The Tudor Fair Blog
Throwback Episode 42: Lady Margaret Beaufort
Lady Margaret Beaufort was Henry VII’s mother, so in a sense she gave birth to the Tudor Dynasty. And now that I think about it, the birth of Henry Tudor is famous because it was so difficult for her…she was young (too young to be having children, and in the…
Christina de Pizan: Early Feminist, Poet, and all around Badass
Have you ever noticed that once you hear about someone for the first time, they often come back to haunt you? Christina de Pizan is like that for me. I had never really registered her before I interviewed Alison Weir this past February when she came up. Nowadays everywhere I look…
Alison Weir on Tudor Feminism, Norah Lofts, and the Cult of Anne Boleyn
About 2o years ago I read Alison Weir’s Six Wives of Henry VIII. I remember starting it, laying in my bed in my attic bedroom when it was snowing outside. I was immediately hooked on this saga of drama and the way lives could be forever changed because of the inability…
The Week in Books: The boring and the totally awesome
In my seemingly never-ending quest to get rid of all my physical books before we move (and buy an ebook of ones worth keeping, but getting rid of the physical book either way) I’ve been going through the stack of books that I’ve kept around which look interesting. One of…
Old Music Monday: Christmas Edition
This week the Old Music that I’ve been listening to has centered around Yuletide, specifically a hyperion recording of the Sixteen from 1987 called Christmas Music from Medieval and Renaissance Europe. As usual, Hyperion doesn’t work with Spotify (grrrr) so I also have been streaming Christmas with the Tallis Scholars. …
Old Music Monday: The Cardinall’s Musick and Elizabethan religious PR gigs
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bMiYnzkZx4?list=PLhHbeycso61VkjUYaeHgmoVrs1lkU8Q_f] This week The Cardinall’s Musick has seen some heavy rotation on my Spotify. They are a UK based ensemble that, like many early music groups, is scholarly in their recordings of 16th and 17th century music. They mostly record with Hyperion – a label I love – but…
Old Music Monday: Mary Tudor and Choral Music
I just finished another episode of my Renaissance English History Podcast (the most uncreatively named podcast ever!) (get it on itunes!) on Mary Tudor, and it got me thinking about church music during the five years that Mary reigned. She wasn’t famous for endowing any colleges, or really supporting scholars,…
Renaissance English History Geekdom
Many of you know that I geek out on Renaissance English History. I still have a “bucket list” to do to get an advanced degree in it, but for now, I do what I can with books and travel. If you haven’t checked out my Renaissance English History Podcast yet,…