The Tudor Society

29 September – A papal legate arrives and Robert Dudley receives an earldom

On this day in Tudor history, 29th September 1528, the papal legate, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, landed at Dover on the Kent coast.

Campeggio and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who had been appointed the pope's vice-regent, were given the task of hearing Henry VIII's case for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Find out more about what happened when next, what happened at the special legatine court, and how Henry ended up waiting for his annulment for a few more years...

Find out more about Catherine of Aragon's speech at the court in this video...

Also on this day in Tudor history, 29th September 1564, Michaelmas, the queen’s favourite, Robert Dudley, was made Earl of Leicester and Baron Denbigh in front of the Scottish ambassador, Sir James Melville. Elizabeth I made Dudley an earl so that he'd be suitable as a potential bridegroom for Mary, Queen of Scots, but she couldn't refrain from a display of affection during the ceremony, tickling him on the neck!

Why was Elizabeth prepared to marry her favourite off to Mary?

Find out...

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29 September – A papal legate arrives and Robert Dudley receives an earldom