This week in history 25 – 31 May

25 May

1524 – Death of Sir Thomas Lovell, administrator and Speaker of the House of Commons, at Elsings in Enfield.
1537 – Hanging of John Pickering, Dominican friar, at Tyburn. Pickering had been found guilty of treason for his part in the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising.
1551 – Croydon (London) and its neighbouring villages experienced a shock from an earthquake.
1553 - A triple wedding took place at Durham House, the London residence of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Lady Jane Grey married Guildford Dudley, one of the Duke’s sons, her sister Lady Katherine Grey married Lord Henry Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke, and Guildford’s sister, twelve year-old Lady Catherine Dudley, married Lord Henry Hastings. Click here for more information.
1554 – Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, was moved from the Tower of London to Fotheringhay Castle. He had been implicated in Wyatt’s Rebellion.
1607 – Funeral of John Rainolds (Reynolds), theologian and President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was buried in the college chapel.
1625 – Death of William Barlow, philosopher and Church of England clergyman. He was buried in the chancel of Easton church, the church where he was rector.
1632 – Death of William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury and courtier. He was the son of Sir Francis Knollys and Catherine Carey, and grandson of Mary Boleyn. He was buried at Rotherfield Greys.

26 May

1520 – Meeting of Henry VIII and Charles V at Dover Castle.
1536 - The Lady Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, wrote to Thomas Cromwell asking him to intercede with her father on her behalf, now that Anne Boleyn was gone. Click here to read more about the letter.
1537 – Executions of Adam Sedbergh, Cistercian monk and Abbot of Jervaulx, and William Wood, Prior of Bridlington, at Tyburn. They were condemned for treason following the Pilgrimage of Grace.
1538 – Death of Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, Judge and legal writer. He was buried at Norbury, Derbyshire. He is one of the best-known English legal writers of the sixteenth century.
1583 – Death of Esmé Stuart, 1st Duke of Lennox, only child of John Stuart, fifth Seigneur d'Aubigny, and his wife, Anne de La Queulle.
1596 – Burial of Thomas Bickley, Bishop of Chichester, in Chichester Cathedral.
1604 – Death of Godfrey Goldsborough, Bishop of Gloucester. He was buried in the Cathedral.
1621 – Burial of Barbara Sidney (née Gamage), Countess of Leicester, at Penshurst.
1623 – Death of Francis Anthony, alchemist and physician. He was buried in the church of St Bartholomew-the-Great.

27 May

1492 – Birth of Sir Antonio Guidotti, merchant and diplomat, in Florence, Italy. Guidotti brought together England and France in 1549–50 in negotiations for peace and the restoration of Boulogne to France. His rewards from Edward VI included a knighthood.
1536 – Cardinal Reginald Pole sent Henry VIII a copy of De Unitate (Pro Ecclesiasticae Unitatis Defensione). In it, he criticised the King's divorce and the trouble it had caused.
1537 – Chronicler Edward Hall recorded that "there was a Te Deum sung in St Paul's cathedral for joy at the queen's [Jane Seymour] quickening of her child". Click here to read more about this.
1541 – Execution of Margaret Pole, suo jure (in her own right) Countess of Salisbury. It is recorded that she was beheaded by "a wretched and blundering youth … who literally hacked her head and shoulders to pieces in the most pitiful manner". She was buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. Click here to read more about Margaret and her execution.
1560 – Burial of Thomas Wendy, royal physician, at Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire.
1601 – Death of Robert Beale, administrator and diplomat, at his home, Barn Elms, Surrey. He served Elizabeth I as a clerk of the Privy Council and as a special ambassador. He was buried in All Hallows, London Wall.
1614 – Death of Peter Turner, physician and MP, in London. He had attended Sir Walter Ralegh in the Tower of London.

28 May

1509 – Death of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon. He was buried at Tiverton.
1533 - Archbishop Thomas Cranmer proclaimed the validity of Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn. Click here to read more about that.
1535 – Birth of Sir Thomas North, translator, in London.
1582 – Executions of Roman Catholic priests Thomas Forde, John Shert and Robert Johnson at Tyburn. They were hanged, drawn and quartered.
1611 – Funeral of Thomas Sutton, founder of the London Charterhouse.

