The Tudor Society

  • 14 September – A Constable of the Tower and a destroyed shrine

    2 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    On this day in Tudor history, 14th September 1540, Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London, Knight of the Garter and comptroller of the King's household, died at his home in Painswick in Gloucestershire.

    Sir William Kingston was Constable of the Tower of London while Queen Anne Boleyn was imprisoned there in May 1536, and his letters to Thomas Cromwell are an excellent primary source for historians, but there's much more to this royal servant than that. He had a wonderful career in service to the king and benefited as a result.

    Find out more about Kingston...

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  • 14 September – Henry VIII, the shrine destroyer

    4 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Yes, on this day in Tudor history, 14th September 1538, a religious shrine which had stood since the early 12th century, was destroyed on the orders of King Henry VIII. The Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham was destroyed as part of Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.

    In today’s talk, I share contemporary accounts of the shrine’s destruction, which included details of what was seized and sent to London.

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  • The destruction of religious shrines

    5 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    The iconic portrait of Henry VIII after Holbein

    As today is the anniversary of the destruction of the Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham, near Reading, on 14th September 1538, I thought I’d do a Claire Chats on religious shrines and their destruction in the 1530s.

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