We have another fabulous guest post to celebrate Women’s History Month 2024. Laura Adkins is visiting History … the Interesting Bits to talk about my favourite of Henry VIII’s six queens, Katherine (or Kateryn, as she would have written it) Parr. Over to Laura… A Fairy Step-mother – Kateryn Parr Kateryn Parr Although she only had one biological child, two of Kateryn Parr’s marriages would bring her five stepchildren whom she loved dearly as if they were her own. Katheryn first foray into motherhood was when she became stepmother to Lord Latimer’s teenage son and daughter. It is more than likel ..read more

For Women’s History Month it is my pleasure to welcome Rozsa Gaston to History…the Interesting Bits, with an article on Margaret of Austria. Rozsa is here to share with you why Margaret is important to history as a founding figure of European coalition politics.   Over to Rozsa…. Margaret knew, or was related to, most of early 16th century Europe’s rulers.  Her action-packed childhood prepared her for a lifetime of leadership as ruler of the Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands, and as one of the most important treaty negotiators of her era.  Let’s look at the players in Margar ..read more

I am so excited! It’s finally here! Heroines of the Tudor World – the long-awaited (well, by me, if no one else) sequel to Heroines of the Medieval World – is now available for pre-order on Amazon in the UK (I will hopefully have a US release date shortly). It will be released in the UK on 15 June 2024. So, here is the stunning cover, designed by the fabulous cover design team at Amberley Publishing. And what a cover! About the book: Heroines of the Tudor World tells the stories of the most remarkable women from European history in the time of the Tudor dynasty, 1485-1603. These are th ..read more

As always, it is a pleasure to welcome my dear friend Toni Mount to History… the Interesting Bits. Toni has just written an informative and highly entertaining book, How to Survive in Tudor England, and she is here today to tell us about what went in to publishing a book in Tudor times. Over to Toni… Creating Books in the Sixteenth Century A Printing Press in the sixteenth century I’ve been really busy this year, working on three books, all at the same time, each one at a different stage of production. I’m just completing the final proofs: text and images, and compiling the index for a popular ..read more

Crime and Punishment in Tudor England: From Alchemists to Zealots tells the story of the enactment of law and its penalties from Henry VII to Elizabeth I. The sixteenth century was remarkable in many ways. In England, it was the century of the Tudor Dynasty. It heralded the Reformation, William Shakespeare, the first appearance of bottled beer in London pubs, Sir Francis Drake, and the Renaissance. Oh, and the Spanish Armadas―all five of them! Yes, five armadas and all failures. It was a watershed century for crime and punishment. Henry VII’s paranoia about the loyalty of the nobility led to ..read more

The Tudors by Numbers is a fresh look at a well-known dynasty ― through its numbers. Take a new look at old friends by learning the complicated path to 1 possible king symbolized by 1 rose, viewing the extraordinary 42 percent of the dynasty under the rule of 2 women, and considering the impact of 4 English language translations of the Bible printed in England. The Tudors by Numbers takes you behind the scenes through a different path and reveals new ways of seeing the Tudors. The Tudors by Numbers: The Stories and Statistics Behind England’s Most Infamous Royal Dynasty by Carol Ann Lloyd i ..read more

Today it is an honour and pleasure to open the blog tour for Heather R. Darsie’s latest book, Children of the House of Cleves: Anna and Her Siblings. You may remember that Heather wrote a fabulous biography of Anna of Cleves, Henry VIII’s fourth wife, a few years back. She has now followed that up with a look into Anna’s family. Mental Illness in the House of Cleves By Heather R. Darsie, J.D. The von der Mark family, particularly once it came to the mental health of Anna of Cleves’ fraternal nephew Johann Wilhelm, was marred with mental health issues. Unfortunately, it is impossible to diagno ..read more

“How we made an award winning short film about Henry VIII” Part of a blog series about ‘I am Henry,’ the new novel and award-winning short film of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, by Jan Hendrik Verstaten & Massimo Barbato. When I set out to write a screenplay for a short film, it wasn’t my plan for it to be about the infamous Tudor monarch. All I envisioned was a middle-aged man in an empty white room. While I sat down behind the computer, I felt a man’s presence. He seemed eager to engage with me even though he did not say a word, but just stood there in silence. I wondered if this was Henry ..read more

What happens when the spymaster’s right-hand man turns out to be a woman…? 1584, London Sir Francis Walsingham, spymaster to the Tudor Queen Elizabeth has trained Kit Scarlett since she was a girl. Aware that she is able to infiltrate places that his male agents cannot, he sees her as an invaluable member of his team. When Walsingham discovers that a rebel alliance is planning to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and put Mary, Queen of Scots on the English throne, he summons Kit immediately. Together with loyal Scottish agent Iomhar Blackwood, Kit is tasked with finding out the full details of t ..read more

Tudor Places Magazine A new magazine exploring all the sites and buildings of the Tudor world – then and now. ·         Feature articles by expert contributors ·         Interviews with historians, archaeologists, curators, authors, houseowners and managers ·         Itineraries for weekends away exploring Tudor places, with recommendations on places to eat and stay ·         Regular column about living in a Tudor ..read more