On this day in Tudor history, 29th October 1532, King Henry VIII bid farewell to his “loving brother”, his French counterpart, King Francis I.
The two kings had enjoyed each other’s company at Calais and Boulogne, and Henry VIII was pleased with their meetings. In fact, things had gone so well that Henry VIII decided to marry Anne Boleyn!
Find out more about their farewell, and what had happened during the trip, in today’s talk.
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On this day in history, 19th October 1469, an event took place in Spain that was not only important in Spanish history, but which had an impact on Europe and which has links with the Tudors.
The event was the marriage of an eighteen-year-old woman called Isabella and a seventeen-year-old man called Ferdinand. They’d become the famous Reyes Catolicos, the Catholic monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, and would bring together two powerful kingdoms, which comprised most of what is modern-day Spain.
In today’s talk, I tell you more about this powerful couple, their reigns and their legacy.
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On this day in Tudor history, 16th October 1532, while Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Marquess of Pembroke, were on their visit to Calais, English nobles met French nobles to arrange a meeting between the King of England and his French counterpart, King Francis I.
In today’s talk, I give details on this event, who was there, what happened, and why Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn had gone to Calais.
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On this day in Tudor history, 11th October 1532, King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, the newly created Marquess of Pembroke, set sail from Dover aboard the king’s ship, The Swallow.
They were off to Calais on a mission involving the Great Matter, Henry VIII’s quest for an annulment. But why? What would they do there? Who would they meet?
Find out more about this trip, what happened and what happened next, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 10th October 1588, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was buried in the Beauchamp Chapel of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick, according to his instructions.
His funeral was well-attended and his widow, Lettice, a woman known by Elizabeth I as “the she-wolf”, erected a monument to “her best and dearest husband” in the chapel, which was also the resting place of the couple’s young son, Robert, “the noble impe”.
Find out more about Leicester’s funeral and resting place, and see some photos of his tomb, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 8th October 1536, while the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion was getting underway in Lincolnshire and spreading to Yorkshire, Henry VIII wasn’t only issuing orders regarding the rebels, he was also issuing orders regarding his eldest daughter.
Henry and Mary had recently reconciled after Mary had finally submitted to him and recognised his supremacy and her illegitimate status. It was something that cost Mary dearly, but it did mend her relationship with her father and allow her back at court.
But then Henry VIII put more pressure on his daughter by forcing her to write to the pope and to Mary of Hungary, the emperor’s sister.
What did Mary have to write? What did the king want of his daughter? And why had Mary submitted to her father?
Find out all about this in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 5th October 1549, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector, ordered a gathering of men at Hampton Court Palace, where he was lodged with the young King Edward VI, due to tensions mounting between Somerset and John Dudley, Earl of Warwick.
What was going on and what happened when 4,000 peasants turned up? How did John Dudley react and what did King Edward VI have to say about it all?
Find out what happened, and how this led to Somerset’s undoing, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 2nd October 1514, eighteen-year-old Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, set off from Dover to sail to France to marry fifty-two-year-old King Louis XII of France.
Things hadn’t gone to plan with the scheduled sailing, due to bad weather, and Mary encountered rough seas on her journey too.
Find out about the arrangements for the journey, who was at Dover, Mary’s crossing to Boulogne, and what happened next, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 28th September 1599, Elizabeth I’s favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, strode into the queen’s bedchamber unannounced and saw her without her makeup or wig, without her “mask of youth”.
Why would he do such a thing?
Find out why Devereux was troubled and wanted to see the queen urgently and how Elizabeth I reacted to his visit, and what happened next, in today’s talk.
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On this day in history, 27th September 1442, in the reign of King Henry VI, John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, was born.
He may have been born in the Plantagenet period, but Suffolk’s first wife was Lady Margaret Beaufort, the future mother of Henry VII. Suffolk went on to serve Henry VII loyally, although his son was involved in the Lambert Simnel Rebellion
Find out more about John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, his life and career, and what happened with his marriage to Lady Margaret Beaufort, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st September 1557, Henry Pendleton, theologian, chaplain and friend of Bishop Bonner, was buried at St Stephen’s, Walbrook, London.
Pendleton is known not only for his strong preaching, which led to him being shot at once, but also for his changing religious faith. He went from staunch Catholic to zealous Protestant to staunch Catholic, even taking part in disputations with his former friends and seeing them imprisoned and burnt.
Find out more about Henry Pendleton, his life, career and changing religious beliefs, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 20th September 1586, Anthony Babington, John Ballard, John Savage, Chidiock Tichborne and three other conspirators were executed near St Giles-in-the-Fields in London.
They suffered full traitors’ deaths, being hanged, drawn and quartered, after being found guilty of treason for plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I in the famous Babington Plot, which sought to replace Elizabeth with Mary, Queen of Scots.
Find out more about Anthony Babington, the Babington Plot, the men involved, how it was discovered, and how it led to Mary, Queen of Scots’ execution, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 18th September 1556, Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, died from a fever at Padua in Italy.
Courtenay had been sent overseas after he was implicated in Wyatt’s Rebellion as a future husband and consort of Queen Mary I’s half-sister, Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth I.
In today’s talk, I tell you more about this Earl of Devon and how he was a prospective bridegroom for both of Henry VIII’s daughters.
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On this day in Tudor history, 9th September 1543, the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden, Mary, Queen of Scots, was crowned queen at the Chapel Royal of Stirling Castle. Mary was just nine months old.
