Elizabethan England (Tenison)

Last updated
Elizabethan England
Volume 1 of Elizabethan Ebgland by Tenison.png
Author Eva Tenison
Publication date
1932/3 start

Eva Tenison's research was published in 13 volumes from 1933 to 1960 with the title Elizabethan England: Being the History of this Country "in Relation to All Foreign Princes". She was secretive about her identity and gender. These books were labelled "by E.M.Tenison". One set of the resulting 14 volumes is in the Royal Collection. The British Library's catalogue record shows the extended subtitle: "From original manuscripts, many hitherto unpublished; co-ordinated with XVIth century printed matter ranging from royal proclamations to broadside ballads. A survey of life and literature ... with many hundred portraits and other illustrations in collotype, also title pages and portraits in line, etc." [1]

Contents

Development

Tenison had been writing novels and studies under a number of different names. In the 1920s she began thirty years of research and writing about the Elizabethan period of history. She conducted original research using primary sources and she would gather together maps and illustrations to accompany her text. The books were published privately [2] and first was published in 1933 with the title Elizabethan England, being the History of this Country "in Relation to all Foreign Princes". [3]

The book was written by "E.M.Tenison" as Tenison was protective of her gender and identity. A 1941 review of volume VII of her work, about the years 1587–8, in the academic journal The Mariner's Mirror , referred to her as male. [4] This failure to identify her as female was despite the fact that Tenison also contributed to that journal but she used the name of "Nauticus". [5]

Her work was based on original research using unpublished papers in England and Spain. The books were not initially well received as they failed to give due weight to the prevailing theories of historians. However, it has been accepted that many of her insights are convincing. [5]

Royal gift

A subscription to Tenison's books of Elizabethan England was made to King George V and Queen Mary in May 1935. The subscription was a gift by the Mayors and Council Chairmen of Northampton to commemorate the King's silver jubilee. The resulting collection of volumes was covered in navy goatskin and they carry King George V Royal Arms and cypher. They are kept in Windsor Castle's Royal Library and has been identified by Olwen Hedley as an addition to the Royal catalogue of books with exceptional bindings. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth I</span> Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603

Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last monarch of the House of Tudor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Francis Stephens</span> English entomologist and naturalist (1792-1852)

James Francis Stephens was an English entomologist and naturalist. He is known for his 12 volume Illustrations of British Entomology (1846) and the Manual of British Beetles (1839).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose Fyleman</span> English writer and poet

Rose Amy Fyleman was an English writer and poet, noted for her works on the fairy folk, for children. Her poem "There are fairies at the bottom of our garden" was set to music by English composer Liza Lehmann. Her carol "Lift your hidden faces", set to a French carol tune, was included in the Anglican hymnal Songs of Praise (1925), The Oxford Book of Carols (1928) as well as in the Hutterian Brotherhood's Songs of Light (1977).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabel Lucie Attwell</span> British illustrator (1879–1964)

Mabel Lucie Attwell was a British illustrator and comics artist. She was known for her cute, nostalgic drawings of children. Her drawings are featured on many postcards, advertisements, posters, books and figurines.

The Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts consists of more than 22,000 pamphlets, broadsides, manuscripts, books, and news sheets, most of which were printed and distributed in London from 1640 to 1661. The collection represents a major primary source for the political, religious, military, and social history of England during the final years of the reign of King Charles I, the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the English Restoration of King Charles II. It is now held in the British Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Imogen Guiney</span> American poet

Louise Imogen Guiney was an American poet, essayist and editor, born in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Doran</span> British historian

Susan Michelle Doran FRHistS is a British historian whose primary studies surround the reign of Elizabeth I, in particular the theme of marriage and succession. She has published and edited sixteen books, notably Elizabeth I and Religion, 1558-1603, Monarchy and Matrimony and Queen Elizabeth I, the last part of the British Library's Historic Lives series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabel Brookes</span> Australian humanitarian and socialite (1890–1975)

Dame Mabel Brookes, DBE was an Australian community worker, activist, socialite, writer, historian, memoirist and humanitarian. Born Mabel Balcombe Emmerton in Raveloe, South Yarra, Victoria in 1890, her best-known service was as president of the Queen Victoria Hospital from 1923 to 1970, where she presided over the addition of three new wings within ten years.

<i>Holinsheds Chronicles</i> 1577 compilation history of the British Isles

Holinshed's Chronicles, also known as Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, is a collaborative work published in several volumes and two editions, the first edition in 1577, and the second in 1587. It was a large, comprehensive description of British history published in three volumes.

