Author: Tudors Dynasty

Queen and Mother: Mary I the woman behind the legend

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 Written by Peter Stiffell When we discuss England’s first queen regnant the history books and documentaries usually first recall the break with Rome, the struggle of a princess against her autocratic father, and the burnings. Yet Mary I’s reign is not seen in the same regard as her father or half-sister despite Henry executing c.72,000and Elizabeth hanging, drawing, and quartering around two hundred Catholic priests. Though Geoffrey Elton once described Mary as ‘arrogant, [More]

Cecily Neville: A 15th century woman for our time

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    Guest article by Annie Garthwaite Writing a novel about the matriarch of the house of York, prompted Annie Garthwaite to consider what makes Cecily Neville one of the 15th century’s most compelling women, the role she played in her family’s dynastic struggles, and why – at last – historians and novelists are fixing their gaze upon her. -- Cecily was born in the year of Agincourt, lived into the early years of the Tudors, mothered a dynasty, and [More]

Misremembering Mary I: History’s Largest Misconceptions about England’s First Crowned Queen

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Guest post written by Johanna Strong Mary I, England’s first crowned queen regnant (1553-1558), is often popularly remembered as either a tragic figure or as a tyrannical one. While traditional histories such as G.R. Elton’s focus on the religious persecution undertaken throughout Mary’s reign, others attempt to soften her character by narrating her phantom pregnancies and the frequent absences of her husband, Philip II of Spain. Both of these approaches and styles of [More]

Tudors to Windsors: 500 Years of British Royal Portraits

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Exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.  Open 28th May to 31st October 2021. Written by Melanie V. Taylor for TudorsDynasty.com On Tuesday 25th May I got on a train to London for the first time in a year.  Suitably masked I was heading off to my favourite London museum for a preview of the Tudors to Windsors exhibition being held in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. For those who have never visited this museum, it is part of the Royal Museums [More]

Tudor Royals in Portraiture: 1485-1558

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How we know the Tudor Royals from 1485 – 1558; and who painted them. Guest article by Melanie V. Taylor A recent article in various publications, including The Smithsonian magazine, looked at Franny Moyle’s suggestion that Holbein left  clues regarding the identification of one of his sitters of his miniatures being of Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anna, Duchess of Cleves.  It is not the first time this possibility has been discussed.  Heather Darsie describes how Anna [More]