Cardinal Wolsey is back, and must apologise to loyal followers for having neglected to blog since February.
"Off with his head!" I hear you cry. If there are any readers still out there, I promise to resume regular posts forthwith.
I have consulted the foremost experts in the land on the subject of Writer's Block, and have the following explanation. The blame clearly lies at the feet of the French.
My enemies across the Channel caused mendacious vapours to float across to England on the breeze. On reaching Court, these vapours served to stifle original thought and render the palace keyboard useless.
This state of affairs was only resolved when the prevailing winds changed and the vapours were dispersed.
I must away now to survey the state of the early modern blogosphere....
15 July, 2010
I'm back
01 February, 2010
Less is more: Cardinal Wolsey's blog stats for January
In spite of only managing one blog post in January, according to the official Court stats there were 1,015 unique visitors to Cardinal Wolsey's Today in History - the fourth highest since launch in 2006. Only 17 were return visitors, which is something to work on.
The average time anyone spent on the site was 53 seconds precisely. Visitors came from 54 countries, with about half from the good old USA, but only a quarter from the UK.....
The most popular page last month was a post from way back in 2006 on Thomas Cromwell's beheading.
Incidentally, plenty of google searchers are still looking for evidence that Cardinal Wolsey either a) was executed or b) committed suicide. Sorry folks he died of natural causes on the way to trial......but then again.....
09 September, 2009
johnson ben tesco
One of the fun things you can do with a website tracking tool such as Statcounter is to look at the sometimes odd search strings or keywords people enter into Google (or occasionally Yahoo, or sometimes the new-fangled Bing).
Here are a few obscure ones that have recently landed on Cardinal Wolsey's Today in History:
"johnson ben tesco"
"play icy tower vi.3.1"
"cardinal wolsey cabinet"
"cardinal wolsey suicide" [The Tudors on TV to blame for this one...CW]
"oliver cromwell stonehenge" [did he go there?]
"stonehenge scary games"
"tudor food fight"
and would anyone like to own up to ...
"german lady mudfight" ?????
23 September, 2008
Alarm!...The French have sent a Virus
Cardinal Wolsey's computer has been under siege from some rather annoying "Malware". French involvement is suspected (mal = bad) in this plot, which involves unwanted trojans and other nasties that download themselves, interfere with the web browsing, display unseemly images, and generally interfere with the King's business. Worse, they are often hard to be rid of.
However they seem to have been repelled for now, thanks to the Malwarebytes tool. I recommend readers to download it and run the quick scan (free) - you may be surprised at what it turns up. For a small fee you can register to get a realtime scanner to keep an eye on things.
12 September, 2008
Welcome new readers!
Thanks to Jessica Merrit at BestCollegesOnline.Com for including this blog in her list of 100 Awesome Blogs for History Junkies.
Cardinal Wolsey's blog stats have jumped up by around 40-50 new visits per day since the link was posted, so a warm welcome to all new readers. You can subscribe to RSS feed to follow new posts.
Also check out the Carnivalesque blog carnival which always has a great selection of posts , alternating between Early Modern and Ancient/Medieval topics.
16 July, 2008
We Are Not Worthy!
The scene: the Great House of Easement, Hampton Court.
Henry VIII is reading correspondence whilst the Groom of the Stool busies himself.
There is a knock at the door.
Henry: "Enter".
Enter Cardinal Wolsey, obviously in a state of high excitement.
Wolsey: "Majesty, I bring you great news!"
Henry: "Catherine has agreed a divorce?"
W: "Not yet, Majesty. The news concerns my Blog"
H: "Oh that waste of the Lord's day. What of it?"
W: "It has been recognised by Professor Luker and is in His List"
H (suspicious): "Did you say Luther?"
W:"No Sire, Professor Luker of the house of Cliopatria in the New World"
H: "What of this List?"
W: "It contains a choice selection of eighty Historical Blogs, and can only bring further esteem for your reign and reputation".
