Mary Boleyn, daughter of Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard, and sister of Queen Anne Boleyn, has been a popular subject for both fiction and non-fiction, but she is quite an enigma in reality. Out of what we do actually know about her, how much do you know? Test yourself with this fun quiz. Good luck!
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On 17th November 1558, according to tradition, Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn, was sitting under an old oak tree in the parkland around the palace of Hatfield, reading a book. She was disturbed by lords of the council who had travelled to Hatfield to give her news of her half-sister Queen Mary I’s death and her subsequent accession.
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In her very first roving reporter video, Philippa Lacey Brewell visits the beautiful moated manor house, Harvington Hall.
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Some time ago, we asked for feedback on the Tudor Society. We asked what people would like to see on the site. It was very encouraging because the feedback showed that we were offering everything that people wanted, except for just one thing: virtual tours of historic places. We racked our brains over how we could offer this to our members and then Claire realised that we could get our good friend Philippa Lacey Brewell involved. Philippa runs British History Tours and her expertise is historical places, so asking for her help was a no-brainer! Fortunately, Philippa agreed to help us and will be giving us virtual tours (or as close to a virtual tour as she can get!) of historical places linked to the Tudors. She will be doing one a month for us – yay!
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Stephen Gardiner’s date of birth is not known, with some saying 1483 and others saying 1493 or 1497, but he was born in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. His father was William Gardiner (some say John Gardiner), a cloth merchant and a mercenary hired during the War of the Roses. According to Welsh accounts of the 1485 Battle of Bosworth, it was “Wyllyam Gardynyr” who killed King Richard III with a poleaxe. Sir William Gardiner later married Helen Tudor, a woman said to have been the illegitimate daughter of Jasper Tudor, uncle of King Henry VII.
As a young man, Gardiner met the famous humanist scholar, Desiderius Erasmus, in Paris and he studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He received the degree of Doctor of Civil Law in 1520 and of Canon Law in 1521, and went on to work for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey as secretary. He met Henry VIII for the first time in 1525 at The More in Hertfordshire for the signing of the Treaty of the More between the King and Francis I of France. Two years later, in 1527, Gardiner and Sir Thomas More worked as commissioners in arranging, with the French ambassadors, a treaty to obtain support for an army against the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, in Italy.
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Further to my Claire Chats video talk on Tudor fruit and vegetables, I just had to share this news article which is completely coincidental – life is strange!
In my talk, I mentioned the popular medieval and Tudor root vegetable salsify, a vegetable which was consumed regularly in the UK up until the 19th century but which many Brits today have never heard of. Well, good news! The supermarket chain Waitrose is selling black salsify, grown in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, and some white salsify, grown in Ayrshire, in 100 of its stores from now until the spring. So, if you’re in the UK, do look out for it and please do let me know if you buy it and try it.
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12th November:
1532 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn finally left Calais after being delayed by a Channel fog. They landed at Dover on Thursday 14th November. They had been visiting Calais to meet with the French king, Francis I.
1537 – Jane Seymour’s body was taken by chariot from Hampton Court Palace to Windsor Castle.
1554 – The opening of Mary I’s third Parliament. At this Parliament, a bill was passed allowing the exiled Cardinal Reginald Pole to return to England as papal legate.
1555 – Mary I’s Parliament re-established Catholicism in England.
1555 – Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Mary I’s Lord Chancellor, died. Gardiner crowned Mary I Queen of England at her coronation at Westminster Abbey on the 1st October 1553, and helped Mary to restore Catholicism and overturn the annulment of her parents’ marriage, making her legitimate. He was also instrumental in the marriage negotiations between Mary and Philip II of Spain, and married the couple at Winchester Cathedral on the 25th July 1554. He was laid to rest at Winchester Cathedral in what is now known as the Bishop Gardiner Chantry Chapel.
1576 – Death of Sir Edward Saunders, judge. He was buried at Weston under Wetherley, Warwickshire. Saunders’ offices included Serjeant-at-Law, Recorder of Coventry, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench and Chief Baron of the Exchequer.
1586 – A delegation of forty MPs and twenty peers presented Elizabeth I with a petition demanding that “a just sentence might be followed by as just an execution” in the case of Mary, Queen of Scots.
