
On this day in history, 29th October, Henry VIII bid farewell to his “loving brother”, his French counterpart, Francis I (1532); and courtier, explorer, author and soldier Sir Walter Ralegh was executed (1618)…
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On this day in history, 29th October, Henry VIII bid farewell to his “loving brother”, his French counterpart, Francis I (1532); and courtier, explorer, author and soldier Sir Walter Ralegh was executed (1618)…
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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…
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On this day in Tudor history, 27th October, Anne Boleyn, Marquess of Pembroke, made a dramatic entrance to the great banquet held by Henry VIII in Calais in honour of Francis I of France; and the extremely talented Mary Herbert (née Sidney), Countess of Pembroke, writer and literary patron, was born at Tickenhall, near Bewdley in Worcestershire…
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th October, Sir Thomas More was sworn in as Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, replacing the fallen Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1529); and the Pilgrimage of Grace rebels, who outnumbered the Crown’s forces, chose to negotiate rather than fight (1536)…
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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…
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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…
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On this day in Tudor history, 22nd October, an interrogation was carried out regarding an accusation of treasonous words spoken against Henry VIII (1537); and Henry Parker, 11th Baron Morley and Roman Catholic exile, died in Paris (1577)…
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st October, Henry VIII left Anne Boleyn behind in Calais to spend a few days in Boulogne with Francis I (1532); and during the Pilgrimage of Grace, Lancaster Herald encountered a group of armed peasants near Pontefract Castle…
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On this day in history, two people who’d soon become the famous Catholic monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, got married in Valladolid; and Henry VIII gave brutal instructions on how the rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace and their supporters should be handled…
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On this day in Tudor history, 16th October, a meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I was planned (1532); and Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, two of the Oxford Martyrs, were burnt at the stake in Oxford (1555)…
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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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On this day in Tudor history, 11th October, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn set sail from Dover for Calais for a meeting with Francis I (1532); and there was a solemn procession with prayers for Queen Jane Seymour, who was in labour (1537)…
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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…
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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…
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On this day in Tudor history, 7th October, Pope Clement VII wrote to Henry VIII telling him that his marriage to Catherine of Aragon would not be annulled; and George Gascoigne, a gifted poet who was involved in Robert Dudley’s last ditch attempt to woo Elizabeth I, died…
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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…
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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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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…
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On this day in Tudor history, Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, set sail from Dover to travel to France to marry Louis XII of France; and reformer and Bible translator William Tyndale’s book “The Obedience of a Christian Man” was published, a book which Anne Boleyn shared with Henry VIII…
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On this day in Tudor history, 1st October, scholar, royal tutor and administrator John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, died at Wisbech Castle; and Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey…
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On this day in Tudor history, 30th September, a victorious Henry VIII returned to England after the French surrender of Boulogne; and Mary I’s coronation procession took place in London…
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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…
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Today is the traditional date given for the birth of Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII; and it’s also the anniversary of the burial of Amy Dudley (née Robsart), wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, at St Mary’s Church, Oxford…
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On this day in Tudor history, Henry VIII rode triumphantly through the streets of Boulogne after the French surrendered it to him; and Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, a prospective bridegroom for both of Henry VIII’s daughters, died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 16th September, scholar, humanist and theologian John Colet died after catching sweating sickness three times; and Henry VIII and Catherine Howard were given lots of gold on their royal progress…
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On this day in Tudor history, 14th September, Henry VIII had a 12th century religious shrine destroyed; and Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London, died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 10th September, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was christened at Greenwich; and England defeated the Scots at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh during the War of the Rough Wooing…
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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…
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On this day in Tudor history, 1st September, Henry VIII elevated Anne Boleyn to the peerage, making her Marquess of Pembroke; and Elizabethan actor and theatre entrepreneur Edward Alleyn was born…
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On this day in Tudor history, Henry VIII and Louise of Savoy agreed the Treaty of the More, and Catherine Parr, Queen Dowager and wife of Thomas Seymour, Baron Seymour of Sudeley, gave birth to a daughter, Mary…
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