The Tudor Society

YOUR SEARCH UNCOVERED 1673 RESULTS

  • Sir Edward Kelley

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Sir Edward Kelley (Kelly), apothecary, alchemist and medium, was born on 1st August 1555 in Worcester. In March 1582, Kelley called on astrologer and mathematician Dr John Dee at his home at Mortlake in Surrey. Kelley impressed Dee with his abilities as a medium, after Dee had been unsuccessful in making contact with angels. He worked closely with Dee for seven years, travelling around Europe and taking part in seances and allegedly communicating with angels in a special angelic language.

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  • Livi Michael’s “Rebellion” out 13 August

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Author Livi Michael is one of our August speakers (yes, we’ve got 2!) and I just wanted to let you know that the second of her “Wars of the Roses” novels, Rebellion, is due out in the UK on 13th August as a paperback and kindle. It is also coming out on kindle on that date in the US.

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  • 18 July 1509 – Edmund Dudley convicted of treason

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    On this day in history, 18th July 1509, Edmund Dudley, administrator, President of the King’s Council in the reign of Henry VII and speaker of the House of Commons, was convicted of treason after being blamed for the oppression of Henry VII’s reign. He was charged with conspiring to “hold, guide and govern the King and his Council” and ordering his men to assemble in London during the final days of Henry VII’s life.

    In the Third Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records (1842), we have the record of “Trial and conviction of Edmund Dudley, Esq. – Constructive Treason – Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, London, 18 July, 1509. 1 Hen. VIII”:

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  • Painting Paradise – Review by Melanie V. Taylor

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    London is sweltering in unaccustomed heat, so if you are in England you might consider a visit to the Queen’s gallery, Buckingham Palace just to get out of the sun.

    The exhibition is full of beautiful paintings, china and exquisite Fabergé flowers and importantly for members of The Tudor Society, this painting by the prolific artist, British School.

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  • 28 June 1461 – Coronation of Edward IV

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    On Sunday 28th June 1461, Edward IV was crowned king at Westminster Abbey. Edward had been declared king after defeating the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Towton in March 1461. Edward had made his triumphal state entry into London on Friday 26th June, riding from Lambeth to the Tower of London.

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  • 23 June 1509 – Coronation procession of King Henry VIII and Queen Catherine of Aragon

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    On Saturday 23rd June, Henry VIII and his wife Catherine of Aragon left the Tower of London and made their way through the streets of London to Westminster on their coronation procession.

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  • Charles V’s visit to England in 1522

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    In today’s Claire Chat’s video I talk about the visit Charles V made to England in 1522, to make an alliance with Henry VIII against France, and all the pageantry and entertainment that he enjoyed.

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  • Henry VIII

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Henry VIII was born on 28 June 1491 at Greenwich Palace. He was the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, but became heir to the throne when his brother Arthur died in 1502. He inherited the throne on the death of his father in April 1509, when he was just 17 years old, and he was crowned on 24 June 1509 in a joint coronation with his new bride Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his brother.

    His reign was seen as the start of a new era, after his father’s harsh regime, and Henry was very much a Renaissance prince at the start, with his charm, good looks, intelligence, love of sport and desire to fight bribery and corruption. However, he has gone down in history as a larger than life, hulk of a man who had six wives and who executed two of them, and who, according to one contemporary source, executed 72,000 during his reign. His reign is famous for the break with Rome which happened as a result of Henry VIII’s “Great Matter”, his quest for an annulment of his marriage to his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Catherine had been unable to provide Henry with a living son and Henry had come to view the marriage as contrary to God’s laws, since Catherine was his brother’s widow. He had also fallen in love with Anne Boleyn. The Pope refused to grant Henry an annulment, but Henry took matters into his own hands after reading that kings and princes were only answerable to God. The marriage was annulled in 1533, Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn and the Reformation Parliament of 1529-1536 passed the main pieces of legislation which led to the break with Rome and the English Reformation.

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  • Henry VII

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Henry VII, or Henry Tudor, was born on 28 January 1457 at Pembroke Castle and was the son of Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, and Margaret Beaufort. Henry’s paternal grandparents were Owen Tudor (a former page to Henry V) and Catherine of Valois, the widow of Henry V and mother of Henry VI. His maternal grandfather was John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, and his maternal great-grandfather (John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset) was a son of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his mistress (and later wife), Katherine Swynford. It was from this Beaufort side of the family that Henry VII derived his claim to the throne. Lady Margaret Beaufort was only thirteen years old when Henry was born and she was already a widow, his father having died from the plague three months earlier while imprisoned by Yorkists. Margaret had been taken in by her brother-in-law, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, the man who helped bring Henry up, who took him into exile in Brittany and who helped him win the crown of England.

