In this episode of Talking Tudors, host Natalie Grueninger is joined by Professor Anne Larson and Professor Steve Maiullo to explore the life, works, and legacy of Anna Maria van Schurman — a multilingual scholar, poet, and theological thinker famed across 17th‑century Europe.

The conversation covers her exceptional education, advocacy for women’s learning, influential correspondence with leading intellectuals, and her later spiritual choices, offering a concise portrait of a pioneering and controversial figure.

LINKS OF INTEREST

https://projectvox.library.duke.edu/

https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/new-narratives

BOOKS MENTIONED

Anna Maria van Schurman, 'The Star of Utrecht': The Educational Vision and Reception of a Savante by Anne Larsen.

'Letters and Poems to and from Her Mentor and Other Members of Her Circle', edited by Anne Larsen and Steve Maiullo.

'Whether a Christian Woman Should Be Educated and Other Writings from Her Intellectual Circle' by Joyce Irwin.

'Republic of Women' by Carol Pal.

CONNECT WITH NATALIE GRUENINGER!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-grueninger-b5899254

Learn more about today's sponsor: Simply Tudor Tours!

https://simplytudortours.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-anne-boleyn-giveaway-2026/

Host Natalie Grueninger speaks with Emma Rutherford and Dr Elizabeth Goldring about the freshly authenticated Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature, likely depicting Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. The episode covers stylistic and technical evidence, costume comparisons, family provenance, and the discovery of a defaced playing card on the reverse.

Guests discuss the miniature’s emotional context, its possible ties to Shakespeare and the sonnets, and why this intimate find matters for Tudor art, patronage, and literary history.

VISIT THE LIMNER COMPANY https://www.portraitminiature.com/

LEARN MORE ABOUT DR ELIZABETH GOLDRING

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/centrestaff/elizabethgoldring/

Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com

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Host Natalie Grueninger interviews Dr Erica Canela about her new book, 'Zealous: A Darker Side of the Early Quakers'. They explore how the English Civil Wars and the rise of print culture spawned a radical, disruptive Quaker movement led by George Fox, its beliefs in direct revelation and social equality, and the often violent reactions it provoked.

The episode traces the movement’s early urgency—marketplace preaching, unlawful meetings, arrests—and follows its later transformation into a disciplined, influential community known for pacifism, business integrity, and social reform.

VISIT DR CANELA'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE https://ericanela.co.uk/

TUDOR TAKEAWAY

'Thorns, Lust, and Glory: The Betrayal of Anne Boleyn' by Estelle Paranque

Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com

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Join Natalie Grueninger and expert guide Sarah Slater for a tour of Hampton Court Palace: its Tudor history, the spectacular Great Hall stained glass, and the spine-tingling ghost stories tied to Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard, Anne Boleyn and the Grey Lady, Dame Sybil Penn.

They discuss eyewitness accounts, a mysterious CCTV figure, EMF readings in the Haunted Gallery, and the palace’s long social and architectural past—plus book recommendations and ways to learn more.

LINKS MENTIONED https://britainsbestguides.org/ https://www.thehistoryguides.com/guides/

BOOKS MENTIONED

'The Palace' by Gareth Russell

'Private Lives of the Tudors' by Tracy Borman

'In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn' by Natalie Grueninger & Sarah Morris

'A Tudor Christmas' by Alison Weir & Siobhan'

'Hampton Court: A Social and Architectural History' by Simon Thurley

Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com

Support Talking Tudors on Patreon!

Host Natalie Greninger speaks with historian Sophie Bacchus-Waterman about her new biography, exploring Elizabeth Boleyn’s early life, marriage to Thomas Boleyn, and her long court career within the Howard and Boleyn networks.

The episode highlights Elizabeth’s political astuteness, her close relationship with Anne Boleyn, fresh archival finds (including pay-books and household records), and how the book reshapes our understanding of the Boleyn family. 

Follow Sophie Bacchus-Waterman on Insta!

https://www.instagram.com/sophiebwaterman/

TUDOR TAKEAWAY

Digital Bodleian https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com

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In this episode Natalie Grueninger interviews Dr Elizabeth Goldring about her new biography 'Holbein: Renaissance Master'. They trace Hans Holbein’s journey from Augsburg and Basel to Tudor England, his key patrons including Erasmus and Thomas More, his role at Henry VIII’s court, and his lasting impact on portraiture and Tudor culture.

