On this day in Tudor history, 10th July 1553, Lady Jane Grey was officially proclaimed "Queen Jane" at the Tower of London, in Cheapside and Fleet Street. However, one young man could not keep quiet about his views regarding Mary being the rightful queen and he suffered a nasty punishment as a result.
In today's talk, I share a contemporary account of what happened on that day in London
Also on this day in history:
- 1528 - Death of Henry Redman, Master Mason of Westminster Abbey, chief mason of Windsor Castle and the King's chief mason. He was buried in the chapel of St Lawrence, Brentford, Middlesex.
- 1559 – Death of Henry II of France. He had been injured in a joust on 30th June when he was hit in the face by a lance. It is thought that a splinter entered his eye and went into his brain. He was buried in the Saint Denis Basilica.
- 1559 – Accession of Francis II and Mary, Queen of Scots as King and Queen of France.
- 1561 – Elizabeth I visited the Tower of London mint to check on the progress of her new coins. Her recoinage, which restored the silver content of coins following the debasements in her father and half-brother's reigns, restored the reputation of English coins.
- 1584 – Assassination of William of Orange, also known as William the Silent or William I, Prince of Orange. He was shot in the chest at his home in Delft by Balthasar Gérard, a Catholic Frenchman. A reward of 25,000 crowns had been offered by Philip II of Spain for the assassination of William, who was the main leader of the Dutch Protestant revolt against Spanish forces in the Netherlands. William was buried in the New Church in Delft. Gérard was captured and was tortured for days before being executed on 14th July 1584.
- 1584 – Execution of Francis Throckmorton, Catholic conspirator, at Tyburn for high treason after he was found guilty of conspiring to remove Elizabeth I from the throne and to replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. It appears that Throckmorton was acting as an intermediary between Mary, Queen of Scots and Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador.
- 1588 – Death of Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York. He was buried in Southwell Minster.
Is this the day some historians count from for nine days and not thirteen because Jane was proclaimed Queen but actually became Queen on the death of Edward as did Mary as she was next in line?
The poor lad. What harsh punishments just for speaking out!
Good on Mary for fighting back!
The Council would now be in a quandary and a pickle. Whom to support?
Have you seen the proclamation for Jane? Mary was proclaimed in the normal format, just one page but Jane’s goes on for four pages as the heralds had to fully explain who she was. Everyone knew Mary was Henry’s daughter and fully expected her, not some random noble woman, raised in the Midlands. She had by passed two direct heirs and her own mother and the people must have worried about what had happened to Mary. Jane is greeted in almost silence or discontent, Mary with wild celebrations.
I suspect it was Arundel who tipped Mary off because he resisted the orders by Northumberland and the Devise and didn’t think it was a good idea. He led the Council revolt and sent support to Mary to proclaim her Queen.