On this day in Tudor history, 18th April, imperial ambassador had an encounter with Queen Anne Boleyn; Thomas Cromwell was made Earl of Essex just three months before his execution; and famous martyrologist John Foxe died aged around seventy…
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On this day in Tudor history, 17th April, Sir Thomas more was sent to the Tower of London; a jury was arrested after acquitting Sir Nicholas Throckmorton of treason; and Jesuit martyr Henry Walpole was hanged, drawn and quartered…
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On this day in Tudor history, 15th April, kings’ champion Sir Robert Dymoke died; Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, was sworn in as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, little knowing it would lead to his undoing; and privy chamberer Sir John Scudamore was buried…
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On this day in Tudor history, 12th April, Anne Boleyn attended Easter Sunday mass as queen, causing quite a stir, and courtier and poet Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was born…
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On this day in Tudor history, 10th April, Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland, gave birth to a son who’d become James V of Scotland; Pope Gregory XIII, who’s known for the Gregorian Calendar, died in Rome; and sea captain Sir Bernard Drake died, probably from typhus…
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On this day in Tudor history, 9th April, Catherine of Aragon found out that she’d been demoted to Dowager Princess of Wales; Cardinal Pole’s legatine powers were revoked; and Catherine Willoughby’s second husband, Richard Bertie, died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 2nd April, Henry VII’s eldest son, Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, died at Ludlow Castle; Anne Boleyn’s almoner, John Skip, preached a controversial sermon; and fourteen-year-old Edward VI fell ill with measles and smallpox…
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On this day in Tudor history, 30th March, Thomas Cranmer was consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury; Robert Ferrar, Bishop of St David’s, was burnt to death; Mary I made her will, believing she was pregnant; and administrator Sir Ralph Sadler died…
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Today, it’s Good Friday – in the Western Calendar anyway – so I wanted to share with you how this feast day was marked in medieval and Tudor times.
Here’s a talk I did a few years ago about the medieval and Tudor traditions associated with Good Friday.
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th March, the Vestments Controversy of Elizabeth I’s reign was started; Sir Robert Carey arrived at Holyrood to inform King James VI of Scotland that he was now King of England; and John Dee, astrologer, mathematician, alchemist, antiquary, spy, philosopher, geographer and adviser to Elizabeth I, died..
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On this day in Tudor history, 23rd March, while the pope proclaimed Catherine of Aragon to be England’s true queen and Mary the heir to the throne, Parliament declared Anne Boleyn to be the rightful queen and her daughter, Elizabeth, the heir; Waltham Abbey was dissolved; and soldier, MP and diplomat Sir Henry Unton died…
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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, 18th March, Mary Tudor, Queen of France, was born; Lady Elizabeth (Elizabeth I) was arrested and taken to the Tower of London; and Sir Christopher Blount was executed for his part in the rebellion of his son-in-law, the Earl of Essex…
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On this day in Tudor history, 17th March, the Lady Elizabeth (Elizabeth I) delayed her arrest by writing her famous Tide Letter to her half-sister Mary I; theologian Alexander Alesius died in Edinburgh; and soldier and courtier William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, died at Hampton Court Palace…
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On this day in Tudor history, 16th March, soldier, translator and diplomat John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, died; priests Robert Dalby and John Amias were executed at York as traitors; and actor Richard Burbage was buried…
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On this day in Tudor history, 14th March, judge Sir John Port, who is known for mumbling in a case, which had serious repercussions, died; Bishop Arthur Bulkeley, former chaplain to Charles Brandon and Thomas Cromwell, died; and Sir John Russell, Lord Privy Seal, died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 9th March, Mary, Queen of Scots’ private secretary was assassinated in front of the pregnant queen, Mary’s mother-in-law, Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, died, and Lady Frances Radcliffe, one of Elizabeth I’s ladies of the bedchamber, died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 4th March, Anne Boleyn made her court debut at the Château Vert pageant, Mary Boleyn gave birth to a son, and spelling reformer and grammarian William Bullokar was born…
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd March, Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor may have got married in France, Margaret Tudor, former Queen of Scotland, married for the third time, and Edward IV’s illegitimate son, Arthur Plantagenet, Lord Lisle, died in the Tower of London…
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Here at the Tudor Society, we are so very saddened to hear of the death of historian and author Derek Wilson on 5th February 2024 at the age of 88.
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A big thank you to Amanda Glover for sharing with us her brand new, ground-breaking research into the “From the Lady in the Tower” letter said to have been written by Anne Boleyn in May 1536 when she was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Please do read through Amanda’s findings and share your thoughts.
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st February, Pope Julius II died; Katherine Seymour (née Grey), Countess of Hertford, was buried; Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, died, and Jesuit priest Robert Southwell was hanged, drawn and quartered…
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On this day in Tudor history, 13th February, Catherine Howard and Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, were executed at the Tower of London, an astrologer and physician was baptised, and Bess of Hardwick died…
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On this day in Tudor history, 10th February, Catherine Howard was escorted to the Tower of London to prepare for her execution, Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland, died, and Mary, Queen of Scots’ second husband, Lord Darnley, was murdered…
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On this day in Tudor history, 8th February, Mary, Queen of Scots was executed in a rather botched beheading, and Elizabeth I’s favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, launched a rebellion, which did not go well…
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On this day in Tudor history, Anne of York married the Earl of Surrey, Mary Boleyn married William Carey, and there was the first Protestant burning of Mary I’s reign…
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On this day in Tudor history, 30th January, administrator Sir William More was born, the rebels of Wyatt’s Rebellion besieged Cooling Castle, and four Gunpowder Plotters were executed…
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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, 26th January, a courtier and diplomat died of the plague, a judge who is known for his reports on cases like that of Anne Boleyn died, and Mary I summoned her half-sister Elizabeth to court, although Elizabeth declined, pleading illness…
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