On this day in Tudor history, 3rd February, Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, was born, Silken Thomas was executed, and Elizabeth I's privy council met and agreed to send Mary, Queen of Scot's death warrant to Fotheringhay without Elizabeth's knowledge...
- 1478 – Birth of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham at Brecon Castle. He was the eldest son of rebel Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and his wife, Katherine Woodville. Click here to read more about Buckingham.
- 1537 – Execution of Thomas Fitzgerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (known as Silken Thomas), his five uncles and Sir John Burnell, at Tyburn. Thomas was hanged and beheaded, but his uncles and Burnell were hanged, drawn and quartered. See video below.
- 1554 – Thomas Wyatt the Younger and his rebels reached Southwark, London. By this time, however, Mary I had rallied her troops, and Wyatt found the city guarded and barricaded. He had to move on to Kingston, where he managed to enter London on 6th February.
- 1576 – Henry of Navarre, future Henry IV of France, escaped from Paris after being forced to live at the French court and convert to Catholicism, following the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre of August 1572.
- 1587 - The Privy Council met in William Cecil, Lord Burghley’s chambers at Greenwich and agreed to send Mary, Queen of Scots’ signed death warrant to Fotheringhay. Burghley appointed the Earls of Shrewsbury and Kent to direct the execution, and the council agreed to keep Elizabeth in the dark until the deed was done.
