Tudor

A new book for the new year is an old British custom, but an old book can be even better.

William Strickland died on 8 December 1598. He was said to have introduced the turkey to England, but the truth followed him to his grave.

As rude rhymes and rumours threatened reputations, the Elizabethan government attempted to regulate barbed language.

All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil and Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration bring Tudor and Stuart espionage in from the cold.

Was Sir Thomas More born on Milk Street – and does it matter?

Could a text thought to be by Shakespeare’s father actually be his sister’s writing?

The Specter of the Archive: Political Practice and the Information State in Early Modern Britain by Nicholas Popper explores the Elizabethan revolution in record keeping.

A Nottinghamshire election in 1593 descended into farce, violence and, ultimately, futility.

Shakespeare’s Sisters: Four Women Who Wrote the Renaissance by Ramie Targoff refutes the claim by Virginia Woolf, that the women of Tudor England left only empty bookshelves.

Anne of Cleves became known to posterity as the ‘Flanders Mare’ and Henry VIII’s ‘ugly wife’, thanks to disparaging descriptions by ambassadors and diplomats. What motivated them?