On this day in Tudor history, 9th March 1589, Lady Frances Radcliffe, Countess of Sussex, and wife of Sir Thomas Radcliffe, Lord Fitzwalter and 3rd Earl of Sussex, died at her home in Bermondsey.
Frances is known for being the benefactor of Cambridge University’s Sidney Sussex College, but there is much more to her than that. Her enemies even turned her husband and Queen Elizabeth I against her at one point!
Find out all about Frances Radcliffe (née Sidney) in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 5th March 1558, Spanish physician Francisco Fernandes brought back live tobacco plants and seeds from Mexico to Europe.
In today’s “On This Day in Tudor History”, I talk about the introduction of tobacco in Europe and how it was viewed as a cure-all, and how tobacco smoking became fashionable at Elizabeth I’s court.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 3rd March 1542, Arthur Plantagenet, Lord Lisle, courtier, soldier, diplomat, administrator and illegitimate son of Edward IV, died of a heart attack after being informed of his release from the Tower of London. How very sad!
Find out all about Lord Lisle’s background, his career in Henry VII and Henry VIII’s reign, and how he came to imprisoned in the Tower of London, when he was probably innocent, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 2nd March 1545, scholar, diplomat and founder of the Bodleian Library, Sir Thomas Bodley, was born in Exeter.
Sir Thomas Bodley served as a diplomat in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, but he is most known for his re-founding of Oxford University Library and the Bodleian Library, and all the work he did on it. Find out all about him and his library in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
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 today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 29th February 1604, John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, died at at Lambeth Palace, the archbishop’s palace in London. He was the last Archbishop of Canterbury in Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, and the queen called him her “white gift” and her “little black husband”.
He is known for his religious disagreement, but also had a real heart for the poor. Find out more about Archbishop John Whitgift in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
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 today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 24th February 1603, Katherine Howard (née Carey), Countess of Nottingham, died at Arundel House.
Katherine was a close friend of Queen Elizabeth I and it is thought that grief over her friend’s death had a major impact on the queen’s own health, for she died just a month later.
Find out who Katherine was, how she rose to be the queen’s good friend, and also hear about a myth associated with her in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 21st February 1590, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, Master of the Ordnance and Privy Councillor, died at Bedford House on the Strand.
Ambrose had been a loyal royal servant and was a member of that famous Tudor family, the Dudleys, with his father being John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and his brother being Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
Find out more about Ambrose Dudley’s life and career in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 20th February 1523, Agnes, or Alice, Lady Hungerford, was hanged at Tyburn.
Agnes was said to have “procured” her servants to murder her first husband, John Cotell, who was strangled before being thrown into the furnace of Castle Farley. A dastardly deed.
Find out exactly what happened in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in history, 18th February 1612, Italian banker Roberto di Ridolfi died in Florence, Italy, aged 80.
Amazingly, he died a natural death even though he’d been the brains behind the Ridolfi Plot, a plot to depose Queen Elizabeth I and to replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots, thereby restoring Catholicism in England.
Find out more about Ridolfi and his famous plot in today’s talk:
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 10th February 1542, Catherine Howard, King Henry VIII’s fifth wife, was escorted by barge from Syon House, where she’d been kept since November 1541, to the Tower of London in preparation for her execution.
Sadly, the queen would have seen the heads of her former lover, Francis Dereham, and her sweetheart, Thomas Culpeper, as she made her way to the Tower – a reminder of her own fate.
Find out more in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
Warning – Contains a description of a burning at the stake.
On this day in history, 9th February 1555, Protestant John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, and former Cistercian monk, was burned at the stake for heresy in Gloucester.
It was an awful execution due to green faggots being used, and John Foxe writes of there being three attempts over a period of 45 minutes. Awful, just awful.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 6th February 1561, poet Tailboys Dymoke (pseudonym Thomas Cutwode) was baptised at Kyme in Lincolnshire.
Dymoke, or Cutwode, is known for his allegorical poem, The Bumble Bee, a political satire which was apparently rather dodgy! He also got into trouble for writing a slanderous play and poem. An interesting man who liked to play with fire!
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 2nd February 1550, Sir Francis Bryan, died suddenly in Ireland. He was a rather colourful Tudor character, known as much for his drinking, gambling and all-round bad behaviour, as his diplomacy, royal favour and gift for poetry.
Find out more about this one-eyed courtier and his nickname, “the vicar of hell”, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 29th January 1536, the same day that Catherine of Aragon was buried at Peterborough Abbey, Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII suffered a miscarriage.
Contemporary accounts state that she was around 3 1/2 months pregnant and that it was a boy.
In today’s talk, I share information given by the imperial ambassador on Anne Boleyn’s miscarriage, including the gossip concerning the king and a certain Jane Seymour.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 27th January 1606, in the reign of King James I, the eight surviving conspirators of the November 1605 Gunpowder Plot were tried at Westminster for high treason.
Why am I talking about something that happened during the reign of King James I, in the Stuart period? Well, because the Gunpowder Plot actually had its origins in Elizabeth I’s reign.
Let me tell you more in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 26th January 1546, judge of assize and law reporter, Sir John Spelman, died.
