The Tudor Society
  • September 29 – Mary I creates 15 Knights of the Bath

    Portrait of Mary I with an illumination of the ceremony of the Knights of the Bath

    On this day in Tudor history, 29th September 1553, Michaelmas, the new queen, Mary I, created fifteen Knights of the Bath as part of her coronation celebrations.

    Traditionally, knights were dubbed while naked in their baths, so Henry Fitzalan, 19th Earl of Arundel, represented Mary I at the ceremony.

    You can find out who these fifteen men were, and more about the ceremony itself in an article

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  • 22 June – Thomas Boleyn becomes a Knight of the Bath

    On this day in Tudor history, the night of 22nd June 1509, King Henry VIII rewarded twenty-six men for their loyal service to the crown by making them Knights of the Bath as part of the celebrations for his coronation.

    One of the men honoured for his service to the crown was Thomas Boleyn, father of the future queen, Anne Boleyn. But what had he done to deserve this honour? Find out more about Thomas Boleyn’s rise at the court of Henry VII, and how he was a royal favourite long before his daughters became involved with the king, in today’s talk.

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  • 30 May – Knights of the Bath for Anne Boleyn’s coronation

    On this day in Tudor history, on the night of 30th/31st May 1533, as part of the celebrations for Queen Anne Boleyn’s coronation, which was scheduled for 1st June, eighteen men were created Knights of the Bath.

    What did this mean? What happened in this night-long ceremony?

    Find out in today’s talk.

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  • 22 June 1509 – Henry VIII creates 26 Knights of the Bath

    On either 22nd or 23rd June 1509, before his joint coronation with Queen Catherine of Aragon on 24th June, King Henry VIII created twenty-four Knights of the Bath at the Tower of London.

    Letters and Papers names the knights as “Richard (sic) Radclyff lord Fitzwater, the lord Scroop of Bolton, the lord Fitzhugh, the lord Mountjoye, the lord Dawbeney, the lord Brooke, Sir Henry Clyfford, Sir Maurice Berkeley, Sir Thomas Knyvet, Sir Andrew Wyndesore, Sir Thomas Parr, Sir Thomas Boleyne, Sir Richard Wentworth, Sir Henry Owtrede, Sir Francis Cheyny, Sir Henry Wyotte, Sir George Hastynges, Sir Thomas Metham, Sir Thomas Bedyngfeld, Sir John Shelton, Sir Giles Alyngton, Sir John Trevanyon, Sir William Crowmer, Sir John Heydon, Sir Godarde Oxenbrige and Sir Henry Sacheverell.”

    Who were these men?

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  • Mary I’s Coronation Part 2 – Knights of the Bath

    On 29th September 1553, Michaelmas or the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, Mary I created fifteen1 Knights of the Bath as part of her coronation celebrations.

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