The Tudor Society

16 November – The death of Charles Neville and the death of William Stafford

On this day in Tudor history, 16th November 1601, nobleman and rebel Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland, died while in exile at Nieuwpoort in Flanders.

Westmorland had fled into exile following the failure of the Northern Rebellion, a plot to release Mary, Queen of Scots, from prison and to overthrow Elizabeth I. He didn't learn his lesson, being involved in a further plot.

The earl died a sad end in debt and separated from his wife and daughters, but it was his own fault.

Find out more about the rebel northern earl in this talk...

Also on this day in history, 16th November 1612, Elizabethan conspirator, William Stafford, died.

He's an interesting Tudor character because he had Plantagenet blood and also because he was allegedly the chief plotter in the Stafford Plot, a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I, but he was only imprisoned for a short time and lived the rest of his life quietly in Norfolk, dying a natural death.

How and why did William Stafford escape serious punishment for the Stafford Plot and what did Sir Francis Walsingham have to do with it all? Find out in this video...

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16 November – The death of Charles Neville and the death of William Stafford