Giveaway Event: Sacred Treason Tudor Trivia Week!

London, December 1563. England is a troubled nation. Catholic plots against the young Queen Elizabeth spring up all over the country. At his house in the parish of St Bride, the herald William Harvey – known to everyone as Clarenceux - receives a book from his friend and fellow Catholic, Henry Machyn. But Machyn is in fear of his life, claiming that the book is deadly... What secret can it hold? And then Clarenceux is visited by the State in the form of Francis Walsingham and his ruthless enforcers, who will stop at nothing to gain possession of it. If Clarenceux and his family are to survive the terror of Walsingham, and to plead with the queen’s Secretary of State Sir William Cecil for their lives, Clarenceux must solve the clues contained in the book to unlock its dangerous secrets before it’s too late. And when he does, he realises that it's not only his life and the lives of those most dear to him that are at stake...


To celebrate the release of Sacred Treason by James Forrester (Forrester, by the way, is the pen name of acclaimed British historian Ian Mortimer), I've teamed up with Sourcebooks for a fun week of Tudor trivia questions submitted by Mr. Forrester himself, and at the end of the week, one lucky reader will win their very own copy of the book that The Guardian calls "vivid and dramatic," The Daily Mail calls "arresting," and Philippa Gregory calls "gripping."

Entering is easy! Simply leave your best guess to each day's question in a comment with your email address. Then come back the next day to see if your answer was right and score another chance to win by answering the new trivia question. Each correct guess earns an entry, so by the end of the week you could have seven chances to be chosen in the random drawing for a copy of Sacred Treason. This giveaway is open to those with U.S. or Canadian mailing addresses and ends at midnight Oct. 27.

1) Sunday, October 21:

The symbol of the Tudor house is the Tudor rose. What two houses’ emblems were merged to make the Tudor rose?

Answer: Lancaster and York

2) Monday, October 22:

What color hair was the height of fashion during Elizabethan times?

Answer: Red, due in large part to Elizabeth I

3) Tuesday, October 23:

Theater flourished under Elizabeth’s reign, when many of Shakespeare’s plays were written. What was the name of the theater where he often staged his plays?

Answer: The Globe

4) Wednesday, October 24:

High-ranking officials in Spain and Italy hoped to depose Elizabeth, because of her Protestant beliefs. Who did they want to put on the throne instead?

Answer: Mary, Queen of Scots

5) Thursday, October 25:

Wealthy Londoners during Elizabethan times were introduced to potatoes, coffee and chocolate—thanks to the exploration of what continent?

Answer: South America

6) Friday, October 26:

What toxic ingredient could be found in women’s face powder during this period?

Answer: Lead

7) Saturday, October 27:

If you saw a house with doors marked with red crosses, what would it have meant?

Answer: It was condemned because of the bubonic (black) plague

This giveaway is closed and the winner has been selected.

Stay tuned for more great giveaways!