Licence, Amy – The Bell Bookshop

1520

Emma — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

1520 explores the characters of two larger-than-life kings, whose rivalry and love-hate relations added a feisty edge to European relations in the early sixteenth century. What propelled them to meet, and how did each vie to outdo the other in feats of strength and yards of gold cloth? Everyone who was anyone in 1520 was there. But why was the flower of England’s nobility transported across the Channel, and how were they catered for? What did this temporary, fairy-tale village erected in a French field look like, feel like and smell like?This book explores not only the political dimension of their meeting and the difficult triangle they established with Emperor Charles V, but also the material culture behind the scenes. While the courtiers attended masques, dances, feasts and jousts, an army of servants toiled in the temporary village created specially for that summer. Who were the men and women behind the scenes? What made Henry rush back into the arms of the Emperor immediately after the most expensive two weeks of his entire reign? And what was the long-term result of the meeting, of that sea of golden tents and fountains spouting wine?This analysis explores the extraordinary event in unprecedented detail. Based on primary documents, plans, letters and records of provisions and with a new focus on material culture, food, textiles, planning and organisation.

Woodsmoke and Sage

Emma — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Traditionally history is cerebral: what did they believe, what did they think, what did they know?

Woodsmoke and Sage is not a traditional book.

Using the five senses, historian Amy Licence presents a new perspective on the material culture of the past, exploring the Tudors’ relationship with the fabric of their existence, from the clothes on their backs, the roofs over their heads and the food on their tables, to the wider questions of how they interpreted and presented themselves, and what they believed about life, death and beyond. Take a journey back 500 years and experience the sixteenth century the way it was lived, through sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.

Living In Squares Loving In Triangles

Emma — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf have long been celebrated for their central roles in the development of modernism in art and literature. Vanessa’s experimental work places her at the vanguard of early twentieth-century art, as does her role in helping introduce many key names – Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso – to an unsuspecting public in 1910. Virginia took these artistic innovations and applied them to literature, pushing the boundaries of form, narrative and language to find a voice uniquely her own.Yet their private lives were just as experimental. Vanessa’s marriage to art critic Clive Bell was shaken early on by his flirtation with her sister, and Virginia’s marriage to Leonard Woolf placed him more in the role of carer than husband as he tried to meet the needs of his wife’s fragile mental health. However, forming the core of the Bloomsbury Group, they welcomed into their London and Sussex homes a host of their talented peers, and caused speculation and scandal by following their hearts, not society’s norms, in their continued pursuit of love.In Living in Squares, Loving in Triangles, Amy Licence explores the brave, passionate and innovative lives these remarkable women lived, and discovers where their strength and talent came from.