7 June – A water pageant for Jane Seymour

On this day in Tudor history, 7th June 1536, there were celebrations for England’s new queen, Jane Seymour, third wife of King Henry VIII.

The celebrations consisted of a river pageant on the River Thames in London, from Greenwich Palace to Whitehall (York Place).

Find out all about this river pageant in today's talk.

Also on this day in Tudor history, 7th June 1520, the historic Field of Cloth of Gold meeting between Kings Henry VIII and Francis I began. Find out more about this meeting, and how the two kings tried to outdo each other, in last year’s video:

Also on this day in history:

• 1532 – Birth of Amy Robsart (later Lady Dudley) probably at Stanfield Hall, Norfolk. Amy was the daughter of Sir John Robsart of Syderstone, Norfolk, and his wife, Elizabeth. Amy married Robert Dudley, Elizabeth I's favourite, in 1550.
• 1546 – Henry VIII and Francis I signed the Treaty of Ardres (also known as the Treaty of Camp).
• 1592 – Death of Peter Osborne, administrator. He was buried at St Faith's under St Paul's. He held offices in the Exchequer during Edward VI's reign and is thought to have supported Lady Jane Grey. Osborne served Elizabeth I as an ecclesiastical commissioner and various other posts.
• 1594 – Roderigo Lopez, Elizabeth I's physician, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn after being accused by Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, of conspiring with Spanish emissaries to poison the Queen. Lopez maintained his innocence, and the Queen seemed unsure of his guilt. It is thought that the charges were trumped up. Trivia: Lopez may have been the inspiration for Shakespeare's character, Shylock, in “The Merchant of Venice”.
• 1599 – Death of Henry Porter, playwright, after being mortally wounded in his left breast by a rapier in an assault carried out by John Day, a fellow writer.
• 1604 – Death of John Ley, explorer, in London. He was buried in the chancel of St Andrew by the Wardrobe. Ley was the first Englishman to enter the Amazon and one of the first to explore the coast of Guiana.
• 1618 – Death of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, colonial governor (of Virginia), at sea, on his way to Virginia.

Transcript

On this day in Tudor history, 7th June 1536, there were celebrations for England’s new queen, Jane Seymour, third wife of King Henry VIII.

Jane had married Henry VIII on 30th May 1536, following the execution of his second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, and Jane’s new status as Henry’s queen consort was celebrated on this day in 1536 with a water pageant on the River Thames, from Greenwich Palace to Whitehall, or York Place.

Here is an account of the pageant by herald and chronicler Charles Wriothesley:
“Also, the 7th day of June, being Wednesday in Whitsun week, the King and the Queen went from Greenwich to York Place, at Westminster, by water, his lords going in barges before him, every lord in his own barge, and the King and the Queen in a barge together, following after the lords’ barges, with his guard following him in a great barge; and as he passed by the ships in the Thames every ship shot guns, and at Radcliffe the Emperor’s ambassador stood in a tent with a banner of the Emperor’s arms set in the top of his tent and diverse banners about the same, he himself being in a rich gown of purple satin, with diverse gentlemen standing about him with gowns and coats of velvet; and when the Beach King’s [the Master of Ceremonies?] barge came by him, he sent two boats of his servants to row about the King’s barge, one of them were his trumpeters, and another with shalms and sackbuts, and so made a great reverence to the King and Queen as they came by him, and then he let shot a forty great guns, and as the King came against the Tower of London there was shot above four hundred pieces of ordinance, and all the tower walls towards the water side were set with great streamers and banners; and so the King passed through London Bridge, with his trumpets blowing before him, and shalms, sackbuts, and drummers playing also in barges going before him, which was a goodly sight to behold.”

It doesn’t sound quite as lavish a spectacle as Anne Boleyn’s coronation river procession back in 1533, which featured a mechanical fire-breathing dragon, monsters and wild men, but it still must have been a wonderful sight. I wonder, though, what the common people thought of it all – a queen executed just over two weeks previously and now there are celebrations for a new queen. Oh well, let’s just enjoy the sight!