On this day in Tudor history, 14th March 1555, courtier, envoy and landowner, Sir John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, died at his London residence on the Strand aged around 70.

Russell was an important Tudor man who served four Tudor monarchs – Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I – AND he managed to keep his head, dying a natural death at a good age.

Find out more about this Earl of Bedford, his life, his rise and his career at the royal court, in today’s talk.

On this day in Tudor history, 13th March 1540, sixty-eight-year-old Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex, died after suffering a broken neck in a horse-riding accident. Chronicler Charles Wriothesley recorded: “the Earl of Essex, riding a young horse, by misfortune cast him and brake his neck at his place in Essex, which was great pity.”

Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex, was related to the royal family and served both Henry VII and Henry VIII. Find out more about this Tudor man in today’s talk.

On this day in Tudor history, 12th March 1537, Cistercian monk William Haydock of Whalley Abbey, Lancashire, was hanged for treason at Whalley.

Haydock’s abbey had been implicated in the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace Rebellion, so Henry VIII wanted the abbey punished. Find out more about Whalley Abbey’s part in the rebellion, how Haydock and several other monks were punished, and what exactly happened to William Haydock’s remains, in today’s talk.

On this day in history, 11th March 1609, Tudor poet and lawyer William Warner was buried at the Church of St John the Baptist at Great Amwell in Hertfordshire.

Not many people today have heard of William Warner, but he was a well-respected and well-known poet in the Tudor era and even described as “our English Homer”. He is known for his huge poem, “Albion’s England, or, Historicall Map of the same Island”.

Find out more about this poet in today’s talk.

On this day in Tudor history, 10th March 1513, magnate John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, died at his home at Castle Hedingham in Essex.

Oxford was a key figure in the Wars of the Roses and played an important role in the Battle of Bosworth Field. As I talk about his life and career, you’ll see just how complicated this civil war was.

On this day in Tudor history, 9th March 1589, Lady Frances Radcliffe, Countess of Sussex, and wife of Sir Thomas Radcliffe, Lord Fitzwalter and 3rd Earl of Sussex, died at her home in Bermondsey.

Frances is known for being the benefactor of Cambridge University’s Sidney Sussex College, but there is much more to her than that. Her enemies even turned her husband and Queen Elizabeth I against her at one point!

Find out all about Frances Radcliffe (née Sidney) in today’s talk.

This day in Tudor history, 7th March 1556, was one of the days on which the Great Comet, or the Comet of Charles V, was seen and recorded by Paul Fabricius, mathematician and physician at the court of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

Find out all about the Great Comet of 1556, what it looked like and how Emperor Charles V saw it as an ominous portent in today’s talk.

On this day in Tudor history, 5th March 1558, Spanish physician Francisco Fernandes brought back live tobacco plants and seeds from Mexico to Europe.

In today’s “On This Day in Tudor History”, I talk about the introduction of tobacco in Europe and how it was viewed as a cure-all, and how tobacco smoking became fashionable at Elizabeth I’s court.

On this day in history, 4th March 1609, Tudor spelling reformer and grammarian William Bullokar died at Chichester in West Sussex.

William Bullokar is known for writing the first grammar book of English, the “Pamphlet for Grammar”, and for his work reforming the alphabet to improve literacy. Find out more about him and what he did in today’s talk.

On this day in Tudor history, 3rd March 1542, Arthur Plantagenet, Lord Lisle, courtier, soldier, diplomat, administrator and illegitimate son of Edward IV, died of a heart attack after being informed of his release from the Tower of London. How very sad!

Find out all about Lord Lisle’s background, his career in Henry VII and Henry VIII’s reign, and how he came to imprisoned in the Tower of London, when he was probably innocent, in today’s talk.

On this day in Tudor history, 2nd March 1545, scholar, diplomat and founder of the Bodleian Library, Sir Thomas Bodley, was born in Exeter.

Sir Thomas Bodley served as a diplomat in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, but he is most known for his re-founding of Oxford University Library and the Bodleian Library, and all the work he did on it. Find out all about him and his library in today’s talk.

On this day in Tudor history, 29th February 1604, John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, died at at Lambeth Palace, the archbishop’s palace in London. He was the last Archbishop of Canterbury in Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, and the queen called him her “white gift” and her “little black husband”.

He is known for his religious disagreement, but also had a real heart for the poor. Find out more about Archbishop John Whitgift in today’s talk.

On this day in Tudor history, 28th February 1540, Protestant Thomas Forret was burned at the stake in Castle Hill, Edinburgh, in the presence of King James V.

Forret was a former Augustinian monk and had spent his career teaching the common people and helping those in need. How did he come to this awful end in Edinburgh? Find out all about Thomas Forret, and why he was accused of heresy, in today’s talk.