On this day in Tudor history, 1st March 1559, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Catholic politician and landowner, Sir Thomas Tresham, died at Rushton in Northamptonshire. He was buried at St Peter’s Church, Rushton.
Tresham was a leading politician in the reigns of Henry VIII and Mary I, and he’s an interesting Tudor chap.
Let me tell you a bit more about him…
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On this day in Tudor history, 10th February 1564, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland, died at Kelvedon in Essex.
Neville was born in around 1524/1525 and was the eldest son of Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, and his wife, Catherine Stafford. His maternal grandfather was Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham.
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st January 1556, imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys died in Louvain, the place he had retired to in 1549. He was laid to rest in the chapel of Louvain College, the college he had founded.
Chapuys is one of my favourite sources for the reign of Henry VIII because his dispatches to the emperor and his fellow ambassadors are so detailed.
But who was Eustace Chapuys? Let me tell you a bit more about him…
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd December 1600, sixty-nine-year-old peer and politician Roger North, 2nd Baron North, died at his London home.
North was a good friend of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, accompanying him on trips, witnessing his secret marriage and serving with him in the Netherlands. It was even said that he’d converted Leicester to Puritanism! North also served Elizabeth I as Privy Councillor and Treasurer of the Household and was close to the queen.
Find out more about Leicester’s good friend Roger North, his life and career, in this talk…
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On this day in Tudor history, 20th October 1557, or possibly 21st, courtier Mary Arundell died at Bath Place in London.
Mary is an interesting Tudor lady. Not only did she serve at least two of Henry VIII’s wives, but she was a countess twice over, having been married to both the Earls of Sussex and Arundel. She has also been confused with two other Tudor ladies, and we don’t know whether the portrait you see in the thumbnail is really her.
Find out more about Mary Arundell’s life, court career and those of her husbands, in today’s talk from Claire Ridgway, founder of the Tudor Society.
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On this day in Tudor history, 15th May 1536, Henry VIII’s second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, and her brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, were tried one after the other in the King’s Hall of the Tower of London.
It was during George’s trial that problems the king was experiencing with his wife became public, something which must have been rather embarrassing for the king.
Find out what happened on that day in 1536…
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On this day in Tudor history, courtier Sir John Scudamore was laid to rest. His wife served Queen Elizabeth I and appears to have suffered in doing so.
Find out what happened to Mary Scudamore in this #TudorHistoryShorts video:
[Read More...]John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer, was born in around 1520 and was the only son of John Neville, 3rd Baron Latimer and his first wife, Dorothy de Vere. After his first wife’s death, the 3rd Baron married Elizabeth Musgrave; however, she also sadly died. In 1534, the 3rd Baron Latimer ¡married Katherine Parr, who was at that time Lady Borough, widow of Sir Edward Borough. This made John Neville the Younger the stepson of Katherine Parr.
It is said that Katherine was a kind stepmother to John and his sister, Margaret, evidenced by the latter’s will dated 1545, which thanked Katherine for her education and the kindness and love she had received when younger.
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th December 1526, Protestant Rose Lok was born.
Rose lived well into her 80s and had an interesting life, being a Protestant exile, a businesswoman, and being the daughter of a man who supplied Anne Boleyn with religious books. She also had a ship named after her!
Find out all about Rose Lok in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 8th December 1538, courtier and Master of the Horse to Queens Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, Sir William Coffin, died at Standon in Hertfordshire.
It is thought that he died of the plague because his wife Margaret wrote to Thomas Cromwell saying that Coffin had “died of the great sickness, full of God’s marks all over his body”.
Who was Sir William Coffin and what did the Master of the Horse do?
Find out in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 6th December 1573, soldier and administrator, Sir Hugh Paulet, died at his home in Hinton St George in Somerset.