Now, you may never have heard of Justice John Spelman, but his reports on the legal cases of people like Queen Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More, Bishop John Fisher and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey have been very useful to historians – a wonderful resource.
Let me tell you more about Sir John Spelman and what he had to say about Anne Boleyn’s trial.
[Read More...]
Katherine or ‘Kat’ Ashley (Astley, née Champernowne) is the purported daughter of Sir Phillip Champernowne, a wealthy landowner in Devon, and his wife, Katherine, daughter of Sir Edmund Carew. Although we do not know much regarding her early years, we do know that Kat received an education unlike that of her contemporary aristocratic women. For aristocratic women, their education centred on what would render them desirable for marriage and as such, learned dancing, sewing, embroidery and music in the place of reading and writing. As such, may aristocratic women were barely literate at all. Kat, however, received an education that was equal to that of a man, learning classical scholarship and developing an interest in humanism, her father being unusually committed to the education of his daughters. Kat’s humanist leanings and interests caught the eye of Thomas Cromwell, who suggested that she be appointed to the household of Princess Elizabeth. It is this appointment which would shape her life, and mark her as a historical figure worthy of note.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 20th January 1569, not long after he’d given the best sermon of his life, Bible translator and Bishop of Exeter, Miles Coverdale, died in London.
Coverdale is known for completing the first English translation of the whole Bible and for his work on “The Great Bible”, which was put in every parish church in England. Find out more about this accomplished Tudor man in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 19th January 1601, Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, died at Wilton, the family home near Salisbury.
Who was Henry Herbert?
Let me tell you about this interesting Tudor man in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 13th January 1599, Elizabethan poet and administrator in Ireland, Edmund Spenser, died in Westminster. He was described as “the prince of poets in his time” and is best known for his allegorical poem in praise of Elizabeth I, “The Faerie Queene”.
But, did you know that he also upset William Cecil twice and that his most famous work is actually unfinished?
Find out more about Edmund Spenser in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, Thursday 12th January 1559, Queen Elizabeth I travelled by barge from Whitehall to the Tower of London to prepare for her coronation, which was due to take place on the 15th January.
Of course, her journey wasn’t a low key one in a normal river barge, it was a lavish one with decorated barges, music and the usual artillery fire. Find out all about this river procession in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 11th January 1579, courtier, Member of Parliament, Lord of Misrule and poet, George Ferrers, was buried at Flamstead, Hertfordshire.
Ferrers was a rather colourful Tudor character. He caused a stir when he was arrested on his way to the House of Commons (the Ferrers’ Case), he was Lord of Misrule on several occasions and led a huge procession into London, and he had a hand in the arrest of John Dee. And that’s not all!
Find out all about George Ferrers in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
Happy Epiphany! Happy Kings’ Day! Yes, today is the Feast of the Epiphany, the day that commemorated the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child.
Following on from yesterday’s Teasel’s Tudor Trivia about Epiphany Eve and Twelfth Night Cake, I thought I’d share with you some examples of how Epiphany was celebrated at the royal court. Find out what those Tudor people got up to on Twelfth Night in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 4th January 1575, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, courtier, diplomat and former rebel, Sir William Pickering, died at his home, Pickering House, in London.
He died a wealthy man and died a natural death, a miraculous feat seeing as he was a friend of the Earl of Surrey and the Duke or Northumberland, both of whom ended up on the scaffold, AND he was one of the men involved in planning Wyatt’s Rebellion in 1554. Wyatt lost his head, but Pickering kept his.
How? What happened? Find out more about Sir William Pickering in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 2nd January 1536, imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, visited his good friend, Catherine of Aragon, first wife of King Henry VIII and a woman who was now officially called the Dowager Princess of Wales.
Catherine was seriously ill, in fact, she was dying, and this would be the last time that Chapuys saw her.
Find out from Chapuys’ own account what happened in the four days he spent with Catherine of Aragon.
[Read More...]
In today’s “on this day in Tudor history talk”, Claire Ridgway, author of several Tudor history books, puts you out of your misery from the cliffhanger she left you with on 27th December, by telling you all about Henry VIII’s first meeting with his bride-to-be, Anne of Cleves, on 1st January 1540.
This meeting between King Henry VIII and the woman who would soon become his fourth wife, was a bit of a disaster, but exactly how much of a disaster was it? The accounts differ and in the video I share two slightly different contemporary accounts, one given in a chronicle and one shared in the annulment proceedings a few months later in 1540.
What happened on New Year’s Day 1540 at Rochester? Find out all about Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves’ first meeting in today’s talk.
[Read More...]
On this day in Tudor history, 31st December 1559, Owen Oglethorpe, Bishop of Carlisle, died while under house arrest in London. He was buried at St Dunstan-in-the-West on 6th January 1560.
Oglethorpe is known for officiating at Queen Elizabeth I’s coronation in 1559, but also for infuriating the queen at Christmas 1558 by disobeying her instructions at Mass.
What did Oglethorpe do?
Find out about Owen Oglethorpe’s life and career, and how he upset the queen and ended his days under house arrest, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]