The Tudor Society
  • #OTD in Tudor history – 17 April

    Portraits of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton and Sir Thomas More

    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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  • April 17 – A jury gets into big trouble, a Jesuit martyr and a stolen head

    What happens when a jury doesn’t find an alleged traitor guilty and, instead, acquits him? Well, the jurors get arrested and thrown into prison, of course!

    I explain exactly what happened on this day in Tudor history, 17th April 1554, in the case of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton. I also give details on how the jurors finally got released and what happened to Throckmorton.

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  • 17 April – St Henry Walpole

    On this day in Tudor history, 17th April 1595, or according to some sources 7th April, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Jesuit Henry Walpole was hanged, drawn and quartered in the city of York. Walpole had been accused of three counts of treason.

    Walpole felt that he’d been given a sign at the execution of Edmund Campion to carry on Campion’s work, and, like Campion, his religious mission led him to his death.

    Find out about the sign, what Walpole did, how he suffered awful torture, and about his sad end, in today’s talk.

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  • St Henry Walpole

    On this day in history, 17th April 1595, Henry Walpole, the Jesuit martyr, was hanged, drawn and quartered in the city of York. Walpole had been accused of treason on three counts: that he “had abjured the realm without licence; that he had received holy orders overseas; and that he had returned to England as a Jesuit priest to exercise his priestly functions”. Walpole was beatified in 1929 and canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

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