16 September 1541 – Henry VIII and Catherine Howard enter York

On this day in history, 16th September 1541, King Henry VIII and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, entered the city of York through Walmgate Bar. This was the final stop on their royal progress to the North, a progress which appears to have had two main aims:

1. A meeting between Henry and his nephew, James V of Scotland, which was due to take place in September in York but which never actually took place.
2. The affirming of the King’s authority over the North, following the uprisings of the Pilgrimage of Grace.

The couple had set off on their progress on 30th June, visiting places such as Enfield, St Albans, Dunstable, Ampthill, Hatfield, Gainsborough, Lincoln, Pontefract, Cawood, Wressle, Leconfield and Hull en route to York. It was, of course, on this journey that Catherine had secret assignations with one of Henry VIII’s gentlemen of the privy chamber, Thomas Culpeper.

Click here to read more about the progress and the entry into York.

Photograph: © Copyright Richard Croft and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence, http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/766056