The conversation also highlights archival discoveries, Holbein’s workshop practices, the Greenwich revels, and the painter’s remarkable ability to adapt politically and artistically through changing times.

Learn more about Dr Goldring

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/centrestaff/elizabethgoldring/

The Tudor Heart Appeal

https://www.britishmuseum.org/tudor-heart-appeal

Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com

Support Talking Tudors on Patreon!

In this episode of Talking Tudors, Natalie Grueninger talks with Leigh Wakefield about the infamous Pendle Witch Trials of 1612 and their legacy. They explore the rival families at the centre of the accusations, the role of witness testimony—especially that of children—the trial records by Thomas Potts, and the later 1634 case that questioned earlier verdicts.

The conversation also considers how sources were shaped by contemporary agendas, what the evidence can and cannot tell us, and why Pendle remains a powerful part of local heritage and modern interest in witchcraft history.

Follow Leigh on Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/historic_leigh_speaking

Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com

Support Talking Tudors on Patreon!

TUDOR TAKEAWAY

Pott's Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster

https://archive.org/details/pottsdiscoveryof00pottrich

Host Natalie Grueninger interviews Dr Tabitha Stanmore about cunning folk in Tudor and early modern England — the everyday practitioners of practical magic who offered healing, fortune-telling, love spells and buried-treasure rituals.

They discuss how cunning folk differed from accused witches, the rituals and sources used to study them, surprising historical cases, and the Seven-County Witch Hunt Project that uncovers the lives behind wartime witchcraft accusations.

Visit Dr Stanmore's official website

https://www.tabithastanmore.co.uk/

SEVEN COUNTY WITCH HUNT PROJECT

https://medium.com/@Witches7Hunt

TUDOR TAKEAWAY 'Mother Bombie' by John Lyly

Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com

Support Talking Tudors on Patreon

Host Natalie Grueninger interviews Dr James Freeman about the Curious Cures exhibition at Cambridge University Library, exploring medieval and early Tudor medical manuscripts, household remedies and charms, and how knowledge moved from ancient texts to everyday practice.

Highlights include the digitisation project, the role of physicians, surgeons and domestic healers, manuscripts linked to Elizabeth of York and Henry VII, and how visitors can view the exhibition and digital copies through the Cambridge Digital Library.

Dr James Freeman

https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/research-institute/people/james-freeman

Learn more about the 'Curious Cures' exhibition

https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/exhibitioncuriouscures

University of Cambridge Digital Library

https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/

Join Dr Owen Emmerson & Natalie Grueninger for 'The Rise of a Queen: Anne Boleyn, 1526-1533'

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-rise-of-a-queen-anne-boleyn-1526-1533-tickets-1363827166769?aff=oddtdtcreator

Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com

Support Talking Tudors on Patreon

Host Natalie Grueninger welcomes Ellie Webster to Talking Tudors to explore the life of Mary Shelton: her noble family ties, role at Anne Boleyn’s court, and a brief affair with Henry VIII. The episode focuses on Shelton’s poems and annotations in the Devonshire Manuscript and what they reveal about love, reputation, and women’s voices in the Tudor court.

The conversation also examines Shelton’s links with Mary Howard, Margaret Douglas and Henry Howard, confusion over identities in the sources, and Ellie’s research process. A concise, source-driven portrait that brings an overlooked Tudor courtier and poet into clearer view.

THE ILL FATED WIVES OF HENRY VIII

https://his-ill-fated-wives.wixsite.com/henryviii

ELLIE TALKS TUDORS 

https://www.instagram.com/ellietalkstudors

Join Dr Owen Emmerson & Natalie Grueninger for 'The Rise of a Queen: Anne Boleyn, 1526-1533'

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-rise-of-a-queen-anne-boleyn-1526-1533-tickets-1363827166769?aff=oddtdtcreator

Find out more about your host at https://www.nataliegrueninger.com

Support Talking Tudors on Patreon