On this day in Tudor history, 1 November 1456, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, died from the plague at Carmarthen Castle in Wales.
Edmund Tudor was, of course, husband of Lady Margaret Beaufort and father of King Henry VII, the first of the Tudor monarchs, but who was he and how did he end up dying of the plague at Carmarthen? Find out more about Edmund in today's talk.
Also on this day in history:
- 1527 – Birth of William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham, courtier and diplomat. He was the son of George Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham, and his wife, Anne (née Bray). Cobham was a close friend of William Cecil, and so became powerful in Elizabeth I's reign. He served as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Privy Councillor and Lord Chamberlain. Cobham also undertook diplomatic missions.
- 1530 – Henry VIII sent Walter Walsh (some say William Walsh) to Yorkshire to arrest Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.
- 1558 – Death of Michael Throckmorton, agent for Cardinal Reginald Pole, probably at Mantua in Italy. He studied law in Italy, in Padua, in 1533 before becoming Pole's secretary. It is thought that he may well have been the agent who took Pole's Pro ecclesiasticae unitatis defensione to Henry VIII in 1536.
There is a theory that Edmund Tudor might have been poisoned, although there is no real evidence to back it up and let’s face it, especially if you are not in the best part of the castle, the plague or some other dreadful killer disease is going to get you. Edmund, just twenty seven years old probably did die of it, leaving his widow, Margaret, almost thirteen to bear their son alone. Henry Tudor was born after a very difficult birth which almost killed mother and son and of course went on to be King Henry Vii