On this day in Tudor history, 14th April 1578, Mary, Queen of Scots' third husband, James Hepburn, Duke of Orkney and 4th Earl of Bothwell, died at Dragsholm Castle in Denmark. He'd been held at the castle in appalling conditions and it was said that he'd gone insane.
Find out more about the life of this earl who'd risen to be the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, but who'd died in prison, far away from home, in today's "on this day in Tudor history" video:
Also on this day in history:
- 1556 – Death of Sir Anthony Kingston, former Constable of the Tower of London, at Cirencester while on his way to be tried in London. He was accused of conspiring to rob the Exchequer for money to support Henry Dudley and his plot against Mary I. Dudley appears to have been planning an invasion of English exiles from France to topple Mary and replace her with Elizabeth.
- 1565 – Birth of Edward Gresham, astrologer, astronomer and magician, in Stainsford, Yorkshire. He is known for his treatise “Astrostereon” and his astrological almanacs, published between 1603 and 1607.
- 1587 – Death of Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland, at Greenwich. He'd been taken ill earlier that month. He was buried on 15th May at Bottesford, Leicestershire.
- 1599 – Death of Sir Henry Wallop, member of Parliament and administrator, in Dublin while serving there as Treasurer-at-War. He was buried in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.
Good gracious I knew James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell was married when he raped and kidnapped Mary and divorced Jean, his wife but I didn’t realise he had all these other women, his wife’s maid and another woman in Denmark. I knew he was imprisoned there and died insane but I really didn’t know about another woman, Anna. What a man! I don’t believe his fate was Karma, even if he was a womanizer and a killer, it was justice perhaps, but I don’t believe in this Karma thing people throw out as it’s a misunderstanding of that belief. He was probably a killer, a rapist and a rogue, but his insanity was due to his imprisonment, probably man made justice, not fate.