#OTD in Tudor history – 11 October

On this day in Tudor history, 11th October, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn set sail from Dover for Calais for a meeting with Francis I (1532); and there was a solemn procession with prayers for Queen Jane Seymour, who was in labour (1537)...

• 1521 – The title of Fidei Defensor, “Defender of the Faith”, was conferred by Pope Leo X on Henry VIII. This was a reward for Henry VIII writing his pamphlet Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum (“Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther”), defending the Catholic Church against the works of Martin Luther.
• 1531 – The Battle of Kappel and the death of Huldrych Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer, at the battle.
• 1532 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn left England for Calais, where Anne was treated as Henry VIII’s queen and consort. See video below.
• 1537 – Solemn procession at St Paul’s to pray for the Queen, Jane Seymour, who was in labour, a labour which lasted over 30 hours. See video below.
• 1537 – Traditional date given to the birth of Lady Jane Grey. It is now thought that she was born in spring 1537, “before the end of May” (Leanda de Lisle).

• 1542 - Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder, poet and diplomat, died at Sherborne in Dorset. He had been complaining of severe headaches since 1539. Wyatt was just thirty-nine years old at his death, but his poetry, and that of his friend, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is still enjoyed the world over, although the majority of his work was not published in his lifetime. Literary critic, and author of two books on Wyatt, Patricia Thompson, calls Thomas Wyatt “the Father of English Poetry” and Wyatt is known for introducing the sonnet into English.
  He was laid to rest at Sherborne Abbey. His plain tomb can be found in the Wykenham Chapel of the Abbey.
• 1549 – Arrest of Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of the Realm and Governor of the King’s Person. Click here to read more.
• 1551 – John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, became the Duke of Northumberland and Henry Grey, father of Lady Jane Grey, became the Duke of Suffolk.
• 1558 – Death of Paul Bush, Bishop of Bristol, at Winterbourne. He was buried in Bristol Cathedral.
• 1982 – The raising of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII's ship, from the seabed just off the coast off Portsmouth where she had lain since she sank on 19th July 1545.