the TUDOR TUTOR
Your cheeky guide to the dynastyFood, Glorious Food!
Just a reminder that, for our UK friends, the Yesterday channel is airing “A Tudor Feast at Christmas” tonight, 20 December, at 9:00 pm, so try to catch it if you can. The description is as follows:
“Historians and archaeologists forego the convenience of modern equipment and turn back the clock to re-create a feast with the ingredients, recipes and methods that would have been used more than 400 years ago. Part of the Medieval season.”
Maybe they’ll mention that superduper Tudor masterpiece, the Christmas pie: A pigeon shoved into a partridge shoved into a goose shoved into a turkey…all baked up in pastry dough. (Sure, why not at that point?)
(Thanks to our friend Amy on the Tudor Tutor Facebook page for the heads-up regarding this series on YouTube, for those outside the UK who cannot watch tonight: Part 1, 2, 3, and 4.)
So to carry on the food-theme and because I’m trying to make a blog a bit more, well, bloggish, I’m taking the liberty of sharing just a few of my fave places to grab a bite or enjoy a leisurely meal. When the holidays have worn off and you’re ready to have another nosh out and about, give one of these a try if one is nearby you:
- Osteria, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Fresco’s, Cape May, NJ, USA
- The Mad Batter (breakfast), Cape May, NJ, USA
- Illiano’s, Hammonton, NJ, USA
- Luigi’s Pizza Fresca, Marlton, NJ, USA
- Felidia, New York City, NY, USA
- Cafeteria, New York City, NY, USA
- We the Pizza, Washington DC, USA
- Mitsitam (in the National Museum of the American Indian), Washington DC, USA
- Cambridge Chop House (formerly Number 1 King’s Parade), Cambridge, UK
- The Texas Embassy, London, UK
- L’Olivade, St-Remy-de-Provence, France
- Tre Scalini, Rome, Italy
- ‘t Brugs Beertje (beer), Bruges, Belgium
A Tudoriffic Christmas!
Are there really six days left until Christmas?? I’m usually a good planner, list maker, and so on, but this year I have found myself with less than a week remaining and loose ends left to wrap up! At least I have completely my Christmas post for you: giftwrapped and tied with a bow, here are some Tudor Christmas goodies.
Check this out for commentary on Tudor-era Christmases mingled with holiday pics from the Showtime series “The Tudors.” For a Christmas 1536 scene via the series, here’s some Joyeux Noel from Henry VIII and his une grande heureuse famille, apparently. And as if the Transiberian Orchestra’s brilliant “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo” needed any further angst, here is a well-made fan vid using scenes from “The Tudors.”
Step this way for all the details on the swank Henry VIII/Katherine Howard Christmas bash at Hampton Court palace. and have a look at this 4-minute video from Historic Royal Palaces regarding a genuine Tudor Christmas as it would have been in the Massive Monarch’s day.
When I visited the Vivat Rex! exhibit in Washington DC’s Folger Shakespeare Library last fall, I was treated to the scrolls featuring Henry VIII’s holiday shopping list from 1539; you can see them here.
For the marvellous Tudor Advent Calendar from the Anne Boleyn Files, click here. Although there are not many days left, you can still click on days past to discover the treasures behind the numbers.
Imagine you have stepped into a Tudor Christmas celebration with this angelic performance of the Conventry Carol. And why not have some fun as the Muppets take on that popular 16th-century carol, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”!
Does the Jewellery Make the Sitter?
More Tudor goodies, this time meshing an inventory of Katherine Howard’s jewels with the above portrait which is oftentimes labelled as her (and probably dismisssed as such nearly as often). Thanks again to Bendor Grosvenor for indulging our Tudor lust!
It was 1st published for David Starkey’s “Lost Faces” exhibition but today is the 1st time it’s being published online. One thing’s for sure: the items described were to die for.
The Genuine Article
News in the world of royal portraits yesterday: Art dealer Bendor Grosvenor (@arthistorynews) shared with me on Twitter that the above drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger has now been formally identified by himself and David Starkey as Anne Boleyn.
Further, it is the only likeness of Anne to have been made from life!
Well, the news coming “yesterday” was news to me and others, but apparently this goes back to 2007; here’s an article in the Daily Mail and another from United Press International.
