Samuel Pepys' diary has been very useful to historians because it gives a first hand account of the Restoration, the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, so at the moment I'm keeping a daily diary for future historians to use as a source on the Coronavirus. Who knows if anyone will ever read it, but keeping it is also keeping me sane.
It made me think about the memoirs and diaries from the Tudor period, and just how useful they are at giving us an insight into the lives of Tudor people.
- The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550-1563 - https://www.british-history.ac.uk/camden-record-soc/vol42
- Memoirs of Robert Carey, Earl of Monmouth - https://archive.org/details/memoirsrobertca00orregoog/page/n11/mode/2up
- Philip Henslowe's diary - https://archive.org/search.php?query=henslowe%20diary...
- The Private Life of an Elizabethan Lady (Margaret Hoby) - https://www.amazon.com/Private-Life-Elizabethan-Lady-1599-1605/dp/0750913495
- The Diary of Richard Madox - Find out more at https://www.worldcat.org/title/elizabethan-in-1582-the-diary-of-richard-madox-fellow-of-all-souls/oclc/3334261
- John Manningham's diary - https://archive.org/details/diaryjohnmannin00manngoog/page/n8/mode/2up
- Hayward Townshend's diary - https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/parliament-proceedings-eliz1
- Thomas Coningsby's Journal of the Siege of Rouen - https://archive.org/details/journalofsiegeof00conirich/page/n6/mode/2up
- “The world encompassed by Sir Francis Drake”, based on Francis Fletcher's account - https://archive.org/details/worldencompass00drakrich/page/n5/mode/2up
- Richard Cocks' account of his time in Japan, 1615 - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/43961
- Lady Anne Clifford's diary - see parts of it at https://archive.org/details/ladyanneclifford00willuoft/page/iii/mode/2up
- "Humphrey Newton (1466-1536): an early Tudor Gentleman" - https://boydellandbrewer.com/humphrey-newton-1466-1536-an-early-tudor-gentleman.html
- Diary of Samuel Pepys - https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/