commensurate with obedience to God's will. Salvation, as envisioned by St. German and Hooker, was thus not dependent upon adherence to a single true faith. Rather it was conditional upon a sincere effort to try to discern the true faith using the means that God had made available to the individual, particularly the collective wisdom of one's church speaking through its representatives. In tackling this fascinating dichotomy at the heart of early modern government, this study emphasizes an aspect of the defence of royal supremacy that has not heretofore been sufficiently appreciated by modern scholars, and invites consideration of how this aspect of hermeneutics is relevant to wider discussions relating to the nature of secular and divine authority.

A rare examination of the political, social, and economic contexts in which painters in Tudor and Early Stuart England lived and workedWhile famous artists such as Holbein, Rubens, or Van Dyck are all known for their creative periods in England or their employment at the English court, they still had to make ends meet, as did the less well-known practitioners of their craft. This book, by one of the leading historians of Tudor and Stuart England, sheds light on the daily concerns, practices, and activities of many of these painters. Drawing on a biographical database comprising nearly 3000 painters and craftsmen - strangers and native English, Londoners and provincial townsmen, men and sometimes women, celebrity artists and 'mere painters' - this book offers an account of what it meant to paint for a living in early modern England. It considers the origins of these painters as well as their geographical location, the varieties of their expertise, and the personnel and spatial arrangements of their workshops. Engagingly written, the book captures a sense of mobility and exchange between England and the continent through the considerable influence of stranger-painters, undermining traditional notions about the insular character of this phase in the history of English art. By showing how painters responded to the greater political, religious, and economic upheavals of the time, the study refracts the history of England itself through the lens of this particular occupation.Engagingly written, the book captures a sense of mobility and exchange between England and the continent through the considerable influence of stranger-painters, undermining traditional notions about the insular character of this phase in the history of English art. By showing how painters responded to the greater political, religious, and economic upheavals of the time, the study refracts the history of England itself through the lens of this particular occupation.Engagingly written, the book captures a sense of mobility and exchange between England and the continent through the considerable influence of stranger-painters, undermining traditional notions about the insular character of this phase in the history of English art. By showing how painters responded to the greater political, religious, and economic upheavals of the time, the study refracts the history of England itself through the lens of this particular occupation.Engagingly written, the book captures a sense of mobility and exchange between England and the continent through the considerable influence of stranger-painters, undermining traditional notions about the insular character of this phase in the history of English art. By showing how painters responded to the greater political, religious, and economic upheavals of the time, the study refracts the history of England itself through the lens of this particular occupation.

Features a collection of Sir Geoffrey Elton's articles and reviews including a group of pieces on sixteenth-century government.

Time to take a sideways look at the bizarre and outrageous from throughout history - and it's all TRUE! Which mad cure involved swallowing live frogs? Which bad ruler had the most heads chopped off at the Tower of London? Which Tudor invention do we still use today to get rid of dangerous waste? Find out the answers to these questions inside, along with lots of facts, quizzes, and other bonkers stuff as you take a bumpy journey into the darkest crannies of Tudor history with Mad, Bad and Just Plain Dangerous!