Tag: Opinion

Book Review – ‘A Brief History of the Tudor Age’ by Jasper Ridley

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Jasper Ridley 'A Brief History of the Tudor Age'
Jasper Ridley ‘A Brief History of the Tudor Age’

Jasper Ridley, ‘A Brief History of the Tudor Age’ (London: Constable and Robinson, 2002), Paperback, ISBN 978-1-84119-471-4

Title: This book is not a history of the Tudor monarchs, like so many history books are, but the age as a whole. It includes chapters on the likes of fashion, law-enforcement and vagabonds, for example. However, it is brief, as the title also suggests.

Preface: Unusually, there is no preface as such to this book. However, it does include a very helpful chronology for those not as familiar with the period.

Citations: These aren’t brilliant, as notes aren’t made within the text to suggest where information came from. There aren’t footnotes or endnotes, either, just a list of sources used in each chapter, which means that you can’t follow up where Ridley got certain pieces of information from. You just have to trust that he’s telling the truth. Continue reading “Book Review – ‘A Brief History of the Tudor Age’ by Jasper Ridley” →

Thomas Wyatt’s Poetry Analysis

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Thomas Wyatt Sketch by Hans Holbein.
Thomas Wyatt Sketch by Hans Holbein.

‘Whoso List to Hunt’ and ‘Sometime I Fled the Fire’

In this post, I will analyse two of Wyatt’s poems supposedly pertaining to Anne Boleyn, Whoso List to Hunt and Sometime I Fled the Fire. Later posts will examine They Flee From Me, And Wilt Thou Leave Me Thus and Circa Regna Tonat.

Whoso List to Hunt
Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, helas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest come behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow.
I leave off therefore Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain Continue reading “Thomas Wyatt’s Poetry Analysis” →

Review of Sources on British History Online

~ Helene Harrison ~ 3 Comments

British History Online [www.british-history.ac.uk]

British History Online
British History Online

The internet is a fast-growing source of information. British History Online is a source database which allows students and academics to conduct research into a variety of areas in British history pre-1800, specifically in the workings of parliament and the monarchy. This is a side-effect of the age of technology – people are using digital resources more and more in order to conduct research, rather than visiting a physical archive. This is because digital resources in general do not have some of the drawbacks that physical archives do. For example, you do not have to travel to access digital archives, and you are less likely to have time restrictions on studying them. Travelling to and from archives also tends to be quite expensive, depending on how far afield you have to go. For example, studying American history might mean that the majority of archives are in America. Reading physical documents can be quite time-consuming, particularly if they are old and you have to decipher the handwriting or if they are considered fragile. Continue reading “Review of Sources on British History Online” →