In this week’s Claire Chats video talk, Claire looks at Elizabeth I’s death on 24th March 1603, the various theories regarding her cause of death and what the primary sources said about her symptoms.
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Elizabeth I – What did she die of?
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27 March – Reading the Bible in church could get you into trouble
In today’s “on this day in Tudor history” video, I share the story of William Hunter, a nineteen-year-old apprentice whose trouble started when he was caught reading the Bible to himself in church.
William ended up being burned at the stake for heresy on 26th or 27th March 1555 in his hometown of Brentwood Essex.
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25 March – Happy New Year!
No, I haven’t gone mad! Today, 25th March, was really the start of the calendar new year in Tudor times. Find out more in today’s video.
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23 March – Who’s queen: Catherine of Aragon or Anne Boleyn?
On this day in Tudor history, 23rd March 1534, the Pope issued a bull proclaiming Catherine of Aragon to be England’s true queen and Mary the heir to the throne, while the English Parliament declared Anne Boleyn to be England’s rightful queen and her daughter, Elizabeth, the heir. Weird!
In today’s video, I explain what was going on and what the 1534 Act of Succession stated.
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22 March – Catherine Brandon (Catherine Willoughby), Duchess of Suffolk, a woman with spirit!
Today is the anniversary of the traditional birthdate of Catherine Willoughby (married names: Brandon and Bertie), Duchess of Suffolk, the woman who married the king’s best friend, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, when she was just fourteen.
Catherine is known for her patronage of the Reformed faith and Reformers, but in today’s video, I share some facts about this fascinating woman, including a story about her little dog.
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A shout out for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
The Tudor Society love all things Tudor. Recently we’ve had an article in our monthly magazine from Nic Fulcher, a costume historian at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and we’ve also had our roving reporter visit the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon. We’d like to give a huge THANK YOU to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust – here’s some information.
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19 March – Romeo and Juliet author dies in a shipwreck
On this day in Tudor history, 19th March 1563, Arthur Brooke, the man who wrote the very first version of the story of Romeo and Juliet in English, died in a shipwreck off the coast of Sussex.
Find out more about Arthur Brooke and his version of Romeo and Juliet in today’s video.
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The Many Faces of Tudor England – 18 March to 31 December 2019
Thank you to Ella Baker for sending me this press release on “The Many Faces of Tudor England” exhibition which starts at the Mary Rose Museum on 18th March. It sounds like a wonderful exhibition and well worth going to.
The Many Faces of Tudor England
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18th March – 31st December 2019
The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Portsmouth, UK. -
St David’s Day and the Tudors
Happy St David’s Day to all those celebrating today! Will you be wearing a leek or a daffodil today? Do you celebrate it? Let me tell you a bit more about St David and also how the Tudors marked this occasion.
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23 February – The execution of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, and the fate of his head
Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, father of Lady Jane Grey, was beheaded on this day in 1554 after being found guilty of treason. I explain how he went from being pardoned to being condemned to death and executed in just a few months, and also share his execution speech.
I also share a story regarding his alleged mummified head!
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22 February – Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII lose their baby boy
22nd February 1511 was a sad day for King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for it was on this day that they lost their son, Henry, Duke of Cornwall. The royal couple had been married less than two years and had already lost two children.
In this video, I share an account of this devastating loss.
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21 February – The Execution of St Robert Southwell
On this day in Tudor history, 21st February 1595, Jesuit pries, poet and writer Robert Southwell was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn.
Who was he? Why was he executed? And why did Elizabeth I eventually move against Catholics? I explain in today’s video.
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19 February 1567 – Lady Margaret Douglas hears news of Darnley’s murder
On this day in Tudor history, Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox and Elizabeth I’s cousin, was informed of the murder of her son, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley.
Margaret had been imprisoned in the Tower of Lonon in 1566 after Elizabeth I had heard news of Darnley’s marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, and was still in the Tower in 1567. News of her son’s murdered was carried to her by William Cecil’s wife, Mildred, and Lady William Howard.
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Live chat reminder – informal chat tomorrow!
Just a reminder that February’s informal live chat is taking place in the Tudor Society chatroom tomorrow, Saturday 16th February, at 11pm UK time.
The first of February’s live chats is an informal one on the topic of finding and using Tudor documents. I will be the moderator and I will also share some of the resources I use to access primary sources, but otherwise it will be an informal chat where we can all share our experiences, our favourite documents, and what we’d like to find. Feel free to lurk in the background or join in.
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7 February – A joust, unrequited love and a nasty accident
On this day in Tudor history, 7th February 1526, Henry VIII took part in the traditional Shrovetide joust at Greenwich. In this video, I give details of this joust, its theme and a nasty accident that affected one courtier that day.
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Expert Answer – Ambrosius Benson’s ‘Elegant Couples’: A Painting of Henry VIII and His Court?
