On this day in history, 5th November, Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, was crowned Queen of France at Saint-Denis (1514); and Gunpowder Plot conspirator, Guy Fawkes, was discovered with 36 barrels of gunpowder in a cellar beneath Westminster (1605)…
[Read More...]
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)…
[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, 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…
[Read More...]
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)…
[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, 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)…
[Read More...]
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…
[Read More...]
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…
[Read More...]
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)…
[Read More...]
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)…
[Read More...]
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)…
[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, 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…
[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, 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…
[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, 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…
[Read More...]
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…
[Read More...]
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…
[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...]
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…
[Read More...]
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…
[Read More...]
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…
[Read More...]
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…
[Read More...]
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…
[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, 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…
[Read More...]