Good morrow to thee,
AQUILAnaut,
trusty and well-beloved friend, and welcome to this very CHRISTMASSY edition of AQUILA magazine.
Were the Tudors the Absolute Worst? Are we looking at a barrel of rotten apples, or were these apples actually just complex and misunderstood? Let’ s find out with Aquila, our history expert.
Please allow me to extend a special hello to all the brandnew AQUILAnauts who are joining us for the first time ever. You are welcome. Please take your seat by the fire and warm your bums, because this month we’ ve travelled back in time to the Tudor court, and central heating does not exist here yet.
I know, bad news, and that’ s not all either – there’ s the constant risk of disease and possibly starvation, limited access to education and absolutely no Squishmallows or Wi-Fi. Yup, it’ s pretty bad. Still, there are a few things I am looking forward to. For example, spelling hasn’ t been standardised yet, so no one can tell me off for making misstackes, and the water is pretty unclean, so no one is hassling me to drink it( in fact they are begging me not to). And there are guinea pigs brought here by Spanish traders – although how great that is for the guinea pigs is up for discussion. It’ s swings and roundabouts *… although now I come to think of it … there are no roundabouts either. So just swings then – they’ ve been around since antiquity. If you’ re ever having a bad or scary time, I encourage you to seek out a swing if you can. Come to think of it, Henry VIII should have a little swing. Maybe it’ d stop him from murdering so many people.
Freya Hardy, ed
Back to the future Space science superstar Dr Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock is here to tell us all about a tremendous Tudor, Tycho Brahe.
You’ ve been framed Polly, our artist in residence, is making miniature portraits to adorn her Christmas tree, and so can you – just don’ t forget your squirrel hairbrushes and favourite burnishing tooth( don’ t worry, all shall be explained).
* An English expression that means the good and the bad bits balance out, although I’ m not sure they really do balance out. I think I’ d prefer to be typing this on my laptop in modern-day England compared with decidedly deathy Tudor England, with its sweating sickness and witchcraft obsession.
We hope you enjoy this adventure in Tudor England. Don’ t forget to join our newsletter and check out this month’ s awesome online activities. This month you can:
1 Create a pongy( in a good way) plague pomander( to ward off the plague) with Polly.
2 Get your chef’ s hat on and make a traditional Tudor mince pie.
3 Create your very own jousting game!
4 Learn how to slay at Hide the Slipper.
AWESOME
ACTIVITIES ALERT
SCAN ME
A MYSTERY FOR YOU TO SOLVE
Fire at Bell-Brow Manor The Cutpurse family have vanished from the flames of their burning manor house. Can you follow the clues to discover where they’ ve gone?
We hope you have a stupendously merry Christmas and a deliriously happy new year. Join us back here for the first instalment of 2026. January’ s issue is all about Heroes & Villains!