The case of Dr Roderigo Lopez, the only physician to English royalty ever to be executed for high treason, is not particularly well known, though Dominic Green’s The Double Life of Dr Lopez has done much to fill this gap in our knowledge. The case, however, provides a...
Tudors
Hampton Court: A Theatre of the Tudor Monarchy
Hampton Court: A Theatre of the Tudor Monarchy Hampton Court arrived as part of the Tudors’ property portfolio at an odd moment in the dynasty’s history. It was not somewhere that they had inherited from their predecessors – like Westminster, the Tower of London,...
Peter Tonkin on Shadow of Poison
Peter Tonkin, can you first tell us about your latest Poley novel? Shadow of Poison follows Queen’s Intelligencer Robert Poley from the aftermath of his unmasking of the Babington Plot in 1586, through the next eight years as he works to counter other, secret schemes...
Nature: Challenges & Changes
Nature: Challenges & Changes I live in the polders of the Netherlands, within sight of what used to be called the Zuiderzee in the old atlases of my childhood. Outside my window where I write I look onto a large pool of water, formed by the confluence of the...
James I: The Wisest Fool
James I: The Wisest Fool What makes a good king? What, for that matter, makes a good leader? Nowadays, we might identify qualities such as charisma, presence, and – one would hope – intelligence in decision-making and genuine care for the wellbeing of the people...
When Henry VIII Came to Dinner, by Paul Wreyford
We are in a modern suburban house occupied by a boy and his father. The boy is a teenager, with an enquiring mind and a predilection for bad jokes. The somewhat inept father is usually the butt of these and the banter adds to the humorous lightness of touch that...
How to Make History Appealing
My teenage son and daughter reckon that most history books are dull and boring. And you know what…I tend to agree with them. No, please don’t stop reading. Don’t throw me and my books on the fire – I’m no history heretic (or perhaps I am). Like you, I love history. So...
Chiselbury
Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on Amazon From the Publisher Chiselbury Publishing was founded 2011 to make the works of James Leasor, one of the bestselling and most prolific British authors of the second half of the...
Of Judgement Fallen, by Steven Veerapen
Our hapless hero, son of the king’s late black trumpeter John Blanke, is once again pressed into service as a spy by Cardinal Wolsey, the second most powerful figure in the land. Wolsey is pre-occupied with preparations for the forthcoming opening of Parliament at...
Great & Horrible News, by Blessin Adams
As a former policewoman, Blessin Adams is well aware of the human cost of murder. In Great and Horrible News, this moving nonfiction study, she investigates the crimes that shook Tudor and Stuart England. In doing so, she approaches her cases forensically: and what a...