Tudor History Lovers discussion
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What Started Your Interest in the Tudors?
I first became interested in Tudor England at the age of 12. My history class was having a "Medieval Faire" and we were divided into groups and each had to research and present a display. We then had an actual little "faire" with food, costumes, our presentations, etc. I can't remember my topic but somehow I came across the topic of the Wars of the Roses and the Tudors. Even at such a young age, I was hooked! Decades later, I still am!
That is the same age that I became hooked!
There must be something special about the age of 12! :)
I remember watching a movie with my Mother and Sisters, Anne of the Thousand Days. Of course it is the story of Anne, I enjoyed the movie so much my Mom started to tell the story of Henry VIII and his six wives. Ever since then I was hooked. And funny thing is, it was in between 12 - 13 that I was hooked.
Wow! I think this calls for a scientific research into the age bracket of 12-13 to see what the connection is to the Tudors!
I have another piece of evidence for you - I must have been about 12 or 13 when The Six Wives of Henry VIII first played on Masterpiece Theatre, and I was hooked, too!!! Isn't that odd!
I was 6 when The Six Wives aired, and got hooked.Then my mother got me She Was Nice To Mice: The Other Side of Elizabeth I's Character Never Before Revealed by Previous Historians when I was ten.
And when I was twelve she gave me Queen's Folly, and I was pretty much hooked permanently!
Denise wrote: "I have another piece of evidence for you - I must have been about 12 or 13 when The Six Wives of Henry VIII first played on Masterpiece Theatre, and I was hooked, too!!! Isn't that odd!"And we have another!
Susanna wrote: "I was 6 when The Six Wives aired, and got hooked.Then my mother got me She Was Nice To Mice: The Other Side of Elizabeth I's Character Never Before Revealed by Previous Historians w..."
Well, not everyone can fit the statistic. BUT since you received Queen's Folly at age 12, we can discount the age 10 part ;)
Oh wow, She Was Nice To Mice: The Other Side of Elizabeth I's Character Never Before Revealed by Previous Historians was written by Ally Sheedy!
Orsolya wrote: "Oh wow, She Was Nice To Mice: The Other Side of Elizabeth I's Character Never Before Revealed by Previous Historians was written by Ally Sheedy!"Oh, that's where I'd heard of it before! I knew the title seemed familiar. I must have seen something about it in a biography show I saw about Ally Sheedy.
I believe it's long out of print, but I thought it was charming. Sheedy wrote it when she was about twelve, I think.
Susanna wrote: "I believe it's long out of print, but I thought it was charming. Sheedy wrote it when she was about twelve, I think."She was 12? Did you say TWELVE?!!!! Look at that! :D
Stephanie wrote: "I guess I go against the theory of age 12...sorry - I actually just recently became interested in Tudor history BUT madly though.....perhaps in a way to make up for the years I suppressed it from a..."It's okay to be a newer "fan" :) It just means you have more reading to catch up on! haha. I LOVE Gortner's "The Last Queen". I love Juana in general but I liked his portrayal.
I've always been a fan of them but I REALLY started to get interested late last year, and now I don't think I'll EVER get tired of reading and learning about them! :D
That's the spirit! I take a book break here and there (I'll read a few history, then another topic, then a few history) but overall, I STILL am intriqued.
Stephanie wrote: "I guess I go against the theory of age 12...sorry - I actually just recently became interested in Tudor history BUT madly though.....perhaps in a way to make up for the years I suppressed it from a..."Ha - I actually use the screen-name JuanaLaLoca on a couple of message boards! I haven't read that book (don't care much for historical fiction), but I wonder why he called Juana "The Last Queen". She was not the last queen of Spain; that would be Isabel II. I was a Spanish major and am fascinated by the Catholic Kings (Isabel and Fernando), and the polioy of political matrimony they practiced with their children. I even wrote a paper on the subject in grad school.
Hi everyone! .. Thank you for adding me to this group :-)My interest in Tudor history began about thirty years ago when I read my first Jean Plaidy novel ... I can't remember which title it was but from that moment I was hooked!
I now have a large collection of books by various authors ~ Margaret George, Alison Weir, David Loades to name just a few .. but Jean Plaidy will always have a special place in my heart.
Narelle wrote: "Hi everyone! .. Thank you for adding me to this group :-)My interest in Tudor history began about thirty years ago when I read my first Jean Plaidy novel ... I can't remember which title it was bu..."
I love Jean Plaidy!!
Plaidy is one of the few authors I HAVEN'T tried. It seems like people either love her or hate her. But I will see for myself soon.
