Here in Spain, we’ve been on lockdown since Monday due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Now, I could use this as inspiration to talk about epidemics, the plague, influenza and sweating sickness in history, but I’m not. I’ll give you links to my talks on those, but I want to stop thinking about the nasty stuff.
So, with so many people around the world in lockdown or self-isolating, I thought I’d give you some ideas for keeping occupied and getting your Tudor history fix.
Indoor and outdoor Tudor pursuits
Game instructions, more games and further reading
- Glückhaus, House of Fortune or Lucky Pig - See http://www.coht.org/resources/Gluckhaus.pdf for instructions and a board template.
- Niddy Noddy card game for children - see http://www.lscacamp.org/portals/0/medieval%20games%20and%20recreation.pdf
- Piquet (Cent) card game - see http://www.lscacamp.org/portals/0/medieval%20games%20and%20recreation.pdf for instructions.
- Primiera/Prime/Primero - See http://web.archive.org/web/20050208060221/http://www.elizabethangeek.com/wiki/PrimeroRules and http://jducoeur.org/game-hist/game-recon-primero.html for rules.
- Fox and Geese board game - See http://www.exeter.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=16578&p=0 for board template, counters and instructions, or http://www.auntannie.com/GamesToMake/FoxGeese/ for a craft activity to make a roll-up game board.
- Nine Men's Morris - See http://www.historyisfun.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AnnasAdventures_NineMensMorris.pdf for instructions and board template.
Virtual tours of museums, galleries and more:
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence - https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/uffizi-gallery?hl=en and https://www.florence.net/virtual-tour-uffizi-gallery.asp
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-metropolitan-museum-of-art?hl=en and https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/met-360-project
- Tate Britain - https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/tate-britain?hl=en and https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain/display/walk-through-british-art
- National Portrait Gallery - https://www.npg.org.uk/visit/360-gallery-views/
- National Gallery - https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtual-tours
- Victoria and Albert Museum - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/videos/m/video-medieval-and-renaissance-galleries/
- British Museum - https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-british-museum
- The Louvre, Paris - https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne
- Hever Castle – Dr Owen Emmerson has recently done a view “inside Hever Castle” videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/joustinghevercastle/videos
By the way, three of my books, The Anne Boleyn Collection III, The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown, and On This Day in Tudor History, are Kindle Countdown deals at the moment. They're priced at 99p/99c on Amazon UK and Amazon.com from now until midnight on 25th March. Grab them while you can. You can find them on my Amazon author pages - click here to see it in your country. My other books are very cheap on kindle too, and if you don't have a kindle, don't worry, Amazon have a free kindle reading app for mobile devices, tablets and computers.
George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat, written by me and Clare Cherry, will be available on kindle at 99p/99c from 21 March to 27 March.
MedievalCourses.com have a special sale at the moment (from now until the end of 25 March) offering 50% off each and every one of their history courses. The courses are all completely online, with no set start or end dates, and include medieval courses, courses on Tudor times, Tudor women, Henry VIII's six wives, Anne Boleyn, the Medicis, the Borgias, the Reformation, Richard III.... and all by experts in the field (Toni Mount, Samanthan Morris, Gareth Russell, and Yours Truly!). Lots to get stuck into! Simply go to https://medievalcourses.com/overview/, browse the courses and buy as many as you like. Use coupon code HAPPY at checkout to get 50% off from now until the end of 25th March. Everyone anywhere in the world can do them.
Illnesses in Tudor times:
- Tudor diseases - https://www.tudorsociety.com/tudor-diseases-video/
- Smallpox - https://www.tudorsociety.com/smallpox/
- The Plague - https://www.tudorsociety.com/smallpox/
- Sweating Sickness - https://youtu.be/qwSjvIixzP8