On this day in Tudor history, 12th December, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was led through the streets of London to the Tower (1546), and Protestant Welsh soldier and author, Sir Roger Williams, died from a fever with his patron, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, at his side (1595)…

On this day in Tudor history, 19th January, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, was executed as Henry VIII became more paranoid in his dying days, an important diplomat died in Rome, and the Earl of Pembroke, a patron of the theatre, died…

Today’s on this day in Tudor history events include Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, being sentenced to death, the death of famous Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser, and the death of a groom of Sir Henry Neville…

On this day in history, 16th June 1614, author, courtier and administrator Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, died at his house in Charing Cross. He died of gangrene after an operation on a tumour on his thigh.

Northampton, who was the son of poet and courtier Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and grandson of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, is known for his learning and intelligence, but also for his alleged involvement in the Overbury scandal.

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?

I tell you about this interesting Tudor man in this talk…

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 this talk…

On this day in Tudor history, 12th December 1595, Protestant Welsh soldier and author, Sir Roger Williams, died from a fever with his patron, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, at his side. He was buried at St Paul’s Cathedral.

Williams served as a soldier in the Low Countries and France and was second in command of the cavalry under Essex at Tilbury Fort in 1588. He also wrote the 1590 “A Briefe Discourse of Warre”.
At one point he incurred Queen Elizabeth I’s wrath and had to go into hiding for a time.

Find out all about Sir Roger Williams’ life, career and works in this talk…

On the night of this day in Tudor history, 21st January 1543, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Thomas Wyatt the Younger and several other youths went on a five-hour rampage in London.

Surrey regretted his actions, calling that night “a madding time”, but the king and the privy council took it seriously.

Find out what happened to Surrey and his fellow vandals in today’s talk.

On this day in Tudor history, 2nd December 1546, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, poet, courtier, soldier and the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was arrested after Richard Southwell, his former friend, gave evidence against him.

King Henry VIII had just weeks to live and was increasingly paranoid, so Southwell’s ‘evidence’ was just what Surrey’s enemies needed to bring the earl down.

Find out more about the Earl of Surrey’s downfall, and how his father managed to keep his head, in today’s talk.

In today’s “on this day in Tudor history” video, we go back in time to 19th January 1547 and Henry Howard’s end on the scaffold.

It was risky being close to an increasingly paranoid king and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, paid for it with his life. In today’s video, I talk about Surrey’s trial which took place on this day in 1547.