As today is the anniversary of the death of King Henry VIII in 1547, Beth von Staats, Tudor Life magazine contributor and author of Thomas Cranmer in a Nutshell, has written a very moving piece of fiction about Henry VIII’s final days from the viewpoint of Thomas Cranmer. I do hope you enjoy it.
It is time for the Lord to act; they have frustrated Your law. ~~~ Psalm 119:126
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he burnings of two of the Oxford martyrs: Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London took place on this day in 1555, in the reign of the Catholic Mary I. The two men, along with Thomas Cranmer, who was burnt at the stake on the 21st March 1556, are known as the Oxford Martyrs and their lives and deaths are commemorated in Oxford by Martyrs’ Memorial, a stone monument just outside Balliol College and near to the execution site, which was completed in 1843. A cross of stones set into the road in Broad Street marks the site of their burnings.
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st March, Puritan Sir John Leveson, a man who helped put down Essex’s Rebellion, was born; Archbishop Cranmer was burnt at the stake in Oxford for heresy; and a dying Elizabeth I took to her bed…
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On this day in Tudor history, 20th February, Mary I was baptised, Lady Agnes Hungerford was hanged for murder, Edward VI was crowned king at Westminster Abbey, and Anne Herbert (née Parr), Countess of Pembroke, died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 14th February, former royal favourite Sir Nicholas Carew was found guilty of treason, Henry VIII’s coffin leaked yucky stuff, fulfilling a prophecy, and “William Waste-all” died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 9th February, Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, was taken to the Tower of London, Lady Jane Grey’s execution was postponed, and a prominent bishop was burnt at the stake for heresy…
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On this day in history, 27th January, Protestant Bartholomew (Bartlet) Green was executed along with six others at Smithfield, Sir explorer Sir Francis Drake died of dysentery off the coast of Panama, and the remaining Gunpowder Plotters were tried and found guilty…
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On this day in Tudor history, 8th October 1549, in the reign of King Edward VI, the king’s uncle, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector, was proclaimed a traitor by the king’s privy council after he’d fled to Windsor Castle with Edward VI and called for troops to defend him and his charge.
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On this day in Tudor history, 4th October 1556, following five months of imprisonment, humanist, former royal tutor and former secretary of state Sir John Cheke made a public recantation of his Protestant faith in front of Queen Mary I and the royal court.
Cheke, who had tutored King Edward VI and served Queen Jane (Lady Jane Grey) as secretary of state, had been imprisoned in late July 1553 following Mary I’s accession for his part in putting Lady Jane Grey on the throne, but released in spring 1554. Mary I granted him a licence to go into exile abroad, which he did, travelling to Strasbourg, Basel, Padua and then back to Strasbourg.
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On this day in Tudor history, 23rd August 1553, just over a month after Mary I had been proclaimed queen, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, was made Lord Chancellor.
Here are some facts about Stephen Gardiner, a man known as “Wily Winchester”…
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This week’s #MondayMartyrs are the Canterbury Martyrs of 1555.
Protestants William Coker, William Hopper, Henry Laurence, Richard Colliar (or Collier), Richard Wright, and William Stere were burnt at the stake in Canterbury on 23rd August 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary I.
Martyrologist John Foxe tells the story of these “Kentish men” who were “called forth and examined by Thornton, bishop of Dover, Nicholas Harpsfield, Richard Faucet, and Robert Collins”. Here are some facts about them, as shared in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs:
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This week’s Monday Martyr is John Lascelles (Lassells, Lacels), a courtier who was burnt at the stake for his Protestant faith at Smithfield on 16th July 1546 with priest Nicholas Belenian, tailor John Adams, and famous Protestant martyr Anne Askew.
Here are some facts about this Henrician Protestant martyr
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On this day in Tudor history, 1st June 1533, Whitsunday, Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey.
You can find out more about Anne Boleyn’s coronation in the video below, but here are a few facts:
Anne was 6 months pregnant.
She wore ermine-trimmed purple velvet coronation robes.
Her train was carried by her step-grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.
On this day in Tudor history, 7th March 1544, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Germaine (or German) Gardiner and priest John Larke were executed for denying the royal supremacy.
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During the night of 28th February/1st March 1551, theologian and Protestant reformer Martin Bucer died in Cambridge. He was fifty-nine years old.
Let me tell tell you a bit more about this reformer, who ended up being posthumously burned as a heretic in Mary I’s reign!
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This day in Tudor history, 9th February 1554, in the reign of Queen Mary I, was one of the dates set for the execution of Lady Jane Grey, the former Queen Jane, but she was granted a three-day reprieve.
