On this day in Tudor history, 18th November, Ralph Baynes, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, died while imprisoned in the Bishop of London’s home, and his fellow clergyman, Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, died in prison at Lambeth Palace (1559)…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 7th November, Henry VII’s first Parliament attainted Richard III and his supporters (1485); and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer visited a confined Queen Catherine Howard, seeking a confession (1541)…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 28th October, celebrations included wrestling and bear baiting on the last day of Henry VIII’s meeting with Francis I (1532); and Ivan IV of Russia, known commonly as Ivan the Terrible, wrote a rather rude letter to Queen Elizabeth I…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 25th October, Henry VIII returned to Calais following his visit to the French court at Boulogne, taking Francis I with him; and today is the the feast of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, martyrs of the Early Church and the patron saints of cobblers…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 24th October, Queen Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife, died at Hampton Court Palace; and John White, governor of the Roanoke Colony, returned to England after failing to find the lost colonists…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 20th October, Lord Darcy yielded Pontefract Castle to the rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace, but all was not how it seemed (1536), and courtier Mary Arundell, a countess twice over, died at Bath Place in London (1557)…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 10th October, Queen Elizabeth I was taken ill with what was thought to be a cold, but was actually smallpox (1562); and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was buried in the Beauchamp Chapel of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick (1588)…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 9th October, Henry VIII’s sister, Mary Tudor, married Louis XII of France at Abbeville; and Miguel de Cervante, author of Don Quixote, was baptised in Alcalá de Henares…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, Henry VIII’s niece, Lady Margaret Douglas, was born; and Henry VIII forced his daughter, Mary, to write to the pope and to Mary of Hungary, the emperor’s sister…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 6th October, royal physician, scholar and college founder John Caius was born; and reformer and Bible translator William Tyndale, a man whose works had both helped Henry VIII and incurred the king’s wrath, was executed…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 3rd October, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey sang a mass to Henry VIII and the French ambassadors at St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate a treaty between England and France; and imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote to Charles V informing him that Jane Seymour’s coronation was being postponed…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 29th September, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, papal legate, arrived in England ready to hear the case for Henry VIII’s annulment; and Elizabeth I made her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester so that he could marry Mary, Queen of Scots…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 21st September, theologian and chaplain Henry Pendleton, a man known for changing his faith, was buried; and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, married Lettice Devereux in secret…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, Walter Devereux, 1st Viscount Hereford and a man with a distinguished court career, died at Chartley; and loyal courtier and soldier Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, died during an outbreak of the plague…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 13th September, famous Tudor poet and antiquary John Leland was born; and Elizabeth I’s chief advisor and “spirit”, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, was born…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 6th September, famous reformer Martin Luther sent his treatise to Pope Leo X; Sir Francis Drake entered the Pacific Ocean; and physician, clergyman and inventor of modern shorthand, Timothy Bright, was buried…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 4th September, William, Duke of Cleves, signed a treaty promising his sister, Anne, in marriage to Henry VIII; and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester died…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 25th August, the rebels of Kett’s Rebellion launched at an attack on the city of Norwich, and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, magnate, soldier and uncle of Queens Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, died at Kenninghall…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, the forces of Henry Tudor defeated those of King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, and John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was executed for his part in putting his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 21st August, a bishop whose career spanned the reigns of three kings was forced to resign, and Humphrey Llwyd, the man behind the very first printed map of Wales, died…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 15th August, Catholics Robert Wilcox, Edward Campion, Christopher Buxton and Robert Widmerpool, who’d become the Oaten Hill martyrs, were examined, and Lady Mary Scudamore (née Shelton), one of Elizabeth I’s favourite sleeping companions, was buried…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 11th August, the friars observant were expelled from their houses due to their support of Catherine of Aragon, and Sir Maurice Berkeley, former gentleman usher of Henry VIII’s Privy Chamber, died…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 29th July, Henry VII’s stepfather, Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby, died; Mary, Queen of Scots, married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; and the English fleet defeated the Spanish Armada at the Battle of Gravelines…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 27th July, former royal tutor and secretary John Cheke was imprisoned; Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, sent Elizabeth I an invitation to try and keep her from harm; and Catholic priest William Davies was executed on Anglesey…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn and mistress of Henry VIII, died; Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, sank in the Battle of the Solent; and Mary I was proclaimed queen in place of Queen Jane…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 9th July, Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne of Cleves was officially annulled; the Lady Mary (Mary I) wrote to the Privy Council stating her claim to the throne and demanding their allegiance; and Elizabeth I began a 19-day visit at Robert Dudley’s home, Kenilworth Castle…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, Margaret Tudor set off for Scotland to marry James IV; Kett’s Rebellion began in East Anglia; and Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary, declared herself queen at Kenninghall…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 4th July, reformer and theologian John Frith was burnt at the stake for heresy; Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, died of sweating sickness; and Elizabethan composer William Byrd died…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 2nd July, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born; Thomas Cromwell was appointed Lord Privy Seal following Thomas Boleyn’s demotion; and a sexton and gravedigger known as Old Scarlett was buried at Peterborough Cathedral…
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 23rd June, Henry VIII and his new bride, Catherine of Aragon, had their coronation procession through the streets of London; mathematician and physician Thomas Hood was baptised; and miniaturist Levina Teerlinc died…
[Read More...]