skygiants

I am not all that fond of Tudor history, or at least how it's commonly presented, so any reply I might make is liable to sound dismissive. But I think that Tudor history (specifically Henry VIII and Elizabeth I) has that useful combination of wealth and sex and politics and very bloody outcomes that makes it very attractive to popular and fictionalized history. Lots of power plays and marriage-brokering, lots of nasty rumours and outright lies that end up getting people beheaded, lots of real and hinted-at and entirely made-up sex. It's drama in a can; add HBO and stir.

Tudor history also gets a boost from the Ren Faire circuits and the cult of Shakespeare's plays. Both of those cultural phenomena popularised the period, or at least certain aspects of the period. Compared with many other historical periods, it's a safe space for historical re-creation and re-enactment -- not so far back in time that it's remote, but just far back enough to be Ye Olde Historickal Periodde. So yes, I think it's over-represented, but I understand the reasons why it would be so.

As ever, Kate Beaton says it best.