On this day in Tudor history, 6th October 1557, John Capon (also known as John Salcot), former Benedictine monk and Bishop of Salisbury, died, probably from influenza. He was buried in the choir at Salisbury Cathedral.

Capon appeared to have reformist leanings in the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, but became a conservative Catholic again in Mary I’s reign, and was involved in the examination of those deemed to be heretics.

On this day in Tudor history, 4th October 1556, following five months of imprisonment, humanist, former royal tutor and former secretary of state Sir John Cheke made a public recantation of his Protestant faith in front of Queen Mary I and the royal court.

Cheke, who had tutored King Edward VI and served Queen Jane (Lady Jane Grey) as secretary of state, had been imprisoned in late July 1553 following Mary I’s accession for his part in putting Lady Jane Grey on the throne, but released in spring 1554. Mary I granted him a licence to go into exile abroad, which he did, travelling to Strasbourg, Basel, Padua and then back to Strasbourg.

On this day in Tudor history, 3rd October 1559, Sir William Fitzwilliam, gentleman of King Edward VI’s privy chamber, died.

Fitzwilliam was a member of Parliament, a favourite of both the Duke of Somerset and Duke of Northumberland, and served Mary I as deputy chancellor in Ireland.

Here are a few facts about Sir William Fitzwilliam…

On this day in Tudor history, 1st October 1526, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Dorothy Stafford, Lady Stafford, was born.

Dorothy was the daughter of Henry Stafford, 10th Baron Stafford, and his wife, Ursula (née Pole, and she was married to Sir William Stafford, widower of Mary Boleyn. Dorothy served Queen Elizabeth I as a gentlewoman of the privy chamber and was one of her favourite sleeping companions.

On this day in Tudor history, 29th September 1553, Michaelmas, the new queen, Mary I, created fifteen Knights of the Bath as part of her coronation celebrations.

Traditionally, knights were dubbed while naked in their baths, so Henry Fitzalan, 19th Earl of Arundel, represented Mary I at the ceremony.

You can find out who these fifteen men were, and more about the ceremony itself in an article

On this day in Tudor history, 28th September 1502, in the reign of King Henry VII, Robert Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby de Broke, died at Callington, Cornwall. He was buried at Callington Church.

Willoughby had been in exile in Brittany with Henry Tudor and fought with him at the Battle of Bosworth. He served Henry VII as Lord Steward and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1489.

On this day in Tudor history, 27th September 1488, in the reign of King Henry VII, physician and surgeon William Hobbes died. He was buried in Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, London.

Hobbes served Richard, Duke of York, and Edward IV, and was royal physician to King Richard III. He became Master of St Mary of Bethlehem Hospital (Bedlam) in 1479.

On this day in Tudor history, 26th September 1592, poet and translator Thomas Watson was buried at St Bartholomew-the-Less, in London.

Watson is known for his unusual eighteen-line sonnets and his Latin works.

On this day in Tudor history, 22nd September 1544, in the reign of King Henry VIII, architect, carpenter and surveyor James Nedeham died while accompanying the king to Boulogne. He was buried in Boulogne at the church of Our Lady, and a monument was erected to him at the church in Little Wymondley, Hertfordshire.

Nedeham worked for Cardinal Wolsey on York Place, and then for the king on Hampton Court Palace, the Jewel House at the Tower of London and St Augustine’s in Canterbury.

On this day in Tudor history, 20th September 1554, in the reign of Queen Mary I, courtier and landowner Sir William Paston died at Paston in Norfolk. He was buried there.

Paston served Henry VIII as a sheriff and commissioner, and served on the jury trying the Earl of Surrey even though Surrey’s father, the Duke of Norfolk, was his former patron.

On this day in Tudor history, 16th September 1539, in the reign of King Henry VIII, nobleman, soldier and adventurer Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, was born at Chartley in Staffordshire.

Devereux was the eldest son of Sir Richard Devereux and Dorothy Hastings, and the father of Elizabeth I’s favourite Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.