On this day in history, 26th May 1621, Barbara Sidney, Countess of Leicester, first wife of poet Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester, was buried at Penshurst.

Barbara was born in around 1559 and was the daughter of John Gamage of Coety Manor, Glamorgan,and his wife Gwenllian. After her father’s death in 1584, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, as master of the wards, her uncles Sir Walter Ralegh and Lord Howard of Effingham, and her guardian Sir Edward Stradling all got involved in trying to arrange a marriage match for her. She married Robert Sidney, son of Sir Henry Sidney, Lord President of the Council, and brother of the famous Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sidney. Robert was also a gifted poet.

On this day in history, 24th May 1612, courtier and statesman, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, died at Marlborough in Wiltshire. He had been diagnosed with two large tumours in August 1611 and was on his way home from taking the waters at Bath when he died.

Robert Cecil served Queen Elizabeth I as Secretary of State from 1596 and was retained in that office by James I. He also served James as Lord High Treasurer from 1608. He was still serving in both those offices at his death.

This week’s treat from the Tudor Society archives is a fascinating talk from historian Kate Cole on the witches of Elizabethan and Stuart Essex.

On this day in Tudor history, 8th May 1539, in the reign of King Henry VIII, English troops mustered between Whitechapel and Mile End and then marched through the City and Westminster to St James’s, where the king reviewed them.

This muster was in response to the war panic caused by Francis I and Charles V signing the Peace of Toledo.

On this day in Tudor history, 5th May 1586, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, fifty-six-year-old Sir Henry Sidney died. His body was buried in the Sidney Chapel at Penshurst and his heart in Ludlow, where he lived as President of the Council in the Marches of Wales.