1 October – Mary I’s coronation and a sumptuous feast

On this day in Tudor history, Sunday 1st October 1553, Mary I was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester.

It was a moment of real triumph for Mary and she was England's first official queen regnant.

In today's talk, I share details from primary sources about Mary's I's coronation ceremony, and also the sumptuous banquet afterwards, which saw the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Arundel on horseback in the hall, and a challenge being made. What a spectacle it must have been!

Also on this day in history:

• 1500 – Death of John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, scholar and Royal Tutor, at Wisbech Castle. He was buried at Ely Cathedral, in the chantry chapel he had designed. Alcock had acted as tutor to Prince Edward, son of Edward IV, and had also been president of the Prince's Council at Ludlow. He was also Henry VII's first Chancellor and opened his first Parliament.
• 1505 – Death of Sir Henry Colet, merchant and Lord Mayor of London, at Stepney. He was buried there.
• 1526 – Birth of Dorothy Stafford, Lady Stafford, daughter of Henry Stafford, 10th Baron Stafford, and his wife, Ursula (née Pole). Dorothy married Sir William Stafford, widower of Mary Boleyn, in 1545. She served Elizabeth I as a gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber.