On this day in Tudor history, 7th March 1530, Pope Clement VII threatened King Henry VIII with excommunication if he married again. Henry, of course, wanted to set aside his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and marry his sweetheart, Anne Boleyn.
In today's video, I explain the background of this threat and what happened next.
Also on this day in history:
- 1544 – Executions of Germaine Gardiner, nephew of Stephen Gardiner, and John Larke for denying the royal supremacy. They were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Germaine had already been in trouble in 1543 when he was implicated in the Prebendaries' Plot against Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.
- 1544 – Execution of Robert Singleton, clergyman, for treason at Tyburn. Singleton served Thomas Cromwell as a Preacher and Anne Boleyn as a Chaplain before becoming Arch-priest of St Martin's-le-Grand in Dover. It appears that his execution was down to his heretical writings.
- 1556 – One of the days on which the Great Comet, or the Comet of Charles V, was seen and recorded by Paul Fabricius, mathematician and physician at Charles V's court. Click here to read more.
- 1574 – Baptism of John Wilbye, composer and musician, at Diss in Norfolk. Click here to read more.
- 1594 – Death of Sir John Burgh, soldier, from a rapier wound suffered in a duel with John Gilbert, stepbrother of Sir Walter Ralegh. This duel happened during Burgh's second voyage to the West Indies. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, in St Andrew's Chapel.