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Recent Posts
- Patriotic women: Shakespearean heroines of the 1720s
- Sir Francis Kynaston: The importance of the ‘Nation’ for a 17th-century English royalist
- Anciennete among the Non-Jurors: a study of Henry Dodwell
- Wet-nurses in early modern England: some evidence from the Townshend archive
- Masters and servants: the Hudson’s Bay Company and its personnel, 1668-1782
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Tudors Archive
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Anne Boleyn: witch, bitch, temptress, feminist
Posted on May 14, 2012 | No CommentsAnne Boleyn wasn't exactly a Protestant, but she was a reformer, an evangelical; and the sixth finger, which no one saw in her lifetime, was a fragment of black propaganda directed at her daughter, Elizabeth I. -
“When the Plough and Breeding of Cattle Cease, Then Will the Rebellion End”: The Adoption of Total War as English Policy in Ireland, 1558-1603
Posted on May 14, 2012 | No CommentsAs money and men were sucked into an Irish black hole, the English felt it more necessary to quickly subdue the island, and with all other attempts having failed, the English were, if they were to have any chance of success, forced to make war on the Irish population, and therefore perpetrated the violence and brutality inherent in Total War. -
Little Ease: Torture and the Tudors
Posted on May 7, 2012 | No CommentsTorture and the Tower of London have long had an uneasy relationship. The echoes of those screams are part of the walled fortress’s allure, along with the X marks the spot of Queen Anne Boleyn’s and the Lady Jane Grey’s decapitations and tales of the travails of inmates Raleigh, Cranmer, Fisher and More. -
Elizabethan Map of America provides clue to ‘Lost Colony’
Posted on May 4, 2012 | No CommentsAfter decades of unsuccessful searching, archaeologists may have their best evidence ever of the possible fate of Sir Walter Raleigh's 'Lost Colony.' -
‘The inordinate excess in apparel’: Sumptuary Legislation in Tudor England
Posted on April 29, 2012 | No CommentsSumptuary legislation can be defined as a set of regulations, passed down by legislators through statutory law and parliamentary proclamations, that sought to regulate society by dictating what contemporaries could own or wear based on their position within society. -
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1533-1556: a political study
Posted on April 21, 2012 | No CommentsSuch evaluations of Cranmer, which slight his political abil- ity during the reign of Henry VIII, are inadequate. They leave unexplained the glaring inconsistency between the non-political pawn who was Henry VHI's archbishop and the determined protestant reformer of Edward VI's reign. -
The final years of the Court of Star Chamber, 1558-1641
Posted on April 21, 2012 | No CommentsThe final years of the Court of Star Chamber, 1558-1641 Boyd, Newell Dalton Master of Arts, History, Texas Tech University, May (1971) Abstract The English Court of Star Chamber was... -
The Seymour Family: Edward, Jane, and Thomas, c. 1500-1552
Posted on April 21, 2012 | No CommentsThe Seymour family was a very old and well established, if not distinguished, family. Their lineage can be traced to an obscure knight who came to England v/ith 1/iliiam the Conqueror. The Seymour name came to the family in the first half of the fourteenth century when Sir Roger de St.Maur married Cicely,the eldest sister and heir of John de Beauchamp. -
“Unspottyd Lambs Of the Lord”: Presbyterianism and the People in Elizabethan London
Posted on April 11, 2012 | No CommentsAs a result of this popular appeal, the presbyterian movement was able to endure the systematic attempts to eliminate it carried out by the Queen and the church hierarchy, to continue to help shape the nation's religious climate under the Stuarts, and to leave a lasting mark on English culture. -
All the World’s a Stage: Pageantry as Propaganda at the Court of Elizabeth I, 1558-1569
Posted on April 11, 2012 | No CommentsIn order to strengthen her position and unite the country during her first decade as queen, Elizabeth and her council launched an organized and effective propaganda campaign and cultivated an image that focused her subjects’ loyalty on her. She accomplished this through the use of spectacle, drama, and pageantry, specifically in her coronation procession, the performance of plays and masques at court, and annual progresses. -
Local Government and Society in Early Modern England: Hertfordshire and Essex, C. 1590-1630
