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The Tudor Society

  • March 25 – Elizabeth I grants letters patent to Walter Ralegh

    5 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    On 25th March 1584, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, letters patent were granted to Walter Ralegh giving him “free liberty and licence… to discover, search for, fynde out and view… landes, countries and territories”, for the benefit of himself, “his heyres and assignes forever.”

    It went on to describe these territories: “such remote heathen and barbarous lands countries and territories not actually possessed of any Christian Prince and inhabited by Christian people”, and as Nancy Bradley Warren points out in her book “Women of God and Arms”, Elizabeth I and her government were not only granting Ralegh the right to colonise lands owned by the indigenous people, they were also giving him the right to take lands held by Spain, as they didn’t view Catholicism as true Christianity.

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  • Walter Raleigh’s colonisation, war over vestments, an earl who saved the day, and some burnings

    2 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    In part two of this week in Tudor history, I talk about Walter Raleigh (Ralegh) being given permission to colonise foreign lands in 1584; a disagreement over the wearing of vestments in 1566 which led to a pamphlet war, protests and ministers losing their parishes; a Tudor earl who saved the day for Henry VIII during the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion, and the burnings of three Protestant martyrs in Essex in 1555.

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  • The School of Night or School of Atheism

    2 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Recently, on YouTube, I answered Tudor Society member Real Tudor Lady’s question on the books and TV series, A Discovery of Witches, examining whether the School of Night (School of Atheists) really existed. I thought I’d go into it in a bit more detail for Tudor Society members, and also share some further reading resources.

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  • 29 October – “Strike, man, strike” – The end of Sir Walter Ralegh

    3 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    On this day in history, 29th October 1618, in the reign of King James I, Elizabethan courtier, explorer, author and soldier, Sir Walter Ralegh (Raleigh, Rawley, Ralagh, Rawleigh) was executed in the Old Palace Yard at Westminster Palace.

    Ralegh had led an eventful life. He’d been a favourite of Elizabeth I – except when he secretly married her lady, Bess Throckmorton – but had been imprisoned in the Tower of London on several occasions, he’d been accused of atheism at one point, had sailed to America and tried to establish a colony, he was knighted for his service in Ireland, and he was a poet too!

    Find out all about Sir Walter Ralegh’s colourful life in today’s talk.

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  • Sir Walter Ralegh

    7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    Here is a brief bio or factfile of Sir Walter Ralegh, the famous Elizabethan explorer:

    Birth – c1552, perhaps 22nd January, in East Budleigh, Devon, England.

    Parents – Walter Ralegh and Catherine Champernowne, niece of Kat Ashley, governess and friend of Elizabeth I. Catherine was married twice and Ralegh’s father (also Walter) was her second husband.

    Siblings – Ralegh’s mother had sons from her first marriage and from her second marriage, a total of five. Three of Ralegh’s half-brothers were prominent at the Elizabethan and Stuart Court – John, Humphrey and Adrian Gilbert. His brother, Carew Ralegh, was also prominent.

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  • Sir Walter Ralegh Quiz

    8 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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    A fun quiz on Sir Walter Ralegh.

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