The first thing that strikes me about this portrait is the tiny bump just under the bridge of Anne’s nose, so like the one in the Darnley portrait of her daughter.
UPDATE: Bendor was kind enough to print this on the Art History News site this morning, which should answer all your inquiries.
UPDATE, PART DEUX: Going by all the social networking sites’ chatter on this topic today, many of you are passionate one way or another about the Anne Boleyn portrait identification issue — Passion is a good thing!
Several are hesitant to believe that “this plumper” or otherwise non-glamorous sitter might be the great AB; remember that pregnancies (current or past) can alter a woman’s face. Also, when Anne biographer Eric Ives dismissed this, he’d compared it to the [very damaged] portrait medal. Add to this that the king & queen accepted guests whilst in their nightclothes, on occasion!
Can anyone be 100% sure? Probably not. But I think the latest (as in, since 2007) conclusion makes a good case. Thanks for all your discussion on the matter, here or elsewhere in cyberspace! Our Tudors never seem to lose relevance.
My Apologies to Holbein…
So I had a bit of fun this morning with the famous Henry VIII portrait, as you can see above. You’ll need to click on the image for the full effect. 
Okay, okay, back to work for me!
Are You Up for The Comfort-and-Joy Challenge?
See that pic above? I took it last weekend in Philadelphia, when I was home for Thanksgiving. Doesn’t it give you that sense of joy and holiday cheer?
This is the finale of a Philly-area tradition, the Wanamaker’s Light Show which began in 1956. Having grown up in South Jersey, I’ve seen this show about a zillion times. This old-fashioned department store in Center City used to be John Wanamaker’s but became Macy’s in 1995. I’m still calling it Wanamaker’s, so there.
The tradition goes like this: You drop by the store between the day after Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, and you hit the floor. Literally. Just stop on the big red carpet in the center of the main floor, where the famous eagle statue is (visible above), throw your coat down, lounge around, and wait for the next [free] show to start. Don’t worry about having to sit on the floor; everyone does it. The show starts every hour on the hour for most of the day, and runs about 10-ish minutes.
More details on the show can be found here. If you simply can’t make it, there are videos on YouTube but it’s not the same as sitting on the floor of a beautiful old department store with tons of other people who are in the Christmas spirit.
Anyway, what’s this have to do with the Tudors? Not a whole heck of a lot, but it just makes me happy to look at that picture and think of the joy of the season that the Light Show brings. And as it is now December (and I finally dragged in all the decorations from the garage this morning, to start decking our halls today), I was thinking how super it would be if Facebook and Twitter (which I use profusely for the blog) would jump on board with my Comfort-and-Joy Challenge.
What is the Comfort-and-Joy Challenge? It’s the promise to stick to positive thoughts, posts, tweets, comments, and so on, At this time of year we are surrounded by so much beauty: the lights, the magic, the miracles, the sense of peace and good will, the cheery songs. Well, then there’s “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” and that’s kinda mean. And of course “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” which is a tad ‘sexual harassment’ by some modern standards, although I love it for its mid-century stylish cheek. Anyhoo…
So if you’re on-board, “like” the FB page I created on the topic, or make a promise — silently or via a post, tweet, whatever ya got – that you’re taking the Comfort-and-Joy Challenge this month. No fighting, no drama, no complaining, just sticking to comfort, joy, lightness, and warmth in your social network communications this month.
(We’ve always got January to get grouchy again, what with Seasonal Affective Disorder in full swing and all by then! No, just kidding.)
That’s Why the Lady is a … Traitor
Being a former teacher, I like to mull around the education section of the bookstore, which is exactly what I did this morning at Barnes & Noble (after having sat down for a while with my hazelnut latte and a pile of magazines). I flipped through an interesting book by Ron Clark called The End of Molasses Classes: Getting Our Kids Unstuck — 101 Extraordinary Solutions for Parents and Teachers and came across a tidbit I just had to share with my fellow Tudorphiles:
Whilst teaching a roomful of 6th graders about Anne Boleyn’s demise, Clark asked the class what we would call a person who did what Anne was accused of having done. When met with silence, he emphasised that Anne had been accused of being unfaithful to the king and therefore betrayed her country, so she would be a …. (nope, nothing but silence again).
Clark asked once more tried but tried a bit of spelling help: ”C’mon, she would be a T – R – A …”
A little light went on for the whole class as they finally responded in unison, “Tramp!!”
