#tudor book

[tudorblogger]

Guest Post - Carol Ann Lloyd on Courting the Virgin Queen

Today I welcome Carol Ann Lloyd to the blog! Carol Ann is the host of the Royals, Rebels, Romantics podcast, and a public speaker. Her first book ‘The Tudors by Numbers: The Stories and Statistics Behind England’s Most Infamous Royal Dynasty’ is a fascinating read and her second book ‘Courting the Virgin Queen: Elizabeth I and Her Suitors’ is due out on 30 July 2024 and is available for pre-order…

[jamesfrain]

Wolf Hall + Art (1/2) Queen Jane Seymour Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger (x) oil on panel, circa 1536/37

[wolfhalledits]

Thomas Cromwell Introduction Scene.

WOLF HALL | S01E01 'Three Card Trick'

+bonus:

[atomic-chronoscaph]

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, Robin is going to sing for us a cute little song called "I'm Five"." - art by Tudor Banus (1978)

[queen-boleyn]

JACOB COLLINS-LEVY as King Henry VII The White Princess | In Bed with the Enemy

[thepastisalreadywritten]

By Leslie Patrick

1 August 2023

Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536), King Henry VIII's second queen, is often portrayed as a seductress and ultimately the woman responsible for changing the face of religion in England.

In reality, she was a fiercely intelligent and pious woman dedicated to education and religious reform.

But after her arrest and execution on false charges of adultery and incest in May 1536, Henry VIII was determined to forget her memory.

Her royal emblems were removed from palace walls, her sparkling jewels tucked away in dark coffers, and her precious books disappeared from the pages of time.

One of Boleyn’s books that has reappeared is the Book of Hours, a stunning prayer book, printed around 1527 with devotional texts designed to be read throughout the day, features hand-painted woodcuts — as well as a rare example of the queen’s own writing.

In the margins of one of the beautifully decorated pages, she penned a rhyming couplet followed by her signature:

“Remember me when you do pray, that hope doth lead from day to day, Anne Boleyn.”

The book vanished with Boleyn’s execution in 1536, then resurfaced around 1903 when it was acquired by the American millionaire William Waldorf Astor (31 March 1848 – 18 October 1919) after he purchased Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn’s childhood home in the English countryside.

The hiding place of the disgraced queen’s devotional tome had been a mystery for centuries, until recent research by a university student uncovered hidden signatures that helped trace its path through history.

The discovery

The book’s whereabouts in the 367 years between Boleyn’s death and its reemergence remained puzzling until 2020 when Kate McCaffrey, then a graduate student at the University of Kent working on her master’s thesis about Anne Boleyn’s Book of Hours, found something unexpected in the margins of the book.

“I noticed what appeared to be smudges to the naked eye,” recalls McCaffrey, assistant curator at Hever Castle since 2021.

Intrigued, she borrowed an industrial-strength ultraviolet light and set it up in the darkest room of Hever Castle.

Ultraviolet light is often used to examine historical documents because ink absorbs the ultraviolet wavelength, causing it to appear darker against the page when exposed.

“The words just came through. It was incredible to see them underneath the light, they were completely illuminated,” the curator recalls.

McCaffrey’s theory is that the words were erased during the late Victorian era when it was popular to cleanse marginalia from books or manuscripts.

But thanks to her extraordinary detective work, these erased words turned out to be the key that unlocked the tale of the book’s secret journey from certain destruction at the royal court to safety in the hands of a dedicated group of Boleyn’s supporters.

The guardians

Indeed, various pages throughout the text reveal the names and notations of a string of Kentish women — Elizabeth Hill, Elizabeth Shirley, Mary Cheke, Philippa Gage, and Mary West — who banded together to safeguard Anne's precious book and keep her memory alive.

While it’s unclear how the book was initially passed to these women, Anne Boleyn expert Natalie Grueninger suggests it was gifted by Anne to a woman named Elizabeth Hill.

