The Blounts of the West Midlands: Reformation Religion

I gave a paper at the European Reformation Research Group Conference at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge on Tuesday 9th September 2014. It was a great experience and my paper 'The Blounts of the West Midlands: A Gentry Family's Religion in the Reformation Period', which opened the conference got great feedback.

My paper looked at the religious activities and views of the Blounts of the West Midlands (Bessie Blount's family) during the Reformation period. This included an analysis of their interaction with the traditional church, their response to the dissolution of the monasteries and their links to Christian Humanism.

There were some fascinating papers during the two days of the conference, including studies of tolerance in the Elizabethan Catholic community, the material culture of the sixteenth century Catholics in the Netherlands and early modern English murder pamphlets. There were also studies of the works and theology of Martin Luther, Erasmus and John Frith. I was also able to catch the first day of the Reformation Studies Coloquium which opened on 10 September and will run until tomorrow. This is one of the most important conferences for scholars of the Reformation in England and the speakers and their papers were both highly innovative and thought provoking.

Catholic Records

Issue 147 of Your Family Tree Magazine is now available. Look out for my article on Catholic records. These can be a great resource for family historians, since the Elizabethan and Jacobean state kept detailed records of the people that it persecuted. Recusants - people who refused to attend Anglican church services - are especially visible. Find out how to access and make use of the records for your own family tree.

http://www.yourfamilytreemag.co.uk/

The Depiction of Children on Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Tombs

I have just received my copy of the Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society, vol LXXXVII (2012), which was issued last month (although dated 2012 for the journal series). You can find a copy in most academic libraries.

This volume contains my article on 'The Depiction of Children on the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Tombs in Kinlet Church', which looks at the tombs relating to the Blount and Cornwall families in the church (Bessie Blount's family), all of which include the commemorated individual's children.

Attitudes to children in the medieval and early modern period have always been seriously debated by historians. There is no doubt that infant mortality was high, but the evidence suggests that early parents loved their offspring as much as modern parents. Certainly, the evidence of their commemoration supports this.

If you get a chance to read the article, let me know what you think!

Some nice reviews!

There's a great review of my book, The Boleyn Women, over at Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History:

'Elizabeth Norton's book is a captivating and compelling read focussing on the women of the Boleyn family from the fourteenth century to the last Boleyn women, Elizabeth I and Catherine Carey, daughter of Mary Boleyn'.

'Elizabeth Norton gives these women life, gives them a voice by which to tell their stories, their life's adventures and their rise through not only marriage but also through their own skills and cunning'.

'Norton's book is brilliantly researched and it is obvious through the amount of detail that is put into the book that Norton has a strong love and interest in the women of the Boleyn family'.

'This was a wonderful, captivating and thoroughly enjoyable book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Tudor history or the study of women'.


There's also another lovely review of my Margaret Beaufort, which has been published by the author, Rebecca Henderson Palmer:

'Filled with detail and representing a more balanced view (and probably a more realistic one) than what Philippa Gregory offers in The Red Queen, Norton's story is captivating and provides Margaret with the attention and credit she deserves as the main force behind the House of Tudor'.

'Analytical, yet evenhanded, this is a solid read for those who want to push past the hype and consider the facts of this remarkable figure'.

Queen Anne, First Monarch of Great Britain

August 2014 marks the 300th anniversary of the death of Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch and the first ruler of a united Great Britain. Anne is often overlooked, but presided over twelve years of significant importance to Britain. Her personal life was also fascinating - she was one of the chief sources of claims that her half brother, the Old Pretender, was a changeling, smuggled into the royal bedchamber in a warming pan. Anne always had one eye on her possible accession to the throne, referring to the anticipated event as her 'sunshine day'. A physical invalid by the time that she became queen, Anne suffered the loss of seventeen children, eventually being succeeded by her German cousins, the Hannoverians.

You can read more about Queen Anne and her importance in my guest post over at the Post Office Shop Blog. They also have other posts on Anne and other events of historical importance.

From Peasant to Princess in Six Generations

The August 2014 issue of Discover Your History magazine was published today. You can pick up an electronic copy here. I wrote an article called 'From Peasant to Princess in Six Generations' which looks at the dramatic rise of the Boleyn family. Over the course of a century they went from peasants, farming a medieval manor, to princesses, with Anne Boleyn and her daughter both crowned as queens of England.

You can find out more about this dramatic rise in my article (and, of course, in my book 'Boleyn Women'!). The family demonstrate just how socially mobile some families could be in the period.

Looking Online: Find Old Records

Issue 145 of Your Family Tree magazine is now available. Look our for my article on Looking Online: Find Old Records. It has never been so easy to take your family tree back into the sixteenth century and earlier. Find out how to carry out research for free!