One of the most notorious and maligned figures of the Tudor Court was George Boleyn’s wife, Lady Jane Rochford. She has been decried through the ages as a horrible, spiteful bitch who got her husband and sister-in-law deliberately murdered by telling Thomas Cromwell lies about George and Anne Boleyn’s supposedly incestuous relationship. Cromwell is often… Read more The Rochford Files
I stumbled upon the concept of Melungeons many years ago when I read Kentucky author Jesse Stuart’s renowned work Daughter of the Legend. In the book, the hero falls in love with a Melungeon heroine, and endures all the prejudice from former friends that comes with following his heart. Melungeons are/were a group of people… Read more Getting My Melungeon On
Authoritative knowledge. I know I have mentioned it before, but it is a very big concept in medical anthropology and thus bears repeating. Basically, cultures imbue some people/groups with the “authority” to decided what “knowledge” is real. These systems of knowledge may even be in competition with one another. An example of this is the… Read more Old Wife’s Tales
The best thing about being an author is that other people will read your writing and some of those people will really like your work and give you a four or even five star review, which will make your heart do the Snoopy Dance of Much Happiness. You will think those people are wonderful and… Read more The Lone Star State of Mind
I am always a bit tentative when I read a book by an author I have never read before. I am such a raging bibliophile that I get easily bored and/or frustrated with writing that doesn’t enthrall me like I want to be enthralled. This wariness is multiplied exponentially when it is a book of… Read more An Incredibly Good Historical Read
I love to read historical fiction. My favorite kind is the type that has fictitious characters (or at least historical people about whom little is known) that occasionally interact with famous historical people, which allows an easy suspension of disbelief and lets me sink into the story without being jarred out of the narrative by… Read more Historical Accuracy in Historical Fiction
I wrote a review of a Tudor historical romance, and it was published over on Smart Bitches/Trashy Books. Enjoy! My name is Kyra Cornelius Kramer and I like romance novels. I like them so much I write academic essays about them. I have also done academic work in history, particularly King Henry VIII, including a… Read more In a Treacherous Court
I love The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. When Peter Jackson made the LOTR film trilogy, my husband and I were rabid with excitement. We bought the extended cut DVDs when they came out and we still watch even the extras about how they made the model city of Gondor like hungry wolves.… Read more I am SUCH a geek
There was no trick or treating, but the Tudors did recognise the night before All Soul’s Day (All-Hallows-Eve) as a particularly spooky time, a time when the uneasy dead or spirits could pass between the thinned veil of this world and the next, so this is a good time to talk about Anne Boleyn’s very… Read more Heads or Tales
Falconry, or the art of hunting using birds of prey, was a hugely popular sport among the wealthy and noble during the Tudor era. It continues even today, perpetuated by small but devoted groups of enthusiasts. A lot of the terms for the birds or the equipment used are the same as they were in… Read more Henry Hawking