Elizabeth grew up near Hever Castle, and her husband, Richard Hill, was sergeant of the King’s Cellar at Henry VIII’s court.

There are records of the Hill’s playing cards with the king, and there may have been a friendship between Elizabeth and the queen that prompted Boleyn to pass her prayer book on before her execution.

“This extended Kentish family kept the book safe following Anne’s demise, which was an incredibly brave and bold act considering it could have been considered treasonous,” says Grueninger, podcaster and author of the book The Final Year of Anne Boleyn.

Anne’s Book of Hours was passed between mothers, daughters, sisters, and nieces until the late sixteenth century, when the last name makes its appearance in its margins.

“This story is an example of the women in the family prioritizing loyalty, friendship, fidelity, and a personal connection to Anne,” says McCaffrey.

“The fact that the women have kept it safe is a really beautiful story of solidarity, community, and bravery.”

The book, currently on display at Hever Castle, is a touchstone of the enigma that was Anne Boleyn.

Castle historian and assistant curator Owen Emmerson points out that the book contains Anne’s DNA on the pages from where she touched and kissed it during her daily devotions.

“This was a really beloved possession of hers,” says Emmerson.

“Because of what happened to Anne Boleyn, we don’t have a vast amount of information in Anne’s own words. But the physical remnants of her use of the book, and the construction of that beautiful little couplet, have her identity in them.”

While Anne’s Book of Hours has finally found its way home, the research into this intriguing historical mystery is not yet over.

McCaffrey continues to chart the book’s provenance through the centuries to find out where it was hiding all this time.

The discovery of the inscriptions illuminates the book’s furtive journey, providing us with a glimpse into the controversy, loyalty, and fascination that Anne Boleyn has engendered for the past 500 years.

[chiropteracupola]

Martín Macuilmazatl, a young gentleman of the Ciudad de México.

[the-home]

[thediamondarcher]

hey, I'm looking for moots!! I'm obsessed with Solitaire, SIX, BoJack Horseman, Heathers (the musical and the movie), Heartstopper (the osemanverse in general), Good Omens, The Tudor Dynasty, MARINA, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, legally blonde (musical and movie), TUA and many many more things that i can't remember now. I'm currently hyperfixated on history and SIX but i post a lot about the osemanverse

[burningvelvet]

Renaissance era animal pendants (from Renaissance Jewelry in the Alsdorf Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2000; accessed via the Internet Archive)

[thecryptkeeper]

tudor era brides from beyond

[tudorblogger]

Guest Post - Beverley Adams on Lady Jane Grey

Today I’m delighted to welcome the lovely Beverley Adams to the blog! Beverley’s upcoming book is ‘The Tragic Life of Lady Jane Grey’ so I asked her what I wanted to know, and some more general research questions. Beverley has previously written on Edith Rigby, Ada Lovelace, and Margaret Douglas, so a varied back catalogue, though focusing on female history and biographies! Hello Beverley, can…

[jamesfrain]

Lilit Lesser as Lady Mary Tudor Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light | Episode one 'Wreckage'

[wolfhalledits]

Jessica Raine and Claire Foy as Jane Boleyn/Rochford and Anne Boleyn Wolf Hall (2015) — 'Master of Phantoms'

[edwardslovelyelizabeth]

Firebrand: A Novel by Elizabeth Fremantle

«She unclasps her mother’s cross, folding it into a handkerchief, stashing it in her box of keepsakes. She can no longer bear to feel it against her skin. It reminds her too much of what she has given up. Those dead Queens cluster about her, her thoughts running untrammeled. How will she survive this? God is punishing her—he has seen her sins»

[mermaidbarbies]

Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon, in images from a choirbook created by the workshop of Petrus Alamire, and commissioned by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, c.1510s.

Henry and Katharine are each supported by a saint: Henry by Saint George as the patron saint of England, and Katharine by her namesake saint, Saint Catherine of Alexandria.