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  • Video – Henry VIII: Tyrant Part 1

    10 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    In today’s Claire Chats I look at whether Henry VIII was a tyrant and compare him to Machiavelli’s idea of what a monarch/leader should be.

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  • Video – Henry VIII the Jouster

    11 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    In today’s Claire Chats video I look at Henry VIII the jouster and the records that tell of how he excelled at the sport, and also accounts of his accidents.

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  • Anne Neville’s Final Months by Alex Taylor

    11 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
    22 Comments

    An article on Anne Neville, queen consort of Richard III and daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and a man known as “the Kingmaker”.

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  • Henry VII

    11 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
    4 Comments

    Henry VII was born at Pembroke Castle on the 28th January 1457. His parents were the thirteen year-old Lady Margaret Beaufort and her husband Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, who, unfortunately, had died of the plague three months before Henry’s birth.

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  • 22 January 1552 – Execution of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset

    11 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Edward Seymour

    On 22 January 1552, between 8 and 9am, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and former Lord Protector, was executed on Tower Hill.

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  • Henry VII Primary Sources

    11 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Links to primary sources for Henry VII and his reign.

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  • Henry VIII Primary Sources

    11 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Links to primary sources for Henry VIII and his reign.

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  • Queen Jane Seymour’s funeral and resting places – St George’s Chapel and Hampton Court Palace

    2 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Thumbnail for my video on Jane Seymour's burial

    On this day in Tudor history, 13 November 1537, Jane Seymour, third wife of King Henry VIII and mother of King Edward VI, was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

    Jane had died on 24th October 1537, twelve days after giving birth to her son, plunging the court and kingdom into grief.

    I talk about Jane’s final journey from Hampton Court Palace to Windsor, her funeral, and also how her remains were actually buried in TWO places…

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  • John Redman – Theologian, royal chaplain and scholar

    3 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Trinity College Cambridge

    On this day in Tudor history, 4th November 1551, theologian, royal chaplain, and scholar John Redman, the first Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, died of consumption.

    Redman was one of Tudor England’s most brilliant and balanced minds, a man who sought to reconcile faith, scholarship, and conscience in an age of division.

    He served both Henry VIII and Edward VI, and tried to tread a middle way, defending traditional Catholic ideas while embracing elements of reform…

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  • The Fall of Lord Protector Somerset

    4 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Portrait of Edward Seymour as 1st Earl of Hertford (c.1537), wearing the Collar of the Order of the Garter. By unknown artist, Longleat House, Wiltshire.

    On this day in Tudor history, 8th October 1549, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector, woke up the most powerful man in Tudor England and went to bed a denounced traitor.

    Somerset had ruled as king in all but name since February 1547, leading his nephew King Edward VI’s government.

    He pushed bold reforms (the Act of Uniformity and the Book of Common Prayer), but rebellion, rivalry, and ambition brought him down. On 8 October 1549, the Privy Council branded Somerset a traitor. By the 11th, he had surrendered. Within days, he was in the Tower; his protectorate abolished.

    Find out more, and how this wasn’t actually the end of Somerset…

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  • Sir Thomas Paston, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber

    5 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Thumbnail for Sir Thomas Paston video

    On this day in Tudor history, 4th September 1550, Sir Thomas Paston, a gentleman of the privy chamber under Henry VIII and Edward VI, died.

    He was, of course, a member of the Pastons of Norfolk, a family famed for the Paston Letters, a treasure trove of family correspondence from the 1400s into the 1500s, which give us a vivid, everyday view of gentry life at the time.

    Find out more about Sir Thomas Paston in my video, as I trace his journey from younger son to royal insider…

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  • From Cromwell’s Ally to Mary’s Pardon – Sir John Kingsmill

    6 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Thumbnail for Sir John Kingsmill video

    On this day in Tudor history, 11th August 1556, in the reign of Queen Mary I, Sir John Kingsmill died a natural death.

    You may not have heard of him, but he worked with Thomas Cromwell, helped dissolve monasteries and chantries, and still managed to earn a pardon from Queen Mary I.

    Kingsmill was:
    – A lawyer and sheriff
    – A commissioner for Edward VI’s Protestant reforms
    – A beneficiary of monastic spoils
    – And the father of seventeen children

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  • Arthur Bulkeley, Bishop of Bangor

    11 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Bangor Cathedral

    On this day in Tudor history, 14th March 1553, during the reign of King Edward VI, Arthur Bulkeley, Bishop of Bangor, died at his home in Bangor.
    His final resting place? The quire of Bangor Cathedral.

    But who was Bishop Bulkeley, and why does his legacy matter?

    Arthur Bulkeley was a Welshman, born around 1495 in Beaumaris, Anglesey. He was a scholar, studying both canon and civil law at Oxford. But his path wasn’t just academic; he found himself serving some of the most powerful figures in Tudor England.

