This week in history 30 March – 5 April

30 March

1533 - Thomas Cranmer, Archdeacon of Taunton, was consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury in St Stephen’s College, Westminster Palace. See www.theanneboleynfiles.com/30-march-1533-thomas-cranmer-became-archbishop-of-canterbury/
1555 – Burning of Protestant martyr, Robert Ferrar, Bishop of St David's, at Carmarthen. He had already been deprived of his bishopric because he violated the vow of chastity by marrying and was condemned after refusing to agree to articles presented to him, articles which he saw as having been drawn up by man and not by God. He went to his death with courage.
1558 – Queen Mary I made her will, believing that she would soon give birth, and childbirth was a risky process. One of her desires expressed in the will was for her mother's remains to be moved from Peterborough to Westminster Abbey. This, of course, never happened. The will also made her unborn child her heir, with her husband, Philip of Spain, as regent. It was actually a false pregnancy, so Mary never went into labour.
1587 – Death of Sir Ralph Sadler, at the age of nearly eighty. Sadler was a diplomat and administrator who worked as Cromwell's Secretary before being noticed by Henry VIII. At his death, he was one of the richest men in England.

31 March

1499 – Birth of Pope Pius IV, born Giovanni Angelo Medici, in Milan. He was Pope from 1559 to 1565.
1509 – The dying Henry VII made his last will and testament at Richmond Palace, three weeks before his death. It was based on an earlier draft, with some new provisions added, for example, the addition of Sir Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley to the list of executors.
1519 – Birth of Henry II of France, at Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, Henry was the son of Francis I and Queen Claude, and he was King of France from 1547 to his death in 1559. His consort was Catherine de' Medici.
1532 - Princess Mary's confessor, Friar William Peto, preached a rather controversial sermon in the King's presence at Greenwich's Franciscan chapel. He compared Henry VIII to Ahab and drew comparisons between Anne Boleyn and Jezebel. See www.theanneboleynfiles.com/31st-march-1532-friar-petos-easter-sermon/.
1547 – Death of Francis I of France, at the Château de Rambouillet in the Île-de-France, and accession of Henry II on his 28th birthday.
1553 – Edward VI dissolved Parliament, after having opened it 1st March. It was his last Parliament.
1596 – Birth of René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician, and writer, the “Father of Modern Philosophy”, at La Haye en Touraine in France. He is known for his dictum “I think, therefore I am”.
1631 – Death of John Donne, metaphysical poet, satirist, lawyer and clergyman. He was laid to rest in St Paul's Cathedral on 3rd April. Donne served as a member of Parliament, Royal Chaplain and Dean of St Paul's, but is best known for his poems, sonnets and epigrams, which included “For whom the bell tolls” and “The Flea”.

1 April

1536 - Eustace Chapuys, imperial ambassador, reported hearing that Henry VIII had sent Jane “a purse full of sovereigns” and that on receiving the purse, Jane had kissed the letter and begged the messenger to tell the King that she could not take the purse because “she was a gentlewoman of good and honorable parents, without reproach, and that she had no greater riches in the world than her honor, which she would not injure for a thousand deaths, and that if he wished to make her some present in money, she begged it might be when God enabled her to make some honorable match.”
1538 – Death of Sir Amyas (Amias) Paulet, soldier and landowner, at Hinton St George. In Henry VIII's reign, he served as a Sheriff, Justice of the Peace and steward of the Estates of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Henry VII chose him to meet Catherine of Aragon as she travelled to London to marry his son, Arthur.
1570 – Death of William Alley, Bishop of Exeter. He was buried in Exeter Cathedral.
1571 – Death of Sir Thomas Cusack, Anglo-Irish judge, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, Keeper of the Great Seal, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland, Lord Chancellor and Lord Justice. He was buried in Trevet, county Meath.
1572 – Death of John Cawood, Queen's Printer to Mary I, in London.
1577 – Death of Anthony Rush, Dean of Chichester. He was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor.
1578 – Birth of William Harvey, English physician and the man who discovered the circulation of blood.
1578 – Death of Sir Arthur Champernowne, soldier, naval commander, member of Parliament and Vice-Admiral of the West. Edward VI knighted him for his service in France, and he was also involved in putting down the Prayer Book Rebellion.
1604 – Death of Thomas Churchyard, author and soldier, in Westminster, London. He was buried in St Margaret's Church, Westminster. Churchyard started writing in the reign of Edward VI and some of his poems were published in “Tottel's Miscellany”. His literary works include “The Firste Parte of Churchyardes Chippes”, “A Generall Rehearsall of Warres”, “Churchyardes Chance”, “Churchyardes Charitie” and “Churchyardes Charge”. Churchyard was also an active soldier, serving with the Duke of Somerset in Scotland and fighting as a mercenary for Protestants in Europe.

