OK, so today I’m travelling back in time quite a bit further than the Tudor period with my Claire Chats video talk, but I wanted to explore the English that was spoken in the Tudor period and to be able to do that properly we really need to examine the history of the language.
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On this day in history, 1st March 1620, Thomas Campion, the famous Tudor and Stuart physician, poet and musician, died. He was laid to rest on the same day he died at St Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street, London.
Campion was born in 1567 and was the son of John Campion, cursitor to the chancery court, and Lucy Searle. His father died when he was nine, so he was brought up by two stepfathers. Campion was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and he was admitted to Gray’s Inn, one of the four Inns of Court in London, in April 1586. His Oxford Dictionary of National Biography biographer, David Lindley, notes that Campion did not proceed to any formal qualifications at Cambridge or at Gray’s Inn, but that it was while he was at Gray’s Inn that he became involved in acting in revels and writing songs.
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Happy St David’s Day to all those in Wales or with Welsh blood. Are you wearing a leek or a daffodil today? I’d love to know if you are.
Here is an extract from our Tudor Feast Days e-book on St David’s Day…
1st March is the feast day of St David (Dewi Sant), patron saint of Wales. According to Rhigyfarch’s Life of Saint David, David lived in the 6th century and founded religious centres including Glastonbury and Croyland. He then travelled to the Holy Land and was made archbishop at Jerusalem before travelling back to Wales and settling at Glyn Rhosyn (Rose Vale), or St David’s, in Pembrokeshire, Wales. There, he founded a monastery whose site is now marked by St David’s Cathedral.
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In this month’s expert talk, Lauren Browne looks into what is known about “Jane” Shore, and how the Tudors used and manipulated her story to various ends, both political and social.
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