Orsolya wrote: "Plaidy is one of the few authors I HAVEN'T tried. It seems like people either love her or hate her. But I will see for myself soon."I love the way she writes; she has a way of being able to make you like the people you should like, and dislike the people you shouldn't. lol she also seems pretty historically accurate. The first book I read by her was "Rose Without a Thorn", about Katherine Howard (who was actually one of my least favorite Tudors) but I loved it anyway! ;D
She's also written a ton more under different pen names.
Alice wrote: "Orsolya wrote: "Plaidy is one of the few authors I HAVEN'T tried. It seems like people either love her or hate her. But I will see for myself soon."I love the way she writes; she has a way of bei..."
Yeah, I have that one on my list and always eye a few others. I don't like Catherine Howard much but I am curious to see how Plaidy portrays her. I just finished Diane Haeger's book on Catherine and it was completely inaccurate. Anyway, I think I will get one very soon and go for it! I won't know until I try!
Orsolya wrote: "Alice wrote: "Orsolya wrote: "Plaidy is one of the few authors I HAVEN'T tried. It seems like people either love her or hate her. But I will see for myself soon."I love the way she writes; she ..."
Well, I hope you enjoy it! :) I'm interested in reading Jean Plaidy's "Queen of this Realm" about Elizabeth I.
Alice wrote: "Orsolya wrote: "Alice wrote: "Orsolya wrote: "Plaidy is one of the few authors I HAVEN'T tried. It seems like people either love her or hate her. But I will see for myself soon."I love the way sh..."
Thanks! We shall find out!
I was always interested in Elizabeth I, even in elementary school history class. I thought it was so cool that a woman ran a country for so many years and was so successful at it! Why we have yet to repeat this template on a worldwide scale is BEYOND me - and a travesty I hope to see corrected in my lifetime. :PIt was really Jane Grey who piqued my interest in the entire dynasty, though. After I saw the film "Lady Jane," around the time I was 14 or 15, I started checking books on the Tudors out of the library and looking for more films about them.
I was really interested in stuff on Jane at first, but that was very scarce. Almost anything about her was in books about all of the Tudors, but I then found the other stories were just as fascinating. I've been on the Tudor Train ever since. :)
Amanda wrote: "I was always interested in Elizabeth I, even in elementary school history class. I thought it was so cool that a woman ran a country for so many years and was so successful at it! Why we have yet t..."thats so cool, I'm glad your interested too. :) who is your favorite Tudor author?
Alice,I like Allison Weir for nonfiction. For fiction, I like Robin Maxwell's stuff. However, there's a book called "Threads" by Nell Gavin. It is by far my favorite historical fiction about Anne and Henry. Everyone should check it out.
Amanda wrote: "Alice,I like Allison Weir for nonfiction. For fiction, I like Robin Maxwell's stuff. However, there's a book called "Threads" by Nell Gavin. It is by far my favorite historical fiction about Anne..."
OK, thanks! :D will look it up.
For non-fiction, I like Antonia Fraser's The Wives of Henry VIII, and Alison Weir's The Children of Henry VIII and The Life of Elizabeth I.
i became a tudor fan (or rather, a henry viii fan) because of henry cavill. see, i'm a big superman geek so when i heard cavill was the new superman, i had to check out 'the tudors'. so i got the dvd's. well, i came to the show for superman (charles brandon) and left with jonathan rhys meyers! i had to know more about the real henry and the tudor dynasty so i have been reading and watching documentaries and movies recommended to me. alot of people put the show down but for me, it doesn't matter if it's 100% accurate or not. it's entertaining. and if jrm pops into my brain whenever i think of henry, is that so bad? i'm not made of stone! lol. i read an alison weir book and now i'm hooked! i plan on devouring more books. i'm watching the movie with ray winstone as henry and bonham-carter which so far, i like. i like hbc as anne the most. so many people, historian or not, have strong opinions on how henry has been portrayed. i just like to sample it all, good or bad!
I have to admit I was first turned on to Tudor history by the film, "Young Bess" (1953) with Jean Simmons as the adolescent princess, falling in love with her uncle, Thomas Seymour. The only thing this movie has in common with reality is the names of the players. I was pretty young, myself... 10 or 12?I don't know if anyone will remember this, but there is also a cartoon "The Truth About Mother Goose" and it linked the rhyme, "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" to the fate of Mary Queen of Scots.
I was thus and forever hooked by Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Elizabeth George, which I read my senior year of college.
Ruth wrote: "I have to admit I was first turned on to Tudor history by the film, "Young Bess" (1953) with Jean Simmons as the adolescent princess, falling in love with her uncle, Thomas Seymour. The only thing ..."Yes! Another possible 12 year old!