How the Mighty Have Fallen
Warning: Incidents of a graphic nature are contained in this post, but this issue is so far under my skin I can’t ignore it today.
High Holy Coach Joe Paterno was fired last night. Let me take out my wee violin for this 84-year-old guy who can no longer coach a sainted college football team. You would think that is the true crime, compared to holding little boys against a shower wall and having your way with them, as the former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky did –while Paterno and quite a few others at Penn State conveniently looked the other way after having done the bare minimum, if anything at all.
Let me be clear on this: When you witness and/or know of a child rape situation, you call emergency services and the police. You don’t give a toss about a university’s insular “chain of command.” You may or may not “approach” the perv-criminal on your own as well. Take that how you wish.
Just how many higher-ups at the university knew about this? Just what were these crimes against young boys? If you have the stomach for it, or just want to feel justified in the immense anger this should stir up, here is the grand jury report. Again, be warned of graphic and extremely disturbing details.
Sandusky should be spending a good long time in prison (and hey, enjoy your showers there, Jerry. I hear they’re quite cosy.) Assistant Coach Mike McQueary was the grad assistant who witnessed the aforementioned incident and yet did not slam this child rapist against the shower wall and hold him there while calling 9-1-1. (Instead, this tall, strapping 28-year-old fled the scene and — are you ready? – told his own dad.)
And yet new coach as of today, Tom Bradley (@TomBradleyPSU, if you care to tweet him), who can call all the shots at this point, maintains that McQueary will coach this Saturday. This coward-witness is easy to pick out, due to his bright ginger hair. That might be a huge negative for McQueary as he stands on the sidelines on Saturday. I’m just sayin’. No, that’s not a threat. Not from me, anyway.
As a lot of you know, although I love Britain and its history, I’m not British. I’m American. In fact, I grew up in South Jersey, a few hours east of this part of rural Pennsylvania that might as well be called The Kingdom of Penn State University, as it is so deeply dependent on the college for financial and status reasons. Seemingly untouchable. Even if it harbors, you know, kid touchers.
We’ve seen this “the higher the mountain, the further the fall” thing numerous times in Tudor history. Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More, Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, Thomas Cromwell, the Brothers Seymour, Lady Jane Grey, Thomas Cranmer, Mary Queen of Scots … all held positions of great power for varying lengths of time, all experienced a devastating and humilating downfall. Even Henry VIII went from Prince of Awesomesauce to Paranoid and Obese King of Legal Homicide.
Thankfully, child rape wasn’t involved for the dynasty. Well, there was the whole Thomas Seymour / Princess Elizabeth thing, but even that isn’t comparable.
Is it a sense of schadenfreude (oooh, that’s just fun to say. Say it with me: SHAY-den-froyd) that winds us up when we watch the once-powerful crash and burn? From the ups and downs of the Tudor dynasty to this week’s horrific findings in the Penn State hierarchy, that might be the case. We’ve yet to learn how history will treat Joe Paterno and the rest of the Penn State Pederast Protection Team. In my opinion, there’s no execution punishment harsh enough.
Take the Official Hollywood vs. History Pledge
There’s been much ado about “Anonymous” lately, as there had been about “Braveheart,” “Elizabeth,” “The Tudors,” “Gladiator,” “The Patriot,” and other portrayals of history in movies and television.
And so, clearly, what we need is the Official Hollywood vs History Pledge!* Please raise your right hand and repeat after me:
“I SHALL NOT get my history from sources of entertainment, such as television and movies. I agree to research further if the history presented in said entertainment sources interests me, & not take the word of a script writer or director over that of historians. I will let entertainers do their thing, and let historians do theirs.”
Feel free to share this pledge with others, for the sake of the facts!
* For simplicity’s sake, the word “Hollywood” is used; however, inaccuracies in media portrayals of history show up in outlets which are not based in Southern California studios. Just a disclaimer.
Oh Boy OR Girl: You Rule!!
Henry VIII is turning over in his grave whilst Catherine of Aragon and her daughter, Mary I, are high-fiving somewhere in the afterlife: Gender-neutral succession has come to the British monarchy, and the heir shall henceforth be permitted to marry — gasp!! — a Catholic.
The news was officially announced this morning.