1595 – Death of Sir John Hawkins, merchant, shipbuilder, navigator, explorer, slave trader and naval commander, at Puerto Rico on a voyage, with Sir Francis Drake, which aimed to capture Panama. He was buried at sea. Hawkins is known for being the chief architect of Elizabeth I’s navy, and he was knighted for gallantry after serving as Vice-Admiral during the Spanish Armada.
This Sunday’s puzzle tests your knowledge of Tudor fruit and vegetables. You should find this very easy if you have watched this week’s Claire Chats on the topic.
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In today’s Claire Chats video, I talk about the fruit and vegetables that were enjoyed in the Tudor period.
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Throwback Thursday is all about sharing things that you might have missed in the Tudor Society archives or that you might enjoy revisiting. Today’s treat is our Tudor Quotes and Poetry Quiz from 2014. So, grab yourself a drink and snack, make yourself comfy, and let’s get testing your Tudor knowledge…
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John Skelton’s birthdate is unknown; however, historians have put forward suggestions that a date in the early 1560s is the most likely. Additionally, it is thought that he was born in the North of England. His family name may be derived from several locations named ‘Skelton’ in Yorkshire, however unfortunately for historiography, the majority of Skelton’s upbringing is wrapped in a mystery as a result of scarcely any remaining documents surviving that mention him. A significant proportion of Skelton’s life, and personality, is instead found in his poetry, which survives in manuscript form and has been seriously analysed by historians.
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Just to let you know the details of this month’s live chats. Our informal chat on the topic of Religious persecution and martyrs (such a cheery topic!) will take place on Friday 16th November and our expert live chat with author and founder of the Tudor Society, Claire Ridgway, is on Friday 30th November.
Both chats will be an hour long and will take place in the Tudor Society chatroom.
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One thing I do miss about living in the UK is the annual fireworks display we used to attend as a family. The annual ritual of putting on warm clothes, going out to watch some spectacular fireworks (we lived near a fire college and the firemen did a wonderful job), then coming back to hot chocolate and other warm treats – bliss! Here, where I live in Spain, of course, it’s a normal day and Guy Fawkes doesn’t mean anything to anybody. The only fireworks we have here are the bangers let off when the football results are good or at our village fiesta in January. There’s no colour to them, they just flash and bang – very sad!
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1514 – Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, was crowned Queen of France. She had married King Louis XII at Abbeville on the 9th October 1514. The marriage was rather short-lived, as Louis died on the 1st January 1515, and Mary went on to marry Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.
1520 – Death of Sir Robert Poyntz, courtier, landowner and Vice-Chamberlain and Chancellor of the Household to Queen Catherine of Aragon. He was around seventy when he died.
1530 – Death of Sir John More, lawyer, judge and father of Sir Thomas More. More served as Serjeant-at-Law, Justice of Assize, Justice of the Common Pleas, and also served on the King’s Bench from 1520 until his death.
1605 – Guy Fawkes was caught with thirty-six barrels of gunpowder in the cellars beneath Westminster. The idea was to blow up the House of Lords at the opening of Parliament on the 5th November, and to assassinate King James I.
Thomas Cranmer, who served as Archbishop of Canterbury in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Jane and part of Mary I’s, is a fascinating Tudor personality. But how much do you know about the man who was burnt at the stake in 1556? Test yourself with this fun quiz.
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On this day in 1592, Sir John Perrot, Privy Councillor and former Lord Deputy of Ireland, died at the Tower of London. He was buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower.
John Perrot was born between 1527 and 1530 in Pembrokeshire, and was the son of Mary (Berkeley) and Sir Thomas Perrot, although some believe him to have been Henry VIII’s illegitimate son. John’s mother, the pretty Mary Berkeley, had served Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon. The King was a friend of her husband, Sir Thomas Perrot, a keen huntsman, and historian Philippa Jones believes that Henry VIII began an affair with Mary after noticing her when he came to visit and hunt.
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Sir Walter Ralegh is often credited with introducing tobacco into England after he’d travelled to the New World, but this is a myth. I decided to look into the history of tobacco and research how it came to England and how it became popular.
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As today is the anniversary of the death of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond and father of King Henry VII, I thought it was fitting to share this article about his life and death…
On this day in 1456, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond and father of King Henry VII, died from the plague at Carmarthen Castle in Wales.
