The Tudor Fair Blog
In which I connect the Spanish Armada and Hannah’s Move to a Big Girl Bed
I just spent the morning recording and pushing out a new podcast episode on the summer of 1588 when England successfully defended her borders from the Spanish Armada, intent on invading and overthrowing Protestant Elizabeth. At the same time, my babygirl is transitioning from her crib into a big girl…
The Mystical Magical Lindisfarne
I had this idea that January would be a good time to journey to the wilds of Northumberland to commune with my internal monks and vikings in the magical Holy Island, Lindisfarne. And I was right. Lindisfarne is a small island off the coast of Northumberland near Berwick upon Tweed,…
Historical Fiction Book Review: The Arrow of Sherwood by Lauren Johnson
Lauren Johnson is a medieval historian and consultant for Past Pleasures (the UK’s oldest costumed interpretation company) and a storyteller who has appeared on radio and TV. For all those reasons, I was excited to read her origin story about Robin Hood, and had high expectations for the history. In…
Drake’s Cadiz Raid: A Daring Bit of Badassery
I’m ashamed of how much I love Francis Drake. His daring badassery appeals to the baser sense of myself. The same part that watches Donald Trump’s campaign just because I keep wondering if he’s serious. Francis Drake is famous for being on the second man to captain a ship that…
New Podcast Up
So I just posted a fresh podcast on the Iron industry in the Weald of Kent in the 16th century. It’s an area I’m interested in, as I explain in the podcast, because one of the things that I really find most fascinating about the 16th century is the movement…
Advent!
It’s here! Advent! The time when we light candles on advent wreaths and open calendars with chocolate! Woot! If you’re looking for a fun way to celebrate the Holiday, might I invite you to sign up for my newsletter, and I’ll send you a fun digital Advent Calendar with fun…
Henry’s Navy
I just put up another Renaissance English History Podcast on Friday (I’ve been sticking to my schedule of putting out two a month – proud of that) on Henry VIII’s Navy. I’ve been wanting to podcast on this for a while, mostly because I wanted to learn about it for…
It’s that time of year! The Trinity Carol Roll and caroling in general
The Caroling season is beginning! A month from now, many of us will be attending candlelight Christmas Eve services where, if you’re like me, you’ll end up a bit weepy as the church goes dark, and you try to sing Silent Night in your voice part because you’ve sung it…
5 Tudor Scholars who changed Learning in England
The Tudors lived in a world that was at least several generations ahead of the Enlightenment. But the seeds of that revolution in scientific thought were being sown in the Renaissance when society started to value classical and secular learning for the first time in a millennium. The Renaissance became firmly…
Shakespeare the rabble-rouser (aka how to screw your landlord)
Everyone loves an underdog story. And when the underdog wins because of his wit and smarts, beating out someone who is supposedly more powerful, it just makes things even better. This was what seemed to happen in 1598 when The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the theater company employing Shakespeare and managed…
Kett’s Rebellion: Land Enclosures were a Really Big Deal in Tudor England
They say that there are three things you shouldn’t talk about at a family dinner table: Sex, Religion, and Politics. Keep that in mind for Thanksgiving, my American friends. Please. Turkeys everywhere right now are saying, “seriously, I’m not giving up my life so that you can argue over me…
The Queen’s Men: Propaganda in Elizabethan Theater
I’ve been listening to a book called Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt which is a biography of Shakespeare from a holistic world-view perspective. How did a provincial young boy, who was the son of a glover, who may or may not have been a…