On this day in Tudor history, 22nd August 1545, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk died at Guildford in Surrey.
The magnate, courtier, soldier and close friend of Henry VIII was making preparations to lead an army to Boulogne when he suddenly died. He was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
You can find out more about Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in this video talk and article:
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On this day in Tudor history, 20th August 1580, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, soldier and administrator Sir George Bowes died at Streatlam, County Durham.
Bowes was buried in the family vault at Barnard Castle Church.
Bowes had served Elizabeth I as a member of the Council of the North and the Ecclesiastical High Commission for York, a Justice of the Peace and sheriff, and as the Earl of Sussex’s Deputy in Co. Durham and Richmondshire, and Provost Marshal.
Bowes had also been chosen to escort Mary, Queen of Scots from Carlisle to Bolton Castle in 1568.
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On this day in Tudor history, 17th August 1498, soldier and royal councillor John Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton, died.
the Yorkist Scrope was lucky to die a natural death. It is likely that he fought on King Richard III’s side at the Battle of Bosworth against Henry Tudor in 1485, but escaped punishment by Henry, who won the battle and was crowned King Henry VII. Scrope was imprisoned two years later after supporting the pretender Lambert Simnel. However, he was released and went on to prove his loyalty to Henry VII.
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On this day in Tudor history, 15th August 1594, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, playwright Thomas Kyd was buried at St Mary Colechurch in London.
Kyd is known for his play “The Spanish Tragedy” (c1537), which was performed twenty-nine times between 1592 and 1597, and some scholars believe that he wrote a “Hamlet” play before that of William Shakespeare.
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14th August 1479 is the traditional birthdate of Katherine of York, Countess of Devon.
Katherine was the second youngest daughter of King Edward IV and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville, and so was the sister of the Princes in the Tower and Elizabeth of York, wife of King Henry VII. Katherine was also the wife of Sir William Courtenay, Earl of Devon.
Here are some facts about Katherine of York…
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On this day in Tudor history, 9th August 1557, composer Nicholas Ludford was buried in St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, in a vault with his first wife, Anne..
Ludford is known for his festal masses, which can be found in the Caius and Lambeth choirbooks (1521-27) and the Peterhouse partbooks (1539-40).
His biographer David Skinner described Ludford as “one of the last unsung geniuses of Tudor polyphony”.
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On this day in Tudor history, 8th August 1503, King Henry VII’s eldest daughter, Princess Margaret Tudor, married King James IV of Scotland at Holyrood Abbey.
Margaret was just thirteen years old and James was thirty, and their marriage had been arranged by the 1502 Treaty of Perpetual Peace between England and Scotland.
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On this day in Tudor history, 4th August 1598, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, died in London aged seventy-six. He had been Elizabeth I’s chief advisor.
Here are a few facts about Burghley:
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd August 1549, in the reign of King Edward VI, Lord Russell marched his 1000 men from Honiton to Woodbury and set up camp for the night.
Russell was heading towards Clyst St Mary and the rebels of the Prayer Book Rebellion.
In 1549, the Book of Common Prayer was introduced. It was in English and it replaced the Catholic Mass. This change wasn’t embraced by all and there was trouble in Devon and Cornwall. The rebels called for the rebuilding of abbeys, the restoration of the Six Articles, the restoration of prayers for souls in purgatory, the policy of only the bread being given to the laity, and the use of Latin for the mass.
The rebels were defeated by the crown in a series of battles.
On this day in Tudor history, 27th (or 28th) July 1553, King Edward VI’s former tutor and principal secretary, thirty-nine-year-old Sir John Cheke, was sent to the Tower of London.
Edward VI had died on 6th July 1553 and his council followed his wishes, proclaiming Lady Jane Grey as Queen Jane…
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Fans of all things Tudor will be thrilled to know that a weekend conference dedicated to the late Dame Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy will be held next summer
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On this day in Tudor history, 25th July 1602, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, thirteen-year-old actor Salomon Pavy was buried at the Church of St Mary Somerset, near Blackfriars Theatre.
It is thought that Salomon was abducted to serve as an actor in the Children of Paul’s, for in 1601 when four men were accused of abducting another boy to serve as an actor, the name “Salmon Pavey, apprentice” was mentioned as a past abductee.
Salomon later joined the Children of the Queen’s Revels at the Blackfriars Theatre and had parts in plays by Ben Jonson.
