On this day in Tudor history, 19^th March 1577, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Edmund Harman, former barber, of Henry VIII, died at Burford in Oxfordshire. He had retired there after Henry VIII’s death. Harman was buried at Taynton Church.

Harman, who was originally from Ipswich, had entered the king’s service by 1533 and served him until the king’s death in 1547. His main duty was the daily washing and trimming of the king’s beard and hair, but he also served Henry VIII as keeper of the wardrobe.

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…

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.

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…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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…

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.

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.

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.

On this day in Tudor history, 24^th 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…