A Queen's Prison, Tutbury Castle
The Tudors Online Festival Speaker Line Up Announced
Hello fellow history lover!
I hope you have had a great week. Spring is still trying to get going here, the blossom and first flowers have almost gone and the trees and bushes are getting their leave, now we need the temperatures to catch up!
With less than 4 weeks to go until my first tour of the season, I am getting very excited to be welcoming my first guests of the season! The tour is The Anne Boleyn Tour and you will be able to follow it on the British History Tours Instagram, if you’re not one of the lucky 20 people on it that is.
The Anne Boleyn Tour, May 2024 is now sold out! Join the waiting list for The Anne Boleyn Tour, May 2025 by clicking here and dropping us a quick email.
Of course, there will be other tours in 2024 and, new for 2024, history weekends! So keep an eye out for news on those. I will post information here and on social media.
This week:
**ANNOUNCEMENT** The Tudor Online History Festival Speaker Line Up.
Tutbury Castle, four time prison to Mary, Queen of Scots and her most hated!
Richard the Lionheart on History After Dark
The Tudors Online History Festival
Speakers Announced
What a line up!
These six esteemed Tudor historians will not only be giving talks at this Autumn’s Online History Festival, The Tudors, but will all be at the live Q&A session on Sunday 19th November.
(Remember, members of the British History Patreon get a 10% discount on event tickets - click here)
Why are the tickets on sale so early? Well, two reasons,
Time goes quickly and it will be November before we know it, and
Although all of the talks, and recordings of the live sessions, are available to all ticket holders for 2 months following the event, I wanted to give you as much notice as possible so that if you want to attend live, you can get it blocked out in your diary now.
Mary, Queen of Scot’s Prison, Tutbury Castle
There has been a castle here since around 1069, built as part of the Normans line of defensive castles in the Midlands of England. The ruinous state we find it in today is as a result of an Act of Parliament passed in the 17th century to slight to castle because it had held out for Charles I. Indeed, Charles I had visited here during the Civil War, with his nephew, Rupert. He is by no means the only royal visitor to the Castle.
At a previous time of civil war, the 15th century, the castle had granted to Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI’s wife, and she moved her court here at the outbreak of the war. Richard III also visited here, to oversee building works here, and in the 16th century, Henry VIII had a royal stud nearby and may have visited.
It is most famous, however, as a prison to Mary, Queen of Scots.
Mary was held here on 4 occasions between 1569 and 1585. Initially accommodated in the finest apartments here, in the South Tower, (the one with the flag flying on it) this was not the case in 1585. Not only had the castle fallen into a state of disrepair, Mary was no longer housed in the comfortable apartments of her earlier captivity. Instead, she was held in a damp, cold and draughty timber-framed building, built up to the curtain wall. It was also near to the midden (the castle rubbish dump) and the smell was horrible!
During lockdown, the brilliant Lesley Smith, curator at Tutbury Castle, did a talk for my Patrons. This is now available to everyone, and can be viewed by clicking below.
Elizabeth (I) may not have wanted to kill her, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want her dead!
You can see more images which show where Mary’s final lodgings were situated and what they would have looked like, in the British History Patreon - click here.
Richard the Lionheart on History After Dark
Click the thumbnail above to watch (18 and over due to our unchecked use of the English Dictionary).
Wishing you all a fabulous week! I hope to catch you live on Tea Time History Chat Live, this Wednesday at 1pm. You can join me on Instagram or YouTube, click on the button of your preference, below, to set a reminder.
…and finally,
why is there a paid version of my Substack when I say it is free to subscribe? Well, it is free to subscribe and the weekly newsletter (this) and the Podcast are always free. The paid version of my Substack gets subscribers at least one blog each month. I’ve chosen the lowest amount I can, £3.50 per month (or £35 per year if paid in one go). If there are a group of you, you can purchase a year’s subscription for even cheaper, £31.50 per year!
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Wishing you a great, history filled, week everyone!
from Philippa