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Online Resources

Renaissance, the Elizabethan World - Quite possibly the richest find on the web when it comes to Elizabethan history. When in doubt, check here first!

Elizabethan Speech - A good reference to the words and phrases used in the period.

Richard III Society - An excellent site that covers the battle of Bosworth and the controversy of whether Richard III or Henry Tudor should have stayed on the throne.

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada - Good page that discusses the political and religious conflicts that set up the Armada, as well as the actual events during Spain's attempt to invade England.

Ranks, Professions, Occupations and Trades

Medieval And Obsolete English Trade And Professional Terms

Medieval and Renaissance Swords and Daggers Terminology

Renaissance Swordsmanship and our Western Martial Heritage

History of War and Weapons - 449 to 1660

Manuals

Yeoman Manual of Arms by Steve Heubusch & Michael Sanders - A basic history of the Yeomen and how-to manual on portraying a Yeoman. Includes facing & marching commands and weapon handling drills.

Thesis, Laurentian University History Department, by Gary G. G. J. Yensen, 1996 - An outstanding reference document on development of manual of arms c1615.

Character Biography Worksheet - This will assist you in developing your character from the ground up. The file is in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF).

Character Biography Worksheet - This is the above document in MS Word format.

Costuming

St. George Productions Costuming Guidelines - Our Costuming Rules and Suggestions. This is a 220kb file in Adobe Acrobat format.

Diagrams for assisting in designing your costume (more are on the way!)

Tudor Costume And Fashion by Henry Norris
@Amazon.com
 @Barnes & Noble


Elizabethan Costuming for the Years 1550-1580 by Janet Winter & Carolyn Savoy
@Amazon.com
@Folger Shakespeare Theater
@Smoke & Fire Company

Ye Olde Dial-A-Dress - An excellent online tool to help you design the basic shape/features of a Renaissance dress.

http://www.sempstress.org - A practical, real world costuming site with many insights and tips. Home of Ye Olde Dial-A-Dress listed above.

Books

While there are hundreds of books that will give you a good to excellent background on English history, the following are Bobby's favorites. There are links to Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com for each (if they could be found)

  1. All the Queens Men, by Neville Williams - Amazon
  2. The Virgin Queen, by Christopher Hibbert - Amazon - B&N
  3. Elizabeth I, Collected Works, by Leah Marcus, Janel Mueller, and Mary Beth Rose - Amazon - B&N
  4. The Public and Private Worlds of Elizabeth I, by Susan Watkins - Amazon - B&N
  5. New Worlds, Lost Worlds ( The Rule of the Tudors 1485-1603), by Susan Brigden - Amazon - B&N
  6. A Royal History of England (The Tudors), Neville Williams, edited by Antonia Fraser - Amazon

And the entire list of books that Bobby has in his library are listed below. Quite the impressive library!

  • Tudor England - John Guy - Amazon - B&N
  • The Tudor Years - J. Lotherington
  • Rivals in Power - David Starkey - Amazon - B&N
  • The Longman Companion to the Tudor Age - Rosemary O'Day - Amazon - B&N
  • England Under the Tudors - G. R. Elton - Amazon - B&N

Who Was Who in Tudor England

Henry VII

    • Henry VII - Roger Lockyer, Andrew Thrush - Amazon
    • Henry VII - S. B. Chrimes - Amazon - B&N
    • Henry VII - Caroline Rogers - B&N

Wars of the Roses

    • The Wars Of The Roses - Bruce Webster - Amazon - B&N
    • The Wars Of The Roses - J.R. Lander - Amazon - B&N
    • The Wars Of The Roses - edited By A.J. Pollard - Amazon

Henry VIII

    • Henry VIII - Andrew Langley ; Illustrated By John James
    • Henry VIII - J.J. Scarisbrick - Amazon - B&N
    • Henry VIII - Jasper Ridley - Amazon
    • Henry VIII - John Bowle - Amazon

