John Dee performing an experiment before Queen Elizabeth I. Oil painting by Henry Gillard Glindoni. Glindoni, Henry Gillard, 1852-1913. Date: 1800-1899 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ John Dee was a fascinating character, in perhaps more ways than one, however, let us start at the beginning. Born in the Tower Ward of the City of London to Joanna and Rowland Dee and because of the Welsh decent from his father’s side, it was presumed that the surname of Dee came from the Welsh Du, meaning black. His family had arrived in London with Henry Tudor’s coronation as Henry became Kin ..read more

A Tudor Secrets and Myths Event Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I. Two of the most famous women in British history. Their stories are as familiar as they are compelling. Henry VIII’s obsessive love for Anne turning to bitter disappointment when she failed to give him a son, her bloody death on the scaffold barely three years after being crowned queen. Her daughter Elizabeth’s turbulent path to the throne, her long and glorious reign – a ‘Golden Age’ for England, with overseas adventurers, Shakespeare and Spenser, royal favourites, the vanquishing of the Armada, all presided over by the self-styled V ..read more

A Tudor Secrets and Myths Event Queen Elizabeth I had a unique relationship with her cousins. First of all, there were quite a few of them, if we count the ones from her mother’s side of the family as well as her father’s and secondly, although one would think that keeping her family close to her would be a good thing, in the turbulent background that the Tudors were set in, this also meant keeping her family close to the crown and without a naturally born heir, these family members could then become a threat to her throne and to Elizabeth herself. A good example of this, would be the Grey sis ..read more

A Tudor Secrets and Myths Event “A sister is both your mirror —and your opposite.” Elizabeth Fischel This quote from Elizabeth Fischel illuminates the relationship between Mary and Elizabeth Tudor – born of mothers who were the ultimate rivals, pitted against each other during Elizabeth’s early years, and finally, driven apart by religious differences. At first analysis, the women seem very different: Mary decisive, Elizabeth not; Mary extravagant, Elizabeth frugal; Elizabeth politically flexible, Mary single-minded; Elizabeth charismatic, Mary less so. Yet they had many traits in common, thei ..read more

Tudor Secrets and Myths Facebook event *Originally posted within Tudor Secrets and Myths’ Tudor Summer Queens event but newly adapted for The Different Sides to Queen Elizabeth I: The women that affected her reign event.* When discussing the women that had surrounded Elizabeth and her reign, it can seem ‘easy’ to pick Mary, Queen of Scots, can it not? Artist impression of Mary, Queen of Scots After all, we know from the common narrative of Elizabeth’s story that Mary seemed to dominate the latter years of Elizabeth’s reign, Mary was considered as being a threat to the Tudor dynasty and it coul ..read more

A Tudor Secrets and Myths Event During the swift storm disarming the Tudor court in the spring of 1536, a small two-and-a-half-year-old girl, secured upon her mother’s hip, was the epicenter of impassioned words, volleyed like a woolen tennis ball, between her father and mother. Each salvo was perhaps harder than the last. “The king was angry,” noted the Scottish theologian, Alexander Alesius, as he described the scene to the child, Elizabeth I, when she was later Queen of England. He expounded, Never shall I forget the sorrow which I felt when I saw the most serene queen, your most religious ..read more

A Tudor Secrets and Myths Event Much is usually made of the relationship between the future Elizabeth I and her final stepmother, Catherine Parr. With good reason, since it is clear that Catherine was a formative influence on her character in the five years in which they knew each other. Yet, while Catherine’s importance to Elizabeth has been explored, little attempt has been made to consider the relationship from the other side: how did the young Elizabeth appear in Catherine Parr’s eyes? Catherine probably first met Elizabeth in the run up to her wedding in July 1543 when Henry VIII took th ..read more

Tudor Secrets and Myths Facebook event Queen Elizabeth the first, had and still has, this ability to hold our attention. Her silhouette is still recognisable, moments in her life are still known and can affect us today. She can eclipse the era of time she lived in, turning the ‘Tudor’ period into the ‘Elizabethan’. Perhaps, this isn’t surprising when we look into the characteristics and personalities of her parents.  Her father was King Henry VIII, another larger-than-life character who can quite often eclipse not just his relatively short dynasty, but monarchy itself. The simple pose o ..read more

By historian and author, Amanda Harvey Purse However, this might not be the pilgrimage you first think of when you connect the words ‘Canterbury’ and ‘Thomas’ together. Although Canterbury will be forever connected to the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury and one time friend to King Henry II, there is a little Tudor Secret hiding in Canterbury's history which connects another Thomas to another King Henry... Thomas More was executed at the Tower of London on 6th July 1535 but Thomas was, at one time, the Chancellor and great friend to King Henry VIII at yet he was eventu ..read more

The Passing of a Tudor Matriarch By Amanda Harvey Purse Tudor Kings had a flimsy right to the English throne. Being surrounded by many people who had just as much right if not more to it. This produced the famous need for the Tudors to secure their dynasty with a male heir. However, male heirs in the Tudor period were not always as lucky as they would have liked to have been… King Henry VII constantly fought battles from ‘pretenders’ to the throne, his heir, Prince Arthur died young. King Henry VIII had difficulty gaining a male heir, changing history, religion and&nbs ..read more