He distinguished himself as a soldier in Henry VIII’s reign, served as Governor of Jersey in Edward VI’s reign, was a Protestant but survived Mary I’s reign and served as Vice-President of the Welsh marches, and had a successful career in Elizabeth I’s reign. He was an important man and a servant of the Crown, but still managed to die a natural death at his home.
Find out more about Sir Hugh Paulet, his life and career, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd December 1600, sixty-nine-year-old peer and politician Roger North, 2nd Baron North, died at his London home.
North was a good friend of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, accompanying him on trips, witnessing his secret marriage and serving with him in the Netherlands. It was even said that he’d converted Leicester to Puritanism! North also served Elizabeth I as Privy Councillor and Treasurer of the Household and was close to the queen.
Find out more about Leicester’s good friend Roger North, his life and career, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 25th November 1545, lawyer, member of Parliament, diplomat and ecclesiastical administrator, Sir Thomas Legh (Leigh), died.
Legh was a faithful servant to King Henry VIII, but his work during the dissolution of the monasteries led to complaints against him and even rebellion.
He was a vicious man, known for his harsh treatment of monks, but he also played a key role in protecting Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1543 when his enemies tried to bring him down.
Let me give you a few facts about this Tudor man, Sir Thomas Legh…
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On this day in Tudor history, 7th November 1485, Henry VII’s first parliament attainted King Richard III and his supporters.
As well as Richard, who was referred to as Richard, late Duke of Gloucester, and a usurper, the list of those attainted for their treason in fighting against the king at Bosworth included the late John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, and his son, the Earl of Surrey.
Find out who else was included and whether Parliament’s actions were unusual, in today’s talk.
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Today, 25th October, is a feast day which was celebrated in medieval and Tudor times – the feast of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, martyrs of the Early Church and the patron saints of cobblers.
Find out more about these saints, how their feast day became linked to an important English victory over the French, how it was marked, and why these saints are linked to Faversham in Kent, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 20th October 1557, or possibly 21st, courtier Mary Arundell died at Bath Place in London.
Mary is an interesting Tudor lady. Not only did she serve at least two of Henry VIII’s wives, but she was a countess twice over, having been married to both the Earls of Sussex and Arundel. She has also been confused with two other Tudor ladies, and we don’t know whether the portrait you see in the thumbnail is really her.
Find out more about Mary Arundell’s life, court career and those of her husbands, in today’s talk.
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On this day in history, 19th October 1469, an event took place in Spain that was not only important in Spanish history, but which had an impact on Europe and which has links with the Tudors.
The event was the marriage of an eighteen-year-old woman called Isabella and a seventeen-year-old man called Ferdinand. They’d become the famous Reyes Catolicos, the Catholic monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, and would bring together two powerful kingdoms, which comprised most of what is modern-day Spain.
In today’s talk, I tell you more about this powerful couple, their reigns and their legacy.
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On this day in Tudor history, 15th October 1584, schoolteacher and poet Richard White was hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason at Wrexham in Wales due to his Catholic faith.
Find out about Richard Gwyn’s life, how an attack by crows and kites made him steadfast in his faith, his arrest and downfall, his works, and the legends associated with his death, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 14th October 1565, diplomat and poet, Sir Thomas Chaloner the Elder, died at his home in Clerkenwell, London. He was just forty-four years old. He’d served four Tudor monarchs as a diplomat, but he also wrote English and Latin works.
Find out more about Thomas Chaloner, his life, his career, and how his teeth saved him from death, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 9th October 1547, Miguel de Cervantes, author of the famous classic “Don Quixote”, a book known as “the first modern novel”, was baptised in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. His actual birthdate is unknown.
Now, this event didn’t happen in Tudor England, but it did happen in the Tudor period, and Cervantes is known the world over. Let me share with you some facts about this man, his rather interesting life, which including being held to ransom by pirates, and his works.
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd October 1536, imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote to Emperor Charles V informing him that Jane Seymour’s coronation was being postponed.
