On 18th March 1601, just six days before the day of Queen Elizabeth I, soldier, secret agent and rebel Sir Christopher Blount was executed on Tower Hill for high treason.
He was accused of treason following his involvement in the rebellion of his stepson, Elizabeth’s former favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.
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On this day in Tudor history, 17th March 1570, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, soldier, courtier and landowner, died at Hampton Court, aged sixty-three.
Here are some facts about this Tudor earl, who was known as Black Will Herbert and had a queen as a sister-in-law…
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We've been contacted by Ann Henning Jocelyn, and although August seems a long time away, we wanted to highlight a play and talk which is coming up at the Festival Theatre in Hever Castle, Kent, UK. 
The Sphere of Light play was originally performed in Cambridge but then Covid struck. Only now is the play on the move again, together with the novel of the same name. It has been endorsed by Dr Owen Emmerson, who will launch the novel at Hever on June 1st, following my lecture on the Boleyns, "The Boleyns in Context", as part of this year's Hever Theatre Festival.
Later in the year, it will be followed by a full production of the play on August 4th and 5th, 2023.
More information and bookings can be made with the Hever Festival Theatre, https://heverfestival.co.uk/, along with an action packed schedule of talks and events.
On this day in Tudor history, 16th March 1533, in the reign of King Henry VIII, soldier, translator and diplomat, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, died at Calais, while serving as Deputy of Calais.
Berners was succeeded as deputy by the king’s uncle, Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle.
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On 15th March 1554, in the reign of Queen Mary I, John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, was deprived of his bishopric while imprisoned in Fleet Prison. He had been charged with owing over five hundred pounds in unpaid first fruits, a charge he denied.
Let me tell you a bit more about this man, who ended up being a Marian martyr…
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On this day in Tudor history, 14th March 1553, in the reign of King Edward VI, Arthur Bulkeley, Bishop of Bangor, died at his home in Bangor. He was buried in the cathedral quire.
Bulkeley, who was originally from Beaumaris in Anglesey, had been bishop since 1541. He’d previously served as chaplain to Charles Brandon and Thomas Cromwell.
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On this day in Tudor history, 13th March 1619, actor and star of Shakespeare’s Lord Chamberlain’s Men and the King’s Men, Richard Burbage, died aged fifty.
Burbage performed with William Shakespeare and is named in Shakespeare’s will of 1616 as a “fellow”, meaning a close friend or colleague.
Let me give you a few facts about this Elizabethan actor…
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On this day in Tudor history, 12th March 1564, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Roman Catholic priest and martyr Christopher Bales was baptised in Coniscliffe, in County Durham, in the north of England.
Bales ended up being executed by hanging on 4th March 1590.
Let me tell you a bit more about Bales and how he came to this sad end…
On this day in Tudor history, 11th March 1513, Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici was proclaimed Pope Leo X after being elected on 9th March. He was crowned pope on 19th March and held the office until his death by pneumonia on 1st December 1521. He was one of the leading Renaissance popes.
Giovanni was the second son of Lorenzo de’ Medici, or Lorenzo the Magnificent, a member of the prominent political banking and political Medici family, and ruler of the Republic of Florence.
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On this day in Tudor history, 10th March 1572, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, nobleman and administrator William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester, died at his home Basing House in Hampshire. He was said to be 97 years of age at his death. He was laid to rest in the parish church at Basing on 28th April.
Paulet’s offices under Henry VIII included Lord Treasurer, Great Master of the Household and Lord Great Chamberlain, and he also served the king’s children, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, in their reigns.
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When you spend time looking at this mural, it contains a huge amount of detail, both in the people but also of Tudor history. It is truly an amazing artwork.
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On this day in Tudor history, on the evening of 9th March 1578, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, sixty-two-year-old Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, died.
Margaret had been recorded as suffering from a colic but the fact that she had dined with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, two days before, led to rumours that she had been poisoned. However, there was no evidence to support the rumour. Margaret was buried at Westminster Abbey on 3rd April 1578.
Margaret Douglas was the daughter of Margaret Tudor, dowager queen of Scotland, by her second husband, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, making her the granddaughter of King Henry VII and the niece of King Henry VIII. Margaret was also the mother-in-law of Mary, Queen of Scots, whose second husband was Margaret’s son, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, and the grandmother of James VI of Scotland/James I of England, and the ill-fated Lady Arbella or Arabella Stuart.
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On this day in Tudor history, 8 March 1569, evangelical reformer and Member of Parliament Richard Tracy died at his manor in Stanway, Gloucestershire.
Tracy was the cousin of Protestant martyr James Bainham and his works included the 1543 pamphlet on justification by faith: “Profe and Declaration of thys Proposition: Fayth only iustifieth”, which was dedicated to Henry VIII; the 1544 “‘A Supplycation to our most Soueraigne Lorde, Kynge Henry the Eyght” and “A Bryef and short Declaracyon made wherebye euery Chrysten Man may knowe what is a Sacrament”. In Elizabeth I’s reign, he served as a Commissioner of the Peace and Sheriff in Gloucestershire.
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On this day in Tudor history, 7th March 1544, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Germaine (or German) Gardiner and priest John Larke were executed for denying the royal supremacy.
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On this day in Tudor history, 6th March 1547, in the reign of King Edward VI, former Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, lost the Great Seal of his Lord Chancellorship and was confined to his home at Ely Place for abusing his authority.