29 May

1500 – Death of Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop of York, at Cawood Castle, Yorkshire. He was buried in York Minster.
1533 - Anne Boleyn's coronation pageantry began with a river procession. Click here to read more.
1542 – Death of Sir Thomas Neville, lawyer and Speaker of the House of Commons, county commissioner in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Middlesex, and Knight of St John. He was the fifth son of George Neville, 2nd Baron Bergavenny. Neville was buried in Mereworth church in Kent.
1546 – Murder of David Beaton, Cardinal and Archbishop of St Andrews, at the castle in St Andrews. He was killed by a small group of Fife lairds. One motive was their outrage at the recent trial and execution of Protestant preacher George Wishart at St Andrews.
1555 – Birth of George Carew, Earl of Totnes, soldier, administrator and Lord President of Munster. He was a member of James I's Privy Council and his council of war. He was also a friend of Sir Walter Ralegh, and pleaded unsuccessfully for his life.
1593 – Hanging of religious controversialist John Penry at St Thomas-a-Watering in Surrey. Penry had been found guilty of "publishing scandalous writings against the church" after having been linked to the “Marprelate religious tracts.”
1623 – Burial of Francis Anthony, alchemist and physician, in the church of St Bartholomew-the-Great.

30 May

1472 – Death of Jaquetta de Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford, Countess Rivers and mother of Elizabeth Woodville. Her resting place is not known.
1525 – Wolsey proclaimed the King's pardon for the rebels involved in the Amicable Grant Rebellion.
1533 – Order of the Bath ceremony during the celebrations for Anne Boleyn's coronation. Click here to read more.
1536 - Henry VIII married Jane Seymour in the Queen’s Closet at York Place (Whitehall). Click here to read more.
1555 – Burnings of Protestant martyrs John Cardmaker (clergyman) and John Warne (upholsterer) at Smithfield
1582 – Executions of Jesuit priest Thomas Cottam at Tyburn. He was hanged, drawn and quartered along with priests William Filbie, Luke Kirby, and Laurence Richardson. He refused the offer of a pardon, as it would have involved him acknowledging Queen Elizabeth I as Supreme Head of the Church.
1593 – Death of Christopher Marlowe, playwright and poet. He was stabbed to death at a house in Deptford Strand, near London, in what has been described as a "tavern brawl". However, he was killed in a private room of a house, not a tavern. Some believe that he was assassinated.
1630 – Death of Emanuel Scrope, Earl of Sunderland. He was buried at Langar in Nottinghamshire. Scrope was married to Philadelphia Carey, granddaughter of Mary Boleyn.
1640 – Death of Sir Peter Paul Rubens, painter, in Antwerp. It is thought that he died of complications caused by gout. He was buried in the family vault at St Jacob's Church, Antwerp.

31 May

1443 - Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, and matriarch of the Tudor dynasty, was born at Bletsoe Castle in Bedfordshire. Click here to read about her life.
1516 – Birth of John Harpsfield, religious writer and Catholic priest. He was born in the parish of St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London. His brother was Nicholas Harpsfield, later Archdeacon of Canterbury. Nine of his sermons were published in Bonner's 1555 "Homilies", and he was a well known spokesman for Catholicism, even preaching before Philip of Spain.
1529 – Opening of the Legatine Court at Blackfriars, presided over by Cardina Campeggio. This court's purpose was to hear the evidence with regards to Henry VIII's demand for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Click here to read more.
1533 – Anne Boleyn's coronation procession through the streets of London, from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey. Click here to read more.
1545 – Burial of Agnes Howard (née Tilney), dowager Duchess of Norfolk, at Thetford Abbey. She was the widow of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk.
1578 – Sir Martin Frobisher set sail with his fleet from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada. By 31st August, he and his men had mined 1370 tons of ore, which was loaded onto the ships to take back to England. Unfortunately, no gold or other precious metal was found in the ore.
1589 – Death of Sir Walter Mildmay, administrator and founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, at his home in Smithfield.