A Year in Review: 2020

Posted December 31, 2020 by Rebecca Larson

The year 2020 will likely go down as one of the most turbulent in our lifetime, yet though it all we found a way to come together using history. So let’s look at what happened here in 2020, what was popular and what everyone was talking about.

Tudor Course

A thousand people registered for the course and it launch at the beginning of the year. To date, people are still signing up to take part in the course! The course was created by me, but would not have been possible without the help of my historian friends. Their knowledge is what made this course as spectacular as it was.

Tudor Course 2020 is now available to patrons on my Patreon page only. If you are interested, click here for information on how to become a patron.

The Decameron 2020

At the beginning of the pandemic, when we were first all instructed to stay home, I thought, what a wonderful time for us to put our creative juices to the test. Let’s re-create The Decameron project from the medieval period! That is exactly what was done (to a smaller scale because I may have overestimated the creative juices). Here is a link to these wonderful short stories:

HISTORY LAIR

Sometimes when we think outside the box wonderful things happen. Sometimes when we ask our friends to help, they do and they help you create something new and exciting. While I love the Tudors, I actually love ALL royal history – so that is why I created HISTORY LAIR. I wanted a home for other people like me to get information on the other royals of our time. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can find us on social media as well as the website: historylair.comTUDORS DYNASTY WEBSITE

While my Tudors Dynasty Podcast received more attention in 2020 then the blog, I did have a six-month furlough which allowed me to research and write some fun articles about Elizabeth I not being a virgin, about the disappearance of Lady Mary Seymour and a series was started on “The Other Seymours”. Overwall in 2020 guest writers helped to keep the site going. Thanks!

Most Popular Articles in 2020 (stats are from mid-June to December 30):

Top 10 Viewed
The Life of Anne of Cleves (Part Three)
Queen Elizabeth Artifacts
The Disappearance of Lady Mary Seymour
Keeping Up Appearances: Tudor Style
Queen Elizabeth’s Rotten Teeth
The Life of Anne of Cleves (Part One)
The Life of Anne of Cleves (Part Two)
The Unfortunate Countess: Margaret Pole
FLODDEN: A Tale of Two Queens (Guest Post)
The Relationship Between Mary and Elizabeth Tudor
Honorable Mentions:
Life in Tudor England (Part One)
Richard III: Road to Kingship
The Life of Jane Seymour – Third Wife of Henry VIII
Victims of Henry VIII: Edward Stafford
Types of Execution and Victims of Henry VIII

Tudors Dynasty Podcast

With this list starting from the first episode of the year to the last, I recall what a different world it felt like when I recorded the episodes from the first four months of this year…then everything changed, but for a podcaster the change was that more people began listening. And for that I am eternally grateful. The pandemic of 2020 made this podcast #1 in overall downloads and #1 in subscribers – THANK YOU!!! I also broke the Top 100 History podcasts in both England and USA a minimum of two times, which is VERY exciting. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! If you missed some of the episodes, or have never listened, here are all the links to take a listen. If you’d prefer to listen elsewhere you can also hear them anywhere podcasts are available including YouTube and Spotify. Don’t forget to subscribe so you are notified when new episodes are available.