Posted on April 11, 2012 | No CommentsIn this dissertation, I propose to study the administrative and social history of two adjoining English counties, Essex and Hertfordshire, for the period of 1590 through 1630. As a political and social history, this study will track the careers and social relationships of the justices of the peace, as well as other county officials, such as the sheriff, the deputy lieutenants, and the lord lieutenant (usually the resident nobleman of a county). -
“The Prince and His People”: A Study of Edwardian Propaganda, 1547-1549
Posted on April 11, 2012 | No CommentsThe conclusion of this study draws direct parallels between the 1549 petitions and the rhetorical strategies used in the previous two years. The government’s direct patronage of this propaganda and the language that drew the commons into a political partnership with their king helped to spark the rebellions, resulting in a crisis of leadership and legitimacy. -
Poor Relief in Sixteenth Century England
Posted on April 5, 2012 | No CommentsThis study models any potential bias in recorded poor relief as a function of the characteristics of the data collectors themselves; such characteristics should be unrelated to the poor relief that the religious houses actually provided. -
Texts and Textiles: Self-Presentation among the Elite in Renaissance England
Posted on March 21, 2012 | No CommentsTextiles and fashion were central to court life, and even, in themselves, a means of communication. They attracted what seems to us a completely disproportionate amount of available resources, infinitely more than the paintings and other more permanent artefacts which are now more familiar to us. -
Sports scientists examine the medieval archers of the Mary Rose
Posted on March 21, 2012 | No CommentsA unique project about the historical warship the Mary Rose which is providing information about life in medieval times is benefitting from 21st century technology. -
The taming of the duel: masculinity, honour and ritual violence in London, 1660–1800
Posted on March 15, 2012 | No CommentsThe duel had a long history, but it was a malleable custom, and has been variously described as fundamentally feudal, early modern, and modern."Although traceable back to medieval tournaments, feuds, and judicial combat, the single combat to resolve questions of honour developed in the sixteenth century in several European countries, arriving in England in the 1570s. -
Women Thieves in Early Modern England: What Can We Learn from Narrative Sources?
Posted on February 28, 2012 | No CommentsAccording to the Assize records for Sussex which cover the entire reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603), 12 women were tried in that county and over that period of time for witchcraft, 24 for infanticides and 127 for all kinds of theft. -
Preaching before Princes: A study of some sixteenth century sermons preached before the monarch during the Tudor era
Posted on February 22, 2012 | No CommentsThe reigns of the five Tudor monarchs were the context of vast changes in the nature of religion and government in England. This study explores the way in which these changes were reflected in sermons preached before the princes. -
The English Reformation In Image and Print: Cultural Continuity, Disruptions, and Communications in Tudor Art
Posted on February 19, 2012 | No CommentsThe sixteenth century was a period of social, political, and religious change for the English Crown and people. Of these shifts the English Reformation and the resulting modifications to Catholic traditions were especially significant. Material culture (including art forms such as portraiture, church art, and illustrated texts) was a prominent indicator of larger political and religious alterations. -
“Monks, Monks, Monks”: the Myths of the Death of Henry VIII
Posted on February 10, 2012 | No CommentsYet there are other stories told of the death and funeral of Henry VIII. He was perhaps the most famous king in English history, and so it is no surprise that in books and on the Internet, some strange or maudlin words and ghoulish acts have attached themselves to his demise. -
‘Contrary to the liberties of this city’: Henry VII, English towns and the economics of law and order
Posted on February 9, 2012 | No CommentsFurthermore, the second half of the fifteenth century witnessed the increasing popularity of equity law as a desirable alternative to both common law courts and local jurisdictions. This situation was not lost on the mayors, burgesses and aldermen of English towns, nor on Henry VII. -
Tudor: What’s in a Name?
