On this day in history, 16th May 1620, navigator William Adams died in Hirado, Japan. Adams is thought to be the first Englishman to have reached Japan (arriving there in 1600) and was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne in the famous novel Shōgun.
How did William Adams end up in Japan and why did he stay there when he had a family in England?
Find out more about this interesting Tudor navigator in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 15th May 1537, Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy, and his cousin, John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, were tried for treason at Westminster after being implicated in the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion.
Both men may have been sympathetic to the rebel cause, but there was no actual evidence that they conspired against the king. Poor men!
Find out more about them and how they ended up being branded rebels, and what happened next, in today’s talk.
[Read More...]On this day in Tudor history, 14th May 1538, the French ambassador, Louis de Perreau, Sieur de Castillon, wrote a dispatch regarding King Henry VIII having been dangerously ill due to a problem with one of his legs.
Henry VIII was plagued with problems from his legs, leg ulcers, from at least 1528 right up until his death. But what do we know about his problems and what are the theories regarding the cause?
Find out in today’s talk.
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In this week’s Claire Chats video, I talk about Tudor letters and share two of Elizabeth I’s letters, one from her youth and another from the last weeks of her life. Below my talk, you can find links to books of letters and archives where you can read Tudor letters. Enjoy!
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On this day in history, 2nd May 1550, Anabaptist Joan Bocher, was burnt to death at Smithfield for her belief in Christ’s celestial flesh.
How did a Protestant end up being executed in Edward VI’s reign and what did she mean by Christ having celestial flesh?
Find out more about Joan Bocher, or Joan of Kent, her beliefs and her links to Protestant martyr Anne Askew, in today’s talk.
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Today, 24th April, is St Mark’s Eve, the day before the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist, one of Christ’s apostles and the man who is said to have written the Gospel of Mark. In medieval and Tudor times, St Mark’s Eve was the night to divine who you were going to marry.
How did people go about divining their future partner?
Find out in today’s talk and do let me know if you try any of these divination methods!
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It’s Friday and I think we’re due some fun, aren’t we? Let’s have it at Tim’s expense, he doesn’t mind.
Here’s our latest Tudor History Challenge! Do play a long. Give yourself a point for each correct answer and there’s a bonus point if you get both parts of question 7 correct. The answers are at the bottom of this post so don’t scroll down and cheat!
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On this day in Tudor history, 14th April 1565, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, astrologer, astronomer, mathematician and magician, Edward Gresham, was born in Stainsford, Yorkshire.
Gresham is known for his treatise “Astrostereon” and his almanacs, but what’s really interesting is his connection to a countess’s annulment and a poisoning.
Find out more about Edward Gresham in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 12th April 1550, in the reign of King Edward VI, courtier and poet, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, was born.
In today’s talk, I introduce Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and talk about his not-so-nice personality, the Oxfordian theory regarding the works of William Shakespeare, and the idea that Oxford was actually Elizabeth I’s son by Thomas Seymour.
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On this day in Tudor history, 3rd April 1559, the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis was signed between King Henry II of France and King Philip II of Spain. The previous day, 2nd April 1559, it had been signed between Elizabeth I and Henry II.
The treaty, or rather treaties, brought the Italian Wars to an end. But what were these wars? How was England involved? And what were the terms of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis? Find out more in today’s talk.
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On this day in history, late on 26th March 1603, two days after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Robert Carey arrived at Holyrood in Edinburgh, Scotland, to inform King James VI that Queen Elizabeth I was dead and that James was now king.
It took Carey just two days to get from London to Scotland, and he had an accident on the way, but it was all worth it. Find out about his journey and what happened in today’s “on this day in Tudor history” talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 25th March 1586, Good Friday and also Lady Day, the Feast of the Annunciation, Catholic martyr Margaret Clitherow (née Middleton), known as “the Pearl of York”, was pressed to death at the toll-booth on Ouse Bridge in York, under 7 or 8 hundredweight. She was executed for harbouring Catholic priests.
