On this day in history events for week 21-27 March.
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This week in history 21 – 27 March
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Palm Sunday 1554 – A bad day for the Lady Elizabeth
On Palm Sunday 1554 (which was 18 March that year), the twenty year old Elizabeth was taken to the Tower of London, the place where her mother had been imprisoned and where her mother and one of her stepmothers had been executed.
We can only imagine the sheer terror she felt when Mary I’s council turned up at her doorstep on the 16th March to formally charge her with being involved in Wyatt’s Rebellion, the revolt which had taken place in January and February 1554. Elizabeth was told that Mary wanted her sister taken to the Tower for questioning and that she would be escorted there the next day.
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Mary Tudor, Queen of France, by Sarah Bryson
On 18th March 1496, Queen Elizabeth of York, wife of King Henry VII, gave birth to a healthy baby girl at Richmond Palace. The little girl was named Mary and her birth was recorded by Elizabeth in her Psalter. Lady Margaret Beaufort, the King’s mother, also recorded Mary’s birth in her Book of Hours. On 18th March, Margaret recorded: “Hodie nata Maria tertia filia Henricis VII 1495”, or “Today, ws born Mary, the third daughter of Henry VII 1495.” Although Margaret recorded the date as 1495, this is because the new calendar year did not start in Tudor times until Lady Day, 25th March, so we’d say that she was born in 1496.
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Alexander Ales (Alesius)
On 17th March 1565, Alexander Ales (also known as Alesius and Aless), theologian and reformer, died in Edinburgh, Scotland.*
Alexander Ales was born Alexander Allane or Alan at Edinburgh on 23 April 1500. From the age of twelve he was educated at the University of St Andrews, at St Leonard’s College, graduating BA after three years there. Ales became friends with theologian Philip Melancthon in 1532 when Ales began studying at Wittenberg University, and he began to be concerned with making the Bible available in the vernacular. He published an open letter to James V of Scotland in 1533, Alexandri Alesii epistola contra decretum quoddam episcoporum in Scotia, appealing for him to annul recent legislation making it illegal to own or distribute the New Testament in the vernacular. When the Catholic Johannes Cochlaeus, countered this with a letter to James accusing Ales of translating the New testament and sending it to Scotland, and claiming that it would cause unrest, Ales answered with Alexandri Alesii Scotti responsio ad Cochlei calumnias. In this letter, Ales emphasised how Continental reformers were simply trying to lead people back to the Bible and the teaching of the Early Church.
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This week in history 14 – 20 March
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This week in history 7 – 13 March
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The Marriage of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
In today’s Claire Chats I talk about the secret marriage of Mary Tudor, dowager Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in 1515.
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This week in history 29 February – 6 March
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Pope Paul III: Renaissance Prince by Heather R. Darsie
Alessandro Farnese was born on 29 February 1468 at Canino, Latium, which was in the Papal States. Educated at the University of Pisa and Lorenzo de Medici’s court, he was prepared to take on the career of apostolic notary. Changing course, Alessandro joined the Roma Curia in 1491 at the age of approximately 23 and was quickly promoted by the new pope Alexander VI to a cardinal-deacon position at Santi Cosma e Damiano two years later. Alessandro had the early makings of a fine career with the church. His family already boasted of Pope Boniface VIII.
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This week in history 22 – 28 February
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19 February 1547 – King Edward VI’s coronation procession
On Saturday 19th February 1547, King Edward VI rode from the Tower of London to Westminter in preparation for his coronation the next day. Chronicler and Windsor Herald Charles Wriothesley recorded:
“The nynetenth daie of Februarie the Kinges Majestie rode from the Towre to Westminster through the cittie of London, which was rychly hanged with riche cloathes and divers pageantes, the conduites running wyne, the craftes standing in their raills, and the aldermen, the lord major riding in a crymosin velvett gowne with a rych collar of goulde, with a mase in his hand, afore the King; and, when his Majestie came where the aldermen stode, the Recorder made a proposition to his Majestie, and after the Chamberlaine gave his Majestie a purse of cloath of gould for a present from the cittie, which he thanckfullie tooke.”
