On this day in Tudor history, Henry VIII and Catherine Howard set off on their ill-fated progress to the North; and keen sportsman, King Henry II of France, suffered a mortal head wound while jousting…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 30 June
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#OTD in Tudor history – 29 June
On this day in Tudor history, 29th June, Lady Margaret Beaufort, matriarch of the Tudor dynasty, died; Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, died; and the Globe Theatre burned to the ground after catching fire during a performance of “Henry VIII”…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 28 June
On this day in Tudor history, 28th June, King Henry VIII was born at Greenwich Palace: rebel Sir James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley, was executed; and Philip Howard, 13th Earl of Arundel and a man condemned for treason in Elizabeth I’s reign, was born…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 27 June
On this day in Tudor history, 27th June, two of the chief commanders of the Cornish rebels were executed; thirteen-year-old Prince Henry (Henry VIII) repudiated his betrothal to Catherine of Aragon; and William Bradbridge, Bishop of Exeter, died…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 26 June
On this day in Tudor history, 26th June, soldier Sir Edmund Carew died; a commission of oyer and terminer was appointed to try Sir Thomas More; and Sir John Wingfield, who was shot in the head in an attack on Cadiz, was buried…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 25 June
On this day in Tudor history, Catherine of Aragon became betrothed to Prince Henry, the future Henry VIII, and Mary Tudor, Dowager Queen of France, sister of Henry VIII and wife of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, died at the age of 37…
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24 June – Midsummer and the Feast of St John the Baptist
24th June is the Feast of St John the Baptist, an important celebration in the medieval and Tudor periods, with it coinciding with Midsummer.
Fairies, fires, dancing, feasting and drinking were all part of the celebrations.
I explain how this feast day was marked in the Tudor period, and how it is still celebrated today in my local area…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 24 June
On this day in Tudor history, 24th June, Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were crowned king and queen in a joint coronation ceremony; Elizabeth I’s favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was born; and courtier and poet Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, died…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 23 June
On this day in Tudor history, 23rd June, Henry VIII and his new bride, Catherine of Aragon, had their coronation procession through the streets of London; mathematician and physician Thomas Hood was baptised; and miniaturist Levina Teerlinc died…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 22 June
On this day in Tudor history, 22nd June, Henry VIII created 26 Knights of the Bath; Mary Boleyn lost her first husband to sweating sickness; Bishop Fisher was executed; and Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary, submitted to her father…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 21 June
On this day in Tudor history, 21st June, Henry VIII travelled from Greenwich to the Tower of London; Catherine of Aragon gave an impassioned speech at the Legatine Court; letters patent were issued stating that Edward VI’s heir was Lady Jane Grey…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 20 June
On this day in Tudor history, 20th June, Anne of Cleves complained about Henry VIII’s flirting with Catherine Howard; the Casket Letters, which would be used to condemn Mary, Queen of Scots, were discovered; and Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, allegedly shot himself through the heart…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 19 June
On this day in Tudor history, 19th June, three Carthusian monks were hanged, drawn and quartered; Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to a son who would rule Scotland as James VI and England as James I; and the first priest to be executed in Elizabeth I’s reign was hanged, drawn and quartered…
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An audience with Linda Porter at Warwick Castle
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#OTD in Tudor history – 18 June
On this day in Tudor history, the Blackfriars Legatine Court opened to hear the case for Henry VIII’s proposed annulment; Anne Askew was arraigned for heresy; and Welsh mathematician and physician Robert Recorde’s will was proved…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 17 June
On this day in Tudor history, The Battle of Blackheath ended the Cornish Rebellion; Sir George Blage was lucky to die a natural death: and Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned at Loch Leven Castle after surrendering to the Protestant nobles…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 16 June
On this day in Tudor history, 16th June, Henry VII was victorious at the Battle of Stoke Field; scholar, humanist and administrator Sir John Cheke was born; and Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, a man accused of being involved in the Overbury Scandal, died of gangrene…
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Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, Henry VIII’s illegitimate son
Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the acknowledged illegitimate son of Henry VIII by his mistress Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount. “Fitzroy” is a Norman-French surname meaning “son of the King” and was a name given to monarchs’ illegitimate sons.
