Bøger om Tudor period

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate With these immortal lines Shakespeare begins his most famous sonnet and perhaps the most famous love poem of all time. This poem and more than one hundred others, first published over 400 years ago in a slim volume entitled Shake-speares Sonnets, was written by Shakespeare not about a beautiful young woman, but a beautiful young man, whom Shakespeare addresses as his "lovely Boy". Shakespeare was apparently infatuated with this young man, but who was he? Shakespeare did not keep a diary and the Sonnets are the closest he comes to telling us about his personal relationships. But what do they actually reveal? Did the lovely boy and Shakespeare have an intimate relationship? If so, what do we make of the Dark Lady of the later sonnets? And if the lovely boy was a rich aristocrat, as the poems seem to suggest, how did Shakespeare, a young man from the country who started his career on the fringes of respectability, make his acquaintance? And what about the Sonnets' enigmatic dedication that refers to a mysterious "Mr.W.H."? Is Mr.W.H. the lovely boy or do these initials refer to someone else? And if Mr.W.H. is someone else, why is he mentioned at all, and how does he relate to what we read in the Sonnets? These puzzles, and numerous others, have occupied the minds of scholars for centuries. But despite extensive research and erudite speculation by the best literary minds, published in numerous books and academic journals, no consensus has been reached on what the Sonnets are really about. The poems seem to demand a fresh approach, and in this book scientist and author Peter McIntosh takes up the challenge of finding what the great early twentieth century biographer Lytton Strachey described as "the key which shall unlock the mystery of Shakespeare's Sonnets". The quest takes the reader on a literary journey through the 'undiscovered country' of the Sonnets and the personal and historical events that influenced their composition. In this ground-breaking study Dr McIntosh brings together all the various strands of evidence concerning the origin of the Sonnets and comes to a conclusion that will change forever our understanding of Britain's greatest poet.

What killed Katherine Parr?She was the ultimate Tudor survivor, the queen who managed to outwit and outlive Henry VIII. Yet just over eighteen months after his passing, Katherine Parr was dead. She had been one of the most powerful people in the country, even ruling England for her royal husband, yet she had died hundreds of miles from court and been quickly buried in a tiny chapel with few royal trappings. Her grave was lost for centuries only for her corpse to be mutilated after it was rediscovered during a tea party. The death of Katherine Parr is one of the strangest of any royals - and one of the most mysterious.The final days of Henry VIII's last queen included a faithless husband and rumors of a royal affair while the weeks after her funeral swirled with whispers of poison and murder. The Mysterious Death of Katherine Parr dives into the calamitous and tumultuous events leading up to the last hours of a once powerful queen and the bizarre happenings that followed her passing.From the elaborate embalming of her body, that left it in a state of perfect preservation for almost three centuries despite a burial just yards from her place of death, to the still unexplained disappearance, without trace, of her baby, the many questions surrounding the death of Queen Katherine are examined in a new light.This brand new book from royal author and historian June Woolerton brings together, for the first time, all the known accounts of the strange rediscovery of Katherine's tomb and the even odder decision to leave it open to the elements and graverobbers for decades to ask - how did Katherine Parr really die?

Sir Walter Raleigh is a well-researched, highly readable biography of one of British history's pivotal figures. Said the author: "A life of Walter Raleigh inevitably is a history of England in Raleigh's time, for the man had something to do with practically every event of importance: social, military, naval, or political, while he was at court." Thus, an eventful history of an eventful life.

The first fully comprehensive biography of the young Elizabeth I in over twenty years, drawing on a rich variety of primary sources from both Elizabeth herself and those closest to her during her tumultuous youth.

Lily Thornton waited two long years for the return of her beloved husband, the Earl of Arnsbury. But the man she married in secret has no memory of her.After being tortured in India, Matthew Larkspur can hardly return to a normal existence. He cannot sleep at night, and he knows he is not the man Lily needs. A haunted darkness festers inside him, turning him into a beast who does not deserve the love of a beauty.But beneath his tormented scars lies the man Lily has loved all her life. And she refuses to give up on him, especially when his wildness stirs her blood...

A “rollicking,” “vividly re-created,” and “enticing romp” that tells the true story of an obsessive quest to find El Dorado, set against the backdrop of Elizabethan political intrigue and a competition with Spanish conquistadors for the legendary city’s treasure, all in a “breezy narration that makes the historical subject matter sizzle” (Publishers Weekly) As early as 1530, reports of El Dorado, a city of gold in the South American interior, beckoned to European explorers. Whether there was any truth to the stories remained to be seen, but the allure of unimaginable riches was enough to ensnare dozens of would-be heroes and glory hounds in the desperate hunt. Among them was Sir Walter Raleigh: ambitious courtier, confidant to Queen Elizabeth, and, before long, El Dorado fanatic.   Entering the Elizabethan court as an upstart from a family whose days of nobility were far behind them, Raleigh used his military acumen, good looks, and sheer audacity to scramble into the limelight. Yet that same swagger proved to be his undoing, as his secret marriage to a lady-in-waiting enraged Queen Elizabeth and landed him in the Tower of London. Between his ensuing grim prospects at court and his underlying lust for adventure, the legend of El Dorado became an unwavering siren song that hypnotized Raleigh.   On securing his release, he journeyed across an ocean to find the fabled city, gambling his painstakingly acquired wealth, hard-won domestic bliss, and his very life. What awaited him in the so-called New World were endless miles of hot, dense jungle packed with deadly flora and fauna, warring Spanish conquistadors and Indigenous civilizations, and other unforeseen dangers. Meanwhile, back at home, his multitude of rivals plotted his demise.  Paradise of the Damned, like Keith Thomson’s critically acclaimed Born to Be Hanged, brings this story to life in lush and captivating detail. The book charts Raleigh’s obsessive search for El Dorado—as well as the many doomed expeditions that preceded and accompanied his—providing not only an invaluable history but also a gripping narrative of traveling to the ends of the earth only to realize, too late, that what lies at home is the greatest treasure of all.

In 1519, at the Chateau Clos Luce in France, Anne Boleyn is the formal apprentice of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo is now an old man and working feverishly to build a clock that will end Anne's dark curse. Set upon her by the Goddess years ago when Anne unknowingly dabbled in black magic, the power of her curse has magnified. The terrible suffering that threatens Anne Boleyn now extends beyond her own timeline to a great great great granddaughter, some 500 years in the future.In present day, Ellie Bowlan, a history academic specializing in 16th century France, has worked herself to the bone and her relationship with John Chelsea is strained. John is the love of her life, but their careers have gotten in the way, and she is left feeling lost and betrayed. When Ellie's best friend asks her to attend his wedding at a medieval castle in France, she realizes this may be her chance to set things right. Until Ellie and John arrive at the wedding and discover something menacing about the owners of the Chateau Clos Luce.Leonardo and Anne are desperate to design the da Vinci clock, a device so ingenious it exists at the edge of science and magic itself. When it is built, the clock will not only be capable of keeping time, but also of bending it. But when Leonardo dies before the great invention is completed, Anne must act alone to find a way to finish the clock so she can find the girl in the future and save them both from a terrifying fate. For fans of time travel romance and historical fantasy, this tale embodies the atmosphere of Outlander with the setting of Tudor England. If you like Melanie Karsak, Diana Gabaldon, Philippa Gregory, and Alison Weir, you'll love this historical fiction and contemporary crossover.