This Week in History 6 – 12 October

6 October

1510 – Birth of John Caius, theological scholar, Royal Physician and founder of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, at Norwich. He was the son of Robert Caius and his wife, Alice (née Wode). Caius studied medicine at Padua and was physician to Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.
1536 - The traditional date given to the execution of reformer, scholar and Bible translator, William Tyndale, at Vilvoorde. Tyndale, whose works include “The Obedience of a Christian Man” (a book Anne Boleyn shared with Henry VIII), had incurred the wrath of Henry VIII after the publication of his “The Practyse of Prelates”, in which he opposed Henry VIII’s planned annulment from Catherine of Aragon.
1557 – Death of John Capon (also known as John Salcot), former Benedictine monk and Bishop of Salisbury, probably from influenza. He was buried in the choir at Salisbury Cathedral. He appeared to have reformist leanings in the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, but became a conservative Catholic again in Mary I's reign, and was involved in the examination of those deemed to be heretics.

7 October

1506 – Death of Sir Thomas Frowyk, Judge and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. He was buried with his first wife, Joan, at Finchley Parish Church in Middlesex, on the north side of the chancel.
1533 – Death of Sir John Scott, soldier. Scott served as a Senior Captain in the army sent to the Low Countries in 1511 to support Margaret of Austria, and was rewarded for his service by a knighthood. He also served in France in 1514 and 1523.
1577 – Death of George Gascoigne, author, poet, courtier and soldier, in Stamford, Lincolnshire. He was buried there, at St Mary's parish church. He is listed as one of the most important Tudor poets, along with the likes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and Philip Sidney. His works included “A Discourse of the Adventures of Master FJ”, “The Supposes”, “A Hundredth Sundry Flowres...” and “The Posies of George Gascoigne, Esquire”.
1589 – Death of William Hawkins, merchant and sea captain, at Deptford. He was buried at St Nicholas's Church. In 1580, Hawkins led an expedition to the Caribbean, returning to England with treasure and sugar. In 1588, he was involved in leading seven ships from Plymouth against the Spanish Armada.

8 October

1515 - Birth of Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, daughter of Margaret Tudor, Queen Dowager of Scotland (sister of Henry VIII), and Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, at Harbottle Castle in Northumberland.
1536 – The commons, i.e. the people, approved the petition of grievances drawn up by the rebels of Horncastle, Lincolnshire.
1549 – Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector, was proclaimed a traitor by the King's Privy Council.
1561 – Baptism of Edward Wright, mathematician and cartographer, at Garveston in Norfolk. Wright is known for his treatise “Certaine Errors in Navigation” (1599), his work on Mercator's map projection and his translation of John Napier's 1614 Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio into English.
1594 – Death of Ellis Price (Prys), scholar and administrator. Price served Henry VIII as a Monastic Visitor in Wales 1535, Commissary-General and Chancellor of the diocese of St Asaph, and as an administrator in Wales after the “Acts of Union”. He also later served as Sheriff of Merioneth, Anglesey, Caernarfon, and Denbigh, and a member of the council in the Marches of Wales.

9 October

1514 - Eighteen year-old Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, married fifty-two year-old King Louis XII of France at Abbeville.
1529 – A writ of praemunire was filed against Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in the court of King’s Bench.
1536 – Pilgrimage of Grace: The rebels of Horncastle, Lincoln, dispatched their petition of grievances to the King and also north into Yorkshire.
1547 – Baptism of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. His actual birthdate is unknown.
1573 – Death of Sir Thomas Wroth, courtier, politician and landowner. Wroth served Edward VI as a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and was with him when he died.
1604 – Death of Sir William Peryam, Judge, at Little Fulford, near Credington in Devon. He was laid to rest at Holy Cross Church. Peryam was on the commissions at the trials of Mary, Queen of Scots, the Earl of Arundel, the Earl of Essex and Sir John Perrot, and served as Chief Baron of the Exchequer from 1593 until his death.

