The Tudor Society

#OTD in Tudor history – 23 October

On this day in Tudor history, 23rd October, a prior wrote a rather grovelling letter to Thomas Cromwell regarding the forthcoming dissolution of his monastery; and renowned poet, psalmodist and clergyman John Hopkins was buried at Great Waldingfield...

  • 1538 - Thomas Goldwell, Prior of Christchurch, Canterbury, wrote to Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief advisor, regarding the forthcoming dissolution of his monastery and its fate. See video below to find out what happened and to find out more about the dissolution of the monasteries.
  • 1545 – Death of Sir Humphrey Wingfield, lawyer, Speaker of the House of Commons (1533-36) and patron of humanist education, at Ipswich.
  • 1556 – Death of Sir John Gresham, brother of Sir Richard Gresham and Lord Mayor of London (1547). He was buried in the church of St Michael Bassishaw.
  • 1570 – Burial of John Hopkins, poet, psalmodist and Church of England clergyman, at Great Waldingfield. Churchman and historian John Bale described Hopkins as “not the least significant of British poets of our time”. Hopkins' psalms were included in the 1562 “The whole booke of Psalmes, collected into Englysh metre by T. Starnhold, J. Hopkins & others”. See video below.

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#OTD in Tudor history – 23 October