Wriothesley was found guilty of issuing a commission without the knowledge or permission of the other executors of Henry VIII’s will, but it was probably more to do with his opposition to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, becoming Lord Protector.
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On this day in Tudor history, 5th March 1575, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, mathematician William Oughtred was baptised at Eton College, where his father, Benjamin, was registrar and writing master.
Oughtred is responsible for developing a straight slide-rule, a gauging rod and various sundials. He also introduced the “×” symbol for multiplication and the abbreviations “sin” and “cos” for the sine and cosine functions.
Let me tell you a bit more about him…
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On this day in Tudor history, 4th March 1526, in the reign of King Henry VIII, courtier and administrator, Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, was born.
Hunsdon was the only son of Mary Boleyn and her first husband, William Carey, esquire of the body to Henry VIII. There is controversy over his paternity due to Mary Boleyn having a sexual relationship with Henry VIII at some point…
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd March 1528, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII and widow of King James IV of Scotland, married for a third time.
Thirty-eight-year-old Margaret’s third husband was Henry Stewart, who was about 33. Stewart was the son of Andrew Stewart, 1st Lord Avondale, and he’d served Margaret’s son, James V, as master carver and master of the artillery. It is thought that he and Margaret got to know each other in 1524.
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On this day in history, 2nd March 1619, in the reign of King James I, forty-four-year-old Anne of Denmark, died of dropsy and consumption.
Her death may have taken place in the Stuart period, but she was King James's consort from 1589, when he was King James VI of Scotland.
Anne was the second daughter of the late King Frederick II of Denmark, and his wife, Queen Sophia, and sister King Christian IV of Denmark. She married James in a proxy wedding in Denmark in August 1589 – you'll find my video on that below - and then in another ceremony, with James present, in Norway in that November. Following their marriage, Anne suffered a number of miscarriages and gave birth to seven live children. Unfortunately, only three of them survived childhood: Henry, Prince of Wales; Elizabeth, and Charles, the future Charles I. Although Henry, Prince of Wales, survived childhood, he died suddenly aged 18.
On this day in Tudor history, 1st March 1559, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Catholic politician and landowner, Sir Thomas Tresham, died at Rushton in Northamptonshire. He was buried at St Peter’s Church, Rushton.
Tresham was a leading politician in the reigns of Henry VIII and Mary I, and he’s an interesting Tudor chap.
Let me tell you a bit more about him…
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Thank you to author and historian Toni Mount for stopping by the Tudor Society on the book/blog tour for her new book, “The Colour of Bone”, the eleventh novel in the Seb Foxley medieval murder mystery series.
Toni has answered some interview questions…
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During the night of 28th February/1st March 1551, theologian and Protestant reformer Martin Bucer died in Cambridge. He was fifty-nine years old.
Let me tell tell you a bit more about this reformer, who ended up being posthumously burned as a heretic in Mary I’s reign!
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Support for the needy in England through Tudor poor laws was based upon a carrot-and-stick approach. Specific policies were designed to provide relief for the poor, while others were designed to penalise. Tony Morgan writes about some of the approaches used in the Tudor period.
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On this day in Tudor history, 27th February 1583, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, thirty-six-year-old diarist and Church of England clergyman, Richard Madox, died near Espirito Santo harbour, near Vitória, Brazil.
Madox served as chaplain and secretary to Captain Edward Fenton on his 1582 voyage to the Moluccas and China.
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th February 1548, in the reign of King Edward VI, George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, was born. He was the eldest son of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, and Anne Morgan, and the grandson of Mary Boleyn.
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On either 24th or 25th February 1618, sixty-five-year-old literary patron Elizabeth Carey (née Spencer), Lady Hunsdon, wife of Sir George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, died from what was described “a palsie”, probably a stroke. She was buried at Westminster Abbey, in the Hunsdon family vault.
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On this day in Tudor history, 24th February 1540, in the reign of King Henry VIII, courtier, author and administrator, Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, was born at Shottesham in Norfolk.
Northampton was the second son of courtier and poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and his wife, Lady Frances de Vere.
Let me give you a few facts about this Tudor earl…
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On this day in Tudor history, 23rd February 1503, Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of Henry VII and mother of Henry VIII, was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey.
Elizabeth had died on her 37th birthday, on 11th February, at the Tower of London, nine days after giving birth to a daughter, Katherine, who also died.
In “The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503”, J L Laynesmith writes of how at least £3,000 was spent on Elizabeth’s funeral, compared to the £600 spent on that of Arthur, Prince of Wales, the previous year, and that “the whole process was rich with references to the queen’s coronation”.
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On this day in Tudor history, 22nd February 1571, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, translator John Bury died.
Bury was only about thirty-five years old at his death, but he’d suffered a fall from his horse six months earlier. Bury had broken his leg in the accident, a serious injury in those days and one which led to his death.
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st February 1568, Katherine Seymour (née Grey), Countess of Hertford, was buried at Yoxford. Her remains were later re-interred, by her grandson, in the Seymour family tomb at Salisbury Cathedral.
Katherine was the second daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and his wife, Frances Brandon, and the granddaughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Mary Tudor, Queen of France. She was also the younger sister of Lady Jane Grey, or Queen Jane.
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