10 October

1505 (10th or 11th) – Death of William Barons (Barnes), Bishop of London and former Master of the Rolls. He was buried at St Paul's Cathedral.
1530 – Death of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquis of Dorset, magnate, soldier and courtier. He was buried at Astley Collegiate Church in Warwickshire. Grey's offices included Constable of Warwick Castle and of Kenilworth Castle, and he also acted as Chief Answerer at the marriage of Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon. Grey was also the grandfather of Lady Jane Grey.
1549 – Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector, was ordered to leave Windsor Castle and to give himself up. He had moved there with the young Edward VI on the 6th October, from Hampton Court Palace, after learning that his protectorship was in danger.
1562 - The twenty-nine year-old Queen Elizabeth I was taken ill at Hampton Court Palace, with what was thought to be a bad cold. However, the cold developed into a violent fever, and it became clear that the young queen actually had smallpox. Fortunately, Elizabeth survived the disease and was not too badly scarred.
1588 – Funeral of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. He was buried in the Beauchamp Chapel of the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick.

11 October

1521 – The title of Fidei Defensor, “Defender of the Faith”, was conferred by Pope Leo X on Henry VIII. This was a reward for Henry VIII writing his pamphlet Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum (“Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther”), defending the Catholic Church against the works of Martin Luther.
1531 – The Battle of Kappel and the death of Huldrych Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer, at the battle.
1532 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn left England for Calais, where Anne was treated as Henry VIII’s Queen and consort.
1537 – Solemn procession at St Paul’s to pray for the Queen, Jane Seymour, who was in labour, a labour which lasted over 30 hours. Charles Wriothesley wrote of how the procession was made up of “all the orders of friars, preistes, and clarkes… the major and aldermen, with all the craftes of the citie” and that it was “donne to pray for the Queene that was then in laboure of chielde.”
1537 – Traditional date given to the birth of Lady Jane Grey. It is now thought that she was born in spring 1537, “before the end of May” (Leanda de Lisle).
1542 - Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, poet and diplomat, died at Sherborne in Dorset. He had been complaining of severe headaches since 1539. He was laid to rest at Sherborne Abbey. His plain tomb can be found in the Wykenham Chapel of the Abbey.
1549 – Arrest of Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of the Realm and Governor of the King’s Person. He was brought in front of Edward VI, who summarised his charges as “ambition, vainglory, entering into rash wars in mine youth, negligent looking on Newhaven, enriching himself of my treasure, following his own opinion, and doing all by his own authority, etc.”
1551 – John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, became the Duke of Northumberland and Henry Grey, father of Lady Jane Grey, became the Duke of Suffolk.
1558 – Death of Paul Bush, Bishop of Bristol, at Winterbourne. He was buried in Bristol Cathedral.
1982 – The raising of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's ship, from the seabed just off the coast off Portsmouth where she had lain since she sank on 19th July 1545.

12 October

1537 - Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII, finally gave birth to the future King Edward VI after a long and tiring 30 hour labour.
1555 – Birth of Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby of Willoughby, Beck, and Eresby, at Wesel in Cleves. Bertie was the son of Richard Bertie and his wife, Katherine (née Willoughby), Duchess of Suffolk and widow of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Bertie was born while his Protestant parents were in exile during Mary I's reign.
1555 – Assassination of Lewis Owen, member of Parliament and administrator in Wales, on Dugoed Mawddwy, a mountain pass. He had become unpopular after supporting new legislation in Wales, and his assassination is viewed as revenge for his campaign, with John Wyn ap Meredydd of Gwydir, against outlaws. It had resulted in around eighty hangings.
1598 – Death of Thomas Stapleton, Roman Catholic theologian, at Louvain. He was buried there, at St Peter's Church. Stapleton's works included translations, commentaries on parts of the Bible and anti-Calvinist treatises such as Antidota.
1616 – Death of Henry Cavendish, soldier and son of Sir William Cavendish and his third wife Elizabeth (Bess of Hardwick). He was buried at Edensor in Derbyshire.