This week in history 18 – 24 July

18 July

1509 – Edmund Dudley, administrator, President of the King's Council (Henry VII) and speaker of the House of Commons, was convicted of treason after being blamed for the oppression of Henry VII's reign. He was charged with conspiring to “hold, guide and govern the King and his Council” and ordering his men to assemble in London during the final days of Henry VII's life. Dudley was executed on 17th August 1510.
1530 – Death of William Bonde, author and Bridgettine monk, at Syon Abbey. Bonde wrote two religious works, “The Pylgrimage of Perfection” (1526) and “The Directory of Conscience” (1527). He was buried at Syon Abbey and bequeathed twenty-nine works to the Abbey's library.
1536 – Burial of Desiderius Erasmus in Basel Cathedral.
1553 – While John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and his forces made their way from Cambridge to Bury St Edmunds to stand against Mary's men, the Earls of Pembroke and Arundel called a council meeting and betrayed Northumberland and Queen Jane. They persuaded many council members that Mary's claim to the throne was legitimate.
1565 – Death of Katherine Ashley (née Champernowne), also known as Astley, in London. Kat was Chief Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber during the reign of Elizabeth I, and had served as Elizabeth's governess during the latter's teenage years.

19 July

1543 – Death of Mary Stafford (née Boleyn), other married name Carey. It is not known where she was buried and there is also controversy regarding her date of death.
1545 - Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, sank right in front of his eyes in the Battle of the Solent between the English and French fleets. It is not known for sure why the Mary Rose sank. All we know for certain is that the English fleet moved out to attack the French fleet in the late afternoon of the 19th as “a fitful wit sprang up” and that something went wrong as the ship carried out a turning manoeuvre. The Mary Rose sank and along with her the majority of her crew, including Sir George Carew, the Captain.
1551 – Marriage treaty between King Edward VI and Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II, King of France.
1553 - Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, was proclaimed queen in place of Queen Jane.
1584 – Death of three year-old Robert Dudley, Baron Denbigh, son of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and his wife, Lettice, at Wanstead. He was laid to rest in the Beauchamp Chapel of St Mary's Church, Warwick, and his tomb pays tribute to “the noble imp”.
1596 – Death of Sir Francis Knollys, courtier, politician, privy councillor and Treasurer of the Household in Elizabeth I's reign. He was buried at Rotherfield Greys, Oxfordshire. Knollys was married to Catherine Carey, daughter of William Carey and Mary Boleyn.

20 July

1524 – Death of Queen Claude of France, consort of Francis I, at the age of just twenty-four. She died at Blois and was temporarily laid to rest in the chapel there, but then moved to the royal abbey of St Denis just outside Paris in 1527. Brantôme declared that Claude’s husband, Francis I, gave her “a disease that shortened her days”, meaning syphilis, but it is not known for certain what she died of. See The Basilica of Saint-Denis Video for information on her resting place.
1547 – Death of Beatus Rhenanus (or Beatus Bild), humanist, classical scholar and friend of Erasmus, in Strasbourg. His works included a biograpy of priest and preacher Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, a nine volume work on Erasmus, the Rerum Germanicarum Libri III and his editions of the work of Roman historian Velleius.
1554 – Philip of Spain arrived in England, at Southampton, in readiness for his marriage to Mary I.
1554 - John Knox, a leader of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, published “A Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God's Truth in England”. Click here to find out more about this.

21 July

1545 - French forces landed at Whitecliff Bay and Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight. The French were not successful in taking the island, being defeated by the local militia.
1553 – Arrest of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland for his part in placing his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne.
1586 – Explorer Thomas Cavendish set sail from Plymouth on his South Sea voyage.
1601 – Burial of Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby of Willoughby, Beck and Eresby, at Spilsby Church. Bertie was the son of Katherine Willoughby (married names Brandon and Bertie), Duchess of Suffolk, who married his father, Richard Bertie, as her second husband.

22 July

1437/8 – Birth of John Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton, soldier and a Councillor of Richard III. He was imprisoned after supporting pretender Lambert Simnel in 1487, but was pardoned in 1488.
1536 - Henry VIII's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, died at St James's Palace. Click here to read more about him.
1549 – Robert Kett and protesters stormed Norwich and took the city, during Kett's Rebellion.
1576 – Baptism of playwright and pamphleteer, Edward Sharpham, at Colehanger, East Allington, in Devon. He is thought to have written the plays “The Fleire” and “Cupid's Whirligig”.
1581 – Death of Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, at Downham in Cambridgeshire. He was buried in Ely Cathedral.

23 July

1543 – Mary of Guise and her daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from Linlithgow Palace, where they were being watched, to Stirling Castle. They were helped by Cardinal Beaton.
1563 – Death of Cuthbert Vaughan, soldier and Muster-Master and Comptroller of the English garrison at Newhaven (actually Le Havre), from the plague.
1584 – Death of John Day, Protestant printer, bookseller and publisher of John Foxe's “Actes and Monuments” (“Book of Martyrs”), at Walden in Essex. He was buried at Little Bradley parish church in Suffolk.
1596 - Death of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, Privy Councillor and Lord Chamberlain, at Somerset House. Hunsdon was the son of William Carey and his wife, Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn. Mary was mistress to Henry VIII at some point in the 1520s, and some people believe it is possible that Hunsdon was actually fathered by the King.

24 July

1534 – Jacques Cartier, the French explorer, landed in Canada, at Gaspé Bay in Quebec, and claimed it for France by placing a cross there.
1553 – Birth of Richard Hesketh, merchant and conspirator, in Lancashire. In 1593, Hesketh urged Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, to lead a rebellion to claim the throne of England, through his descent from Mary Tudor, Queen of France. Stanley turned Hesketh in, and the latter was executed on 29th November 1593.
1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots was forced to abdicate. Her one year old-son, James, became King James VI of Scotland with his uncle, Mary's illegitimate half brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, acting as regent.
1594 – John Boste, Roman Catholic priest and martyr, was hanged, drawn and quartered in Durham after being accused of leaving and re-entering England without permission. He was canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.