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This week’s Monday Martyr is John Lascelles (Lassells, Lacels), a courtier who was burnt at the stake for his Protestant faith at Smithfield on 16th July 1546 with priest Nicholas Belenian, tailor John Adams, and famous Protestant martyr Anne Askew.
Here are some facts about this Henrician Protestant martyr
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On this day in Tudor history, 16th July 1517, the feast of St Francis, Frances Brandon was born at Hatfield. She was the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Mary Tudor, widow of King Louis XII of France and sister of Henry VIII.
Frances married Henry Grey, Marquis of Dorset (later Duke of Suffolk). They had three children: Jane, Katherine, and Mary.
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On this day in Tudor history, 2nd July 1594, in the reign of Elizabeth I, Robert Scarlett (Old Scarlett), sexton at Peterborough Cathedral, was buried at the cathedral, apparently aged 98, although another source states that he was a bit younger.
A verse accompanying his portrait in the cathedral states that Scarlett buried two queens, Catherine of Aragon and Mary, Queen of Scots , but it is not known whether this is true. He is also said to have buried a court fool known as Edward the Fool.
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On this day in Tudor history, 1st July 1536, Parliament gave the Second Act of Succession its first reading.
This act superseded the 1534 Act of Succession, which had made Mary, Henry VIII’s daughter by Catherine of Aragon, illegitimate and had appointed Elizabeth, his daughter by Anne Boleyn, as heir to the throne.
The new act declared the illegitimacy of both of Henry’s daughters. Both girls were now barred from the line of succession and, Elizabeth, like Mary, now lost her title of “princess”.
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On this day in Tudor history, the night of 20th/21st June 1585, Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, died at the Tower of London.
Northumberland was found dead in bed with a gunshot wound and on 23rd June an inquest in the Star Chamber ruled that he had committed suicide. However, it was rumoured by Catholics that he had been murdered by Sir Christopher Hatton on the orders of Elizabeth I’s government. They claimed that he had been shot in the chest three times, which was not consistent with suicide.
Northumberland had been imprisoned in the Tower in January 1584 for his Catholic beliefs and his involvement in plots to do with Mary, Queen of Scots. He was laid to rest in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower.
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On this day in Tudor history, 13th June 1535, or possibly 14th, Tudor courtier and nobleman, George Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny, died at his home at Eridge in Sussex.
He fell from favour after the fall of his father-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, in 1521, but managed to rise again.
Thank you to Amanda Glover for writing this guest article for us on the question of whether Catherine of Aragon's marriage to Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, was consummated.
More than 500 years ago two teenagers married. Only four and a half months later the boy sadly died. Since then, historians have hotly debated whether the marriage was ever consummated.
The girl was called Catalina, known in England as Catherine of Aragon, and the boy was Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir to the fledgling dynasty of the Tudors.
But why was the question of the consummation so important?
When Arthur died so tragically young, his ten-year-old brother, Henry became the heir to his father’s crown. In 1509, eight years after Arthur’s demise, the 17-year-old Henry ascended the throne as Henry VIII on the death of his father, Henry VII. One of his first acts was to marry Catherine, having obtained Papal dispensation, a necessity in the eyes of the Church because of Catherine’s first marriage to Arthur, which made the new couple “related”.
On this day in history, 26th May 1621, Barbara Sidney, Countess of Leicester, first wife of poet Robert Sidney, Earl of Leicester, was buried at Penshurst.
Barbara was born in around 1559 and was the daughter of John Gamage of Coety Manor, Glamorgan,and his wife Gwenllian. After her father’s death in 1584, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, as master of the wards, her uncles Sir Walter Ralegh and Lord Howard of Effingham, and her guardian Sir Edward Stradling all got involved in trying to arrange a marriage match for her. She married Robert Sidney, son of Sir Henry Sidney, Lord President of the Council, and brother of the famous Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sidney. Robert was also a gifted poet.
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On this day in Tudor history, 25th May 1553, in the reign of King Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey married Lord Guildford Dudley at Durham Place, the Dudley family’s London residence.
Jane was the daughter of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and Frances Brandon, and granddaughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Guildford was the son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and Jane Guildford, and the grandson of Edmund Dudley, one of Henry VII’s chief advisors.
