On this day in Tudor history, 11th September 1540, Sir Thomas Kitson (Kytson), merchant, Sheriff of London and builder of Hengrave Hall in Suffolk, died at Hengrave. He was buried in the church there.
Here are some facts about Sir Thomas Kitson…
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On this day in Tudor history, 10th September 1557, in the reign of Queen Mary I, Joyce Lewis (Lewes), was burnt at the stake at Lichfield. She was executed for her Protestant beliefs.
Martyrologist John Foxe wrote of how Joyce showed such “cheerfulness” as she was tied to the stake that most of those present “did lament, and even with tears bewail the tyranny of the papists”.
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On this day in Tudor history, 9th September 1583, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, explorer, soldier and Member of Parliament Sir Humphrey Gilbert died on board the Squirrel after a storm off the Azores.
As the Squirrel sank, the crew of the Golden Hind heard Gilbert shout, “We are as near to heaven, by sea as by land”.
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On this day in history, 8th September 1603, in the reign of King James I and just a few months after the death of Elizabeth I, courtier George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, died.
Carey was the son of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hundson, and grandson of Mary Carey (née Boleyn).
He served Elizabeth I as Marshal of the Household, Justice of the Peace, Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Captain of the Isle of Wight, member of Parliament, Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners, Lord Chamberlain and Privy Councillor.
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On this day in Tudor history, 7th September 1571, Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, was arrested for his part in the Ridolfi Plot.
This plot aimed to assassinate the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I and replace her with Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots.
Norfolk confessed to corresponding with Mary’s supporters and was taken to the Tower of London. He was executed on 2nd June 1572 after being found guilty of high treason.
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On this day in Tudor history, 6th September 1572, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Henry Jerningham (Jernegan) died at his manor of Costessey in Norfolk. He was buried in the parish church there.
Jerningham served Henry VIII and Mary I, and his offices in Mary’s reign included privy councillor, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard. He was instrumental in helping Mary in the succession crisis of 1553.
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On this day in Tudor history, 5th (or 6th) September 1558, in the reign of Queen Mary I, judge, legal writer and Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Robert Broke died at a friend’s house in Patshull, Staffordshire.
Broke was buried in Claverley Church, Shropshire.
Broke’s other offices included Deputy Chief Steward for the Duchy of Lancaster, Serjeant-at-Law and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
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This week’s Monday Martyrs are Protestants William Allen, Roger Coe and Thomas Cob, who were burnt at the stake at the beginning of September 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary I after being condemned together by John Hopton, Bishop of Norwich, for heresy on 12th August.
William Allen was burnt at Walsingham in Norfolk, Roger Coe was burnt at Yoxford in Suffolk, and butcher Thomas Cob was burnt at Thetford in Norfolk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 4th September 1550, Sir Thomas Paston, gentleman of the privy chamber in the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, died.
Paston was a member of the famous Paston family of Norfolk.
Paston had named his wife Agnes as executrix, and their four-year-old son, Henry, was his heir.
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd September 1553, in the reign of Queen Mary I, Edward Courtenay was created Earl of Devon.
Courtenay, who was the second and only surviving son of Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter, and his second wife, Gertrude (née Blount), had been imprisoned in 1538, at the age of twelve, due to his family’s links with the Poles and Nevilles, but he was released shortly after the accession of Mary I.
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On this day in Tudor history, 2nd (or 3rd) September 1507, in the reign of King Henry VII, Thomas Savage, Archbishop of York, died at Cawood Castle in Yorkshire.
He was buried at York Minster, but his heart was buried at Macclesfield, at St Michael’s Church.
Savage also served as King Henry VII’s Lieutenant and High Commissioner in York and as a diplomat.
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On this day in Tudor history, 1st September 1599, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, translator, bookseller and Puritan Dorcas Martin (née Eccleston), Lady Martin, died. She was buried at All Hallows, Tottenham.
Dorcas was married to Sir Richard Martin, Master of the Mint and Lord Mayor of London, and is known for her translations of prayers, psalms and catechisms.
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On this day in Tudor history, 31st August 1580, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Welsh language poet and elegist Wiliam Llŷn died at Oswestry.
J.C. Morrice, who published a collection of Llŷn’s works in 1908, described him as “the best elegist not only of the sixteenth century but, perhaps, of all Welsh bards”.
Llŷn left his works to his pupil Rhys Cain, who wrote an elegy to him and recorded that he was not yet forty-six at his death. His other pupil Siôn Phylip also wrote an elegy to him.
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On this day in Tudor history, 30th August 1534 (some sources state 1537), twenty-eight-year-old Observant Franciscan friar Thomas Belchiam died at Newgate Prison. He had starved to death.
Belchiam and his fellow friars at Greenwich had invoked Henry VIII’s wrath by supporting Queen Catherine of Aragon during the king’s Great Matter and by refusing the oath of supremacy. Belchiam had also reportedly called the king a heretic.
It was alleged that there was an earthquake at the time of Belchiam’s death.
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On this day in Tudor history, 29th August 1583, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, courtier, adventurer and mariner Maurice Browne died.
Browne captained The Swallow and then The Delight on a venture to colonise North America in 1583. Although the expedition saw voyage leader Sir Humphrey Gilbert claiming Newfoundland for the queen, the venture failed. Browne and Gilbert both drowned.
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On this day in Tudor history, 28th August 1588, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Franciscan friar Thomas Felton was hanged near Brentford, Middlesex.
Felton was executed for his beliefs, and for proclaiming that he could not accept a woman as supreme head of the Church.
Here are some facts about Thomas Felton:
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This week’s Monday Martyr is priest James Claxton, who was executed on 28th August 1588, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
He was condemned and executed with fellow priest Thomas Felton at Brentford.
