On this day in Tudor history, 13th November 1536, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Robert Packington (Pakington, Pakyngton) was shot to death by an unknown assailant while he was on his way to mass at St Thomas of Acre Chapel. He was shot with a wheellock pistol.

Robert Packington, who was a mercer and member of Parliament, has gone down in history as the first person in England to be killed by a handgun.

But who was the murderer and why was he killed?

Find out about Packington, his murder, and the theories regarding who ordered his murder…

On this day in Tudor history, 12th November 1555, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, died.

Queen Mary I’s lord chancellor was laid to rest at Winchester Cathedral in what is now known as the Bishop Gardiner Chantry Chapel.

Let me tell you about the life and career of Stephen Gardiner, “Wily Winchester”. He led quite a life – going from being a valued advisor to Henry VIII to being imprisoned, and then rising in favour once and again, crowning a queen and becoming her lord chancellor. An interesting man!

On this day in Tudor history, 10th November 1556, in the reign of Queen Mary I, English explorer and navigator Richard Chancellor died by drowning.

Chancellor, who is known for being the first foreigner to enter the White Sea and to establish relations with Russia and Tsar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) sadly drowned after saving the life of Osip Napeya, the Russian ambassador, after their ship, The Edward Bonaventure, was wrecked just off the Aberdeenshire coast of Scotland.

Find out about Richard Chancellor’s life, career and sad end…

This day in Tudor history, 9th November 1569, is the traditional date given for the start of the Rising of the North, the only major armed rebellion of Elizabeth I’s reign.

The rising is also known as The Northern Rebellion or Revolt of the Northern Earls.

Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland, and Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland, led this uprising against Queen Elizabeth I. The rebellion sought to depose her, replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots, and restore Catholicism.

But what happened?

Find out about the 1569 rebellion and the fate of the Northern Earls…

On this day in Tudor history, 8th November 1534, in the reign of King Henry VIII, William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, died at Sutton on the Hill in Derbyshire.

Mountjoy was a courtier, scholar and literary patron, and he had a wonderful court career. He helped organise the young Henry VIII’s education, he served as Master of the Mint and chamberlain to Queen Catherine of Aragon, and he was close friends with the renowned humanist scholar, Erasmus.

In his position as chamberlain to Queen Catherine of Aragon, who had been set aside by Henry VIII, Mountjoy had to break bad news to her.

Find out all about Lord Mountjoy, his career and life…

On this day in Tudor history, 3rd November 1592, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir John Perrot died at the Tower of London.

Sir John Perrot, who was a privy councillor and former Lord Deputy of Ireland, is a fascinating Tudor character. He survived being a Protestant and protecting ‘heretics’ in Mary I’s reign, and he was saved six times from serious punishment by Queen Elizabeth I’s intercession.

Was this favour due to him being the queen’s half-brother? Some people think so.

You can find out more about Perrot and the arguments for and against him being Henry VIII’s son, in this video:

On this day in Tudor history, 1st November 1527, in the reign of King Henry VIII, courtier and diplomat William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham was born.

Baron Cobham was close to William Cecil, Baron Burghley. who was Queen Elizabeth’s I’s chief advisor, so Cobham became powerful in Elizabeth’s reign. Cobham served Elziabeth in a number of important offices and was able to escape charges of treason twice thanks to the influence of his friends and patrons.

Find out more about Baron Cobham’s life, career, and brushes with rebellions and plots…

On this day in history, 29th October 1618, Sir Walter Ralegh (Raleigh, Rawley, Ralagh, Rawleigh) was executed in the Old Palace Yard at Westminster Palace.

Although his execution took place in the reign of King James I, so in the Stuart period, Sir Walter Ralegh was a famous Elizabethan courtier, explorer, author and soldier.

Ralegh had been a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, until he angered the queen by secretly marrying her lady, Bess Throckmorton, and he’d led an eventful life. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London on several occasions, he was accused of atheism at one point, and he had sailed to America and tried to establish a colony. He was also knighted for his service in Ireland, and he was a poet too!

On this day in Tudor history, 27th October 1561, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Herbert (née Sidney), Countess of Pembroke, writer and literary patron, was born at Tickenhall, near Bewdley in Worcestershire.

Mary was the sister of poets Sir Philip Sidney and Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester, but she was a talented lady in her own right.

The Countess of Pembroke was a writer and literary patron, and, after the death of her husband, she had fun shooting pistols, flirting, taking tobacco and dancing. She lived life to the full.

Find out more about Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, who was as beautiful as she was talented, and whose work was praised by men such as William Shakespeare…

On this day in Tudor history, 24th October 1590, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, John White, returned to England after failing to find the lost Roanoke colonists.

The lost colonists included his daughter Ellinor (Elenora), his son-in-law Ananias Dare, and his granddaughter Virginia Dare.

What happened to the Roanoke colonists and what did the word CROATOAN carved onto a post mean?

Find out all about the lost Roanoke Colony and the theories regarding the disappearance of all 115 people, including the very latest research…

On this day in Tudor history, 23rd October 1570, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, poet, psalmodist and Church of England clergyman John Hopkins was buried at Great Waldingfield in Suffolk.

Hopkins’ versions of the Psalms were “the best-known English verses” in the late 16th and 17th century because they were sung in church by every member of society.

Trivia: As well as being a clergyman and psalmodist, John Hopkins was also a shepherd!

Find out more about this interesting Tudor man…

On this day in Tudor history, 22nd October 1577, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Parker, 11th Baron Morley, died in Paris.

Morley was a Roman Catholic who had fled abroad in 1570 after refusing to subscribe to Elizabeth I’s “Act of Uniformity” and having been implicated in the 1569 Rising of the North.

Find out more about Morley, who was the nephew of Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, and his rather interesting family, with their connections to the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots and the Gunpowder Plot…

On this day in Tudor history, 20th October 1557 (or possibly 21st), in the reign of Queen Mary I, courtier Mary Arundell died at Bath Place in London.

Mary is a very interesting Tudor lady. She served at least two of King Henry VIII’s wives, and she was a countess twice over, having been married to both the Earls of Sussex and Arundel.

Mary Arundell has also been confused with two other Tudor ladies, and we don’t know whether the portrait you see in the thumbnail for the video is really her.

Find out more about Mary Arundell’s life, court career and those of her husbands…

On this day in history, 19th October 1469, eighteen-year-old Isabella I of Castile married seventeen-year-old Ferdinand II of Aragon.

Their marriage may have happened outside of the Tudor period, and in Spain, but it had an impact on Europe and has links with the Tudors.

The couple became the famous “Reyes Catolicos”, the Catholic monarchs, and brough together two powerful kingdoms, which comprised most of what is modern-day Spain. They were also the parents of Catherine of Aragon, who married Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, and, after his death, King Henry VIII.

Let me tell you more about this powerful couple, their reigns and their legacy…