This week’s treat from the Tudor Society archives is a fascinating talk from historian Kate Cole on the witches of Elizabethan and Stuart Essex.

On this day in Tudor history, 8th May 1539, in the reign of King Henry VIII, English troops mustered between Whitechapel and Mile End and then marched through the City and Westminster to St James’s, where the king reviewed them.

This muster was in response to the war panic caused by Francis I and Charles V signing the Peace of Toledo.

On this day in Tudor history, 5th May 1586, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, fifty-six-year-old Sir Henry Sidney died. His body was buried in the Sidney Chapel at Penshurst and his heart in Ludlow, where he lived as President of the Council in the Marches of Wales.

On this day in history, 4th May 1608, the funeral of Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, took place at All Hallows, Derby.

Bess of Hardwick as she is commonly known, was the daughter of John Hardwick and Elizabeth Leake.
She married four times and each marriage saw her rise in status and wealth. Her husbands were heir to an estate Robert Barley or Barlowe, Treasurer of the King’s Chamber Sir William Cavendish, Captain of the Guard and Chief Butler of England Sir William St Loe, and George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury.

On this day in Tudor history, 29th April 1500, William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland and 7th Baron Greystoke was born.

Here are some facts about this Tudor baron:

The 25th April is the feast of St Mark the Evangelist who was killed when he dragged by a horse until his head parted from his body.

In medieval and Tudor times, St Mark’s Day was the traditional day for praying for fertile land and a good harvest. People would process across fields carrying the cross, banners and bells to bless the crops and drive away evil spirits. It derived from the Roman pagan tradition of asking the gods for a good harvest.