On this day in Tudor history, 21st July, French forces landed on the Isle of Wight; John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was arrested following the fall of his daughter-in-law, Queen Jane; and explorer Thomas Cavendish set off on his South Sea voyage…
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On this day in Tudor history, Queen Claude, consort of Francis I of France, died; Philip of Spain arrived in England in readiness for his marriage to Mary I; and Protestant leader John Knox published a pamphlet attacking the Catholic Queen Mary I…
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On this day in Tudor history, Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn and mistress of Henry VIII, died; Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, sank in the Battle of the Solent; and Mary I was proclaimed queen in place of Queen Jane…
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On this day in Tudor history, 18th July, Edmund Dudley, a man who’d been influential in Henry VII’s reign, was convicted of treason; the Earls of Pembroke and Arundel betrayed Queen Jane; and Elizabeth I’s chief gentlewoman of the privy chamber, Katherine Ashley (Astley), died…
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In the late summer of 1483, two princes, aged twelve and nine, vanished from the Tower of London where they had been imprisoned by their uncle, Richard III. Murder was suspected, but without bodies no one could be certain even that they were dead. Their fate remains one of history’s enduring mysteries, but the solution lies hidden in plain sight in stories we have chosen to forget, of English anti-Semitism, the cult of saints, and in two small, broken and incomplete skeletons.
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Tudor fans are invited to the Mary Rose Museum on July 20th to create their own Tudor-inspired pottery piece. In collaboration with the local pottery studio Fatclay Pottery, participants will learn from experts – no previous pottery experience required.
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On this day in Tudor history, 17th July, Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis, was burnt in Edinburgh for treason; the Dartford Martyrs were burnt for heresy; and antiquary, bee-keeper, translator and poet Richard Carew was born…
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On this day in Tudor history, Frances Grey (née Brandon), Duchess of Suffolk, was born; Anne Askew was burnt at the stake for heresy with two others; and Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII’s fourth wife, died at Chelsea Old Manor…
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On this day in Tudor history, 15th July, royal ships changed sides from Queen Jane to Queen Mary; the Newbury Martyrs were tried for sedition and heresy; and famous architect and theatre designer Inigo Jones was born…
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On this day in Tudor history, 14th July, Henry and Charles Brandon, sons of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Catherine Brandon (née Willoughby), Duchess of Suffolk, died from sweating sickness; reformer and translator Richard Taverner died; and Cardinal Christopher Bainbridge died of alleged poisoning…
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On this day in Tudor history, 13th July, the famous multi-talented John Dee was born; members of the new Queen Jane’s council were meeting with the imperial ambassadors; and poet and courtier Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, died at Penshurst…
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On this day in Tudor history, 12th July, Henry VIII married his sixth wife, Catherine Parr; men flocked to Lady Mary’s cause and Queen Jane made a mistake; and four Protestants were burnt at the stake in Canterbury for heresy…
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On this day in Tudor history, 11th July, the pope ordered Henry VIII to abandon Anne Boleyn on pain of excommunication; some Suffolk men were torn between supporting Queen Jane or Lady Mary; and plague hit Stratford-upon-Avon…
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On this day in Tudor history, Lady Jane Grey was received at the Tower of London and proclaimed queen; Francis Throckmorton was executed for high treason after the discovery of the Throckmorton Plot; and Elizabeth I visited the royal mint to check on her new coins…
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On this day in Tudor history, 9th July, Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne of Cleves was officially annulled; the Lady Mary (Mary I) wrote to the Privy Council stating her claim to the throne and demanding their allegiance; and Elizabeth I began a 19-day visit at Robert Dudley’s home, Kenilworth Castle…
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On this day in Tudor history, Margaret Tudor set off for Scotland to marry James IV; Kett’s Rebellion began in East Anglia; and Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary, declared herself queen at Kenninghall…
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On this day in Tudor history, 7th July, Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary, heard of her half-brother Edward VI’s death; Henry Peckham and John Danyell were hanged, drawn and quartered for their involvement in the Dudley Conspiracy; and William Turner, “father of English botany and of ornithology”, died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 6th July, Henry III’s former Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, was executed for high treason; King Edward VI died, leaving the throne to Lady Jane Grey; and Margaret Clement, adopted daughter of Sir Thomas More, died in Mechelen…
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On this day in Tudor history, 5th July, an imprisoned Sir Thomas More wrote his final letter; a shoemaker and religious radical was executed in the reign of Elizabeth I; and one of the Essex Witches was hanged at Chelmsford…
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On this day in Tudor history, 4th July, reformer and theologian John Frith was burnt at the stake for heresy; Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, died of sweating sickness; and Elizabethan composer William Byrd died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd July, pretender Perkin Warbeck landed on the Kent coast; Catherine of Aragon was ordered to call herself “Princess Dowager” and not queen; and Mary I bid farewell to Philip of Spain…
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On this day in Tudor history, 2nd July, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born; Thomas Cromwell was appointed Lord Privy Seal following Thomas Boleyn’s demotion; and a sexton and gravedigger known as Old Scarlett was buried at Peterborough Cathedral…
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On this day in Tudor history, 1st July, Sir Thomas More was tried and found guilty of treason; Parliament declared both of Henry VIII’s daughters illegitimate; and the Treaties of Greenwich between England and Scotland were signed, and a marriage agreed between Prince Edward (Edward VI) and Mary, Queen of Scots…
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On this day in Tudor history, Henry VIII and Catherine Howard set off on their ill-fated progress to the North; and keen sportsman, King Henry II of France, suffered a mortal head wound while jousting…
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On this day in Tudor history, 29th June, Lady Margaret Beaufort, matriarch of the Tudor dynasty, died; Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, died; and the Globe Theatre burned to the ground after catching fire during a performance of “Henry VIII”…
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On this day in Tudor history, 28th June, King Henry VIII was born at Greenwich Palace: rebel Sir James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley, was executed; and Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel and a man condemned for treason in Elizabeth I’s reign, was born…
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On this day in Tudor history, 27th June, two of the chief commanders of the Cornish rebels were executed; thirteen-year-old Prince Henry (Henry VIII) repudiated his betrothal to Catherine of Aragon; and William Bradbridge, Bishop of Exeter, died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th June, soldier Sir Edmund Carew died; a commission of oyer and terminer was appointed to try Sir Thomas More; and Sir John Wingfield, who was shot in the head in an attack on Cadiz, was buried…
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On this day in Tudor history, Catherine of Aragon became betrothed to Prince Henry, the future Henry VIII, and Mary Tudor, Dowager Queen of France, sister of Henry VIII and wife of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, died at the age of 37…
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24th June is the Feast of St John the Baptist, an important celebration in the medieval and Tudor periods, with it coinciding with Midsummer.
Fairies, fires, dancing, feasting and drinking were all part of the celebrations.
I explain how this feast day was marked in the Tudor period, and how it is still celebrated today in my local area…
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