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Tudor history blogs

Boston 1775. The Bowery Boys: New York City History. Got Medieval — A[n intermittently updated] tonic for the slipshod use of medieval European history in the media and pop culture. Medievalists.net | Where the Middle Ages Begin. Two Nerdy History Girls. Mavisbank, a Tragically Neglected 18th c Country House. Susan reporting: For many of us American history-nerds, the great British country houses seem to exist in an almost supernatural state of romantic perfection. They're the idealized places we imagine in Jane Austen's novels and see as backgrounds in films (among them: Brideshead Revisited, The Duchess, Pride and Prejudice, The Go-Between.) As an art history major in college, I sat in darkened classrooms and gazed in awe at slides of Palladio-inspired majesty, nestled in flawless green landscapes. But reality is often not so kind. Taxes, war, changing societies, and shifting family fortunes all take their toll.

A devastating fire in 1973 gutted the interiors and destroyed the roof. Mavisbank's salvation finally seems assured. Top: Mavisbank House, Midlothia, Scotland, drawing by William Adam, from Vitruvius Scoticus (1812)Below: Mavisbank House, Midlothian, Scottland.