The Tudor Society
  • #OTD in Tudor history – 8 March

    A portrait of Sir Nicholas Carew

    On this day in Tudor history, 8th March, Henry VIII was sent a leopard as a gift, Sir Nicholas Carew was executed for treason for allegedly plotting with Cardinal Pole, and outspoken reformer Richard Tracy died…

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  • March 8 – Richard Tracy, an outspoken reformer

    On this day in Tudor history, 8 March 1569, evangelical reformer and Member of Parliament Richard Tracy died at his manor in Stanway, Gloucestershire.

    Tracy was the cousin of Protestant martyr James Bainham and his works included the 1543 pamphlet on justification by faith: “Profe and Declaration of thys Proposition: Fayth only iustifieth”, which was dedicated to Henry VIII; the 1544 “‘A Supplycation to our most Soueraigne Lorde, Kynge Henry the Eyght” and “A Bryef and short Declaracyon made wherebye euery Chrysten Man may knowe what is a Sacrament”. In Elizabeth I’s reign, he served as a Commissioner of the Peace and Sheriff in Gloucestershire.

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  • An outspoken reformer, Lady Margaret Douglas dies, and a man of “plyable” willow

    In the first part of this week in Tudor history, I introduce an outspoken reformer whose works were burnt, I talk about the death of Henry VIII’s niece, Lady Margaret Douglas, and how it was surrounded by rumour, and I give an overview of the life and career of a Tudor administrator who claimed he survived in politics in such turbulent times because he “was made of the plyable willow, not of the stubborn oak”

    8th March 1569 – Death of evangelical reformer and Member of Parliament Richard Tracy at Stanway in Gloucestershire. Henry VIII and his council ordered the burning of his works in 1546….

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