Tudor History with Claire Ridgway

Today's Tudor quote is taken from the announcement Queen Jane Seymour sent to Henry VIII's privy council regarding the birth of her son, King Edward VI. Historian and author Claire Ridgway shares Jane Seymour's words.   Link to the full announcement - https://englishhistory.net/tudor/letter-of-queen-jane-seymour-to-the-privy-council-of-england-12-october-1537/   Link to news article on the discovery of the document - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2108110/Letter-informing-Henry-VIII-longed-sons-birth-469-years-stately-home.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Today's Tudor quote is taken from a letter Anne Boleyn wrote to her father, Thomas Boleyn, while she was on the Continent at Margaret of Austria's court. Here is the original letter: https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/anne-boleyn-court-margaret-austria/ Historian and author Claire Ridgway shares a young and excited Anne Boleyn's words.

Today's Tudor quote is taken from a letter Queen Catherine of Aragon wrote to her husband, King Henry VIII, while she was Regent of England and he was in France. Historian and author Claire Ridgway shares Catherine's good news to Henry.

Today's Tudor quote is taken from Queen Elizabeth I's final speech to Parliament on 30th November 1601, her Golden Speech.   Historian and author Claire Ridgway shares Elizabeth I's beautiful words.   You can read her full speech at https://www.tudorsociety.com/elizabeth-golden-speech-30-november-1601/ 

Today's Tudor quote is taken from a speech Queen Mary I made to the citizens of London in February 1554 to rally them to her cause against Wyatt's Rebellion. Historian and author Claire Ridgway shares Mary I's words.

Today's Tudor quote is from the eight-year-old King Edward VI, who was actually Prince Edward at the time.  Historian and author Claire Ridgway shares a letter he wrote to his half-sister, the Lady Mary ( Mary I).

Today's Tudor quote is from King Henry VIII, who ruled from 1509 to 1547. Historian and author Claire Ridgway shares his composition "Pastime with Good Company".    You can hear it put to music at https://youtu.be/6YcDFOu6qWw

Welcome to this new series "The Tudors in their own words"! From 1st December to 24th December inclusive, historian and author Claire Ridgway will be sharing quotes from different Tudor people.  Today's Tudor quote is from King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch, who ruled from 1485 to 1509.

This week’s episode of Becoming Elizabeth, Lighten our Darkness, had us thinking that Elizabeth might just be pregnant, saw the end of Queen Catherine Parr, and should, Claire feels, have been called Becoming Mary. Let historian and author Claire Ridgway share with you the history behind this week’s episode and her views on how things played out, as we say goodbye to Catherine Parr, see Elizabeth becoming independent and a new Elizabeth, and watch Mary reacting to the violence aimed at her beloved church, a violence caused by her own half-brother Edward IV's religious policies. Oh, and Claire points out a Tudor character who is sadly missing from the series. If you love talking Tudor, particularly about Elizabeth I, then you'll want to be a part of Claire's Elizabeth I online event which features 8 experts and lots of Tudor talk. Find out all the details and register at https://claireridgway.com/events/elizabeth-i-the-life-of-gloriana-the-virgin-queen-online-event-7-16-september-2022/

Trigger alert - some discussion of the abuse Elizabeth I suffered. In this week’s episode of Becoming Elizabeth, episode 3 "Either Learn or Be Silent", things come to a head between Thomas Seymour and Elizabeth, but is historian Claire Ridgway still angry, or has she calmed down? How does she feel about the Elizabeth and Seymour storyline and just how close was this episode to history? Claire looks at what history tells us about Seymour's behaviour with Elizabeth, including the dress-slashing scenes, as well as looking at the timeline of events, the Mary/Elizabeth letter storyline, Elizabeth's 15th birthday, Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey, the Greys, Edward VI and Lord Protector Somerset, Pedro de Negro and Catherine Parr's feelings about her pregnancy. Phew! The link to Susan Higginbotham's article on Frances Grey - https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/the-maligned-frances-grey-guest-post-by-susan-higginbotham/ The link to Miranda Kaufmann's article on Pedro de Negro - http://www.mirandakaufmann.com/pedro-negro.html