Juvenilia Press is an international non-profit research and pedagogic press based in the School of Arts and Media at the University of New South Wales. The press undertakes to provide undergraduate and post-graduate students with hands-on experience of textual transmission under the guidance of an academic supervisor. The scholarly volumes published by the press are works from the genre of literary juvenilia—the early works of known writers—and are printed in a format that includes a preface, introduction, note on the text, end notes, textual and contextual appendices, and illustrations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Herbert, Countess of Montgomery</span> English court office holder

Susan Herbert, Countess of Montgomery, was an English court office holder. She served as lady-in-waiting to the queen consort of England and Scotland, Anne of Denmark. She was the youngest daughter of Elizabethan courtier, and poet Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal manuscripts, British Library</span>

The Royal manuscripts are one of the "closed collections" of the British Library, consisting of some 2,000 manuscripts collected by the sovereigns of England in the "Old Royal Library" and given to the British Museum by George II in 1757. They are still catalogued with call numbers using the prefix "Royal" in the style "Royal MS 2. B. V". As a collection, the Royal manuscripts date back to Edward IV, though many earlier manuscripts were added to the collection before it was donated. Though the collection was therefore formed entirely after the invention of printing, luxury illuminated manuscripts continued to be commissioned by royalty in England as elsewhere until well into the 16th century. The collection was expanded under Henry VIII by confiscations in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and after the falls of Henry's ministers Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. Many older manuscripts were presented to monarchs as gifts; perhaps the most important manuscript in the collection, the Codex Alexandrinus, was presented to Charles I in recognition of the diplomatic efforts of his father James I to help the Eastern Orthodox churches under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The date and means of entry into the collection can only be guessed at in many if not most cases. Now the collection is closed in the sense that no new items have been added to it since it was donated to the nation.

Rosalind Louisa Beaufort Moss, FSA was a British Egyptologist and bibliographer, noted for her work on The Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Succession to Elizabeth I</span> Political controversy in Elizabethan England (1558–1603)

The succession to the childless queen of England Elizabeth I was an open question from her accession in 1558 to her death in 1603, when the crown passed to James VI of Scotland. While the accession of James went smoothly, the succession had been the subject of much debate for decades. In some scholarly views, it was a major political factor of the entire reign, even if not so voiced. Separate aspects have acquired their own nomenclature: the "Norfolk conspiracy", Patrick Collinson's "Elizabethan exclusion crisis", the "Secret Correspondence", and the "Valentine Thomas affair".

<i>Food in England</i> Book by Dorothy Hartley

Food in England is a 1954 book by the social historian Dorothy Hartley. It is both a cookery book and a history of English cuisine. It was acclaimed on publication; the contemporary critic Harold Nicolson described the book as a classic. It has remained in print ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabel Dearmer</span> British writer and illustrator

Jessie Mabel Pritchard Dearmer was an English novelist, dramatist and children's book author/illustrator. She was a committed pacifist who died while caring for the war wounded in Serbia.

Daphne Foskett was an English art connoisseur and art writer. She became interested in portrait miniatures while living in Edinburgh in the late 1950s and was encouraged to publish her research as her knowledge on the subject grew. Foskett published seven books and one exhibition catalogue during her career. She conducted lecture tours and was a contributor to some periodicals. Foskett's large photographic archive was sent to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery on a long-term loan in 2003 and her miniatures were catalogued in the same year.

Nellie Marion Tenison Cuneo was an illustrator and painter who trained in London and Paris. She was married to the American painter and illustrator Cyrus Cuneo and their youngest son was the English painter Terence Cuneo RGI FGRA(1 November 1907 – 3 January 1996), known for using a mouse as his signature.

Eva Mabel Tenison writing as Michael Barrington, E.M.Tenison, Nauticus and Historicus was a British historian and novelist. Her magnum opus was the fourteen volume Elizabethan England: Being the History of this Country "In Relation to All Foreign Princes" but she published novels, biographies and other studies of history.

References

  1. "Catalogue record for "Elizabethan England"". British Library. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  2. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (2004-09-23). "Tenison, Eva Mabel [pseuds. Michael Barrington, Nauticus, Historicus]" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47028 . Retrieved 2023-04-13.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. Tenison, Eva Mabel (1933). Elizabethan England: Being the History of this Country " in Relation to All Foreign Princes". Issued for the author to subscribers only at the Sign of the Dove with the Griffin.
  4. Archive (1941-05-02). ""If her Navy had not been strong" Tenison's "Elizabethan England" Vol VII 1587-8". SNR. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  5. 1 2 3 "Eva Mabel Tenison (1880-1961) - Elizabethan England. [Volume 1, 1553-1568] / by E.M. Tenison". www.rct.uk. Retrieved 2023-04-14.