H:"Are the French represented?"
W: "I do not think so".
H (looking pleased):"Hmm. And Spain?"
W:"Again they seem absent. I am sure you will not object to the presence of the Classics, and the East?
Henry:"I suppose not. But make sure all your posts, from now on, mention myself and are written in courtly style. Now go and sort out my Great Matter. "
Wolsey (withdrawing):"Of course, Sire."
Henry: "And ensure that this List is proclaimed throughout the Land"
Wolsey: "I'm right on it".
Here it is, subjects:
01 May, 2008
Cardinal Wolsey's Blogstats for April
Cardinal Wolsey's blog stats for April in case you are interested:
Visits: 821
Pageloads: 1292
New visits: 87%
Of the 821 unique visits,
337 were from the USA (Hi to all readers in the former colonies),
247 from UK,
63 from Canada,
49 from Australia,
14 from France,
13 from Sweden,
and 98 from other countries.
Interestingly, no visits from China. I recall that last year, or maybe 2006, there was a burst of activity from China, including a tractor factory, but then the hits mysteriously dried up. Could this be related to someone taking a dim view on any blogs featuring rebellions I wonder???
In the US, New York State just beat California in numbers of visits to this blog. Cardinal Wolsey will be sending an educational mission to a number of the flat windy States where the people have not yet seen the light.
Apart from the home page, the most popular page in April was the post on the BBC's Purple Haze Medieval Mix.
13 December, 2007
Carnivalesque XXXIV
Stop press - I have added four extra entries: see if you can spot them...CW.
Carnivalesque XXXIV opens with a view of the seasonal ice rink at Hampton Court Palace; a positive legacy of the Tony Blair era has been the spread of Christmas ice rinks across London's historic places - let's hope Gordon Brown doesn't order them removed due to people enjoying themselves too much.
Staying with Hampton Court, Brett Holman at Airminded has a well-illustrated post on his visit to the palace; he describes the workings of the 16thC astronomical clock, which is currently propped up against a wall in the Clock Court while the gateway is being restored.
Bored with modern architecture? Lara at TudorHistory reports on a London gentleman who has built himself a brand new Tudor house. Not quite on the scale of Hampton Court, but check out the size of the front door key!
Staying with the Tudors , Mark Rayner at the Skwib has come up with another witty set of Lost Powerpoint Slides, this time featuring Sir Thomas "I only burned six" More. Very funny, unless you have Lutheran sympathies.
Here's a Cardinal Wolsey shaggy dog story. Put a Thumb Tack in it has a selection of Dogs that have influenced history. The Early Modern connection is the story of Wolsey's dog Urian who apparently bit the Pope, in so doing scuppering the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon . Surprised this didn't make it into the screenplay for "The Tudors".
Moving along, Claire George writing in My London Your London notes the appeal by the NPG to raise funds to buy a portrait of John Fletcher, Jacobean playwright and collaborator with The Bard on Henry VIII. Fletcher succeeded Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, and apparently lived a bawdy life with his mate Francis Beaumont, with "one wench in the house between them".
Also on matters Shakespeare, Peter Ackroyd in The Times reviews The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl.
The Conventicle is a group blog devoted to Scottish Puritan matters, and meets in a pub (is that allowed??). Sharon Howard tipped the post on Richard Rogers' three motives to thankfulness
from 1603, although I was also tempted by the cracking post on The Clash's recording of English Civil War, complete with video and lyrics. "This may be the first time the words punk and puritan have ever shared the same blog-space". Amen to that.
On to the English Civil Wars proper...
Nick at Mercurius Politicus recommended David Underdown's recent review of David Cressy's England on Edge: Crisis and Revolution 1640-42. However, this review has been the subject of "heated debate" in English Civil War blogs: amongst the skirmishers are Investigations of a Dog, and Mercurius Rusticus .
