The Tudor Society

17 January

A rather tall tale from Elizabethan England today!

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Leicestershire woman gives birth to cat!"

You can see a picture of the cat from Lansdowne 101/6 "A true copy of the examinations of Agnes Bowker and others, touching the cat which was brought forth at Harborough in Leicestershire, taken before Anthony Sanderson Commissary of the Ecclesiastical Court of Leicester, on the 22d of Jan. and Feb. 112, 1568. Examinations taken at Harborough on Jan. 27, 1568, by Sir George Turpyn, Knight, and Edward Griffyn, Esquire" at https://imagesonline.bl.uk/?service=search&action=do_quick_search&language=en&q=D40051-91.

Note: The examination in the Lansdowne MS is dated 1568 but that is because it was before 25th March, Lady Day, the start of the new calendar year in Tudor times. We obviously date the new year as starting on 1st January so, for us, this event happened in what we'd call 1569. Click here to read more about Lady Day.

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17 January