The Tudor Society
  • Tudor Letters

    In this week’s Claire Chats video, I talk about Tudor letters and share two of Elizabeth I’s letters, one from her youth and another from the last weeks of her life. Below my talk, you can find links to books of letters and archives where you can read Tudor letters. Enjoy!

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  • 31 July – A young Elizabeth writes to Catherine Parr

    On this day in Tudor history, 31st July 1544 and 1548, the future Queen Elizabeth I wrote letters to her stepmother, Catherine Parr.

    The letters were written at very different times in Elizabeth’s life, the first when Catherine was queen and Elizabeth had been separated from her for a while, and the second after Catherine had actually removed Elizabeth from her and Thomas Seymour’s household.

    I share Elizabeth’s letters and explain the context.

    Book recommendations: “Elizabeth” by David Starkey”; “Elizabeth I: Collected Works” ed. Leah S. Marcus, Mary Beth Rose, Janel Mueller.

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  • 31 July 1548 – Letter from Elizabeth to Catherine Parr

    On 31st July 1548, the fourteen year-old Elizabeth, future Elizabeth I, wrote to her stepmother Catherine Parr, the Dowager Queen. The letter was written just before the pregnant Catherine took to her chamber, and just weeks before Catherine died of puerperal (childbed) fever. Elizabeth wrote:

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