On 27th May 1536, Cardinal Reginald Pole, who was in Venice, wrote to King Henry VIII.
It was a very polite letter but what he sent with it brought Pole and his family trouble. He made the mistake of making an enemy of King Henry VIII.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 14th May 1571, the “Creeping Parliament” was held in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Why was it called the “Creeping Parliament” and why were there actually two Parliaments meeting?
What was going on and what happened next?
Find out more…
[Read More...]
This week we are putting the spotlight on Sharon from Pennsylvania in the U.S. She is 64 years old and and makes stunning oil paintings from the Tudors.
Happy St Mark's Day!
How as St Mark's Day celebrated in Tudor times?
Find out in this #TudorHistoryShorts video...
Shera is next on our list full of amazing artists! She is 31 years old and is based in California where she makes the most beautiful jewellery. We asked her a couple of questions about her Tudor bracelet collection.
A couple of weeks ago we asked our Instagram followers to vote on their favourite Tudor Monarch and wife of Henry VIII. We combined the votes with the most searched questions on Google and the country in which they are most popular. Here are the results!
This week we put artist Anthony in the spotlight. He's 30 years old, from Birmingham, England and makes gorgeous drawings and paintings.
Today it's not only International Women's Day, a day where we acknowledge the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, but the whole of March we celebrate Women's History Month! A month in which we commemorate the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society.
This Valentine’s Day a very special announcement was made by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, they are expecting a child. A royal baby announcement nowadays is made and spread on social media. Since Instagram and other online platforms did not exist in Tudor times, how was this joyous news shared with the rest of the country?
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 23rd December 1558, just over a month after her accession, England’s new queen, Elizabeth I, daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, moved from Somerset House to Whitehall Palace, which became her principal residence.
Whitehall, formerly York Place, had once been home to her mother, Anne Boleyn, and had been the setting of Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII. I wonder if Elizabeth felt close to her mother there.
Find out more about Whitehall Palace, and also Somerset Place, the property Elizabeth left, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
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 today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 12th November 1555, Mary I’s Lord Chancellor, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, died. He was laid to rest at Winchester Cathedral in what is now known as the Bishop Gardiner Chantry Chapel.
In today’s talk, I tell you about the life and career of “Wily Winchester”, a man who went from being a valued advisor to being imprisoned, and then got back into favour, crowned a queen and became Lord Chancellor! He led quite a life!
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 24th October 1590, John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returned to England after failing to find the lost colonists, which included his daughter, Ellinor (Elenora), his son-in-law, Ananias Dare, and his granddaughter, Virginia Dare.
But what happened to these colonists and what did the word CROATOAN carved onto a post mean?
Find out all about the Roanoke Colony and the theories regarding the disappearance of all 115 people, including the very latest research, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 20th October 1557, or possibly 21st, courtier Mary Arundell died at Bath Place in London.
Mary is an interesting Tudor lady. Not only did she serve at least two of Henry VIII’s wives, but she was a countess twice over, having been married to both the Earls of Sussex and Arundel. She has also been confused with two other Tudor ladies, and we don’t know whether the portrait you see in the thumbnail is really her.
Find out more about Mary Arundell’s life, court career and those of her husbands, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 15th October 1584, schoolteacher and poet Richard White was hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason at Wrexham in Wales due to his Catholic faith.
Find out about Richard Gwyn’s life, how an attack by crows and kites made him steadfast in his faith, his arrest and downfall, his works, and the legends associated with his death, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 12th October 1555, Lewis Owen, member of Parliament and administrator in Wales, was assassinated on Dugoed Mawddwy, a mountain pass.
Owen was murdered by a group of bandits as revenge for his campaign against them, which had led to around 80 hangings.
Find out more about Lewis Owen, his life and what happened, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
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.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 26th August 1555, Queen Mary I and her husband, Philip of Spain, departed from Whitehall in preparation for Philip’s return to the Low Countries.
This was an awful time for Mary I. She had just come out of confinement after months of believing she was pregnant, and now her husband was leaving her. He’d be gone for over 18 months.