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On this day in Tudor history, 21st March 1603, a dying Queen Elizabeth I finally took to her bed.
Elizabeth I had been queen since November 1558, but now she was dying. She had deep-rooted melancholy, couldn’t sleep and was refusing to eat. She spent her days lying on cushions in her withdrawing chamber. But on 21st March, she was finally persuaded to go to bed.
Find out more about these last days in this talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 17th March 1565, Scottish theologian and Reformer Alexander Alesius (also known as Ales, Aless), died in either Leipzig or Edinburgh.
Alesius wrote a huge number of theological works, was friends with reformers Philip Melancthon and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, but had a row with the Bishop of London at one point.
Let me tell you a bit more about Alexander Alesius and also a terrifying vision or nightmare he experience in the early hours of 19th May 1536, the day of Queen Anne Boleyn’s execution.
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On this day in history, 16th March 1619, actor Richard Burbage was buried at St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch.
Burbage was a famous actor in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, peforming for royalty and even being in King James’ company of players. Burbage was also a good friend of William Shakespeare, and the two men were involved in the building of the famous Globe Theatre.
Find out more about Richard Burbage, his life and career, in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 10th March 1513, magnate John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, died at his home at Castle Hedingham in Essex.
Oxford was a key figure in the Wars of the Roses and played an important role in the Battle of Bosworth Field. As I talk about his life and career, you’ll see just how complicated this civil war was.
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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.
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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.
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On this day in Tudor history, 25th February 1570, Pope Pius V issued the papal bull “Regnans in Excelsis”. This bull not only excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I, it also freed her Catholic subjects from their allegiance to her and called on the English people to disobey her orders, mandates and laws. It threatened excommunication for those who did obey her.
It put Elizabeth I in danger and it put Catholics in an impossible situation.
Find out more about the bull and its impact in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 23rd February 1601, religious pamphleteer and Member of Parliament, Job Throckmorton, was buried at Haseley in Warwickshire.
Job was known for his alleged involvement in the “Marprelate Controversy”, a pamphlet war, and also for his colourful Parliamentary speeches, which nearly got him into trouble. He was lucky to escape imprisonment and worse!
Find out more about Job Throckmorton in today’s talk.
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On this day in Tudor history, 22nd February 1540, twenty-four-year-old Marie de Guise, or Mary of Guise, queen consort of King James V of Scotland, was crowned queen at Holyrood Abbey.
Did you know that Henry VIII was keen on making Marie de Guise his fourth wife? She declined, saying that her neck was small! Instead, she married James V.
Marie was, of course, the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and you can find out more about her in today’s talk.
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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:
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On this day in history, 13th February 1608, prominent Tudor noblewoman and one of the richest people in England, Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, more commonly known as Bess of Hardwick, died at her home at Hardwick.
Bess of Hardwick is known for her building projects, which included Chatsworth and Hardwick Hall, her beautiful needlework and the fact that she and Shrewsbury were guardians of the captive Mary, Queen of Scots.
Find out more about this fascinating Tudor lady in today’s talk.
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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.
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On this day in history, 7th February 1477 or 1478, Sir Thomas More, Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, was born in London.
More had once wanted to be a monk but ended up being one of the most well-known statesmen of the Tudor period. Unfortunately, Sir Thomas More came to a sticky end after refusing to sign the oath recognising Henry VIII as the supreme head of the church in England, and was executed in 1535 as a traitor.
Find out all about More’s rise to power, how he fell, and what he told his son-in-law about the king, in today’s talk.
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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.
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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.
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On this day in Tudor history, 23rd January 1571, after dining with its founder, Sir Thomas Gresham, Queen Elizabeth I opened the Royal Exchange in London.
Find out more about the official opening, what the Royal Exchange was, why Gresham paid for its building, and what happened to it, in today’s talk.
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