Posted on February 9, 2012 | No CommentsIn 2008, I published in the Times Literary Supplement an article suggesting that the word ‘Tudor’ was hardly used or known in sixteenthcentury England. Monarchs, after all, had no occasion to use family names. -
The German Reformation and Medieval Thought and Culture
Posted on February 9, 2012 | No CommentsAfter Luther’s death in 1546, it was said, the seeds mostly fell dormant in Germany, where leaders failed to rally around the philosophical core of Luther’s message, retreating into political division and older authoritarian patterns of thought. -
Seeking the Supernatural: The Exorcisms of John Darrell and the Formation of an Orthodox Identity in Early Modern England
Posted on February 1, 2012 | No CommentsThis thesis examines the questions raised by Darrell‘s exorcisms and the ways in which they were shaped by relations of power. I hope that it will shed new light on the ways in which people formed their religious and ideological identities in this pivotal period in English history. -
Warning, Familiarity and Ridicule: Tracing the Theatrical Representation of the Witch in Early Modern England
Posted on February 1, 2012 | No CommentsThe image of the witch and the vehicle of the theatre seem to be a natural fit. The spectacle inherent in the supernatural aspects of the witch provided a wealth of vivid opportunities for the employing the latest in scenic and technical advances and for experimenting with the possibilities for new special effects. -
Musicians and Intelligence Operations, 1570-1612: Politics, Surveillance, and Patronage in the Late Tudor and Early Stuart Years
Posted on January 31, 2012 | No CommentsReligious and political upheavals in late Tudor England had markedconsequences on artistic patronage. Although this dissertation is not a comprehensive study of music patronage as it shifted with changing networks of power, I will propose that a form of alternative patronage did emerge with the growth industry in intelligence operations. -
The City of York in the time of Henry VIII
Posted on January 31, 2012 | No CommentsDuring this period, the role of the landed aristocracy was changing. With the creation of a professional standing army, in which soldiers were paid a wage, and the use of foreign mercenaries (think of the Swiss Guard), the traditional military function of the nobility receded. -
Scripture versus Church in the Debate of More and Tyndale
Posted on January 29, 2012 | No CommentsWritten law was given to the people of Israel as their morals got generally corrupted and they became blind to understand the will of God, thus God gave them the Ten Commandements of his his mercy... -
A Crisis in Regal Identity: The Dichotomy Between Levinia Teerlinc’s (1520-1576) Private and Public Images of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603)
Posted on January 27, 2012 | No CommentsTeerlinc’s career began with an invitation to serve as official court painter to Henry VIII (1491-1547). After his death in 1554, she worked for Edward VI (1547-1553), Mary I (1516-1558), and finally Elizabeth I (1533-1603). -
The Last Nun
Posted on January 17, 2012 | No CommentsOne spring day in 1539, twenty-six women were forced to leave their home— the only home most had known for their entire adult lives. The women were nuns of the Dominican Order of Dartford Priory, in Kent. -
‘A Mirror of Men’: Sovereignty, Performance, and Textuality in Tudor England, 1501-1559
Posted on January 14, 2012 | No CommentsSixteenth-century England witnessed both unprecedented generic experimentation in the recording of spectacle and a shift in strategies of sovereign representation and subject formation: it is the central objective of this dissertation to argue for the reciprocal implication of these two phenomena. -
The 1536 Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries: Same Suppression, Different Century
Posted on January 13, 2012 | No CommentsFive hundred years ago, Henry VIII began the demise of monasticism in England. Beginning with the Suppression Act of 1536, and continuing with the Act for the Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries in 1539, monasteries across England were closed. -
The Family of Love and the Church of England
Posted on January 13, 2012 | No CommentsOn Oct 3, 1580,a Royal Proclimation was issued entitle, "Ordering Prosecution of the Family of Love". In it the Queen expresses her displeasure at "certain persons which do secretly in corners make privy assemblies of divers simple people unlearned people..." -
The Dean and Chapter of Durham, 1558-1603
Posted on January 3, 2012 | No CommentsThis thesis provides the first comprehensive study of the role of an Elizabethan Cathedral in society, perhaps doubly significant because it deals with the only diocese in which, according to Dr Collinson, the puritans had 'unfettered control'. -
Thomas More’s concept of kingship
Posted on January 2, 2012 | No CommentsIn this study, More's concept of kingship is discussed in terms of the Christian humanist views of authority and of the views developed by such Henricians as Thomas Cromwell and Christopher Saint Germain. -
