2 March – Sir Thomas Bodley and the Bodleian Library, and Henry VIII’s motto “She has wounded my heart”

On this day in Tudor history, 2nd March 1545, scholar, diplomat and founder of the Bodleian Library, Sir Thomas Bodley, was born in Exeter.

Sir Thomas Bodley served as a diplomat in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, but he is most known for his re-founding of Oxford University Library and the Bodleian Library, and all the work he did on it.

Find out all about him and his library in this talk...

Also on this day in Tudor history, 2nd March 1522, there was a Shrovetide joust with the theme of unrequited love at the court of Henry VIII.

You can find out more about this joust, and whether it had anything to do with Mary Boleyn, in this video...