On this day in history, 16th March 1619, actor Richard Burbage was buried at St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch.

Burbage was a famous actor in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, performing for royalty and even being in King James’ company of players.

Burbage was also a good friend of William Shakespeare, and the two men were involved in the building of the famous Globe Theatre.

Find out more about Richard Burbage, his life and career, in this talk…

On this day in Tudor history, 14th March 1555, courtier, envoy and landowner, Sir John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford, died at his London residence on the Strand aged around 70.

Russell was an important Tudor man who served four Tudor monarchs – Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I – AND he managed to keep his head, dying a natural death at a good age.

Find out more about this Earl of Bedford, his life, his rise and his career at the royal court, in this talk…

On this day in Tudor history, 13th March 1540, sixty-eight-year-old Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex, died after suffering a broken neck in a horse-riding accident. Chronicler Charles Wriothesley recorded: “the Earl of Essex, riding a young horse, by misfortune cast him and brake his neck at his place in Essex, which was great pity.”

Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex, was related to the royal family and served both Henry VII and Henry VIII.

Find out more about this Tudor man in this talk…

On this day in Tudor history, 12th March 1537, Cistercian monk William Haydock of Whalley Abbey, Lancashire, was hanged for treason at Whalley.

Haydock’s abbey had been implicated in the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace Rebellion, so Henry VIII wanted the abbey punished.

Find out more about Whalley Abbey’s part in the rebellion, how Haydock and several other monks were punished, and what exactly happened to William Haydock’s remains, in this talk…

On this day in history, 11th March 1609, Tudor poet and lawyer William Warner was buried at the Church of St John the Baptist at Great Amwell in Hertfordshire.

Not many people today have heard of William Warner, but he was a well-respected and well-known poet in the Tudor era and even described as “our English Homer”. He is known for his huge poem, “Albion’s England, or, Historicall Map of the same Island”.

Find out more about this poet in this talk…

On this day in Tudor history, 1st March 1546, Scottish evangelical preacher and martyr George Wishart was hanged and burned at St Andrews, Scotland.

Wishart had been charged with 18 counts of heresy and although he answered each one he was condemned to death.

Find out more about this Scottish preacher, what he was accused of and his sad end in this talk…

On this day in Tudor history, 28th February 1540, Protestant Thomas Forret was burned at the stake in Castle Hill, Edinburgh, in the presence of King James V.

Forret was a former Augustinian monk and had spent his career teaching the common people and helping those in need. How did he come to this awful end in Edinburgh?

Find out all about Thomas Forret, and why he was accused of heresy, in this talk…

On this day in Tudor history, 27th February 1601, Benedictine monk Mark Barkworth (also known by the alias Lambert), Jesuit Roger Filcock, and widow Anne Line were executed at Tyburn.

Barkworth and Filcock had been found guilty of treason for being priests and were given the full traitor’s death, i.e. they were hanged, drawn and quartered. Anne Line was sentenced to death for harbouring a priest and was hanged.

Find out more about these Catholics, who were victims of Queen Elizabeth I’s legislation against Jesuits, in this talk…