The BBC History magazine had a major feature on The Levellers in October. Edward Vallance reproduces his article How we should remember the Levellers at his eponymous blog. His challenge is that the legacy of the Putney Debates is in danger of being hijacked for a broader agenda that "threatens to replace genuine history with a politically-motivated fiction." Sounds serious.
Gavin Robinson at Investigations of a Dog describes a cow story from the Battle of Cheriton. Gavin comments " The cow thing has just sparked off lots of random thoughts…" Hopefully Gavin will update us soon on these!.
I am a big fan of Phil Gyford's online version of Samuel Pepys' diary. It is real warts-and-all writing; Pepys was not afraid to record his own drinking and womanising. In November 1664 Pepys was carrying on with Mr. Bagwell's wife in a "blind" alehouse.
Sam P. also gets a mention in Bardolph's post in Blogging the Renaissance on what happened when he and a friend attempted to make some excellent Inke.....to a 1620 recipe.
A difficult choice now on which post to feature from Roy Booth at Early Modern Whale - his discourse on "jolly songs for amateur performers" including an early modern fart-lighting contest just gets the popular vote.
Moving on to the 18th Century, John Overholt at the Hyde Collection Catablog (great word) presents evidence for the size of Edward Gibbon's bookcase, and shows how he used playing cards in his pioneering card index (hands up all fans of the old tactile card indexes). Thanks to Sharon Howard at Early Modern Notes for this and other tips including the next one. In between serious posts Sharon's blog has become useful source of Winter recipes!
Johanna Ost's stylish 18th Century Blog is devoted to fashion and culture from the 1700s. Here she offers a seasonal post with examples of 18thC winter wear as painted by Josh Reynolds and others.
Jem Webster at This Gaudy Gilded Stage continues his series on 18thC "hotties" with Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones. Read how Fielding's views on the fragility of sexuality throw light on why Republicans and evangelical preachers occasionally get caught with their pants down (allegedly...see disclaimer). On a related cross-dressing theme, Providentia has an item on Chevalier Charles/Charlotte D'Eon of France, although buried in St.Pancras.
When I was at school Modern history started in 1815 (these days it begins in 1997) , so hopefully I can include some pre-Waterloo Napoleonic entries . Steve Muhlberger at Muhlberger's Early History reviews Juan Cole's Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East. This is a timely book and gives a different historic perspective on current events in the area. Steve also links to Juan Cole's Napoleon's Egypt blog which you can find documentary material that didn't fit into the book.
Finally, some practical advice from Pastyme with Good Companye on twelve steps to firing a musket !
I seem to have run out of time...hopefully it is still December 16th somewhere. Thanks to all who sent suggestions and/or submissions, and I hope you enjoy reading the posts. Apologies to everyone I have missed out....
21 November, 2007
Carnivalesque XXXIII is up; nominations please for no.XXXIV!
Carnivalesque XXXIII (Ancient/Medieval edition) is up at Blogenspiel, with interesting posts from the last couple of months.
Cardinal Wolsey is proud to be hosting the next Carnivalesque (Early Modern edition) on 16th December.
To submit nominations either email me at alunadler@yahoo.co.uk, or the carnival email address (carnivalesque@earlymodernweb.org.uk), or use the handy submission form at Blog Carnival. This takes priority over Christmas shopping by the way....
06 August, 2007
Music to blog by - a selection
Have been exploring various radio stations offered by iTunes (though also direct on www), in search of something good to listen to whilst blogging (ie writing a post or reading other peoples')
Here's my selection, maybe readers have other favourites (including silence!):
Datempo Lounge Radio "The finest Lounge, Bossa-Nova and Chillout live from Paris"
Chanteurs "French songs since 1890 of the dead artists" (sic)
AfricanInternetRadio "The Best mix of music from Africa and beyond"
Illinois Street Lounge on SomaFM "Classic batchelor pad, playful exotica and vintage music of tomorrow" . In fact all the SomaFM channels are worth checking out.
Dub Beautiful Collective "Live ambient, downtempo, and IDM recordings from San Fransisco"