Thank you to all those who commented on my last video with their views on the Elizabeth and Seymour storyline. It's such an important topic and it was great to open up that dialogue. Huge thanks go to Tom Cullen, who plays Thomas Seymour, and Anya Reiss, the writer, for reaching out to me, sharing their views and giving some insights into how and why Elizabeth and Seymour are depicted this way and where their storyline is going. But what about the rest of the episode? Well, don't worry, in this episode I look at the relationship between Edward VI and Princess Mary, the fuss over Catherine Parr's jewels, and the characters Lady Jane Grey and Robert Dudley. Here's the link to my article featuring Tom Cullen's comments, which he gave me permission to use - https://www.elizabethfiles.com/actor-tom-cullen-responds-to-my-anger-over-becoming-elizabeths-thomas-seymour-and-elizabeth-storyline/10295/ You can see Anya's comments replying to me on Twitter as the Anne Boleyn Files - https://twitter.com/AnneBoleynFiles/

Trigger alert: Claire discusses the harassment and abuse experienced by Elizabeth I, as featured in the episode. Historian and author Claire Ridgway is rather cross this week as she talks about a key storyline in this week's "Becoming Elizabeth" episode. Claire says. "I’m so angry, spitting mad actually. I feel that Becoming Elizabeth has taken the #MeToo movement, thrown it on the floor and stamped all over it. This was an opportunity to educate; instead, we’ve ended up with a trashy romance." Find out exactly what Claire thought of the Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour storyline. Spoiler alert - she didn't think much of it! Join Claire in her weekly chats and all the goodies on offer with the online event "Elizabeth I: The Life of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen" by registering at https://claireridgway.com/events/elizabeth-i-the-life-of-gloriana-the-virgin-queen-online-event-7-16-september-2022/ Do make sure you register in time for this week's chat. It takes place on Friday 24th June at 10pm UK/ 5pm New York time.

In the first of these weekly videos on the Starz series "Becoming Elizabeth", historian and best-selling author Claire Ridgway discusses Episode 1 "Keep your knife bright". Claire looks at the main scenes of this episode and explores just how close they were to the real history of the events of early 1547, just after the death of King Henry VIII. What really happened in early 1547? Was the timeline correct? Was Catherine Parr really already involved with Thomas Seymour? Did Edward Seymour dash off to Scotland? And what about Thomas Seymour and the young Elizabeth I? We know that Thomas's behaviour with Elizabeth caused a scandal, but were his advances welcome? Claire explores these issues and will be going into even more detail this Friday, 17th June, in a live chatroom chat that's part of her online event "Elizabeth I: The Life of Gloriana, the Virgin Queen". These chats will be held weekly to discuss each episode. You can find out more about the event and how to register at https://claireridgway.com/events/elizabeth-i-the-life-of-gloriana-the-virgin-queen-online-event-7-16-september-2022/

Join historian Claire Ridgway, author of "The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown", for a completely online 8-day event exploring the dramatic events of spring 1536. https://claireridgway.com/events/the-fall-of-anne-boleyn-2022/ This event is completely online so you can join in from the comfort of your home. This event is for you if:- You want to understand exactly what happened in the spring of 1536- You want to understand how Anne went from being the woman Henry VIII broke with his beloved church to possess to being replaced by her maid of honour- You want to know who was involved in Anne's fall, who was implicated and why, and how two men escaped with their lives- You're interested in getting behind the fiction and myths- You'd like to know what happened afterwards and what Anne Boleyn's legacy was- You'd like to know if Jane Boleyn really brought down the Boleyns out of hatred and revenge- You'd like to pay tribute to Anne Boleyn by spending 8 days immersed in her story and connecting with like-minded people!