In 1519, Bessie had been sent by Cardinal Wolsey to reside at the prior’s house of the Priory of St Lawrence, in Blackmore, before her pregnancy became visible. It is not known when Bessie gave birth to Richmond, or when the child was christened. His birthdate is traditionally given as 15th June 1519, but Elizabeth Norton, historian and author of “Bessie Blount: Mistress to Henry VIII”, wonders if Richmond was actually born on 18th June because Cardinal Wolsey was with Henry VIII on that day and then although he was expected at Hampton Court Palace on 19th June he disappeared until 29th June. It was Wolsey who acted as Richmond’s godfather and who organised Bessie’s confinement, so it is reasonable to assume that he went to Blackmore. Also, as Norton points out, Henry VIII chose 18th June 1525 to elevate his son to the peerage and 18th June 1524 to award Bessie and her husband with a royal grant, so these events may well have tied in with the boy’s birthday.
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#OTD in Tudor history – 15 June
On this day in Tudor history, 15th June, Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, was born; members of the king’s council bullied and threatened Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary; and court fool William Somer died…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 14 June
On this day in Tudor history, 14th June, Sir Anthony Browne and Sir Francis Brya, were interrogated regarding their alleged support of Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon; Catherine’s former confessor, William Peto, was made a cardinal; and Sir Christopher Danby, who’d been implicated in the Pilgrimage of Grace and had survived being a Catholic in Elizabeth I’s reign, died…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 13 June
On this day in Tudor history, 13th June, George Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny, died; a pregnant Catherine Parr and her husband, Thomas Seymour, set off for Sudeley Castle; and actor William Knell died in a pub brawl…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 12 June
On this day in Tudor history, 12th June, Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, got cross with him, telling him to abandon his “wicked life”; Richard Rich interviewed an imprisoned Sir Thomas More; and a newly imprisoned Thomas Cromwell pleaded his innocence and begged for mercy…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 11 June
On this day in Tudor history, 11th June, England’s new king, Henry VIII, married Catherine of Aragon; humanist and scholar Sir Anthony Cooke died; and the Feast of St Barnabas was celebrated…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 10 June
On this day in Tudor history, 10th June, two Carthusian monks died of starvation in prison; Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, was arrested; and Francis, Duke of Anjou and Alençon, former suitor of Elizabeth I and a man she dubbed her “Frog”, died in Paris…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 9 June
On this day in Tudor history, 9th June, William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, died; the Book of Common Prayer was used in English churches for the first time; and diplomat and administrator William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, died…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 8 June
On this day in Tudor history, Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of Edward IV and mother of the Princes in the Tower, died; and Henry VIII’s Parliament passed the Second Act of Succession, removing Elizabeth, as well as Mary, from the line of succession…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 7 June
On this day in Tudor history, 7th June, the Field of Cloth of Gold meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I began; a water pageant was held in honour of Jane Seymour: and Elizabeth I’s former physician was hanged, drawn and quartered…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 6 June
On this day in Tudor history, 6th June, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V made a grand entry into London with Henry VIII; the Prayer Book rebels assembled at Bodmin; and musician and conspirator William Hunnis died…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 5 June
On this day in Tudor history, 5th June, Catherine of Aragon’s lady and good friend, Maria de Salinas, married William, 10th Lord Willoughby of Eresby; Elizabeth I’s favourite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, was charged with insubordination; and physician and naturalist Thomas Moffet died…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 4 June
On this day in Tudor history, 4th June, Jane Seymour was proclaimed queen at Greenwich; Robert Dudley married Amy Robsart at Sheen with Edward VI in attendance; and the spire of St Paul’s Cathedral was struck by lightning…
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