On this day in Tudor history, 26th November 1542, Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex and Lord Great Chamberlain of England, died a natural death at Chelsea, no mean feat for a man who served King Henry VIII!
His father had been charged with treason, but Sussex rose to be a trusted royal insider. He navigated the Reformation, royal marriages, rebellions, and thrived…
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On this day in Tudor history, 25th November 1467, Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, was born in Cumberland.
Dacre would become one of the most powerful northern magnates of Tudor England, but he was also a soldier who helped bring the English to victory at Flodden, striking fear into the Scots with his war-cry, “A red bull! A red bull!”…
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st November 1558, just days after Elizabeth I’s accession, courtier James Bassett died at Blackfriars, London, aged just about thirty-two.
Bassett had been a devoted servant of both Queen Mary I and her husband, Philip of Spain, and he was a scholar, exile, courtier, and diplomat, as well as being the stepson of Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle, an illegitimate son of Edward IV.
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On this day in history, 19th November 1604, one of the most gifted churchmen of Elizabethan and early Jacobean England died. His name was Richard Edes, Dean of Worcester, royal chaplain, poet, playwright, and one of the scholars appointed to help translate the King James Bible.
Sadly, Edes never lived to take part in the work that would define English religious life for centuries, but he still led a remarkable life.
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On this day in Tudor history, 13 November 1537, Jane Seymour, third wife of King Henry VIII and mother of King Edward VI, was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Jane had died on 24th October 1537, twelve days after giving birth to her son, plunging the court and kingdom into grief.
I talk about Jane’s final journey from Hampton Court Palace to Windsor, her funeral, and also how her remains were actually buried in TWO places…
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On this day in Tudor history, 12th November 1555, with the passing of the Second Statute of Repeal, Queen Mary I turned back the religious clock decades.
This Parliamentary act abolished every piece of legislation that had been passed against the Papacy since 1529, restoring papal authority and reuniting England with the Catholic Church of Rome once more.
One thing it didn’t change, though, was the English monarchs status as supreme head of the Church in England.
And what about the land and property granted or sold to nobles from the dissolution of the monasteries? What did Mary I do about that?
Let me tell you…
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On this day in Tudor history, 10th November 1565, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, was born.
This great-grandson of Mary Boleyn and stepson of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, rose from ambitious courtier to Elizabeth I’s beloved favourite – charming, bold, and impossible to ignore. But his pride and defiance would destroy him.
In this video, I trace the rise and ruin of the queen’s “darling of her old age”: his dangerous ambition, his disastrous rebellion, and the shocking betrayal that ended with an axe on Tower Green.
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On this day in Tudor history, 7th November 1565, Sir Edward Warner, soldier, courtier, Member of Parliament, and twice Lieutenant of the Tower of London, died at his Norfolk home.
He fought in Scotland, helped defend Norwich during Kett’s Rebellion, and rose high under Edward VI, only to end up imprisoned after Mary I’s succession for siding with Queen Jane. Then, his compassion for the imprisoned Lady Katherine Grey, who got pregnant while he was gaoler to her and her husband, led to him being imprisoned once more.
Find out more about the life of this Tudor survivor…
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On this day in Tudor history, 4th November 1551, theologian, royal chaplain, and scholar John Redman, the first Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, died of consumption.
Redman was one of Tudor England’s most brilliant and balanced minds, a man who sought to reconcile faith, scholarship, and conscience in an age of division.
He served both Henry VIII and Edward VI, and tried to tread a middle way, defending traditional Catholic ideas while embracing elements of reform…
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