Question from Jemma - Promiscuous women and crime in London

Hi there,

I am a second year history student at Canterbury Christ Church Uni in the UK and am planning my dissertation on the study of promiscuous women and their relation to crime in Early Modern London (1450-1750.

I need some suggestions for primary and secondary sources, I have found a few in the National Archives at Kew - court records and defamation cases etc. Does anyone have any ideas please? I'd be very grateful :)

Regards,

Jemma

Question from Danielle - Tudor and Early Stuart Imagery

Hi there.

I am going to be doing a project about Tudor and Stuart Royal imagery and wondered if anyone had any suggestions for resources. I have been to London and visited some museums but I cannot afford to keep going to and from Canterbury to London so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for books/online resources.

I am hoping to look at how each monarch, up until Charles I, used image to publicly display themselves. I'm hoping to use resources such as; paintings, medals, great seals, coins and anything else (suggestions most welcome)

I know that in the later monarchs, they were shown upon horseback, which I know represented them as a "warrior" and others were shown upon the throne, some times with the scepter and orb, which obviously showed them as divine and upholding the law etc.

This is for my 3rd year history dissertation, I am in the UK, and I thank you for any help that you can give. I don't want people to answer my dissertation for me (as I have had people being rather rude to me over them thinking that) I was just hoping for some resource help :)

Thanks for your time.

Danielle

Question from Rike - Details of Jane Grey's reign

My interest as a writer is to come a bit closer to quotidian details of Queen Jane's life in the Tower. As far as I've learned, at her accession she went in by the Byward Tower. Did Jane Grey reside in Queen’s House during her reign? How many private rooms where at her own disposal? Whom was Queen Jane accompanied by most time of the day? Who had permission to visit Queen Jane in her private rooms and where did she commonly use to welcome official visits? Where was Guildford residing? Where did Jane and Guildford dine? Or did Queen Jane at times dine on her own, perhaps in the morning? What is the name of the chapel where Queen Jane’s liturgies took place? Did she like to take a walk outside (probably on her own, if possible) in the grounds of the Tower, and if so, where might have been that? On what official or private occasions might Queen Jane, resp. Lady Jane have left the Tower, and which route might she normally haven taken to leave? Where were wardens, resp. guards, resp. watchmen positioned, and how were they termed?

Question from Michelle - Views of Katherine of Aragon in Elizabeth I's reign

Just curious... how did people during Elizabeth I's reign view Katherine of Aragon and her marriage to Henry VIII? Obviously there would be major reasons to view the marriage as invalid (to ensure the legitimacy of Anne's marriage and Elizabeth's birthright), but I'd love to know how people saw or portrayed KoA herself: a wounded party, too proud/stubborn/Spanish/Catholic for her own good, or somewhere inbetween?

The only text I know of offhand that deals with KoA around that time is Shakespeare's play of Henry VIII; I haven't read it myself, but I gather Katherine is portrayed extremely sympathetically and that the whole divorce thing comes over as a wicked plot of Wolsey's or something. Of course, that's but one source, and it's generally held to be a Stuart rather than Elizabethan play, so that may also color her portrayal. Any other thoughts or sources on how Katherine was seen by Elizabeth's courtiers and subjects (or Elizabeth herself)?

Question from Tracey - Smith and Ives Boleyn biographies

Smith vs Ives...

Lacey Baldwin Smith's bio of Anne Boleyn is being re-issued. I'd be interested in knowing the differences between his work and the excellent offering by Eric Ives. If a person only had time to read one....which should it be?

Question from Don - Carey descendants

I live in the America's, and easily traced my linage with genetic SNP's to a Carey that mysteriously appeared in Virginia around 1575 (plus or minus 10 years). That is, this line of Carey's is genetically VERY separate from other Carey's (Cary) that arrived on this side of the pond 1500 to 1800.
If I can so easily determine MY tree to a mysterious Carey, that crossed the pond, why can't the activities of Mary Boleyn be similarly sorted out?
Also, what happened to - Henry Carey and Ann Morgan's son: William Carey (one of 16 children)?
My SNP's may help there.
For the doubter's of genetic efficacy, see:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/8/68

Question from Jay - Tudor apocalyptic thinking

Were there any times during the Tudor period where people thought the apocalypse was coming?