March 21 – Elizabeth I takes to her bed and The end of Thomas Cranmer

On this day in Tudor history, 21st March 1603, a dying Queen Elizabeth I finally took to her bed.

Elizabeth I had been queen since November 1558, but now she was dying. She had deep-rooted melancholy, couldn't sleep and was refusing to eat. She spent her days lying on cushions in her withdrawing chamber. But on 21st March, she was finally persuaded to go to bed.

Find out more about these last days in this talk...

Also on this day in Tudor history, 21st March 1556, Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury, was burnt at the stake for heresy in Oxford.

Cranmer had served Henry VIII and Edward VI as Archbishop of Canterbury and had played a leading role in the Reformation, but he was, of course, seen as a heretic in the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I.

Find out more in this video...