Question from Richard - Henry VIII and Catholicism at death

I recently visited an Elizabethan manor house and the guide happened to mention that Henry VIII had a Catholic Mass on his death bed and died a Catholic.
Can anyone verify or help with this bomb shell. It is quite unbelievable if he did. Thank you.

Question from Guy - New Catherine of Aragon books

There seem to be lots of books coming out on Catherine of Aragon this year and next. Which should I buy?

Question from Nancy - London at Night

I am researching London at night. Who would have traveled around at night on horseback--no electricity, obviously, and few torches. So would anyone be able to even see? I read that some people would hire a "linkboy" to light the way.

Question from Orla - Lettice Knollys' banishment from court

When Robert Dudley the earl of Leicester married Lettice Knollys, Elizabeth found out and banished Lettice from court, my question is to what extent would this have been carried out? Say if for example Elizabeth was holding court at Richmond Palace, was Lettice allowed to stay at her husband's residence in London, so she was not too far away, or was she not allowed in London at all and forced to stay in her husband's country estates?

Question from Mary R - Rift between Seymour brothers

 When, how and why did the rift between the Seymour brothers (Thomas and Edward) originally begin?

Question from Peggy - Sources for info on possible abuse of Catherine Howard in her youth

I am currently working on a masters level paper regarding Catherine Howard. I am approaching the paper from the view that while her guilt of infidelity is hard to fight, the treatment of her life has been treated rather cruelly. I have read several books on her and I find myself filled with pity for the young girl. I was thinking of using the possibility of her being emotionally and even sexually abused. Can you point me toward some articles or books that might help me? I am interested in either the point of view that I may be on the right path or that I am seriously wrong. It may be that I am off base due to the Tudor era beliefs toward women.
Thank you for any help you can provide.

Question from Mary R - Women's rights in Wales and influence on early Tudors

I've read a couple of accounts of women who lived in Wales during the Plantagenet period. Both of these works went into the rights of women in Wales. According to these works, women could not own property because they were considered to be incapable of defending it. However, women were allowed to divorce men for being unfaithful. Also, unlike their Norman brethren, Welshmen were only allowed to beat their wives for three offenses: 1. Gambling away all of the family property. 2.Infidelity. 3.Casting aspersions on her husband's manhood. Also, if a kinswoman of a Welshman's was being abused, or was doing without what she needed, the shame was on the Welsh kinsmen who did not protect or provide for her. How much of this was true? How might have this Welsh influence have affected the behavior of Jaspar Tudor toward Margaret Beaufort and his nephew Henry VII?

Question from Helen - 16th century term for spyglass

Hello, Lara! Thank you very much for the blog, it's a great job really.

I have a question about language of the time - a sea term, to be precise.
How did they call a spyglass?

As far as I know, this term was fixed only in 1706. By 1580-es they had simple hand-held misrcoscopes and magnifying lenses, but I doubt that these words were used just as they are

Question from Ashleigh - Death in Tudor and Stuart England

Hi, I am a senior in high school, i am 18 years old and i am doing a research project for my history class. I have to focus on one aspect of social history in Tudor-Stuart England looking at the idea of continuity and change, i have decided to focus on Death in the time period.
Within this i have to form 3 focusing questions on different things that caused death in that time.
1 - Health and medicines
My question here is: How did the general health of people affect how diseases were passed on with people seeking help from diferent Medical pratices and what sort of diseases/illnesses were the most devatsating?
2 - Witchcraft
My question here is: how did the people view witchcraft in Elizabethan/Stuart Engalnd and why were so many of them killed?
3 - Religion
My question here is: How did differnet religious views of Monarchs control how "heritics" were treated?

My questions have to show a significant and prespective understanding of the aspect studied. I dont think question 1 is very good, it is to long and i dont think it focuses right on what i want it to.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Question from Em - Anne of Cleves' reaction to Kathryn Howard

Henry VIII fell in love with Kathryn Howard while he was married to Anne of Cleves. This may seem like a ridiculous question, but how did Anne react to Henry's infidelity? Did Kathryn hate Anne, did she feel sorry for her, or what?

Question from Anna - Roses of the Tudor period

This may seem like a silly question, but what roses in the Tudor period look like? I know that many of the roses we see today are hybrids and are genetically modified. But what would a person in the Tudor period see when they saw a rose?

Question from Mary R - Outlawing of serfdom in England

Does anyone know when the practice of holding serfs was outlawed in England? I know that during the Wat Tyler rebellion, Richard II agreed to free them; but I think he reneged on this.