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  • Lady Margaret Douglas, a Royal Rebel

    11 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Miniature of Lady Margaret Douglas by Nicholas Hilliard

    On this day in Tudor history, 19th February 1567, while imprisoned in the Tower of London, Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, received devastating news – her son, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, King of Scotland, had been brutally murdered at Kirk o’ Field in Edinburgh.

    But this wasn’t just the loss of a son, it was the destruction of her dynastic ambitions, the shattering of her hopes for the future, and yet another chapter of heartbreak in Margaret’s turbulent life.

    So, who was Margaret Douglas, why was she in the Tower, and what did this moment mean for her—and for the tangled web of Tudor and Stuart politics?

    Margaret Douglas was no ordinary noblewoman, she was a granddaughter of Henry VII, and the daughter of Margaret Tudor (Henry VIII’s sister) and her second husband, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. This made her a first cousin to Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, and a serious contender for the English throne in the eyes of many.

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  • Elizabeth of York, Queen of Hearts

    12 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    A portrait of Elizabeth of York, queen consort of Henry VII

    On this day in Tudor history, 11th February 1466, Elizabeth of York was born at Westminster Palace.

    She was the daughter of a king, the sister of the Princes in the Tower, the wife of Henry VII, the mother of Henry VIII, and the grandmother of Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I and James V. Her bloodline shaped the future of England, but she’s often overshadowed by the powerful men and women she was related to.

    But Elizabeth was no passive figure. She was a key part of dynastic politics, and her marriage helped end the Wars of the Roses. Today, I’m exploring her remarkable life, her role in uniting the warring houses of Lancaster and York, and why she truly deserves to be remembered as the Queen of Hearts.

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  • A Tudor Power Grab

    1 year ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Edward Seymour

    Henry VIII, one of England’s most famous monarchs, died on 28th January 1547 at the age of 55. His death, however, was not announced to the public immediately.

    Why?

    Well, the delay allowed his closest advisors and executors to figure out their next steps and secure their positions in this sudden transition of power.

    Henry’s death was formally announced three days later, on this day in Tudor history, 31st January 1547, by Thomas Wriothesley, his Lord Chancellor. Chronicler and Windsor Herald Charles Wriothesley recorded the momentous occasion, describing how the proclamation was made in Westminster Hall by Garter King of Arms and other heralds, declaring Edward VI as King of England, France, and Ireland, Supreme Head of the Church, and Defender of the Faith.

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  • A birth, death and accession

    1 year ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Henry VV, Henry VIII and Edward VI

    Today is a date packed with significance in Tudor history – it’s Henry VII’s birthday, the anniversary of the death of Henry VIII, and the anniversary of the accession of Edward VI.

    Let’s take a closer look at how these three monumental events shaped the Tudor dynasty.

    First, let’s go back to 28th January 1457, when Henry Tudor was born at Pembroke Castle in Wales.

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  • Tudor Clockmaker Bartholomew Newsam – A Gifted Man

    1 year ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Repeater watch and key ca. 1565 by Bartholomew Newsam, Met Museum

    Today, I’m exploring the life of a remarkable yet forgotten craftsman.

    On this day in Tudor history, 17th January 1587, Bartholomew Newsam died. He was buried in the church of St Mary-le-Strand, the parish in which he lived and worked. He was in his fifties at his death. His life spanned the reigns of five monarchs: Henry VIII, Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, Mary I, and Elizabeth I—a time of immense change and innovation.

    Newsam was more than just a craftsman—he was a trailblazer in English clockmaking, a skill that was incredibly specialised in Tudor times.
    While most clocks were imported from Europe, Newsam stood out as one of the first English clockmakers to gain royal recognition.

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  • #OTD in Tudor history – 15 October

    1 year ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    infant Edward Vi

    On this day in Tudor history, 15th October, the infant Prince Edward (Edward VI) was christened in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace (1537); and teacher and Welsh language poet Richard Gwyn (White) was hanged, drawn and quartered for his Catholic faith (1584)…

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  • #OTD in Tudor history – 12 October

    1 year ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Portraits of Jane Seymour and an infant Edward VI

    On this day in Tudor history, 12th October, Edward VI, son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, was born (1537); and MP and administrator Lewis Owen was murdered on a Welsh mountain pass as a result of his campaign against outlaws (1555)…

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  • #OTD in Tudor history – 5 October

    1 year ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and Edward VI

    On this day in Tudor history, 5th October, Henry VIII’s daughter, two-year-old Princess Mary, became betrothed to the French dauphin; and Lord Protector Somerset ordered a gathering of men at Hampton Court Palace to protect him and the young King Edward VI…

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