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On this day in history, 24th May 1612, courtier and statesman, Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, died at Marlborough in Wiltshire. He had been diagnosed with two large tumours in August 1611 and was on his way home from taking the waters at Bath when he died.
Robert Cecil served Queen Elizabeth I as Secretary of State from 1596 and was retained in that office by James I. He also served James as Lord High Treasurer from 1608. He was still serving in both those offices at his death.
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This week’s Monday Martyr is Lollard Thomas Harding.
Harding was in his sixties when he was sent to be burnt at the stake for heresy at Chesham, in Buckinghamshire, on 30th May 1532, in the reign of King Henry VIII. Thankfully, his suffering was cut short when he was killed by a blow to the head when a bystander threw a billet of wood at him.
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On this day in Tudor history, 20th May 1536, just 24 hours after Anne Boleyn’s execution, Henry VIII became betrothed to Jane Seymour, Anne’s former maid of honour.
The imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wasn’t impressed by Jane, describing her as medium height, “no great beauty”, “rather pale”, inclined to be “proud and haughty” and lacking wit. Her age and length of time at court also made him doubt whether she was a virgin! He did like the fact that she was sympathetic to Mary’s cause though – phew!.
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On this day in Tudor history, 14th May 1571, Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox and regent to the young King James VI of Scotland, held the “Creeping Parliament” in Edinburgh.
It was called the Creeping parliament because members had to crawl on their hands and knees into the Canongate to avoid being shot by the supporters of the abdicated Mary, Queen of Scots, who held Edinburgh Castle.
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Members of the Tudor Society and Tudor fans are cordially invited to Hever Castle on 1 June 2023 at 19.30, when Ann Henning Jocelyn will be giving a talk on The Boleyns in Context, covering her research into the Boleyn family. Two early portraits of Anne and Mary Boleyn still in her family will be shown at this event.
The occasion will also see the launch of Ann's book The Sphere of Light/Secrets of the Boleyn Women by Hever curator, Dr Owen Emmerson.
Tickets @ £18.50 from www.heverfestival.co.uk will include a copy of the book.
In The Sphere of Light, the unknown nephew of Mary and Anne explores the well-kept secrets of the Boleyn women, including that of his own existence, historically obliterated but substantiated by a tombstone found in an old Irish castle. Unfolding like a detective story, his findings bring a brand new slant to the gruesome fate that befell his family, dispelling age-old myths of megalomania, sexual obsession, ruthless ambition and plain madness.
“Captivating, sumptuous in detail and thrillingly plotted. A triumph.” Dr Owen Emmerson
“Engaging and deeply moving, bringing convincing new insights into the Boleyn story.” Dr D. Duffy
The play The Sphere of Light will be shown as part of the Hever Castle Theatre Festival on August 4th and 5th this year.
On this day in Tudor England, 12th May 1537, John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, Chief Butler of England, was charged with treason.
Hussey, who was born 1465/6 had been appointed Chief Butler of England in 1521 and also served as a Member of Parliament, sheriff of Lincolnshire and steward to the Bishop of Lincoln. He served Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary, as her chamberlain and his second wife, Anne, was one of Mary’s ladies. Anne actually ended up in the Tower of London for a short time after referring to Mary as “Princess” rather than “Lady” after Mary had become illegitimate by Act of Parliament.
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On this day in Tudor history, 9th May 1538, King James V of Scotland married Marie de Guise, or Mary of Guise, by proxy.
James V was the son of King James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of King Henry VII, and Marie was the daughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, and Antoinette of Bourbon. They’d both been married before. Marie had been married to Louis II of Orléans, Duke of Longueville, who died after less than 3 years of marriage, and James had been widowed just months after his marriage to Madeleine of France.
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On this day in Tudor history, 7th May 1560, in the reign of Elizabeth I, English troops charged the wall of Leith at the siege of Leith.
In 1548, during the War of the Rough Wooing, which had broken out over Scotland’s refusal to marry Mary Queen of Scots off to Edward VI, Scotland had invited French troops to protect the port of Leith. They set up a garrison and were still there 12 years later. Protestant reformers turned to England to help them remove these French Catholics.
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On this day in Tudor history, 30th April 1596, Elizabethan lawyer, administrator and Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir John Puckering, died from apoplexy, a stroke, at the age of fifty-two. He was buried at Westminster Abbey in St Paul’s Chapel.
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