Stephanie wrote: "Curious, I wonder if it is because it's an age where you are starting to become aware of being grown up. Maybe by happenstance it’s the period of Tudor that is the most famous and most heard of w..."
Quite! :D
The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers I was supposed to be studying for finals senior year -- instead I begged my friend who worked at the bookstore to get it for me with her discount. After that, there was no going back...
Susanna wrote: "I believe it's long out of print, but I thought it was charming. Sheedy wrote it when she was about twelve, I think."I remember seeing her on the Merv Griffin show and knowing I needed that book right away! I think I even still have it somewhere...
Stephanie wrote: "Curious, I wonder if it is because it's an age where you are starting to become aware of being grown up. Maybe by happenstance it’s the period of Tudor that is the most famous and most heard of w..."
I think I was intrigued by Elizabeth because she was a real-life princess who became the ruler of England in a way only men before her or even after her were able to achieve. She had such an influence over bringing peace and cultural development to the realm, and she was not much older than I was at the time. She made me feel anything was possible.
I have read about Victoria and Mary Stuart and even Maude vs. Stephen, but Elizabeth just seems to have either lucked out or been much smarter than any of these rulers. Maybe she was the calm after her father's and sister's tumultuous reigns. It's almost an accident that I learned anything about Henry VIII because he was her father.
Although I was (clearly) aware immediately at such a young age of Henry's wives and children; I first read about Katherine of Aragon so I initially had a poor view of Henry and his other wives (this was before I began my readings on them). However, I think it forever spot a soft spot in my heart toward Katherine. I just have remorse for her.
Stephanie wrote: "Curious, I wonder if it is because it's an age where you are starting to become aware of being grown up. Maybe by happenstance it’s the period of Tudor that is the most famous and most heard of w..."
That's a possible theory. I am really interested in discovering the pattern/reason.
I think Elizabeth was just born into a job that she was superbly good at. Very rare.
Amanda wrote: "I was always interested in Elizabeth I, even in elementary school history class. I thought it was so cool that a woman ran a country for so many years and was so successful at it! Why we have yet t..."This was the same movie that introduced me to the Tudors when I was a child. I fell in love with the times, and was amazed when I saw the same man in "The Princess Bride." Jane was just a little older than I was at the time she was forced into marriage, and the movie brought about my first young realization that world had not always been the way it was around me at the time.
Because of this, I became instantly enchanted with the sixteenth century. Then I found Elizabeth, and there was little I could do to pull myself away from the mesmerising charm she still excudes 400 years later.
Stephanie wrote: "This was the same movie that introduced me to the Tudors when I was a child. I fell in love with the times, and was amazed when I saw the same man in "The Princess Bride."Yes! Cary Elwes! I love him in everything - even Men in Tights! lol The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favorite movies. He was particularly great in Lady Jane, though. Funny, endearing, and dramatic. I've always thought he was a terribly underrated actor.
I had the biggest crush on him in Men in Tights, lol.
I know! He was so gorgeous and FUNNY! Great combination. When he's singing "The Night is Young and You're So Beautiful" in MiT, I just lose it. lol
It's funny because people always made fun of me for that crush!
Do any of you watch the USA Network TV show Psych? Cary Elwes plays a recurring guest role on that show and it's always a treat. He plays a very suave master art thief. He's fantastic!
Hi, this is my first time posting and I am going to throw in a real curve ball. I became interested in Tudor history after listening to an album by Rick Wakeman (keyboard player for the 70s rock group Yes) called The Six Wives of Henry VIII. He wrote a composition based on each wife and he included a portrait and small bio of each wife on the back of the lp. I started reading everything I could on the wives and that eventually led me to majoring in History at university with an emphasis on Tudor Studies!
Ruth wrote: "Do any of you watch the USA Network TV show Psych? Cary Elwes plays a recurring guest role on that show and it's always a treat. He plays a very suave master art thief. He's fantastic!"Ruth, I love Psych and I think that the character played by Cary Elwes is great. I am glad that they keep bringing him back!
Deb wrote: "Hi, this is my first time posting and I am going to throw in a real curve ball. I became interested in Tudor history after listening to an album by Rick Wakeman (keyboard player for the 70s rock gr..."that is SO cool! :D
Tudor History Lovers
Books mentioned in this topic
The Children of Henry VIII (other topics)The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers (other topics)
Mary Queen of Scotland and The Isles (other topics)
Isolde, Queen of the Western Isle (other topics)
I, Elizabeth (other topics)
More...
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