On this day in Tudor history, 10th August 1512, the English fleet's flagship, the Mary Rose, saw battle for the first time in the Battle of Saint-Mathieu, a naval battle in the War of the League of Cambrai.
The battle was fought between the English fleet and the Franco-Breton fleet just off the coast of Brest.
1,500 to 1,600 men were lost that day, but how? What happened? And who was victorious?
I explain all in today's talk.
Also on this day in history:
- 1518 – Death of Sir Robert Sheffield, lawyer and Speaker of the House of Commons. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London after making an enemy of Cardinal Wolsey, being accused of negligence as a Justice of the Peace and of harbouring a killer. It is not clear whether he was still in the Tower at his death, but he was buried in the nearby church of the Austin friars.
- 1520 – Birth of Madeleine de Valois, consort of James V of Scotland, at St Germain-en-Laye. She was the fourth child of Francis I of France and his wife, Queen Claude.
- 1532 – Birth of Thomas Jones, known as Twm Siôn Cati, the Welsh-language poet and genealogist. It is unclear whether he was born on Lammas Day (1st August) or St Lawrence's Day (10th August). Few of his poems have survived, and Welsh folklore has turned him into a 'Welsh Robin Hood'.
- 1553 – Mary I held an obsequy or requiem mass for the soul of her late half-brother, Edward VI. While she allowed him to have a Protestant burial on the 8th August, she ordered three days of Catholic requiem masses for him.
- 1621 – Death of Grey Brydges, 5th Baron Chandos, courtier and magnate. He died in Spa, Belgium, where he had travelled for his health. He was buried in the family chapel at Sudeley.