2 April

1502 - Arthur, Prince of Wales, son and heir of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, died at Ludlow Castle in the Welsh Marches. He was just fifteen years old, and had only been married to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon for four and a half months. See www.theanneboleynfiles.com/2-april-1502-death-arthur-prince-wales-ludlow-castle/
1536 – Anne Boleyn’s almoner, John Skip, preached a rather controversial sermon in front of the King. Skip spoke on the Old Testament story of King Ahasuerus “who was moved by a wicked minister to destroy the Jews” but Queen Esther stepped in with different advice and saved the Jews. In Skip’s sermon, Henry VIII was Ahasuerus, Anne Boleyn was Queen Esther and Thomas Cromwell, who had just introduced the “Act of Suppression of the Lesser Monasteries” into Parliament, was Haman, the “wicked minister”. The sermon was an attack on what had been debated in Parliament and it was a statement on Anne’s stance and her beliefs. See www.theanneboleynfiles.com/2-april-1536-john-skips-passion-sunday-sermon/
1552 – The fourteen year-old Edward VI fell ill with measles and smallpox. Fortunately, he survived. His biographer, Chris Skidmore, believes that it was this bout of illness which suppressed the King’s immune system and which led to him dying of consumption (tuberculosis) on the 6th July 1553.
1559 – The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, ending the Italian Wars, was signed between Henry II of France and Elizabeth I of England.
1568 – Death of Sir Ambrose Cave, member of Parliament, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Knight of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, at the Savoy. He was buried at Stanford after a funeral at the Savoy Chapel.
1571 – Death of Richard Onslow, lawyer, Solicitor-General and Speaker of the House of Commons. He caught a fever in Shrewsbury, while visiting his uncle there.

3 April

1538 – Death of Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire and Ormond, wife of Thomas Boleyn and mother of Anne Boleyn.
1559 – The second session of Parliament, in Elizabeth I's reign, met after the Easter break. Its purpose was to obtain parliamentary sanction for royal supremacy and Protestant settlement.
1559 – The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, ending the Italian Wars, was signed between Henry II and Philip II of Spain.
1578 – Burial of Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox and daughter of Margaret Tudor and Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. She was buried in Henry VII's Chapel of Westminster Abbey.
1585 – Death of Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St Asaph, in Rome. He had travelled to Rome at the beginning of the Protestant Elizabeth I's reign. He was buried in the convent of San Silvestro.
1606 – Burial of Sir Edward Fitton, member of Parliament and Elizabeth I's Receiver-General, in Gawsworth Church in Cheshire.

4 April

1483 – Death of Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, great-grandson of Edward III and Lord High Treasurer. He was buried in Beeleigh Abbey.
1506 – Birth of Sir Edward Saunders, Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench in Elizabeth I's reign.
1572 – Birth of William Strachey, writer and historian of Virginia. William Shakespeare used Strachey's account of the 1609 shipwreck of the Sea Venture for his play “The Tempest”.
1581 – Francis Drake was awarded a knighthood by Elizabeth I. He was dubbed by Monsieur de Marchaumont on board the Golden Hind at Deptford.
1589 – Death of Mildred Cecil (née Cooke), Lady Burghley, noblewoman, scholar and second wife of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. Mildred was known for her standard of education and the library she built up.

5 April

1478 – Death of John Booth, Bishop of Exeter, at East Horsley. He was buried in the parish church there.
1513 – Treaty of Mechlin signed by Henry VIII, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Pope Leo X against France.
1531 - Richard Roose (or Rouse), Bishop John Fisher’s cook, was boiled to death after confessing to poisoning the soup (or porridge) that was served to the Bishop and his guests. Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, survived, but some of his guests, who’d eaten more of the soup, died.
1532 – Death of William Bolton, royal administrator and Prior of St Bartholomew’s, West Smithfield, London. In Henry VIII's reign, Bolton oversaw works in Henry VII's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court Palace and the rebuilding of New Hall. He died in London and was buried in his priory church, before the altar.
1533 – Convocation ruled on the case of Henry VIII's annulment, ruling that the Pope had no power to dispense in the case of a man marrying his brother's widow, and that it was contrary to God's law.
1559 – Funeral of Sir Anthony St Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland, at the parish church in Ulcombe in Kent.
1588 – Birth of Thomas Hobbes, philosopher and author of the famous philosophical work, “Leviathan”, in Westport, Malmesbury, Wiltshire.
1605 – Death of Adam Loftus, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, in Dublin at the archbishop's palace of St Sepulchre. He was buried at St Patrick's Cathedral.