Tudor Society member Corinna emailed us recently regarding the work of artist Ambrosius Benson and the tradition that the couples depicted in his “Elegant couples dancing in a landscape” were “Henry VIII with Anne Boleyn, the Duke of Norfolk with the Dowager Queen Margaret of Scotland, and Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, with the Dowager Queen Mary Tudor of France”. We passed on Corinna’s email to our resident art expert Roland Hui and he wrote this article…
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5 February – Sir Henry Brooke
5th February was actually a rather quiet day in Tudor history, so let me introduce you to a little-known Tudor man, Sir Henry Brooke, or Henry Cobham as he called himself, a diplomat in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I who was born on 5th February 1537.
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Elizabethan Treasures: Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver exhibition
Thank you to Roland Hui for alerting me to this exhibition taking place at the NPG (National Portrait Gallery), London, from 21st February to 19th May 2019.
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February 2019 – Tudor Life – Documents and Sources
This month’s Tudor Life Magazine focuses on Tudor documents and sources. Our regular writers and guests have come up with another wonderful Tudor-packed magazine. And who knows, in 500 years time, Tudor Life magazine will also be a great historical document!
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Sir Henry Norris (1490s-1536)
Sir Henry Norris was born sometime in the late 1490s and was the son of Richard Norris and grandson of Sir William Norris of Yattendon and his wife, Jane de Vere, daughter of John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford. Norris’s family had a long history of serving the monarch – his great-grandfather, Sir John Norris, had been Keeper of the Great Wardrobe to Henry VI and his grandfather, Sir William Norris, had been Knight of the Body to Edward IV. Sir William Norris had been attainted after being involved in the Duke of Buckingham’s rebellion against Richard III and had been forced to flee to Brittany, where he joined the forces of Henry Tudor and may even have fought at the Battle of Bosworth. Sir William had a command in June 1487 at Stoke and went on to become the Lieutenant of Windsor Castle.
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For your security – A+ Rating!
Your personal information is extra-safe as we now get an A+ rating from Qualys SSL labs. Great news for you and for us!
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Making Tudor History Interesting for Young People
Student and avid history fan, Emma Casson, is 18 years old and lives in the Netherlands. She contacted us as she wanted to share her experiences of learning about the Tudors and what she feels could be done to help history to flourish in the education system. Over to Emma…
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The 400th anniversary of the burial of Nicholas Hilliard, and Hilliard book news!
On this day in history, 7th January 1619, Nicholas Hilliard, the famous Elizabethan goldsmith and miniaturist, was buried at the parish church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. This means that it’s the 400th anniversary of his burial!
Hilliard is known for his beautiful portrait miniatures of the English court in the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, and his paintings of Elizabeth I: the “Pelican” portrait and the “Phoenix” portrait.
Hilliard is a fascinating man and artist, and he is the subject of Dr Elizabeth Goldring’s new book, which is due to be released by Yale University Press on 12th February. Its title is Nicholas Hilliard: Life of an Artist and here is the blurb
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Catherine of Aragon’s halo?
Thank you to Lynne for asking this question about Michael (Michel) Sittow’s portrait of a woman said to be Catherine of Aragon. The portrait of Katherine of Aragon painted by Michael Sittow on her marriage to Arthur shows Katherine with a halo around her headdress, and I read that the halo was painted on at a later date. I always thought that it was part of Katherine’s headdress, am I wrong?”
The painting by Michael Sittow, shown here, is beautiful. We don’t actually know for certain who it is and there has been controversy surrounding it in recent years because the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna relabelled the portrait as being of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, based on “Henry VIII’s Favourite Sister? Michel Sittow’s Portrait of a Lady in Vienna”, an article by Paul G. Matthews. You can read more about this in Katherine of Aragon or Mary Tudor? – The Re-identification of Michel Sittow’s Portrait of a Young Woman by Nasim Tadghighi. For me, it makes more sense that it is Catherine.
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British Christmas Traditions
Our family’s Christmas is now a real mix of British and Spanish traditions, with an Icelandic tradition thrown in for good measure! In today’s Claire Chats video talk, I look at the popular Christmas traditions of the UK, and I’d love it if you could tell me about your country’s traditions, or those that are personal to your family.
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Open Weekend Schedule 7-9 December
This coming weekend is our Tudor Society open weekend!From 7th to 9th December, those who register - register at www.tudorsociety.com/open-weekend-2018/ will be able to use the site just as they are full-access members of the Tudor Society. It's a wonderful opportunity for Tudor history lovers to see what we're all about.
Simply use the categories on the top menu bar or in the side menu to explore. There will also be new Tudor treats going live on the website that weekend too and I just wanted to give members and registrants a heads-up so you know what’s coming. Don’t worry, if you're an open weekend registrant you will be sent details of how to log-in beforehand so that you can access the following treats and links to them.
Note: You will be able to access the links and treats between 7th and 9th after you have logged in.
7 December
Philippa’s Roving Report goes live – Every Friday, we have a video talk go live on the Tudor Society website, usually a Claire Chats video on a Tudor topic, but this week it’s a virtual tour of an historic property from our roving reporter, Philippa Lacey Brewell.
Bonus Expert Talk – To celebrate our open weekend, we have a special bonus talk from historian Gareth Russell, author of Young and Damned and Fair: The Life and Tragedy of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII. Gareth’s talk is on Catherine and I just know you’ll enjoy it. This talk goes live on the site on 7 December.
