The life of Sir James Melville
Diplomat, councillor and possible spy Sir James Melville was a fascinating Tudor
Words: Melita Thomas
Sir James Melville came from a Protestant family in Fife, Scotland. His father was executed for treason – for revealing the dispositions...
Tudor of the month: Lord Robert Dudley
Lord Robert Dudley had a passionate affair with Elizabeth I. Melita Thomas of Tudor Times explores why the queen didn't marry him and what happened to their relationship
Lord Robert Dudley was the love of...
The Tudors who shaped modern Britain
The Tudor age was a tumultuous period of history that did much to shape modern Britain as we know it. Here Melita Thomas, of the Tudor Times, selects the 10 most influential men and woman of that era.
Remarkable portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots discovered under 16th-century painting of a man
Unfinished portrait of controversial 16th-century queen Mary Stuart found under painting of Sir John Maitland. The picture may have been painted and then covered up in dangerous times
A rare portrait of Mary, Queen of...
Why Mary, Queen of Scots lived one of the most dramatic lives in British...
The life of Mary, Queen of Scots was dramatic. From the day her father died, when she was a week old, to her death at the hands of an English executioner 45 years later,...
Tudor of the Month: Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke
Mary Sidney was one of the most significant female literary figures of the Renaissance, say Tudor Times
Mary Sidney is remembered not only for her own work, of which probably only a part remains, but...
Who was Elizabeth I? What was her part in the Spanish Armada?
Queen Elizabeth I presided over an age of discovery that saw the establishment of the English Protestant church, the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the flourishing of the arts. She reigned from 1558-1603
The...
Who was Henry VIII? What did he think of his six wives?
King Henry VIII staged six royal weddings, became Ireland's first English monarch and sowed the seeds for a multicultural Britain. He reigned from 1509-1547
We all know King Henry VIII because of his six wives....
Who was Mary, Queen of Scots? Why was she imprisoned?
Mary Stuart became queen of the Scots when she was six days old, was widowed at 18 and was executed aged 44. She ruled from 1542 to 1567
Mary Queen of Scots was born in 1542,...
Tudor John Knox: Scottish minister, writer and leader of the Reformation
This month Melita Thomas of Tudor Times explores the life and times of Tudor John Knox, a Scottish firebrand who lived through during the reigns of King Henry VIII, Edward VI, Bloody Mary and...
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