Just to let you know that author and Tudor Life magazine editor Gareth Russell has embarked on a week long book/blog tour for his non-fiction history book A History of the English Monarchy: From Boadicea to Elizabeth I. He will be stopping here at the Tudor Society on 30th August but do catch him at his other stops too to enter the giveaways for a copy of his book.
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Marguerite d’Anjou, more commonly known as Margaret of Anjou and wife to Henry VI of England, was born to René, Duke of Anjou, and Isabella, daughter of the Duke of Lorraine, in Pont-à-Mousson, France on 23 March 1429. Pont-à-Mousson lies in modern north-eastern France, close to the countries of Luxembourg and Lichtenstein. The Moselle river flows through Pont-à-Mousson and the skyline boasts the impressive Norbertine abbey, which was built in 1121. Young Marguerite spent her early years in the castle of Capua in Naples, Italy, where her father was titular king, and in the castle of Tarascon on the Rhône River. Marguerite was tutored by her well-educated mother and may have received some lessons from Antoine de la Salle, who tutored Marguerite’s brothers.
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On this day in 1572, the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre took place. An estimated 3,000 French Protestants (Huguenots) were massacred in Paris, and a further estimated 7,000 in the provinces. According to tradition, Catherine de’ Medici persuaded her son, King Charles IX of France, to order the assassination of key Huguenot leaders who had gathered in Paris for the wedding of their leader, Henry of Navarre, to Margaret of Valois, the King’s sister.
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Primary source accounts of the 1572 St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.
Eye witness account, written by historian Jacques Auguste de Thou:
So it was determined to exterminate all the Protestants and the plan was approved by the queen. They discussed for some time whether they should make an exception of the king of Navarre and the prince of Condé. All agreed that the king of Navarre should be spared by reason of the royal dignity and the new alliance. The duke of Guise, who was put in full command of the enterprise, summoned by night several captains of the Catholic Swiss mercenaries from the five little cantons, and some commanders of French companies, and told them that it was the will of the king that, according to God’s will, they should take vengeance on the band of rebels while they had the beasts in the toils. Victory was easy and the booty great and to be obtained without danger. The signal to commence the massacre should be given by the bell of the palace, and the marks by which they should recognize each other in the darkness were a bit of white linen tied around the left arm and a white cross on the hat.
Philippa Langley, who, of course, spear-headed the Looking for Richard project, has announced that she is going to investigate the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower by teaming up with cold case experts.
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As yesterday was the anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth, why not test your knowledge of this historic battle.
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On 23rd August 1548, Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, arrived at the Siege of Haddington, in East Lothian, Scotland, with a large army.
The siege was actually part of a series of sieges at Haddington, which were all part of the Anglo-Scottish war known as the War of the Rough Wooing, so named because it was had been started in 1543 by Henry VIII in a bid to secure a marriage agreement between England and Scotland, between Prince Edward and Mary, Queen of Scots.
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Here is the transcript from the live chat with Livi Michael. We had an amazing discussion about many things to do with Livi’s talk, and thank you so much to all those who attended – it was great fun!
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In today’s Claire Chats I talk about my recent visit to Charlecote Mill in Warwickshire.
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On 20th August 1588 a thanksgiving service was held at St Paul’s in London to give thanks to God for England’s victory over the Spanish Armada. The Armada had been defeated, obliterated in fact, yet the English fleet was left intact and only around 100 English men were lost in the skirmishes.
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While in today’s modern times many people are more open with their knowledge and acceptance of sexual intercourse, during the Tudor period things were very different.
The church played a major role in sex and the duties of the female body. The Virgin Mary and Eve, the mother of mankind, helped to develop people’s views of sexual intercourse, birth and the formation and function of the female body. Messages were conveyed not only through sermons but also through images and paintings. The act of intercourse, was tainted by the fall of Eve. Women were seen as inferior versions of men and were thought to be greatly susceptible to the devil and the dark forces. The Church taught that women’s bodies ran hot and thus they always desired sex and acts of fornication. Thus marriage and sex within marriage was the only way to control a woman’s desires. Sex was strictly confined to marriage and only for the purpose of reproduction.
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On this day in history, 18th August 1587, the first European Christian was born in the New World. Virginia Dare was the daughter of Ananias Dare and his wife, Eleanor, daughter of Governor John White. She was born in the Roanoke colony, in what is now North Carolina, just days after the arrival of the colonists on Roanoke Island. Virginia was baptised the following Sunday.
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To celebrate the Tudor Society’s 1st birthday and the publication of our Tudor Society guide to Tudor Places of Great Britain in the autumn, and as a thank you to our members, we’ll be giving away two gifts to members…
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On 16th August 1513, a battle which became known as “the Battle of Spurs” or the Battle of Guinegate, took place at Guinegate (Enguinegatte) in France. It was a battle between the English, backed by Imperial troops, and the French and is called “the Battle of the Spurs” because the French knights, taken by surprise and realising that they were outnumbered and outmanoeuvred, fled on horseback, their spurs glinting in the sunlight.
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In our second expert video of the month, we have Susan Higginbotham. Susan discusses John Dudley and analyses whether all that was said about him is true.
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This month’s expert speaker, Livi Michael, author of Succession and Rebellion, Wars of the Roses novels, will be joining us live in the chatroom on Tuesday 18th August…
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Don’t worry if you missed Amy Licence talking about breast-feeding and wet nursing through history on Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 today…
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Today, instead of a Claire Chats video we have a “Tim Chats” video. While Tim and I were on holiday with our children in the UK we caught up with our godson Ben Crossley who is an actor and who has been studying acting and stage combat. We persuaded him to share some of his ‘moves’ and knowledge…
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William Parr, Marquis of Northampton and brother of Queen Catherine Parr, was born on 14th August 1513. He was the son of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal and his wife, Maud (née Green).
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Margaret Pole, or Margaret Plantagenet, was the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence – brother of two Plantagenet kings: Edward IV and Richard III – and his wife Lady Isabella Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and a man known as ‘the Kingmaker’. Margaret was born on 14th August 1473 and she married Sir Richard Pole in 1491, having five children before she was widowed in 1505. One of her children was Reginald Pole who became a cardinal and then Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Mary I.
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Historian Amy Licence will be on Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow morning talking about breastfeeding and wet nursing through history.
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Historian Mike Ingram has contacted me to spread the word about a threat to the location of the 1460 Battle of Northampton, a battle which is seen as “the first major engagement” of the Wars of the Roses. The site is a registered battlefield but there are plans to build a car park on it.
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A part of our members subscriptions are given to charities which we feel are deserving and helping out those in need. We’ve had this wonderful feedback letter from Rope about a project which members subscriptions helped to fund.
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Marriage during the Tudor period was very different to how it is today. First and foremost marriage was considered to be between a man and a woman, and there was no room for anything else. There was also no need for a marriage certificate or legal process as there is today. Instead the Church’s law dictated that all that made a legal marriage was the consent of two people.
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On the 10th August 1512, the Battle of Saint-Mathieu, a battle in the War of the League of Cambrai, took place between the English and Franco-Breton fleets off the coast of Brest. England at this time were allied with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire against France.
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On the 9th August 1588, Elizabeth I appeared before the troops that had gathered at Tilbury Fort in anticipation of a Spanish attack.
In her article “The Myth of Elizabeth at Tilbury”, Susan Frye, writes that there are no reliable eye-witness accounts regarding Elizabeth I’s appearance on that day, but that tradition places the Queen in armour, giving a rousing speech – an iconic Gloriana.
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