Apologies for the lack of updates. I am currently writing my dissertation (due in less than a month!) and the last weeks have been dedicated to this alone. When I have [finally] finished it, I will discuss some of my findings here as I came across some intriguing information.
Giles Tremlett, The Guardian's Spain correspondent, has written a biography on Katherine of Aragon. He will be attending the Cheltenham Literature Festival (16th October), which I attend annually so I should be able to go. If you can’t make it to Cheltenham, don’t fear – Mr Tremlett will also be speaking at Hampton Court Palace on 11th November. Fellow HRP members, we can get a bit of discount on tickets.
Its early days yet, but I have decided to start a new site which will, hopefully, be of use to students and nonstudents alike. It will basically be a bibliography of works on Mary, cataloguing books, articles, PhD and MA theses. I will divide studies up into sections (so a list of biographies, of works relating to the Marian Church, Marian government, art under Mary, music, etc...). I may even develop this further by adding primary sources as this summer I have worked extensively in the British Library and the National Archive and have become familiar with documents relating to Mary between the years c.1533-1553 (a little give away about the time frame of my dissertation!). I would love feedback about this. If you feel such a site would be useful, please say; if you think it is pointless, tell me. I have got lists of works saved on my computer for my own use but if this will prove useful to anyone else, student and other Mary enthusiasts, then I will gladly post them. I also have a number of magazine articles that I could post there. I will provide links to journal articles, including those that do not require subscriptions to see (which are, admittedly, just a handful!). So please tell me what you think. In the meantime, if someone is working on a Mary related project now and needs some guidance with reading materials, don’t hesitate to contact me.
I would love to see such a site.
ReplyDeleteThank you! That's one vote for it then! I'm going to start categorising all the journal & magazines articles/books/theses and try to provide specific page references where possible. Any generalised study on, lets say the Reformation that includes chapters on the church under Mary will be listed alongside studies that specifically focus on the Marian Church.
ReplyDeleteSuch a site would be a brilliant idea! I'm only just learning more about Mary and her Queenship having been for so long an Anne Boleyn/Elizabeth fan so any info would be greatly appreciated! There just isn't enough on the internet!!!! Also eagerly anticipating the Catherine of Aragon bio and I heard that Julia Fox has a book on her due soon too - is that true?
ReplyDeletep.s. best of luck with your dissertation :)
Best of luck with finishing your dissertation! And yes, the idea for the new site sounds great!
ReplyDeleteBelinda28 – Thank you! There are many articles/books out there that are relatively overlooked but will always be of interest to someone/relevant to someone’s work. I also thought that by writing a series of lists of works on Mary, it becomes clear which areas have been focused on extensively, and which are rather neglected. My only problem right now is finding a suitable site to post all this. Perhaps Wordpress? I’m not computer savvy, so I need something easy to use and something which the viewer won’t find difficult to use.
ReplyDeleteJulia Fox is writing a biography on Katherine. Her writing style is good, though I found her biography on Jane Boleyn to not be particularly innovative. There is a PhD on Tudor women that had a section on Jane Boleyn that contained similar ideas and this predated Fox’s book. However Fox has the advantage of being married to John Guy; let’s hope he has a hand in her Katherine book!
Matterhorn – Thank you so much! I’ve enjoyed the research process of my dissertation, particularly getting my hands on original documents, some signed by Mary herself, but the writing process is frustrating! After it is handed in I will blog about my findings regarding support for Mary and Katherine of Aragon in the 1530s and 1540s (as gestures of loyalty towards Katherine still continued after her death). I also researched into the myth that one former lady-in-waiting was buried by Katherine and discovered that this may not be as absurd as once supposed!
What is the dissertation on Tudor women that mentions Jane Boleyn? I'm interested in looking it up, not so much for Jane as for the other women.
ReplyDeleteThe dissertation is:
ReplyDeleteJennifer A. Rowley-Williams, ‘Image and reality: lives of aristocratic women in early Tudor England’ (PhD., University of Wales, 1998).
It consists of several case studies including a brief biography of Susan White (‘Susan Clarencius’), who was one of Mary’s ladies-in-waiting. Rowley-Williams also discusses Honor Plantagenet, Lady Lisle, Jane Boleyn, Mary Percy, countess of Northumberland and Sabine Johnson.
You can download the PhD for free via EthOS. If you have any trouble getting it, let me know as I have it (pdf format), and I can email it to you.
Hi, i believe that your idea for Mary's site is very interesting. It's a fact that after "the tudors" Mary I become a interest of the people. I'm a History graduate student and i always felt Mary was wronged in many ways, so i've got a projetc to make a Mary I's website in my natural language, that's why i support your idea of Mary's site, please do it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jessica! If I may ask, what is your native language? I need to be more considerate of non-English articles/book when making the site. I have a few non-English articles, and I would like to look into Spanish works on Mary. I’m going to go through the British Library collection to see whether there are more materials on Mary in other languages.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, congratulations to your great research about Mary I ´s reign. It will be a very interesting idea to create a new website with historic resources about Mary! I will give you my entire support!
ReplyDeleteBest regards
Thank you Lady Caroline! The feedback has been really encouraging so as soon as my dissertation is handed in, I will get started on the site.
ReplyDeleteHello, i'm brazilian, so my native language is Portuguese. If i find anything about Mary i can tell you.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI have just posted on an evening I attended this week with Linda Porter, author of Mary Tudor (Little Brown, 2007). You or your readers may be interested:
http://notes-and-reflections.blogspot.com/2010/09/evening-with-mary-tudor-and-katherine.html
Best wishes.
Thank you NoteTaker for the link!
ReplyDelete