Several dates for Henry VIII’s third wife’s coronation are mentioned in the contemporary sources, but they all passed by without the coronation taking place, and building work on Westminster Palace in preparation for the coronation came to a halt.
Why wasn’t Jane Seymour crowned when her predecessor, Anne Boleyn, had been given a lavish coronation?
Find out more about what happened in 1536 and 1537 in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 2nd October 1514, eighteen-year-old Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, set off from Dover to sail to France to marry fifty-two-year-old King Louis XII of France.
Things hadn’t gone to plan with the scheduled sailing, due to bad weather, and Mary encountered rough seas on her journey too.
Find out about the arrangements for the journey, who was at Dover, Mary’s crossing to Boulogne, and what happened next, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 7th September 1533, just over two months after the death of his previous wife, Mary Tudor. Queen of France, forty-nine-year-old Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, married his ward, fourteen-year-old Catherine Willoughby.
Find out more about this Tudor couple, how they came to be married, what their marriage was like, and what happened to them, in today’s talk.
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John Neville, the 3rd Baron Latimer, was born on 17th November 1493 and was the eldest son and heir of Richard Neville and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Humphrey Stafford.
Although the Neville family was prominent in Tudor England, little is known about Neville’s early life, but we know that by 1520, he was married to Dorothy, daughter of Sir George de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford. However, sadly she died seven years after the marriage, in 1527, and by 20th June 1528, John had married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edward Musgrave. Sadly, Elizabeth also died, however, we do not know in which year.
John Neville married his third and final wife, Katherine Parr, in the summer of 1534. Katherine Parr was the daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal, and she had been married previously to Sir Edward Borough.
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On this day in Tudor history, 12th July 1553, Mary (future Mary I) moved from Kenninghall to Framlingham and set about rallying support. Sir Thomas Cornwallis was able to intercept her on her journey and pledge his loyalty to her. He wasn’t the only one flocking to her cause.
Meanwhile, back in London, the new queen, Queen Jane (Lady Jane Grey), made a serious mistake by refusing to send her father to go and apprehend Mary.
Why was this a mistake?
Find out what was going on back in 1553 in this talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, Tuesday 6th July 1535, Henry VIII’s former friend and Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, was beheaded on Tower Hill as a traitor.
In today’s talk, I share accounts of his execution, including one that gives real insight into More’s personality, with his black humour on the scaffold.
I also give details on the fate of Sir Thomas More’s head and what his daughter, Margaret Roper, did with it.
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On this day in Tudor history, 30th June 1559, keen sportsman, King Henry II of France, suffered a mortal head wound while jousting. He died on 10th July and was succeeded by his son, Francis II.
Jousting was a dangerous sport and Henry was fatally injured when splinters from his opponent’s lance entered his right eye. Awful!
Find out more about Henry II’s accident and death, and also his reign, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 29th June 1537, just over a year after the execution of his former sweetheart, Anne Boleyn, Henry Algernon Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, died at around the age of thirty-five.
He’d been ill for some time and had actually collapsed after he sat in judgement on Anne Boleyn and her brother, George, in May 1536. But who was Henry Percy and what happened between him and Anne?
Find out more about him in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 14th June 1536, not long after the fall of Anne Boleyn, two courtiers, Sir Anthony Browne and Sir Francis Bryan, were interrogated regarding their alleged support of Mary, daughter of King Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon.
Both men had been involved with the Catholic conservatives and Seymours who had worked to bring Anne Boleyn down and who wanted Mary restored to the succession, but now they found themselves in a spot of trouble.
What happened and how did Bryan and Browne get out of trouble?
Find out more in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 6th June 1549, an army of rebels assembled at Bodmin in Cornwall, and there was a town meeting in which the rebels’ demands were put forward.
What were these rebels rebelling against?
The recent religious changes, particularly the new law concerning the Book of Common Prayer.
Trouble ensued and their grievances became a full-blown rebellion, the Prayer Book Rebellion. You can find out what happened next and how the rebellion ended in today’s talk.
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