16 March – The martyrdom of two Catholic priests

On this day in Tudor history, 16th March 1589, two Roman Catholic priests, Robert Dalby and John Amias, were executed as traitors at York.

Let me tell you about these men and what led to their very brutal executions. I also give an eye-witness account of their executions - sorry!

Also on this day in history:

• 1485 – Death of Anne (née Neville), Queen Consort of Richard III, in London. She was buried on the south side of the high altar at Westminster Abbey. Anne was the daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and a man known as the “Kingmaker”, and his wife, Anne (née Beauchamp). She married Edward, Prince of Wales and son of Henry VI, in 1470 but he was killed in 1471 at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Anne went on to marry Richard, Duke of Gloucester sometime before July 1473, and the couple became King and Queen on 26th June 1483.
• 1503 – Death of Edward Story, Bishop of Chichester. He was buried at the cathedral, on the north side of the altar.
• 1523 – Birth of Anthony Rudolph Chevallier, French Protestant Hebraist, at Montchamps, Normandy, France. It appears that Chevallier tutored Princess Elizabeth, the future Elizabeth I, in French and Hebrew in the early 1550s. During Mary I's reign, he taught Hebrew in Strasbourg and Geneva, and in Elizabeth I's reign he taught Hebrew at Cambridge. He went back to France in 1572, but the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre caused him to flee to Guernsey, and he died there in October 1572.
• 1533 – Death of John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, soldier, translator and diplomat, at Calais, while serving Henry VIII as Deputy of Calais. He was succeeded by Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle. Berners' translations included “Froissart's Chronicles”, “Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius”, “The History of Arthur of Lytell Brytaine” and “Huon of Bordeaux”.
• 1553 – Death of Sir Richard Lyster, Judge and Chief Justice of the King's Bench. He was buried at St Michael's Church in Southampton.
• 1559 – Death of Sir Anthony St Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland, at Ulcombe, Kent.He was appointed Lord Deputy in 1540 and served in the position until his death, although he was being investigated for keeping false accounts at his death. He was buried at Ulcombe Parish Church.
• 1561 - The body of Marie de Guise (Mary of Guise), mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, was put on a ship heading to France to be buried at Rheims.
• 1589 (15th or 16th) – Executions of priests Robert Dalby and John Amias at York as traitors, due to their Catholic faith.
• 1590 (15th or 16th) – Death of Bartholomew Clerke, civil lawyer, politician and diplomat, at Clapham. Clerke served Elizabeth I as a member of Parliament, as an ambassador to the French court and to Flanders, and Archdeacon of Wells. He was buried in the old church at Clapham, where he was Lord of the Manor.
• 1593 – Death of Thomas Snagge, lawyer, Serjeant-at-Law and Speaker of the House of Commons in Elizabeth I's reign, in his chambers at Serjeants' Inn. He was laid to rest in St Mary's Church, Marston Moretaine, in Bedfordshire.
• 1619 – Burial of actor Richard Burbage at St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch.