Get BBC History Magazine with Tesco Clubcard

Here's a bargain. If you have a Tesco Clubcard, you can order a subscription to BBC History Magazine for only £10.80 in Clubcard vouchers . Normal price is £43.20, although you can get 25% off on BBC subscription site if you are not a Tesco person.

Or if you want to look into the future instead, how about the slightly strange Prediction magazine for only £8.85! Even better than that, they have free content on the web. Amongst the dodgy astrological stuff, I found a nice atmospheric article about things that go bump in the night in Supernatural Sussex:

"Later Nash used Tibetan and crystal bowls to tune into the wood's vibrations and for a while the night was full of lingering, stellar tones"

Good writing in my view. For more atmospheric trees, see this previous post

Mary Rose and Cutty Sark win Lottery

It's a "double rollover" for maritime history conservation!

Further to yesterday's post, the Mary Rose Trust at Portsmouth is today celebrating a £21m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This will enable the Trust to finish conservation of the hull and build the new exhibition centre to house it and display artifacts ; details here.

Also breathing a sigh of relief is the Cutty Sark Trust, awarded an extra £10m to help restore the iconic tea clipper in Greenwich. Amazingly, the ship survived the serious fire last May without too much damage.

Cardinal Wolsey and the Tudor Navy

You may have spotted via my Shelfari widget that I have been reading David Childs' excellent ship biography The Warship Mary Rose. The Mary Rose was Henry VIII's flagship until she sank in home waters in 1545, having taken part in three wars against France and one against Scotland.

The Mary Rose was famously salvaged in 1982 and her remains are now displayed at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. A major project is under way by the Mary Rose Trust to build a fab new permanent exhibition to display the hull and exhibits, inevitably dependent on a large injection of dosh from Lottery funding. The decision on this is due TOMORROW Jan 25th, so fingers crossed!

Amongst the primary sources quoted by Childs are letters between Cardinal Wolsey and captains of the Mary Rose concerning the ships provisions (or lack of) and other matters. As the King's Master Almoner, Wolsey "...was able to demonstrate that the idea of a standing navy was a sustainable one." (Childs, ibid, p.89).

Childs also quotes Wolsey's biographer Francis Hacket:
"[Wolsey] personally signed contracts for everything from twenty-five thousand fat oxen for salting to the hire of fourteen mares to haul a culverin (cannon)" (ibid, p.90).

One of the problems that Wolsey seems to have encountered is that empty barrels were not returned by the navy to shore for re-filling with provisions - many were simply thrown overboard. Hence this extract from a letter to (Admiral) Thomas Howard in 1513:
"My lord, I assure you it is not possible to furnish your revictualling if Foists (barrels) be not
more plenteously brought from the navy to Hampton than they be....for ye cannot be provided elsewhere of any foists for money" (ibid, p.96).

Wolsey's rather statistical reaction to the loss of the warship Regent, blown up off Brittany in 1513 along with the French ship Cordeliere, is revealed in this extract from a letter to the Bishop of Worcester:
"And after innumerable shootings of guns and long chasing one another, at the last the Regent most valiantly boarded the [Cordeliere], wherein were 4 lords, 300 gentlemen, 800 soldiers and mariners, 400 crossbowmen, 100 gunners, 200 tunnes of wine, 100 pipes of beef, 60 barrles of gunpowder and 15 great brass cortains with so marvelous number of shot and guns of every sort" (ibid, p108).

After this bloody action in which up to 2000 men on both sides were killed, Henry decided to construct the Woolwich Dockyard to build more ships.

"The Tudors" is Annoying - Official

A quick post to wrap up the "Rate The Tudors" poll which ran on this blog before Christmas; this was during the first season run of the "bonking and plotting" series on the BBC.

The number of readers finding "The Tudors" to be Annoying just beat the votes for Gripping. Worryingly, 18% of the votes reckoned The Tudors is Accurate...maybe they voted before the episode when Wolsey commits suicide (the blog had a big spike of hits when this happened).

Anyway, all publicity is good publicity as they say, and the Tudors Season 2 preview has had a massive (for this blog!) 152 hits on Cardinal Wolsey's Vodpod.

Whilst on the subject of hits, I have now managed to get above the Cardinal Wolsey Biker Bar (in Hampton Court) website in the Google Search results for Cardinal Wolsey . This is success! Might even make 1000 unique visitors this month....

Fire in the Hole! Military History Carnival #10

The 10th edition of the Military History Carnival is up at Walking the Berkshires.

It is dedicated to the creator of the Flashman novels, George MacDonald Fraser, who died recently, with lots of neat Flashman references.

Christmas Quiz.... The Answers

Here are the answers to yesterday's quiz questions from the BBC...

1. What did Henry VII do with Yorkist imposter Lambert Simnel after capturing him in 1487?
Lambert Simnel was spared death and made to work as a turnspit in the royal kitchens (pictured).


2. 2008 is the 500th anniversary of the birth of one of history's most influential architects, born in Padua in 1508. Who was it?
Andrea Palladio, who influenced Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren.


3. Which Tudor queen had a pomegranate as a badge?
Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII and mother of Mary I.


4. Which English possession was captured by the French on 7th January, 1558? (clue: it's not far away)
Calais, which had been in English hands since 1347. On its recapture, Mary I is reported to have said "When I am dead and opened, you shall find Philip (her husband) and Calais lying in my heart"Holinshed's Chronicles, IV (1808).


5. February 13th, 1608 is the 400th anniversary of the death of one of Tudor England's richest and most influential women. Who?
Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, or Bess of Hardwick, builder of "Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall."


6. How is Rembrandt's 1642 painting, The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch better known?
The Night Watch, the most famous painting in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum.


7. Which English statesman died 350 years ago on 3rd September, 1658?
Oliver Cromwell, a somewhat controversial figure, especially in Ireland.


8. Which cuvee of champagne is named after a 17th century Benedicine monk?
Dom Perignon. nb. you have to be of legal drinking age to access the website!


9. July 11th 2008 is the 300th anniversary of Marlborough's third major victory over the French in 1708. Where?
The Battle of Oudenarde in Flanders. The future King George II of England took part in the battle as part of the "Hanover Horse" cavalry on the English side.


10. Which dish is said to have been first cooked by Napoleon's chef following the battle in 1800 it is named after.
Chicken Marengo. For the authentic recipe you should cut up the chicken with a sabre!

Christmas Quiz ..... slightly late

The December edition of the BBC History magazine has a Christmas Quiz....here is selection of questions with an Early Modern bias:

1. What did Henry VII do with Yorkist imposter Lambert Simnel after capturing him in 1487?

2. 2008 is the 500th anniversary of the birth of one of history's most influential architects, born in Padua in 1508. Who was it?

3. Which Tudor queen had a pomegranate as a badge?

4. Which English possession was captured by the French on 7th January, 1558? (clue: it's not far away)

5. February 13th, 1608 is the 400th anniversary of the death of one of Tudor England's richest and most influential women. Who?

6. How is Rembrandt's 1642 painting, The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch better known?

7. Which English statesman died 350 years ago on 3rd September, 1658?

8. Which cuvee of champagne is named after a 17th century Benedicine monk?

9. July 11th 2008 is the 300th anniversary of Marlborough's third major victory over the French in 1708. Where?

10. Which dish is said to have been first cooked by Napoleon's chef following the battle in 1800 it is named after.


Answers tomorrow, and a Happy New Year to all readers of this blog.