The Tudor Fair Blog
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…
Winter Music: The Irony of Harsh Darkness and Cozy Delight
It’s winter. Even here in Andalusia, the nights are bitterly cold, and the rain we got at the beginning of the week soaked through my bones and practically froze me. It’s time for big pots of chili and hot cocoa. Now that the holidays are over, we can get thoroughly…
The Spanish Armada Part I: A 30 Year Road to Battle…
Episode 39 of the Renaissance English History Podcast was on the foreign policy that led to the Spanish Armada. Listen, or read the transcript below. Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition. Just for fun. Books Philip II by William Thomas Walsh The Spanish Armada by Robert Hutchinson The Spanish Armada…
Tudor Portraits and Propaganda, December 2015
In this episode we look at five famous Tudor portraits, and the message they were sending. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? What message do you get from these images? Leave a comment and let me know! For those who prefer to read, the transcript is after the links.…
Writing about Writing: The Fiction #NaNoWriMo Quest
It’s been a while since I’ve written about writing. With my babyloss memoir, the NetGalley Marketing Experiment has about a month left in it, and I’m continuing to get really good feedback, which makes me feel validated, but hasn’t resulted in a lot of book sales yet. In fact, I…
Renaissance Christmas Traditions
I’ve been spending much of December immersed in the holiday traditions of Renaissance England. That’s because I’ve been posting new bits of holiday goodness to the digital advent calendar I sent to all the mailing list subscribers at the beginning of the month. (Still want in? Sign up for the…
A Week in London at Christmas with a Toddler
So I’ve been negligent in posting lately (I’m getting back on top of that – thanks for sticking with me). I got back from a week in London with a 2 year old, which is no small feat, let me tell you. And on top of it all, the first…
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…
The Iron Industry of the Weald, December 2015
This episode was released on December 14, 2015 Enter the giveaway for the book I used to research much of this episode, The Wealden Iron Industry by Jeremy Hodgkinson here: https://www.englandcast.com/giveaways/the-wealden-iron-industry-giveaway/ Books Industry in the Countryside: Wealden Society in the 16th Century by Michael Zell The Wealden Iron Industry…
Giveaways and MiniCasts
I know I’ve been lax in writing lately – there’s a lot going on though! If you haven’t signed up for this yet, do so right away! Your chances of winning are really good: https://www.englandcast.com/giveaways/kings-college-choir-cd-dvd-giveaway/ It’s my giveaway of a CD and DVD from the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.…
Travels in Spain: Gaucín, My new Favorite Place
This past Saturday I discovered what might become my favorite place in Spain so far: Gaucín. Gau-huh? Yeah, you’ve probably never heard of it. It’s a teeny tiny town of about 2,000 people in the mountains, all whitewashed, on the road from Ronda to Gibraltar, the A369. Apparently it used to be…
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…