Find out more about how Mary came to the throne, her coronation ceremony, in which Mary howled, and how she was already promised in marriage to Henry VIII’s son, the future Edward VI, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 8th September 1601, John Shakespeare, father of playwright William Shakespeare, was buried at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon.
John was a glover and whittawer, and also an important man in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, serving as high bailiff, chief alderman and deputy bailiff, and being given the right to educate his children at the local grammar school for free. However, he also ran into trouble at times.
Find out more about the life of William Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, in today’s talk.
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Today, 29th August, is the Feast of the beheading of St John the Baptist. Lovely!
In today’s talk, I share the story behind this Tudor holy day, a story which is often depicted in illuminations in manuscripts and psalters.
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st August 1536, two months after he was forced to resign his bishopric, Robert Sherborne (Sherborn), former Bishop of Chichester, died at Chichester. He was buried in the cathedral there.
He was around 82 years of age and it seems a sad end to a man who had done his best to keep his bishopric in order and to serve his king and country.
Find out more about Robert Sherborne, Bishop of Chichester, and what led to his forced resignation, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 11th August 1581, Sir Maurice Berkeley, former gentleman usher of Henry VIII’s Privy Chamber, died.
You may not have heard of Sir Maurice Berkeley, but he had a wonderful court career, serving Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I, and proving his loyalty to Mary I by arresting rebel leader, Thomas Wyatt the Younger.
Find out more about this lesser-known Tudor man in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 25th July 1535, the Feast of St James, t, the imperial ambassador wrote about a furious King Henry VIII who’d apparently been nearly driven to commit murder!
What had angered the king? Well, it involved Henry VIII’s fool and some foolish name-calling. Find out more in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, on 8th July 1503, during the reign of King Henry VII, Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne Boleyn, left Collyweston in Northamptonshire to undertake an important job for the king.
He was to be part of a retinue escorting King Henry VII’s eldest daughter, Margaret Tudor, to Scotland, for her marriage to King James IV.
Find out more about the retinue and journey in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd July 1495, the pretender Perkin Warbeck landed at Deal in Kent with men and ships. In the ensuing battle, the Battle of Deal, with Kentish men who supported King Henry VII, around 150 of Warbeck’s men were killed and over 160 captured. Warbeck managed to escape, fleeing to Ireland.
Who was Warbeck claiming to be? Whose support did her have? And what happened next?
Find out more about claimant Perkin Warbeck in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 2nd July 1536, Thomas Cromwell, the king’s right-hand man, was formally appointed Lord Privy Seal. The previous holder of the office had been Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, who’d been stripped of the office following the falls of his children, Queen Anne Boleyn and George Boleyn, Lord Rochford.
But what is a privy seal and what does the Lord of the Privy Seal do?
Find out more in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 29th June 1537, just over a year after the execution of his former sweetheart, Anne Boleyn, Henry Algernon Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, died at around the age of thirty-five.
He’d been ill for some time and had actually collapsed after he sat in judgement on Anne Boleyn and her brother, George, in May 1536. But who was Henry Percy and what happened between him and Anne?
Find out more about him in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 27th June 1497, in the reign of King Henry VII, lawyer and member of Parliament Thomas Flamank and blacksmith Michael Joseph (known as Michael an Gof), two of the chief commanders of the Cornish rebels, were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn in London.
What had led them to this awful end? What was the Cornish Rebellion about and why do they have “fame permanent and immortal”? Find out more about them and their ends in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 24th June 1532, the feast of St John the Baptist, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and favourite of Elizabeth I, was born.
Elizabeth I called Leicester her “eyes” and “sweet Robin” and there was gossip over their relationship, but there was far more to Robert Dudley than his closeness to the queen. Find out all about his life and career in today’s talk:
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On this day in Tudor history, 23rd June 1576, painter and miniaturist, Levina Teerlinc, died at Stepney in London.
Teerlinc was court painter to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, and was a prolific artist. Find out more about Levina Teerlinc and her work in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, the night of 22nd June 1509, King Henry VIII rewarded twenty-six men for their loyal service to the crown by making them Knights of the Bath as part of the celebrations for his coronation.
One of the men honoured for his service to the crown was Thomas Boleyn, father of the future queen, Anne Boleyn. But what had he done to deserve this honour? Find out more about Thomas Boleyn’s rise at the court of Henry VII, and how he was a royal favourite long before his daughters became involved with the king, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st June 1553, letters patent were issued stating that the dying King Edward VI’s heir was Lady Jane Grey, eldest daughter of the king’s cousin, Frances Grey (née Brandon), Duchess of Suffolk.
Why was Lady Jane Grey his heir when Edward had two half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, and who else was listed in his “devise for the succession”. Find out more about Edward VI’s plan for the succession in today’s talk
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Yes, you read that title right! On this day in Tudor history, 18th June 1558, the will of Welsh mathematician, physician and mint administrator Robert Recorde was proved.
Recorde invented the “=” sign and wrote books on mathematics and also a urological treatise “The Urinal of Physick”.
Let me tell you all about this man and his works, which have such catchy titles!
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On this day in Tudor history, 15th June 1559, William Somer (Sommers), court fool to Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I, died in Shoreditch, London.
Somer managed to survive upsetting the king by calling Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth names, although the king apparently was so furious he wanted to kill him, and he died a natural death in Elizabeth I’s reign.
Somer wasn’t the only court fool at the time, Jane the Fool served Anne Boleyn, Catherine Parr and Mary I. Find out about Will Somer and Jane the Fool, the Tudor Court Fools, in today’s talk.
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