English Reformation

    • The Reformation 1520-1559 - edited By G.R. Elton
    • The English Reformation Revised - edited By Christopher Haigh - Amazon
    • The Church Of England, The Catholics And The People - Christopher Haigh
    • The Dissolution Of The Monasteries - Joyce Youings - Amazon
    • The Dissolution Of The Monasteries - G. W. O. Woodward - Amazon
    • The English Reformation - A.G. Dickens - Amazon
    • Henry VIII and the English Reformation - Richard Rex - Amazon - B&N
    • Religious Thought in the Reformation - Bernard M.G. Reardon - Amazon - B&N
    • England's long reformation 1500-1800 - Nicholas Tyacke - Amazon

Edward VI

    • Edward VI - Jennifer Loach - Amazon - B&N
    • Edward VI and Mary : A mid-Tudor crisis - Nigel Heard - Amazon - B&N
    • Edward VI, The Threshold of Power: The Dominance of the Duke of Northumberland - W.K. Jordan - Amazon - B&N
    • The Life and Reign of King Edward the Sixth - John Hayward, Barrett L. Beer(Editor) - Amazon - B&N

Lady Jane Grey

    • Lady Jane Grey and the House of Suffolk -Alison Plowden - B&N
    • Lady Jane Grey - Hester W.Chapman - B&N
    • Nine Day's Queen : A Portrait of Lady Jane Grey - Mary Luke - Amazon - B&N
    • Lady Jane Grey: the setting of the reign - David Mathew - Amazon

Mary I

    • Mary Tudor: A Life - David Loades - Amazon - B&N
    • Bloody Mary - Carolly Erickson - Amazon - B&N
    • The Reign of Mary I - Robert Tittler - Amazon - B&N
    • The Lady Mary: A Biography of Mary Tudor,1516-1558 - Milton Waldman - Amazon
    • The Life and Times of Mary Tudor - Jasper Godwin Ridley - Amazon

Elizabeth I

    • Elizabeth - David Starkey - Amazon - B&N
    • Elizabeth I - Christopher Haigh - Amazon - B&N
    • Elizabeth I - Wallace MacCaffrey - Amazon - B&N
    • Elizabeth I - Anne Somerset - Amazon
    • Elizabeth The Great - Elizabeth Jenkins - Amazon - B&N
    • The First Elizabeth - Carolly Erickson - Amazon - B&N
    • Elizabeth I: A Feminist Perspective - Susan Basset - Amazon
    • Elizabeth I - Catherine Bush - Amazon
    • Elizabeth I, Queen of England - Richard L. Greaves - Amazon - B&N
    • Elizabeth Tudor :The Lonely Queen - Arthur MacNalty
    • Gloriana : The Years of Elizabeth I - Mary M. Luke - Amazon - B&N
    • A Crown for Elizabeth - Mary M. Luke - Amazon
    • Elizabeth I: A Study in Power and Intellect - Paul Johnson - Amazon
    • As They Saw Her: Elizabeth I - Alison Plowden - Amazon
    • Elizabeth Regina: The Age of Triumph, 1588-1603 - Alison Plowden (expected to be re-released) - Amazon
    • Entertainments for Elizabeth I - Jean Wilson - Amazon - B&N
    • Suitors of the Queen: The Men in the Life of Elizabeth I of England - Josephine Ross - Amazon - B&N
    • The Queen and the Hive: Queen Elizabeth I - Edith Sitwell
    • Elizabeth Tudor: Portrait of a Queen - Lacey Baldwin Smith - Amazon
    • The Cult of Elizabeth - Roy Strong - Amazon - B&N
    • Gloriana: The Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I - Roy Strong - Amazon - B&N
    • Elizabeth I and Tudor England - Stephen White-Thomson - Amazon
    • Elizabeth the Great - Elizabeth Jenkins - Amazon - B&N
    • Elizabeth and Leicester - Elizabeth Jenkins - Amazon - B&N
    • The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth - Martin Hume - Amazon - B&N
    • The Sayings of Queen Elizabeth - Frederick Chamberlin
    • Elizabeth and Leycester - Frederick Chamberlin
    • The Private Character of Queen Elizabeth - Frederick Chamberlin
    • Elizabeth I CEO - Alan Axelrod - Amazon - B&N
    • Elizabeth I: The Competition for Representation - Susan Frye - Amazon - B&N
    • Virgin Mother, Maiden Queen: Elizabeth I and the Cult of the Virgin Mary - Helen Hacket
    • The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Sex and Power - Carol Levin - B&N
    • Reading the Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I - Elizabeth W. Pomeroy - Amazon
    • The Cult of Elizabeth - Roy Strong - Amazon - B&N
    • Dissing Elizabeth: Negative Representations of Gloriana - Julia M. Walker (ed.) - Amazon - B&N
    • Astraea - Francis Yates
    • The Image of the Queen in Elizabethan Poetry - Teresa Bela - Amazon
    • Gloriana: The portraits of Queen Elizabeth I - Roy Strong - Amazon - B&N
    • The Portable Queen: Elizabeth I and the Politics of Ceremony - Mary Hill Cole - Amazon - B&N
    • An Elizabethan Progress: The Queen's Journey to East Anglia, 1578 - Zillah Dovey - Amazon - B&N
    • Palaces and Progresses of Elizabeth I - by Ian Dunlop - Amazon - B&N
    • Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth (several vols) - John Nichols
    • Elizabeth I and Religion, 1558-1603 - Susan Doran - Amazon - B&N
    • The Elizabethan Religious Settlement - Claire Cross - Amazon
    • The Age of Elizabeth : England Under the Later Tudors, 1547-1603 - D.M. Palliser - Amazon
    • Daily Life in Elizabethan England - Jeffrey L. Singman, Will McClean - Amazon - B&N
    • The Elizabethan Renaissance - A. L. Rowse - Amazon - B&N
    • Elizabethan England - William W. Lace - Amazon - B&N
    • Life in Elizabethan England - A. H. Dodd - Amazon - B&N

