On this day in Tudor history, 25th November 1545, lawyer, member of Parliament, diplomat and ecclesiastical administrator, Sir Thomas Legh (Leigh), died.
Legh was a faithful servant to King Henry VIII, but his work during the dissolution of the monasteries led to complaints against him and even rebellion.
He was a vicious man, known for his harsh treatment of monks, but he also played a key role in protecting Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1543 when his enemies tried to bring him down.
Find out more about this Tudor man in this talk…
Also on this day in Tudor history, 25th November 1487, Elizabeth of York, queen consort of Henry VII and mother of one-year-old Arthur Tudor, was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey.
Find out more about her coronation, including what Elizabeth wore and who attended, plus a list of some of the interesting dishes served at her coronation banquet which included swan and seal, in this video…
The coronation feast was undoubtedly a splendid array of dishes, Medieval and Tudor high society seemed to indulge their culinary appetites with everything that lived and breathed, imagine eating seal today and peacock, and swan to! people would be amazed at the very suggestion, those dishes now are in the far distant past and our modern royal family still indulge in good food, the queen has beef from her own Aberdeen Angus estates and of course they have the best of organic fruit and vegetables, they have only the best dishes prepared by the finest chefs, but how colourful Tudor food must have looked with the lengths they went to with the presentation, imagine seeing a beautiful swan and peacock on the table and those wonderful marchpane and jelly castles, Elizabeth of York has often intrigued me like her mother, we do not know how she really felt about her uncle Richard 111 and wether she thought him guilty of usurping her brothers throne, and later having him and his little brother killed, we do not know if she ever loved her husband but reports say theirs was a successful marriage, she was beautiful regal and gracious and it must have made her mother so happy knowing she was being restored to her rightful position as an heiress of England, having the Titular Regis reversed so her legitimacy was restored, she had lost her husband Edward 1V and both her sons she had endured anguish and fear, but now her daughter was wed to the new king Henry V11, she was queen consort, now she was free again after months of seeking sanctuary in Westminster Abby, the dark days were behind them all, her detractors said Elizabeth Woodville was a witch, grasping and ambitious and certainly many of her relations held important positions at court, it could be that because her marriage to the king had been frowned upon as she was a commoner, she was not considered worthy to be a Queen consort, she wanted her family round her as she knew she could trust them, but the older nobles mistrusted her and they resented the power she possessed along with her relations, one of them her brother had been killed by Richard 111 some say on a trumped up charge, when Richard was made protector of the realm she had feared for her safety, reluctantly she had let her younger son go into his custody where he joined his brother the little king in the Tower, sadly she never saw either of them again, so she pinned her hopes on her eldest daughter, she was in contact with Lady Margaret Beaufort and hatched a plot to marry her daughter to the latter’s son, it was a marvellous idea as it worked, we all know what happened Richard was defeated at Bosworth and Henry V11 was crowned king, and Henry Tudor and Princess Elizabeth were wed, maybe Elizabeth Woodville was a sorceress after all, she was uncommonly beautiful like her daughter they were both golden haired and were said to have been descended from the ancient enchantress Melisandre, an apt ancestress for the wily ambitious and bewitching Elizabeth Woodville.