Tudor Mania
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The Tudors series begins a second season on Showtime.
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Columbia Pictures intro'd The Other Boleyn Girl last month.
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Mary Queen of Scots is due later this year.
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Last year came Elizabeth: The Golden Age -- sequel to Elizabeth from 1998.
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One of the most active history oriented forums on the web is Yahoo's Tudor Talk.
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Henry VIII and his wives have been the subjects of over 50 major film & TV productions since 1908, and dozens of novels and nonfiction books have appeared just in the last decade .
What is it about these people and events from over 400 years ago that continue to claim our attention?
If you Google Tudor forums you'll find folks discussing whether Anne Boleyn really had an extra fingertip on one hand. Why Catherine Howard succumbed to her lust for Thomas Culpepper, knowing it might cost her her head. Whether Anne Boleyn was vamp or feminist. What actor would be well cast as Henry VIII? Did Elizabeth die a virgin?
So maybe the continuing fascination with the Tudor century is that unlike much of history, it's less about battles, weapons and objects, and more about people, passions and relationships.