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On this day in history, 27th August 1610, Lady Anne Bacon (née Cooke), mother of Sir Francis Bacon, was laid to rest at St Michael’s Church, near St Albans. She was in her early eighties when she died.
Anne was the second daughter of the humanist scholar Sir Anthony Cooke, and the wife of Sir Nicholas Bacon, who served Elizabeth I as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. The couple had two children together, Tudor spy Anthony Bacon and politician, philosopher, author and scientist Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban.
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th August 1549, in the reign of King Edward VI, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, received 1,000 mercenaries as reinforcements to fight the rebels of Kett’s Rebellion.
Kett’s Rebellion had begun in East Anglia in early July 1549. The rebels were unhappy with the enclosure of common land.
They attacked and took Norwich on 22nd July 1549 and William Parr, Marquess of Northampton, was sent with crown forces to win back the city. However, he was defeated. The Earl of Warwick was then sent to the area with a large army, which was bolstered with the arrival of the mercenaries on this day in 1549. The next day, Warwick’s forces met the rebels at the Battle of Dussindale. There were heavy losses on both sides, but Warwick was victorious. The rebellion had been brought to an end.
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On this day in Tudor history, 25th August 1526, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Mildred Cecil (née Cooke), Lady Burghley, was born.
Mildred was the daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, a scholar and the man who became Edward VI’s tutor, and his wife, Anne Fitzwilliam. Cooke educated his daughter himself, at home, providing her with the classical education usually reserved for boys.
Mildred is known not only for being the second wife of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Elizabeth I’s trusted minister, but for her humanist education, intelligence and fluency in Greek and Latin. Mildred also translated several works, including a Greek sermon by Basil the Great.
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On this day in Tudor history, 24th August 1561, naval officer and administrator Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, was born.
Howard served Elizabeth I as vice-admiral in the 1596 Cadiz expedition and the 1597 voyage to the Azores, and as Constable of the Tower of London. He went on to have a distinguished career under James I until his fall in 1619.
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On this day in Tudor history, 23rd August 1553, just over a month after Mary I had been proclaimed queen, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, was made Lord Chancellor.
Here are some facts about Stephen Gardiner, a man known as “Wily Winchester”…
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On this day in Tudor history, 22nd August 1545, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk died at Guildford in Surrey.
The magnate, courtier, soldier and close friend of Henry VIII was making preparations to lead an army to Boulogne when he suddenly died. He was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
You can find out more about Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in this video talk and article:
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This week’s #MondayMartyrs are the Canterbury Martyrs of 1555.
Protestants William Coker, William Hopper, Henry Laurence, Richard Colliar (or Collier), Richard Wright, and William Stere were burnt at the stake in Canterbury on 23rd August 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary I.
Martyrologist John Foxe tells the story of these “Kentish men” who were “called forth and examined by Thornton, bishop of Dover, Nicholas Harpsfield, Richard Faucet, and Robert Collins”. Here are some facts about them, as shared in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs:
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st August 1553, in the reign of Queen Mary I, courtier Sir Thomas Heneage died. He was buried in the chancel of the parish church at Hainton, Lincolnshire.
Heneage had served Henry VIII as groom of the stool and chief gentleman of the privy chamber, and went on to serve Edward VI as a gentleman of the privy chamber.
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On this day in Tudor history, 20th August 1580, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, soldier and administrator Sir George Bowes died at Streatlam, County Durham.
Bowes was buried in the family vault at Barnard Castle Church.
Bowes had served Elizabeth I as a member of the Council of the North and the Ecclesiastical High Commission for York, a Justice of the Peace and sheriff, and as the Earl of Sussex’s Deputy in Co. Durham and Richmondshire, and Provost Marshal.
Bowes had also been chosen to escort Mary, Queen of Scots from Carlisle to Bolton Castle in 1568.
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On this day in Tudor history, 19th August 1531, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Reformer Thomas Bilney was burnt at the stake at Lollard’s Pit, just outside Bishopsgate, Norwich.
Although Bilney was burnt as a heretic, he actually denied his reformist views and affirmed his Catholic faith at his execution.
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On this day in Tudor history, 18th August 1572, the marriage of Henry III, King of Navarre (the future Henry IV of France), the leading Huguenot, and the Catholic Margaret of Valois took place at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The aim of this marriage was to unite the Bourbon and Valois families, and also to bring peace between the Catholics and Huguenots in France. However, the awful St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of the Huguenots took place just six days after the wedding.
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On this day in Tudor history, 17th August 1498, soldier and royal councillor John Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton, died.
the Yorkist Scrope was lucky to die a natural death. It is likely that he fought on King Richard III’s side at the Battle of Bosworth against Henry Tudor in 1485, but escaped punishment by Henry, who won the battle and was crowned King Henry VII. Scrope was imprisoned two years later after supporting the pretender Lambert Simnel. However, he was released and went on to prove his loyalty to Henry VII.
[Read More...]On this day in Tudor history, 16th August 1549, in the reign of King Edward VI, landowner and administrator Sir Christopher More died. He was buried in St Nicholas’s Church, Guildford, in the Loseley Chapel.
More was a Justice of the Peace and sheriff during the reign of Henry VIII and was appointed to the guard of honour prepared for Anne of Cleves in late 1539.
Here are some facts about Sir Christopher More:
Sir Christopher More was born in around 1483 and was the son of fishmonger John More and his wife, Elizabeth.
By 1504, More was married to Margaret Mugge, who came from Guildford, and the couple had 12 children together. By 1535, Margaret had died and More had married Constance Sackville, widow of William Heneage.
In 1505, in the reign of King Henry VII, More was made a clerk of the exchequer, and More also purchased the office of alnager, i.e. an inspector of the quality and measurement of woollen cloth, in Surrey and Sussex.