‘Shakespeare’s Sisters’ by Ramie Targoff review Elizabeth I’s funeral procession in April 1603 was lavish and long, the extravagant bier topped with a wax effigy of the queen in red wig, crown and all. Thousands watched the procession as it moved from Whitehall to Westminster, and within or around it were four female writers who would change Renaissance literature in England.    The purpose of Ramie Targoff’s book is to belie Virginia Woolf’s claim, made centuries later in A Room of One’s Own, that it would be impossible for a woman of that time to be a serious writer; if Shakespe ..read more

Challenging the ‘Ugliness’ of Anne of Cleves When Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymour, died after giving birth to the long-wished-for prince in 1537, Thomas Cromwell immediately began enquiries into the marriageable ladies of the French royal family. The rapidity of this search reflected the reality of the situation: the realm needed a queen and brokering a dynastic marriage was a protracted business. Henry’s previous wives had not been strangers to him. Katherine of Aragon, although a foreign princess, was his older brother Arthur’s young widow; Anne Boleyn had been Katherine’s maid of h ..read more

William Adams: English Advisor to the Shogun In 1600 a Dutch galleon arrived on the shores of a small fief on Kyushu, the westernmost of Japan’s four main islands. It was the first Dutch ship to reach Japan. Among the crew was an English navigator, William Adams, who managed to gain the trust of Tokugawa Ieyasu, a powerful warlord who became a shogun (the military leader of the samurai caste) in 1603. Adams eventually rose to the rank of Hatamoto, the shogun’s direct retainer. How did an English navigator come to serve the shogun? To answer this, we must first look at the situation in Japan ..read more

Feature The Lost Tudor Domesday Book Once maligned as a record ‘of the dullest kind’, a 1535 audit of Church wealth – the Valor ecclesiasticus – offers a unique view of England’s religious, social and cultural life just months after the break with Rome. James G. Clark | Published in History Today Volume 74 Issue 3 March 2024 New discoveries in the archives of Henry VIII’s reign are now rare. For years historians have searched behind and beyond the summaries in the calendars of state papers to reveal what their Victorian editors missed or prudishly preferred not to record. In the past de ..read more

Syphilis and Scurvy: Diagnosing Henry VIII In his younger days Henry VIII was something of a heartthrob. He sang like a troubadour, wrestled (though unsuccessfully) with Francis I of France at the Field of Cloth of Gold and enjoyed vigorously dangerous jousts, hunting and falconry. Encountering Henry in his heyday, the admiring Venetian ambassador Sebastian Giustinian described the English king as: The handsomest potentate I ever set eyes on; above the usual height, with an extremely fine calf to his leg, his complexion very fair and bright with auburn hair combed straight and short in the ..read more

‘Hunting the Falcon’ by John Guy and Julia Fox review j.hoare Tue, 10/24/2023 - 10:31 Review George W. Bernard Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe by John Guy and Julia Fox is a well-told account that shies away from debate. History Today Volume 73 Issue 11 November 2023 Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe by John Guy and Julia Fox is a well-told account that shies away from debate ..read more

‘Fool’ by Peter K. Andersson review j.hoare Tue, 10/10/2023 - 08:30 Review Mathew Lyons Fool: In Search of Henry VIII’s Closest Man by Peter K. Andersson is the first full length study of William Somer’s life and posthumous mythos. History Today Volume 73 Issue 10 October 2023 Fool: In Search of Henry VIII’s Closest Man by Peter K. Andersson is the first full length study of William Somer’s life and posthumous mythos ..read more

‘Tudor Liveliness’ by Christina J. Faraday review Ella Muir Wed, 07/12/2023 - 10:29 Review Brett Dolman Art reveals the past – if you know how to look. History Today Volume 73 Issue 7 July 2023 Art reveals the past – if you know how to look ..read more

Look and Learn Ella Muir Wed, 07/12/2023 - 10:29 ..read more

The Other Favourite Ella Muir Sat, 06/24/2023 - 16:13 ..read more