12th November was a busy day in Tudor history and I’ve picked out four key events for you to read more about:
At midnight on 12th/13th November 1532, King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Marquis of Pembroke, set sail from Calais to head back to Dover. Chronicler Edward Hall writes:
“On Tewesdaie at midnight he tooke ship, and landed at Dover the morowe after, beyng the xiiii. daie of Nouember, at v. of the clocke in the mornyng […]”
On 12th November 1537, Jane Seymour’s body was taken by chariot from Hampton Court Palace to Windsor Castle. The chariot was followed by a procession led by the Duke of Suffolk and the Marquis of Dorset. Jane’s stepdaughter, the Lady Mary, acted as chief mourner in the procession and the service, which was held at St George’s Chapel on arrival at Windsor. A solemn watch was kept that night, and then Jane was buried on the morning of the 13th November. Queen Jane had died on 24th October, probably from puerperal (childbed) fever, just twelve days after the birth of her son, the future Edward VI.
On 12th November 1541, Queen Catherine Howard was examined by members of the King’s Council following Francis Dereham’s claim that Thomas Culpeper had replaced him in the Queen’s affections after her marriage to Henry VIII.
Here is the record of the examination:
On this day in history, 12th November 1555, Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Mary I’s Lord Chancellor, died. He was buried at his seat of Winchester Cathedral where his tomb can still be seen today in the Bishop Gardiner Chantry Chapel.
Katharine was obviously hoping this would not come up. Just how do you explain away a man in your inner chambers, late at night, not on official business, brought there in secret on several occasions? Even if the only sin was conversation, alone late at night with a gentleman of the court as the Queen, who should be absolutely above reproach, especially one that you have had a previous relationship with, was not smart thinking, dangerous and the council were bond to suspect the worst. I believe that there is one expression to sum up the discovery of Culpeper being involved with Katharine as alleged by Francis Dereham….Ooops.