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17 February 1547 – Edward Seymour becomes Duke of Somerset
On this day in history, 17th February 1547, Edward Seymour, uncle of King Edward VI and brother of the late Queen Jane Seymour, was made Duke of Somerset. He had already been appointed to the offices of Lord Protector of the Realm and Governor of the King’s Person on 1st February.
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This week in history 15 – 21 February
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Elizabeth of York by Sarah Bryson
On 11th of February 1466, Elizabeth of York was born at the Palace of Westminster. Exactly thirty seven years later, at the Tower of London, Elizabeth died shortly after giving birth to her last child.
Elizabeth of York was the eldest child of King Edward IV and his wife Queen Elizabeth Woodville. Elizabeth was christened in St Stephen’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey. Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford, and Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, stood as her godmothers and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, stood as her godfather.
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This week in history 8 – 14 February
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John Rogers, the first Protestant martyr of Mary I’s reign
On this day in history, 4th February 1555, John Rogers, clergyman and Biblical editor, was burned at the stake at Smithfield. Rogers was the first England Protestant burned in Mary I’s reign after being condemned as a heretic. he refused the chance of a last minute pardon if he recanted, and died bravely. His wife and eleven children, one being newborn and at the breast, attended his burning. Martyrologist John Foxe recorded that Rogers “constantly and cheerfully took his death with wonderful patience, in the defence and quarrel of the Gospel of Christ.”
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This week in history 1 – 7 February
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Thomas Tallis, Tudor composer, by Heather R. Darsie
It is thought that Thomas Tallis, alternatively spelled “Tallys,” could have been born on 30 January 1505, though it is not known for certain. What is known is that Tallis did not die until 1585, and that he contributed greatly to the development and composition of English choral music. Not much is known about Tallis’s early life. There are no records of his education or really of his whereabouts until Tallis is well into his 20s. There is also no contemporary portrait of him, with the only existing portrait having been executed sometime after his death.
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This week in history 25 – 31 January
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This week in history 18 – 24 January
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This week in history 11 – 17 January
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Twelfth Night and Epiphany
I’ve noticed lots of comments from people on social media saying how they’ve taken down their Christmas trees and decorations and got back to normal. For many people around the world today, the Christmas period was over with New Year, but Christmas in the Tudor period ran for twelve days, Christmas Day to Epiphany on 6th January, the feast day which was a commemoration and celebration of the visit of the Magi to the Christ child.
Twelfth Night and Epiphany were marked with feasting and entertainment. But when exactly is “Twelfth Night”? Is it 5th or 6th January? There isn’t really any agreement over this and an article in The Guardian newspaper examined this question:
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This week in history 4 – 10 January
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Martin Luther by Sarah Bryson
On 3rd January 1521, Pope Leo X issued the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem which excommunicated Martin Luther from the Catholic Church. Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and most famously a reformer. His life and his beliefs changed the face of religion throughout Europe and saw many people break with the Catholic Church in the 16th century.
Martin Luther was born on 10th November 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony (part of the Holy Roman Empire at the time), to Hans and Margarethe Luther. The following year Hans moved his family to Mansfeld where he owned a series of mines and smelters. At the age of seven, Luther started at Mansfeld School. At the age of fourteen, Luther went to Magdeburg before returning to Eisleben to complete his studies in grammar, rhetoric and logic. It is reported that Luther hated his time studying at Eisleben. At the age of nineteen Luther attended the University of Erfurt where he received his master’s degree in 1505.
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This week in history 21 – 27 December
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21 December 1495 – Death of Jasper Tudor
On 21st December 1495, Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford and 1st Earl of Pembroke, died at his manor at Thornbury at the age of around sixty-four. His entrails were buried at the parish church at Thornbury and the rest of his remains were laid to rest at Keynsham Abbey, according to the instructions he left in his will of 15th December.
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Christmas Fun
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Tudor Christmas Food by Sarah Bryson
During the Tudor period the four weeks leading up to Christmas was known as Advent and consisted of fasting and a limited range of foods which were allowed to be eaten; a tradition that is still practised by some today. Christmas Eve was particularly strict and people were not allowed to eat eggs, cheese or meat. However when Christmas day came around the Tudors were allowed to cast off the food restrictions and enjoy a lavish feast!
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This week in history 14 – 20 December
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This week in history 7 – 13 December
