Guest Post – Amy McElroy on Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era

Today I welcome the lovely Amy McElroy to the blog! Amy and I connected when our first books shared a publication day back in January 2023, so I’m delighted to have Amy on the blog to celebrate the release of her second book ‘Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era’ which came out in February 2024. I haven’t finished reading it myself yet but it is chock full of information about the lives of women from birth to death. It is also Amy’s birthday today, so Happy Birthday, Amy!

Hello Amy, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to be interested in Tudor history?

Hi Helene, thank you for having me! I have always had an interest in the monarchy, but the Plantagenets and Tudors really captured my attention. I would read whatever I could get my hands on, which initially started as mostly fiction, but it led to me going off to read more in non-fiction works and then on to my own research. There are just so many interesting characters and events that happened during that idea, what’s not to love?

Your first book was ‘Educating the Tudors’ so what made you delve into that topic for your first publication?

I had noticed that Henry VIII is often referred to as a Renaissance Prince and I wanted to know what exactly that meant. For some, the Renaissance brings thoughts of the creative arts, but it majorly revamped education too. I fell down a rabbit hole researching the differences in education across the social ranks as well as Henrys education in comparison to his siblings and his children. It is a fascinating subject and I’m honoured that I actually got to publish a book about it.

Your new book is ‘Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era’, so what made you move from education in the Tudor period to women’s lives?

My research for Educating the Tudors made it clear that education between males and female (with exceptions of course) was vastly different! It made me wonder what else differed in their lives. There is a lot of literature about the prominent women of the Tudor period and some great books about Tudor life in general, but I wanted to examine as many experiences as I could (within my word-count anyway).

You go through women’s lives chronologically from birth and childhood through marriage and widowhood to death – was it a conscious decision to tackle it like this, or did you consider other methods?

Shakespeare wrote of the Seven Ages of Man, and I initially wondered if I should aim to try something similar for women. I ultimately decided to settle on major life events of women instead and how societal expectations changed for them on reaching these milestones, though I did want to remain in chronological order as I wanted the book the almost be like a walk through a woman’s life.

Did you have a favourite chapter to work on?

Oh, that is quite difficult as I loved every minute of Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era but at a push, I would have to say the chapter on Wills of Women. I find it fascinating to read wills and understanding the bequests women made at the time.

How do you go about tackling your research? Do you have a particular method that you follow?

I try to formulate a plan (no it does not always work out that way and that’s ok!). After planning I will set to organising research material for each chapter, what do I have, what do I need, where do I need to get a source, and travel arrangements if I need to go somewhere specific like the National Archives or British Library. I tend to take copious notes, so I have tonnes of notebooks brimming with my scrawl. I try to work in chapter order but sometimes I will go off on a tangent, but it is fun, so I don’t really mind!

Was there something you found out in the course of your research which really surprised you?

The wills of women written during the Tudor period are fascinating. It really made it obvious to me that women tried to care for other female relatives/friends/servants when writing their will. Many made gifts to servants which I find endearing and there are some really strange ones too like dividing a house by room to different children.

What piece of advice would you give to someone wanting to get in to writing historical non-fiction?

I would say write about something you are genuinely interested in; I could not imagine researching or writing on a subject which I was not passionate about. If you love your subject, it doesn’t feel too much like work, its enjoyable! I would also say don’t get caught up by others progress, we are all different and work at different speeds, all progress is progress so go at your own pace.

What are you currently working on?

I have recently submitted Mary Tudor, Queen of France, so will be working on the editing in the near future but in the meantime, I am working on my fourth book, Desiderius Erasmus. He is essentially another rabbit hole I fell down, but I have zero regrets! I am also researching my fifth, Teaching the Tudors: The Men Who Shaped a Dynasty’s Minds. You could say I am a busy bee at the moment!