John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury and Apologist of the Church of England, was born on the 24th May 1522 in Berrynarbor, North Devon, one of ten children. He was educated by his maternal uncle, John Bellamy, Rector of Hampton, because he showed signs of intelligence. Jewel was a hardworking, conscientious and studious boy, and went on to study at Merton College, Oxford, where he studied under John Pankhurst (later the Bishop of Norwich), the man credited with introducing Jewel to reformist doctrines. In August 1539, Jewel transferred to Oxford’s Corpus Christi College, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1540, followed by a Masters in 1545 after being elected as a fellow in 1542. John and Angela Magee1 tell of how Jewel was “considered as a decided and open friend to the Protestant cause” (citing Charles Webb Le Bas, M.A.) and that proof of this is the fact that he received an annual payment of six pounds from a special fund collected by the nobility for the purpose of supporting scholars who professed Reformist doctrines.
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Bishop John Jewel
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Katherine of Aragon
Katherine of Aragon was born into the royal Spanish household on 16th December 1485, at the Archbishop’s Palace of Alcalá de Henares. She was the daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and his illustrious wife, Isabella I of Castile. Katherine’s parents were the Catholic powerhouses of Western Europe during the late fifteenth century, therefore during her youth, the young Spanish princess would have envisioned the grand future that awaited her, with an ambitious marriage into an equally powerful European royal household.
At aged just three, her parents were in negotiations with the English king, Henry VII, for a suitable marriage to his son, Arthur. The Tudors had recently taken the throne after defeating the Yorkist Richard III at Bosworth in 1485, although their Lancastrian claimant to the throne was still vulnerable to usurpation. England required international support to ensure the legitimacy and security of their house. An Anglo-Spanish alliance would be vitally important for the country’s prosperity and position in European politics.
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This week in history 22 – 28 May
On this day in history…
22nd May:
1490 – Death of Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent.
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1537 – Edward Seymour, brother of Jane Seymour, was sworn in as a Privy Councillor.
1538 – The burning of John Forest, Franciscan friar and martyr, at Smithfield for heresy, for his allegiance to Rome.
1539 – Probable birthdate of Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford and son of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset (the Edward mentioned above). Hertford was also the husband of Katherine Grey, sister of Lady Jane Grey.
1570 – Death of John Best, Bishop of Carlisle. He was buried in Carlisle Cathedral. -
Quiz – Anne Boleyn’s Fall
This week for our 144th quiz we’re commemorating the anniversary of Queen Anne Boleyn’s execution on this day in 1536 with questions about her fall.
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19 May – St Dunstan’s Day
Happy St Dunstan’s Day! Here is some information on this feast day taken from our Feast Days section:
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Primary sources for Anne Boleyn’s Fall 1536
In today’s Claire Chats video, Claire talks about how you can access primary sources on Anne Boleyn’s fall in 1536 wherever you are in the world.
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Henry VII statue to be unveiled in Pembroke on 10 June 2017
A date to put in your diary if you can get to Pembroke in Wales on 10th June!
Thank you to Nathen Amin for sharing this news on his Henry Tudor Society Facebook page. Nathen wrote:
“A statue commemorating the birth and life of Henry Tudor will be proudly unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire at 2pm on Saturday 10th June on Mill Bridge, Pembroke, in the shadow of Pembroke Castle where the first Tudor king was born in 1457.
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Roland Hui on the Tudor Society
We would like to introduce you to some of these wonderful contributors. Today, we say hello to Roland Hui.
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Dominic Pearce’s current research
Continuing our series of looking into what the historians who write for the Tudor Society are researching at the moment, we have Dominic Pearce, the author of “Henrietta Maria”.
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This week in history 15 – 21 May
On this day in history…
15th May:
1464 – Execution of Henry Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, immediately after the Battle of Hexham. He was buried in Hexham Abbey.
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1536 – Trials of Anne Boleyn and George Boleyn in the King’s Hall at the Tower of London. They were both found guilty and sentenced to death.
1537 – Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy, and his cousin, John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, were tried for treason at Westminster after being implicated in the Pilgrimage of Grace. “Letters and Papers” recorded the verdict as guilty and the sentence was “Judgment as usual in cases of high treason. Execution to be at Tyburn.” They were actually beheaded. -
Tudor History Quiz – 14 May
Grab a coffee, make yourself comfortable and exercise those little grey cells with a quiz on one of your favourite subjects. This week’s quiz is a general Tudor history quiz and we hope you enjoy it. Good luck!
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13 May 1515 – The marriage of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
On this day in history, Sunday 13th May 1515, Mary Tudor, dowager queen of France and sister of King Henry VIII, married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, at Greenwich Palace, following their secret marriage in France. They were married in the presence of the king, Queen Catherine and the court.
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A Tudor gem that made me dance by Janet Wertman
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The Tudors and ear piercing
Thank you so much for Tudor Society member Lorna for inspiring today’s Claire Chats video. In today’s talk, I look at when ear piercing became fashionable in the Tudor period, the evidence we have on it and also ear piercing in men.
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11 May 1532 – Henry VIII attacks the clergy
On this day in history, 11th May 1532, King Henry VIII sent for the Speaker and a delegation from the Commons and accused the clergy of being “scarce our subjects”, attacking their oath to the Pope.
Here is chronicler Edward Hall’s account of this:
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Dr Thomas Wendy – King’s physician
On this day in history, 11th May 1560, Dr Thomas Wendy, physician to Henry VIII and Queen Catherine Parr, died at Haslingfield in Cambridgeshire. He was sixty-one years old at his death.