The politics of art and religion : Absolutism and Catholic iconography in early Stuart England 1603-1649
Posted on December 21, 2011 | No CommentsThe two Stuart kings, James and Charles, brought important change to England. For inspiration to modernize, James I looked outside of England, a strategy more vigorously pursued by his successor Charles I. -
Scholar discovers 16th-century love poem written by an Englishwoman
Posted on December 16, 2011 | No CommentsThe erotic-love poem seems to have been by a Roman Catholic woman and sent to a Protestant scholar who was the tutor to Edward VI. -
High crimes: the law of treason in late Stuart Britain
Posted on December 14, 2011 | No CommentsThis is the first work on treason to concentrate exclusively on the all important years between the Restoration and the Union, when the number of trials for this most serious of all crimes reached new heights and during which time the procedural law of treason underwent significant changes. -
Thomas Cromwell: aspects of his administrative work
Posted on December 12, 2011 | No CommentsThe conclusion attempts to account for the fact that in his administration Cromwell seems to have been guided by contradictory desires (to organise bureaucratically, and to evade bureaucratic organisation in the interests of personal ascendancy), and to assess his place as the founder of modern government in England. -
TV show uncovers Tudor shipyard in Medway
Posted on December 2, 2011 | No CommentsThe first evidence confirming the site of Henry VIII's dockyard in Kent has been uncovered by the TV show Pub Dig during a search for Medway’s hidden Tudor shipyard. -
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth
Posted on November 22, 2011 | No CommentsOn January 16th, 1559, England’s twenty-five-year-old sovereign left Whitehall to be crowned Queen. This article, by A.L. Rowse, was first published in May 1953, exactly fifty years ago, in a special issue of History Today that marked the imminent coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. -
Secretaries, statesmen and spies: the clerks of the Tudor Privy Council, c. 1540-c. 1603
Posted on November 18, 2011 | No CommentsThe office of clerk of the Privy Council has been largely ignored by historians.While some individual clerks who eventually rose to the ranks of the Privy Council have drawn some attention from scholars, most clerks are unknown, or mentioned only tangentially in journal articles or historical monographs. -
Three early seventeenth-century watercolours of the tombs of Henry VII and Elizabeth I in Westminster Abbey
Posted on November 16, 2011 | No CommentsOne of the two paintings of Henry VII’s tomb (fol.24) shows the gilded bronze effigies of the King and his wife, Elizabeth of York. -
Literary detectives unravel famous Ben Jonson mystery
Posted on October 26, 2011 | No CommentsThe amazing chance discovery of a manuscript hidden among papers in an ancient family archive is shedding new light on the legendary career of William Shakespeare’s biggest rival, the poet and playwright, Ben Jonson. -
The Ghost in Early Modern Protestant Culture: Shifting perceptions of the afterlife, 1450-1700
Posted on October 25, 2011 | No CommentsThe Ghost in Early Modern Protestant Culture:Shifting perceptions of the afterlife, 1450-1700 McKeever, Amanda Jane PhD Thesis, Philosophy, University of Sussex, September 27, (2010) Abstract My thesis seeks to address... -
Ophelia’s Mistreatment and Ignored Monastic Opportunities
Posted on October 16, 2011 | No CommentsAn examination of her relationship with Polonius and Laertes will culminate with an inspection of the relationship between Ophelia and Laertes, using the feminist theory employed by Virginia Wolf -
Tudor England’s Relations with Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Low Countries
Posted on October 16, 2011 | No CommentsAnglo-Netherlands relations hinged on the trading monopoly over English cloth exports granted by Henry VII to the Merchant Adventurers Company and the subsequent commercial treaty -
Plague in Elizabethan and Stuart London: the Dutch response
Posted on October 14, 2011 | No CommentsPlague in Elizabethan and Stuart London: the Dutch response Grell, Ole Peter Medical History, 34, (1990) Abstract Plague was, without doubt, the most devastating disease that could hit an urban... -
Promoting ‘English Civility’ in Tudor Times
Posted on October 14, 2011 | No CommentsPromoting ‘English Civility’ in Tudor Times Ellis, Steven G. (National University of Ireland, Galway) Tolerance and Intolerance in Historical Perspective, (University of Pisa, 2003) Like states everywhere, the 16th-century English monarchy regulated... -
Early Modern Space Travel and the English Man in the Moon
Posted on October 14, 2011 | No CommentsEarly Modern Space Travel and the English Man in the Moon Cressy, David The American Historical Review, Vol. III, No. 4, October (2006) Abstract The moon, for early modern Englishmen...