12 May – Martin Luther’s books are burned in London

On this day in Tudor history, 12th May 1521, reformer Martin Luther was proclaimed a heretic by Bishop John Fisher and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey at St Paul's in London, and his works were burned.

Hear a contemporary account of what happened on this day in 1521 in today's video:

Also on this day in history:

• 1536 - Mark Smeaton, Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston and Sir William Brereton were tried at a special commission of oyer and terminer, just a day after the Grand Jury of Kent had assembled, and only eight days after Weston and Brereton had been arrested. All four men were found guilty on all charges, declared traitors and sentenced to the usual traitor’s death, to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Click here to read more.
• 1536 - Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was appointed Lord High Steward of England in readiness for ruling, as Lord President, over the trials of Anne and George Boleyn. Click here to read more.
• 1537 – John Hussey, Baron Hussey, was charged with treason, for conspiring against Henry VIII and raising a rebellion against the King in Lincoln during the Pilgrimage of Grace. Hussey was executed in Lincoln on 29th June 1537.
• 1538 - John Forest, a Franciscan friar, refused to recant his allegiance to Rome.