Henry Machyn records in his diary that Dr Wendy was buried on 27th May at Cambridge:
“The xxvij day of May was the obseque and fen[eral] of master docthur Wende, fessyssyon [physician] at Cambryge, a penon of armes and a cott armur, and vj dosen and d’ [half] of skochyons of armes, and a harold of armes master Somersett, and . . morners in blake, and he gayff mony gownes to pore men, and ther was a grett dolle, and thether resortyd xx m[iles] off vC. pepull and had grett plente of mett and drynke, boyth hosses [houses] and barnes and feldes, grett store as has bene [seen] for a men [mean] gentyllman, and gret mone mad [moan made].”
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9 May 1509 – Henry VII’s remains taken to St Paul’s
On this day in history, 9th May 1509, the remains of Henry VII, who had died at Richmond Palace on 21st April 1509, were taken to Old St Paul’s.
Here’s an account by James Peller Malcolm (1767-1815) in Londinium redivivum:-
“On the 9th of May, 1509, the body of Henry VII. was placed in a chariot, covered with black cloth of gold, which was drawn by five spirited horses, whose trappings were of black velvet, adorned with quishions of gold. The effigies of his Majesty lay upon the corpse, dressed in his regal habiliments. The carriage had suspended on it banners of arms, titles, and pedigrees. A number of prelates preceded the body, who were followed by the deceased king’s servants; after it were nine mourners. Six hundred men bearing torches surrounded the chariot.
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This week in history 8 -14 May
On this day in history…
8th May:
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1508 – Birth of Charles Wriothesley, herald and chronicler, in London. His chronicle is one of the major primary sources for Henry VIII’s reign. Charles came from a family of heralds; he was the younger son of Sir Thomas Wriothesley, Garter King of Arms, grandson of John Writhe, Garther King of Arms, and nephew of William Wriothesley, York Herald. Charles’ offices included Rouge Croix Pursuivant and Windsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary, but he did not go as far as his father and grandfather.
1538 – Death of Edward Fox, Bishop of Hereford and diplomat. He was active in trying to secure the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and produced several books and polemics on Henry’s Great Matter, including Henricus octavus. -
Two newly attributed to Hilliard portraits and a special exhibition
Thank you so much to Waddeson Manor for sharing this news with us. There will be details and images in the June edition of Tudor Life magazine, but I wanted to alert you to this exciting news and give you advance warning of this special tour and exhibition at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire.
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Transcript from Gareth Russell’s Live Chat
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1559 Act of Uniformity
On this day in history, 8th May 1559, Queen Elizabeth I gave her approval to the Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy which had been passed by Parliament on the 29th April. The Act of Uniformity made Protestantism England’s official faith, established a form of worship which is still followed in English Parish churches today and showed the country that Elizabeth was bent on following a middle road where religion was concerned. The monarch was Head of the Church again, and still is today.
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May Crossword Puzzle
This week’s Sunday quiz is a May crossword puzzle, i.e. the clues are all to do with historical events that took place in the month of May. All the events appear somewhere on the site, in articles and “This week in history” posts, so get searching!
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The Coverdale Bible
On this day in history, 6th May 1541, Henry VIII issued an injunction ordering “the Byble of the largest and greatest volume, to be had in every churche”. The Bible referred to was “The Great Bible” or “Coverdale Bible”, the first authorised Bible in English. It had been prepared by Miles Coverdale and was based on William Tyndale’s New Testament and Pentateuch, and then Coverdale’s own translations of the other books of the Bible.
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A contemporary image of Anne Boleyn
This week’s Claire Chats video has been inspired by a debate that’s been happening online over an image from The Black Book of the Garter which Roland Hui believes to be of Anne Boleyn.
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Reading and Research by Stephanie A. Mann
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Margaret of York
Thank you to Heather R. Darsie, our regular contributor, for writing this article on Margaret of York (1446-1503).
On 3 May 1446, Margaret of York, younger sister of the future Edward IV, was born. The fifth of seven children and the youngest daughter of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, and his wife, Cecily Neville, Margaret of York began her life at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire. Her youngest sibling and the youngest of the seven children, the future Richard III of England, was born at the same castle in 1452. Margaret lived an uneventful life until she was about nineteen years old, when the opportunity to become Duchess of Burgundy presented itself.
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Thomas Tusser
On this day in history, 3rd May 1580, Thomas Tusser, poet, farmer and writer on agriculture, died at the age of sixty-five. He was buried at Manningtree in Essex.
Tusser is known for his “A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie”, a poem recording the country year, and “Five Hundreth Points of Good Husbandry United to as many of Good Huswiferie”, an instructional poem on farming.
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2 May 1550 – The burning of Joan Bocher, Joan of Kent
We don’t usually associate religious persecution with the reign of Edward VI, but people did suffer in his reign.
On this day in history, 2nd May 1550, Joan Bocher (Boucher, Butcher, Knel, Knell), an Anabaptist, was burnt at the stake at Smithfield. Bocher believed that Christ’s flesh was “not incarnate of the Virgin Mary” and so she was convicted of heresy and condemned to death.
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Rioghnach O’Geraghty will be at the Gumeracha Medieval Fair
Come to the Gumeracha Medieval Fair and you can meet Rioghnach O’Geraghty
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William Camden’s works
On this day in history, 2nd May 1551, William Camden, the Tudor historian, headmaster and herald, was born at the Old Bailey, London.
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