Find out more about Mary’s state of health and mind, the arrangements for Philip’s departure, and Mary’s reaction, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in history, 25th August 1554, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, magnate, soldier and uncle of Queens Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, died of natural causes at his home of Kenninghall in Norfolk. He was laid to rest in St Michael’s Church, Framlingham, Suffolk.
Find out more about this important Tudor man, and how he escaped the axe-man and died at a good age in his bed, in this talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 24th August 1507, Cecily of York, Viscountess Welles, died at Hatfield in Hertfordshire. She was buried at “the friars”.
Cecil was, of course, the daughter of King Edward IV and his queen consort, Elizabeth Woodville, and the sister of Elizabeth of York and the Princes in the Tower, but there’s far more to her than that.
Did you know that she married without permission and had to be sheltered by Lady Margaret Beaufort?
Find out all about Cecil of York’s life in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
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.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 4th July 1551, Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, died of sweating sickness at Launde Abbey in Leicestershire. He was laid to rest at the abbey’s chapel on 7th July.
Gregory Cromwell was the son of the more famous Thomas Cromwell, but what do we know about him and what happened to him after his father’s fall in 1540?
Find out about the life and career of Gregory Cromwell in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 1st July 1535, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Sir Thomas More, Henry VIII’s former Lord Chancellor, was tried for high treason by a special commission of oyer and terminer. The commission found him guilty and he was executed on 6th July 1535.
But how did More, a faithful and loyal servant of the king, end up in this mess? Who was on the commission and what exactly happened?
Find out all about the fall of Sir Thomas More in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 14th June 1536, not long after the fall of Anne Boleyn, two courtiers, Sir Anthony Browne and Sir Francis Bryan, were interrogated regarding their alleged support of Mary, daughter of King Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon.
Both men had been involved with the Catholic conservatives and Seymours who had worked to bring Anne Boleyn down and who wanted Mary restored to the succession, but now they found themselves in a spot of trouble.
What happened and how did Bryan and Browne get out of trouble?
Find out more in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 13th June 1548, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, and his wife, Catherine Parr, the dowager queen, set off from Catherine’s manor of Hanworth in London to travel to Seymour’s seat of Sudeley Castle. They were accompanied by Lady Jane Grey and around 100 others.
Seymour wanted his wife to enjoy the final months of her pregnancy safe in the Cotswolds away from the Plague in London and for his first-born child to be born at Sudeley.
In today’s talk, I share details on who accompanied the couple, what Sudeley was like and what happened next.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 9th or 10th June 1563, William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, diplomat and administrator, died, probably at his estate of West Drayton in Middlesex.
By his death, he’d served four Tudor monarchs and even though he’d fallen from favour and been imprisoned, he kept his head and climbed back in favour.
But who was Baron Paget? Well, let me give you a few facts about this Tudor man.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 5th June 1516, Spaniard Maria de Salinas married William, 10th Lord Willoughby of Eresby.
Maria and William were the parents of Catherine Willoughby, who went on to marry Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Maria was also a good friend of Catherine of Aragon and managed to be with the queen in her final hours, even though she wasn’t supposed to be there.
Find out more about Maria de Salinas in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
Thank you to Tudor Society members who also subscribe to the Anne Boleyn and Tudor Society YouTube Channel – we’ve just hit 45,000 subscribers!
To celebrate, I jumped at the opportunity to humiliate Tim with another Tudor History Challenge. This time, it’s on the six wives of Henry VIII.
Why don’t you play along and see if you can do better than Tim?
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, on the night of 30th/31st May 1533, as part of the celebrations for Queen Anne Boleyn’s coronation, which was scheduled for 1st June, eighteen men were created Knights of the Bath.
What did this mean? What happened in this night-long ceremony?
Find out in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 27th May 1541, the frail sixty-seven-year-old Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was executed at the Tower of London.
The former governess of Princess Mary had an awful end because the usual executioner was away from London, and one account has led to stories of her tormented ghost reliving her final moments at the Tower.
Find out why Margaret Pole was executed and what happened in today’s talk.
[Read More...]