Guest Author – Tudors Dynasty

Lady Katherine Grey: Tudor Heiress

October 12, 2021 by Rebecca Larson Leave a Comment

According to the last will and testament of Henry VIII, the throne of England should have been inherited by the descendants of Lady Katherine Grey when Henry’s younger daughter, Elizabeth I, died on 24 March 1603. A somewhat obscure figure in Tudor history, Katherine was the second daughter of Henry, duke of Suffolk and his wife Frances, the elder daughter of Mary Tudor, queen of France and subsequently duchess of Suffolk. Mary was the youngest surviving daughter of the first [More]

Shaw House: Berkshire’s Hidden Gem

July 30, 2021 by Englishhistoryblogger Leave a Comment

Guest post by Sarah Somerville Shaw House is an Elizabethan manor built in 1581 for Thomas Dolman II, who had made his wealth through the cloth trade. The House is a prodigy house, built to impress, show off wealth and with the hope of attracting a visit from royalty. Indeed, Queen Elizabeth I did visit Shaw House in the summer of 1592. Beyond this time the House has survived Civil War battles, become a Dukes retreat and, in more recent times, was [More]

Queen and Mother: Mary I the woman behind the legend

July 18, 2021 by Englishhistoryblogger Leave a Comment

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

July 10, 2021 by Englishhistoryblogger Leave a Comment

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

June 22, 2021 by Englishhistoryblogger Leave a Comment

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

May 28, 2021 by Englishhistoryblogger Leave a Comment

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]