Christmas with the Tudors, Dr. James Taffe’s second book on the Tudor court, draws readers to the heart of England’s most festive time of year — a true Renaissance Christmastide. This brisk, informative, and plum-sweet read is the perfect way to kick off the holiday season, charting the various ways in which the Tudors and their subjects rang in the Yuletide, celebrated, not on Christmas day, but on New Year. Taffe also vividly demonstrates the impact of the Reformation on the religious ceremonies and traditions observed on the season’s holy days, examining how all members of society, from the elite to the commons, commemorated Christmastide — occasionally, as shall be revealed, with a bout of the winter blues.
As with Dr. Taffe’s first book, Christmas with the Tudors delves deeply into household accounts, while also incorporating both letters and gift rolls — a sphere where the author excels in uncovering fascinating, touching, and occasionally amusing anecdotes. Both intelligently and cohesively written as an academic work, Christmas is also a rich exploration of one of the year’s most sensory seasons.
Taffe skillfully weaves the essence of a Tudor Christmas — the sights, smells, and spirit — into a richly concise wreath of storytelling. Readers will be left marvelling at the lavishness of Tudor pageantry; of mounds of roasted venison filling the air of Hampton court with savoury warmth; the plum puddings so relished at Elizabeth I’s banqueting table; the striking of court musicians, the vibrant attire of the Lords of Misrule; the dazzling sights of Tudor kings and queens slathered in velvets and furs that glimmer over feasts piled high with mouth-watering dishes. And for the extravaganza lovers in us all, you won’t be disappointed in the way Taffe covers the more flamboyant of Tudor gift-giving (our personal favourite is, of course, Henry VII’s leopard!).
What makes Christmas with the Tudors so marvelous is the author’s unique talent for reminding us that the Tudors were, at both their merriest and doleful, starkly human. This is found in the details which Taffe’s diligent research has skillfully uncovered. During the Christmas season, they could be generous in their gift-giving and in their forgiveness; they could be warm and inviting to their subjects; they could be tactless, forgetful, glum as the winter settled and frost hovered across the land, or cheerful as the merry gift-giving season neared. They were concerned with what to give those around them, and how they would pay for it, and what they would wear; they could relish giving just as much as they could enjoy receiving. And for those of us who delight in a good drink on Christmas, you aren’t alone: in 1502, Elizabeth of York ‘ordered two gallons of Rhenish wine’ for her Christmas table.
Taffe doesn’t shy from the fact that Christmas could be a melancholic, wistful time for Tudors, both at court and afield during the holiday season. The festivities could be fraught at times, especially for those at the mercy of a volatile sovereign, or those without sufficient income to heat their homes and feed their families. Even Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s elder sister, was not immune to the inability to cover her Christmas expenses. Ever more tragically, Taffe recounts the pitiful way in which Katherine Howard spent her last Christmas, holed away at Syon House and excruciatingly awaiting her execution — a mournful contrast to the year before, when she had spent the night dancing with Anne of Cleves under the lights and warmth at Hampton Court.
Much like a modern Christmas, the Tudors drank, made merry, sang carols and hymns, and reflected on the years before. Christmas must have been a particularly poignant time for Elizabeth I, who, nearly 30 years after her mother Anne Boleyn’s execution, received a book gilded with the combined arms of herself and her late mother. As Elizabeth aged and the beloved faces she once knew gradually faded, Taffe recounts how her courtiers lamented the fading lustre of Christmas at court. However, Elizabeth swiftly took action to revive it, surprising the court by revitalising the festivities with pageants, plays, and entertainment. One of our favourite anecdotes from Christmas with the Tudors is the gingerbread baker employed by Elizabeth I who could reportedly craft figures to the Queen’s likeness — a true royal treat!
Although certain Tudor Christmas traditions may have been vastly different from ours (the ‘Boy Bishop’ comes to mind) Christmas with the Tudors vividly reminds us that all that separates us from the Tudors is time. Taffe’s book is a delightfully warm, cheery, thoughtful and informative read, and the perfect pairing to a roaring fireplace and cup of cocoa.