This project has provided the first macro-analysis of all extant correspondence of nine early Tudor queens. To do so, I have searched archival catalogues and created a database of all surviving letters for nine early Tudor queens, written in the vernacular languages of English and Scots. This database is the first of its kind and provides an important resource for scholars wishing to locate and investigate the letters of these nine early Tudor queens. This database will be published as an appendix to a future Open Access article.
The second main achievement of this project has been the development of a corpus of early Tudor queens’ correspondence. I have located, transcribed, and analysed the material form of the correspondence of eight early Tudor queens. These letters have been transcribed diplomatically (preserving the original spelling, deletions, additions, lineation, and abbreviations) to create a digital corpus (a digital collection of texts used for linguistic analysis). Visits to six archives in the United Kingdom were arranged to verify the letter transcriptions, and to conduct an analysis of the material features of the extant correspondence.
Another main achievement of this project has been to examine the linguistic and material strategies employed by early Tudor queens to exert royal power and persuasion in their correspondence. I have achieved this using an interdisciplinary methodology, using methods from linguistics, archival studies, material culture, and the digital humanities. Through offering the first large-scale analysis of early Tudor queens’ correspondence, I have developed a detailed understanding of the strategies, models, and functions of epistolary communication at work across a network of early Tudor queens (on both a macro- and micro-level).
The results of this research have thus far been disseminated via three conference papers, two invited talks, and a podcast episode. The publication of two articles, a chapter in an edited collection, a biographical encyclopedia entry, and a forthcoming scholarly edition, have drawn attention to the project and early Tudor queens' correspondence. The organisation of a two-day hybrid symposium at University College Dublin (29-30 May 2024) brought together a range of interdisciplinary scholars to present papers on new directions in the study of epistolary materiality, from antiquity to the present day. This was the first conference of its kind and has stimulated important conversations and collaborations in the study of letter-writing materiality.