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Our expert speaker this month is Claire Ridgway, founder of the Tudor Society, who is currently working on a book about the events of 1541 and early 1542 – “The Fall of Catherine Howard: A Countdown”. Find out who did what and who said what in this talk.
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Did I scare you? Happy Halloween! I hope you have a wonderful day whatever your plans and whether you’re celebrating All Hallows Eve or not.
I thought I’d celebrate this feast day by sharing some Tudor Society resources on Halloween and also Tudor ghosts:
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In this month’s stunning 98 page edition of Tudor Life magazine, we cover the reputation of Mary I and whether she deserves the title “Bloody Mary”. In this edition, we look into the lives of some of the martyrs …
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29th October:
1532 – Henry VIII accompanied Francis I to the border between English Calais and France to bid farewell to him.
1586 – Four days after a commission had found Mary, Queen of Scots guilty of conspiring to assassinate Elizabeth I, Parliament met to discuss Mary’s fate. They decided that they should petition the Queen for Mary’s execution.
1605 – Death of George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, courtier and naval commander, at the duchy house, near the Savoy in London. He was buried in the family vault in Holy Trinity Church, Skipton, near Skipton Castle. Clifford was Elizabeth I’s second champion. He commanded a ship in the Anglo-Spanish War, and is known for capturing Fort San Felipe del Morro in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1598. Elizabeth I nicknamed him her “rogue”.
1618 – Sir Walter Ralegh (Raleigh), courtier, explorer, author and soldier, was executed at Westminster. Ralegh had originally been found guilty of treason and sentenced to death in 1603, after being implicated in the Main Plot against James I, but the King spared his life. In 1618, the death sentence was reinstated after he incurred the wrath of Spain for storming San Thomé and killing the Spanish governor.
If you watched the Horrible Hauntings Claire Chats video on Friday this wordsearch should be easy peasy! You can open and print out the wordsearch by clicking on the link or the picture. Have fun!
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Here is the transcript of our lively chat on George and Thomas Boleyn. Lots of questions were asked, and lots answered!
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Do you believe in ghosts? I’m not sure, but I do love a good ghost story and there are lots involving Tudor personalities and places. As it’s coming up to Halloween, I thought I’d share a few. Please do share ones you’ve heard too!
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As today is the anniversary of the death of Jane Seymour, third wife and queen consort of King Henry VIII and mother of King Edward VI, on 24th October 1537, I thought I’d share some resources from our archives:
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Thank you to Michelle Yim of Red Dragonfly Productions for sending me the following information:
At Southwark Cathedral in London this December, for one night only, we ordinary folk will be able to enjoy entertainments performed only once before at the Elizabethan and Jacobean Courts, and in doing so bear witness to some of the political intrigues of the time.
With Queen Elizabeth getting older, and having no successor, Sir Robert Cecil, risking treason, is secretly negotiating with the King of the Scots to take over the throne. He also has a wish to open up a trade route to China, and the arrival of a foreign visitor gives him some hope of this, but will the Queen approve of his plans? If she does then will the new King be of the same mind? A mostly true tale of political intrigue, social change and one man’s obsession with porcelain, performed in glorious costume in one of London’s most historic buildings.
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22nd October:
1521 – Death of Sir Edward Poynings, soldier, administrator and diplomat at his manor of Westenhanger in Kent. Poynings served Henry VII as Lord Deputy of Ireland and Henry VIII as an ambassador, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Chancellor of the Order of the Garter,
1554 (22nd or 23rd) – Death of John Veysey/Vesey (born John Harman), Bishop of Exeter, at Moor Hall, Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire.
1577 – Death of Henry Parker, 11th Baron Morley and Roman Catholic exile, in Paris. Morley had fled abroad after refusing to subscribe to Elizabeth I’s “Act of Uniformity” and after being implicated in the 1569 Rising of the North.
Jane Seymour was Henry VIII’s third wife and the one who managed to give him what he really wanted and needed, a living son, but how much do you know about Jane? Test yourself with this fun quiz. Good luck!
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Not many people have heard of Walter Marsh, an Englishman who was burned to death in Rome’s Campo dei Fiori after having his tongue cut out, his right hand cut off and his skin scorched with torches, so I thought I’d share what I’ve found out about him and how he came to this brutal end in Rome.
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