March 20 – St Cuthbert Mayne, an Elizabethan priest and martyr, and Forgetting God to love a king – Thomas Seymour’s end

On this day in Tudor history, 20th March 1544, Cuthbert Mayne (Main/Maine) or St Cuthbert Mayne, Roman Catholic priest and martyr, was baptised in Youlston in North Devon.

Cuthbert Mayne has gone down in history as the first seminary priest to be martyred. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Launceston on 30th November 1577, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Find out more about this Elizabethan martyr in this talk...

Also on this day in Tudor history, 20th March 1549, Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron of Sudeley, was executed by beheading on Tower Hill.

Find out more about his sticky end in this video...