Question from Mary R - Papal dispensations for non-royal marriages

I was wondering about papal dispensations for marriages. Who had to have them? Was it only Royalty or did the nobility need them, too (If so the pope must have been a very busy guy). Did the dispensation cost money, and if so how much? Was there a sliding scale:) What about the peasants? I know the parish priests kept records on who was related to whom; but many of the villages were very small. I also know that a lot of people never traveled more than a couple of miles from home during their entire lives. How did this work?

Question from Alia - Forms of address with no title

In the Tudor period, how would you address a man or woman without a title but still respected? For a woman, could you only use 'mistress', or 'madam' too?

Question from Anna - Mary Tudor and Mary Seymour

The the article about Katherine Parr's daughter, the author writes: "She was christened Mary, after Katherine’s elder stepdaughter, was healthy and pretty and her life with two doting parents seemed set fair."

If little Mary was named after "Bloody" Mary, why didn't the elder Mary take her in? I mean, she didn't have any children of her own and was not yet queen, what was stopping her for caring for her namesake?

Question from Em - Margaret Beaufort and John de la Pole

On Wikipedia, it says that Margaret Beaufort was married to John de la Pole before Edmund Tudor. But I have also read that she was only betrothed to him and that it was broken before her marriage to Edmund Tudor.
Which is the truth?

Question from G. Adarve - Henry VII's stolen crown in Spain

Exist any historical ground in this? :

It seems that a Spanish adventurer called "Juan de Lepe" wound up at the court of Henry VII in London some time around 1500 and became great friends of the king. One day they played a game of chess, with a dare that, if Juan were to win, he would be king for a day. He won. The 'King' promptly emptied as much of the royal loot as he could and, while this sounds unlikely, actually made it back to Lepe (Huelva) and on his death left his possessions to a local Franciscan monastery, the "Nuestra Señora de la Bella". A good story? It gets better.

The Royal Crown of Henry VII of England, part of the "booty", is on display for the first time in 400 years in the monastery. Sounds like it's worth a visit.

Link to the spanish article with photograph of the crown:

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/06/19/andalucia/1276969838.html

Question from Shelley - Tudor-Grey-Seymour descendants

Dynasty - Descendants of Tudor-Grey-Seymour families. If there are legitmate descendants from Mary Tudor living, why isn't this group on the "throne of England" vs. the House of Windsor, which is more Germanic-Greek, etc.?

Question from Gill - Families of peers executed for treason

What would happen to the family of a peer after he has been executed for high treason, and all his property confiscated by the crown?
Would his wife still have her jointure?
What would happen to his children, if all of them are underage? I assume they won't become royal wards since they have nothing to inherit from their father, and their wardship wouldn't be profitable to anyone.
Thanks!

Question from Emma - Whorlton Castle

Does anyone know about Whorlton Castle in North Yorkshire and its connection with Mary Queen of Scots marriage contract to Lord Darnley?

I went there a few weeks ago a gatehouse is really all that is left. There was no information to be found anywhere on this lovely site, the only info was a road sign with the name whorlton.

I came across its connection with Mary QoS in an article on the web but no reference to why there and who was present etc can anyone help with more

Thanks

Question from Fanny - Ideas for presentation on contemporary Elizabethan images

Hello Everyone,
I have a somewhat unusual question. I am supposed to give a presentation on 'Contemporary Elisabethan Images', meaning images of Elisabeth today, in a university seminar on Elisabethan England.

Currently, I am still lacking ideas and information :).

I intend to talk about the BBC Tudor films, maybe about coins (but this was already mentioned in another presentation) and I would realy like some more ideas. Where and in what contexts is Elizabeth's image used today? Also concepts, ideas, etc. of the Elisabethan Age that are still relevant today could be of interest. Is her image used in any advertisements that you know?

Thanks for any suggestions/ideas/links in advance!

Regards, Fanny

Question from Mary - Henry VIII and Oedipus complex

Does anyone besides me think that Henry VIII might have suffered from an Oedipus complex? Incidentally, I always thought Oedipus got a bad rap on that. It's not like he knew that Jocasta was his mother :)

Question from Mary - Elizabeth of York biographies

Can anyone recommend a good biography on Elizabeth of York? I would also be interested in a well-written fictional work as long as the author has done his or her research (I'm not a fan of Phillipa Gregory's books). I would appreciate any help you could give me.

Question from Lauren - Seymour siblings birth order

Strickland names Jane Seymour as the eldest child of her parents, saying all the peerages agree. Wikipedia (John Seymour's article) has Jane as the fifth oldest child. Which is right and how do we know?

Thanks

Question from Lauren - John Skelton's poems

Which of Skelton's poems are meant to be about Anne Boleyn's mum, and which about Jane Seymour's mum, and what's the evidence?

Thanks