Why and what had happened between her trial in November 1553, when she had been condemned to death, and this day?
Let me tell you…
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People all over the world have tuned in to watch the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II today, a queen who reigned for over 70 years and who was descended from Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland, and, therefore, King Henry VII, as well as having Boleyn blood.
The funeral procession and ceremony were full of tradition and ritual, and our Tudor ancestors would recognise much of it, so I thought I’d share with you some information on Tudor royal funerals.
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On this day in Tudor history, 1st June 1593, the inquest into the death of playwright, poet and translator Christopher Marlowe took place.
Twenty-nine-year-old Marlowe, writer of such famous works as “Tamburlaine”, “Dr Faustus” and “The Jew of Malta”, had been fatally stabbed at a house in Deptford Strand, London, by a man named Ingram Frizer on 30th May 1593, but what happened?
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On this day in Tudor history, 23rd May 1554, Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, arrived at the Palace of Woodstock in Oxfordshire, where she was placed under house arrest.
Elizabeth remained under house arrest there for just under a year, and she didn’t make it easy for her gaoler, Sir Henry Bedingfield, and neither did her servants.
Find out why Elizabeth was under house arrest and what happened…
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On this day in Tudor history, 13th November 1536, mercer and member of Parliament Robert Packington (Pakington, Pakyngton) was shot to death by an unknown assailant while he was on his way to mass at St Thomas of Acre Chapel. He was shot with a wheellock pistol.
Robert Packington has gone down in history as the first person in England to be killed by a handgun, but who killed him and why?
Find out about Packington, his murder, and the theories regarding who ordered his murder, in this talk…
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On this day in Tudor history, 11th November 1534, Philippe de Chabot, Seigneur De Brion and Admiral of France, landed on English soil. The purpose of the diplomatic mission he was leading was to renew Anglo-French relations.
George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, brother of Queen Anne Boleyn, had been put in charge of meeting the admiral and escorting him on his journey from the south coast to London, but it was no easy task. The admiral did not make things easy at all, and George was rather stressed about the situation.
Find out what happened, and how and why the ambassador’s visit was bad news all round for the Boleyns, in this talk…
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On this day in Tudor history, 7th November 1485, Henry VII’s first parliament attainted King Richard III and his supporters.
As well as Richard, who was referred to as Richard, late Duke of Gloucester, and a usurper, the list of those attainted for their treason in fighting against the king at Bosworth included the late John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, and his son, the Earl of Surrey.
Find out who else was included and whether Parliament’s actions were unusual, in this talk…
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On this day in history, 2nd November 1470, the feast of All Souls, King Edward V was born at Westminster Abbey, London. Young Edward was King of England for just 2 months in 1483 before he disappeared.
The events of his short life, his short reign and how it ended, are linked to the Tudors because Henry Tudor returned from exile to challenge King Richard III, who had, of course, taken the throne from Edward V.
Find out about Edward V’s life and how he came to be one of the famous Princes in the Tower, in this talk…
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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 this video, 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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n this day in Tudor history, Saturday 10th September 1547, in the reign of King Edward VI, the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, also known as the Battle of Pinkie, took place near Musselburgh, in Scotland, on the banks of the River Esk. The English forces, led by Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, defeated the Scots, killing thousands.
It was a bloody battle, but started off well for the Scots. In this video, I share an eye-witness account of how the battle changed so dramatically, leading to the loss of between 6,000 and 15,000 Scots.
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On this day in Tudor history, 8th August 1503, King Henry VII’s eldest daughter, Margaret Tudor, married King James IV of Scotland.
Find out more about their marriage, and how it was arranged, in this edition of #TudorHistoryShorts…
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On this day in Tudor history, 2nd July 1594, a sexton and gravedigger known as Old Scarlett was buried at Peterborough Cathedral.
Who was this man? Which two queens was he said to have buried? And what is his link to Shakespeare?
Find out more about Old Scarlett in this edition of #TudorHistoryShorts…
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On this day in Tudor history, 23rd May 1547, in the reign of King Edward VI, Henry Grey, 3rd Marquis of Dorset, was finally installed as a Knight of the Garter.
Grey had wanted this honour for years and had been nominated many times, so what had changed? How did he end up joining the Order of the Garter.
Find out in this video…
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On this day in Tudor history, 19th May 1536, Henry VIII’s second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, was executed at the Tower of London.
Find out more, and hear some of her final words, in this #TudorHistoryShorts video…
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On this day in history, 3rd May 1415, a woman who was the matriarch of the House of York and mother of two kings, was born. Her name was Cecily Neville.
Find out about this Duchess of York, and how she is linked to royalty and the Tudors, in this #TudorHistoryShorts video…
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