Mary Tudor’s Hidden Influence + How Tudors Learned - Claire Ridgway Interviews Amy McElroy

Join me for a lively deep-dive with historian and author Amy McElroy—whose books include Educating the Tudors and Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era, with Mary Tudor, Queen of France out next and a new project on Desiderius Erasmus underway. We talk Tudor education, women’s real power at home and court, Mary Tudor’s overlooked influence, and why Erasmus matters.

In this interview, we explore:

• How Amy fell in love with history and turned blogging into books
• Educating the Tudors: what (and how) children learned—across class and gender
• Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era: daughters, wives, mothers, widows—how much agency did they really have?
• Mary Tudor, Queen of France: the sister who shaped a dynasty—beyond the shadow of Henry VIII
• Erasmus: Europe’s sharpest mind—visionary or misunderstood?
• Research wins, writing routines, audience Qs, and a quick-fire Tudor round

About my guest:
Amy McElroy is the author of Educating the Tudors (2023), Women’s Lives in the Tudor Era (2024), and Mary Tudor, Queen of France (2025), with Desiderius Erasmus: The Folly or Far Sightedness of Renaissance Europe's Greatest Mind (2026) forthcoming. She co-hosts The Tudor Notebook on Substack and has appeared on several podcasts.

Links:
Amy’s books & Substack — https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Amy-McElroy/author/B0BBSK2SDQ, https://www.amazon.com/stores/Amy-McElroy/author/B0BBSK2SDQ, https://amymcelroy.substack.com/
My December online event The Other Tudors: The Forgotten Figures Who Shaped a Dynasty — Launching soon at https://claireridgway.com/ - keep an eye out!
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Say hello in the comments:
Which part of Mary Tudor’s story deserves its own episode? And what’s your take on Erasmus?