8 December
Live chat – Gareth Russell will be joining us in the Tudor Society chatroom on Saturday 8th December to answer your questions on Catherine Howard, his book and his research. Feel free to grill him. The chatroom can be found at https://www.tudorsociety.com/chatroom/
Here are the times of the chat in different time zones:
- London, UK - Saturday 8th December at 11pm
- Madrid, Spain - Sunday 9th December at 12am
- New York, USA - Saturday 8th December at 6pm
- Los Angeles, USA - Saturday 8th December at 3pm
- Sydney, Australia - Sunday 9th December at 10am
- Adelaide, Australia - Sunday 9th December at 9.30am
All you have to do is log-in, enter the chatroom and then you can participate as much as you like, whether you feel happier lurking and reading other people’s questions and Gareth’s answers, or whether you want to dive in and ask questions or comment on people’s views. You simply enter your question in the text box and hit “send” or Return. These chats are always fun and interesting.
If you are unable to come to the chat, you can always log-in later and have a read through the chat to see the questions and Gareth’s answers. We also publish transcripts of each expert live chat for our members.
Expert Answers – Tudor Society members are able to put questions forward to be answered by Tudor history experts. We’ve had some very interesting questions and we’ll be highlighting three of these today.
9 December
Sunday is quiz time. Each Sunday we publish a Tudor history themed quiz, crossword puzzle or wordsearch for members to enjoy. Look out for this Sunday’s quiz!
More to enjoy
Each month, we invite a historian or author to give an expert talk to our members. These talks are recorded on video and published on the site on the first of the month. We then invite the speaker into the Tudor Society chatroom later on in the month to answer members’ questions. Our expert speaker for December is historian Kate Cole who is speaking to us about Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart Essex, a fascinating subject. You can view her video talk at https://www.tudorsociety.com/expert-talk-the-witches-of-elizabethan-and-stuart-essex-kate-cole/
We also have an informal chat each month in the chatroom. We discuss a different topic each month. It’s lovely to talk Tudor!
The Tudor Society produces a Tudor history focused magazine each month, Tudor Life Magazine. You can read the December edition, which has the Cecil family as its theme, but also has a special Christmas section, at https://www.tudorsociety.com/december-2018-tudor-life-the-cecils/
The open weekend is your chance to explore the Tudor Society. There is so much on the site, from our regular Claire Chats video talks to our Tudor Society E-book series, from primary sources to bios of Tudor people... Enjoy over 4 years of archives! Browse by using the top menu bar.
I do hope you enjoy using the Tudor Society this weekend!
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- Philippa, our roving reporter
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- Tudor Life Magazine
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- Claire Chats weekly video talks
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- Monthly Expert talks
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- E-book series
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- Gareth Russell special talk and chat
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A look at Cardinal Thomas Wolsey
As today is the anniversary of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s death on 29th November 1530, I thought today’s “Throwback Thursday” treat could be Conor Byrne’s article on the life of Wolsey…
Thomas Wolsey was born between 1470 and 1473 in Ipswich, Suffolk. He was the son of Robert and Joan Wolsey. Robert owned a tavern in the parish of St. Mary at the Elms in Ipswich. Traditionally, Wolsey’s father has been identified as a butcher and cattle dealer. Thomas Wolsey’s humble origins proved a source of mirth to his critics during his long career. During his childhood and adolescence, Wolsey attended school in Ipswich and later studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating with BA in 1486 when he was about fifteen years old. A decade later, he was ordained as a priest in the parish church of St. Peter in Marlborough. The year before, he graduated with MA. For a short period, Wolsey served as master of Magdalen School and, later, as dean of divinity.
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Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick c.1530-1590
Ambrose Dudley was born the fourth son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and his wife, Lady Jane Guildford. Ambrose came from an exceptionally large family; he had twelve siblings. The family were renowned for their Protestant zeal: Ambrose’s sister, the Countess of Huntingdon, promoted her Protestantism by opening a school in the north of England for young gentry women. Among her pupils was Lady Margaret Hoby, a noted diarist whose pious daily accounts survive to this day. Much of her diary reflected her strict, daily, religious observances, with little information regarding her personal life. Similarly, Ambrose’s father was a prominent reformer during the reign of Edward VI. He was ultimately executed for his involvement with promoting Lady Jane Grey as queen through lobbying the ailing king Edward VI for support; in violation of the former king Henry VIII’s decreed will.
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Tudor Fruit and Vegetables talk
In today’s Claire Chats video, I talk about the fruit and vegetables that were enjoyed in the Tudor period.
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John Skelton (c.1460-1529)
John Skelton’s birthdate is unknown; however, historians have put forward suggestions that a date in the early 1560s is the most likely. Additionally, it is thought that he was born in the North of England. His family name may be derived from several locations named ‘Skelton’ in Yorkshire, however unfortunately for historiography, the majority of Skelton’s upbringing is wrapped in a mystery as a result of scarcely any remaining documents surviving that mention him. A significant proportion of Skelton’s life, and personality, is instead found in his poetry, which survives in manuscript form and has been seriously analysed by historians.
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