Quiz - Tudor and Plantagenet Myths, Legends and Tall Stories

Tudor and Plantagenet myths and legends

Q1) The Bisley Boy legend, which claims that Elizabeth I died as a child and was replaced with a boy from the village of Bisley, was popularised in the writings of which author?

Bram Stoker

Walter Scott

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Lord Byron

Correct! Stoker recounted the legend in his book "Famous Imposters".

Wrong! It was Bram Stoker and he recounted the legend in his book "Famous Imposters".

Q2) Which monarch did some late 16th century and 17th century writers claim was born by caesarean section?

Richard III

Edward IV

Edward VI

Henry VIII

Correct! It is a myth that was used to discredit Henry VIII.

Wrong! It was Edward VI. It is a myth that was used to discredit Henry VIII.

Q3) According to legend, which part of Anne Boleyn is buried at St Mary's Church, Erwarton, Suffolk?

Her head

Her heart

Her extra finger

Her entrails

Correct! Legend has it that Sir Philip Parker of Erwarton Hall buried Anne's heart there. In 1838, during renovations at St Mary’s church, a heart-shaped casket was found set into an alcove in the north aisle. A plaque at the church explains how this casket was reburied beneath the church organ.

Wrong! Legend has it that Sir Philip Parker of Erwarton Hall buried Anne's heart there. In 1838, during renovations at St Mary’s church, a heart-shaped casket was found set into an alcove in the north aisle. A plaque at the church explains how this casket was reburied beneath the church organ.

Q4) Some people claim that Edward IV was not fathered by Richard of York but by an archer named...

Butler

Talbot

Blenheim

Blaybourne

Correct!

Wrong! It was an archer named Blaybourne.

Q5) In 1533, Elizabeth Amadas linked Henry VIII to which ancient prophecy?

Mouldwarp

The return of King Arthur

King Ahab

Doomsday

Correct!

Wrong! She linked him to the cursed Mouldwarp.

Q6) According to popular myth, who composed Greensleeves?

Thomas Wyatt

Anne Boleyn

George Boleyn

Henry VIII

Correct!

Wrong! It was said to have been Henry VIII.

Q7) Whose words "God provided for her corpse sacred burial, even in a place as it were consecrate to innocence" have been used to back up the legend that Anne Boleyn's body was moved from the Tower of London to Salle Church in Norfolk?

Henry Howard

Thomas Wyatt

Thomas Vaux

Alexander Alesius

Correct!

Wrong! They are the words of Thomas Wyatt.

Q8) According to legend, Elizabeth Woodville was descended from Mélusine, a spirit of...

Fire

The sea

Air

Fresh water

Correct!

Wrong! Mélusine was a spirit of fresh water springs and rivers.

Q9) According to rumours, Edward VI was poisoned to death, but who was the poisoner?

John Dudley

Henry Grey

Frances Grey (nee Brandon)

His half-sister Mary

Correct!

Wrong! It was said to be John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

Q10) Sir Thomas Chaloner claimed that which Tudor woman was pregnant at her execution?

Anne Boleyn

Lady Jane Grey

Katherine Howard

Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford

Correct! In his "Elegy on the death of Lady Jane Grey" he wrote "[Mary] did not forgive this [one], she was not stirred by [Jane’s] youth nor fortitude, nor by nearness of blood, nor (so holy) by pregnancy."

Q11) Who was born at Winchester because it was thought to be the location of the legendary Camelot?

Henry VIII

Henry VII

Edward VI

Arthur Tudor

Correct! Henry VII was convinced that Arthur's birth would bring about a new golden age, like that of the legendary King Arthur.

Wrong! Arthur Tudor, son of Henry VII, was born there. Henry VII was convinced that Arthur's birth would bring about a new golden age, like that of the legendary King Arthur.

Q12) The mouldwarp prophecy was linked to Henry VIII in 1533 and during the Pilgrimage of Grace, but what creature was a mouldwarp?

A serpent

A basilisk

A mole

A goat

Correct!

Wrong! It was a mole.