Elizabethan Exploration & America

    • The Sea Dogs : Privateers, Plunder and Piracy in the Elizabethan Age - Neville Williams - Amazon
    • Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado - Marc Aronson - Amazon - B&N
    • The Letters of Sir Walter Ralegh - Walter Raleigh, Joyce Youings (Editor), Agnes Latham (Editor), ag Latham - Amazon - B&N
    • Sir Walter Raleigh and the New World - John W Shirley - Amazon - B&N
    • The American Colonies, 1492-1750; a study of their political, economic, and social development - Jernegan, Marcus Wilson - B&N
    • Sixteenth Century North America: The Land and the People As Seen By The Europeans - Sauer, Carl Ortwin - Amazon
    • The European Outthrust And Encounter : The First Phase C.1400-C.1700 : Essays In Tribute To David Be - edited By Cecil H. Clough And P.E.H. Hair - B&N
    • North America From Earliest Discovery To First Settlements The Norse Voyages To 1612 - David B. Quinn
    • The Old World And The New 1492-1650 - by J. H. Elliott - Amazon
    • Voyages of the Elizabethan Seamen. Select narratives from the `Principal navigations' of Hakluyt, ed. - Edward John Payne, with additional notes, maps, etc. by C. Raymond Beazley.

Dance Resources

Renaissance Dance Steps - An explanation of terms used in describing the individual movements of each dance.

And here are Step-by-step instructions for performing these dances...

Chiranzula

Contrepasso in Ruota

Bella Gioiosa

Fidelta

Fidelta (Court Bransle)

La Castellana

Spagnoletta Nuova

Music Resources

Please note that the following links will start a download of an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Should you need the PDF reader software, please visit http://www.adobe.com.

Also note that you may either download the file (consult your browser's help file on how to do this) or, if you have the Acrobat plug-in, view the file online.

Ballo Del Fiore (Pravan Dance Tune) - 34KB
Barley Mow - 361KB
Bear Dance - 215KB
Bella Gioiosa - 39KB
Blooming Heather - 67KB
Bring On The Starlight - 141KB
Calling On Song - 59KB
Country Life - 53KB
Gathering Peascods - 39KB
Goddesses - 22KB
Grimstock - 31KB
Gypsy Rover - 58KB
Hal-In-Tow - 76KB
Health To The Company - 60KB
It's a Rosebud in June - 47KB
Nonesuch - 50KB
Over The Waterfall - 50KB
Parting Glass - 58KB
Passtime - 46KB
Schiarazula - 26KB
Rufty Tufty - 42KB
Spanish Ladies - 125KB
The Queen - 34KB
Wild Rover- 60KB

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Last updated: February 3, 2012
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