On this day in Tudor history, 26th April 1536, six days before her arrest, Queen Anne Boleyn met with her chaplain, Matthew Parker. Perhaps Anne Boleyn had got wind of something going on at court.
Parker later reported that the words that she spoke to him that day had such an impact on him that they stayed with him for the rest of his life. They even made him take a job serving her daughter, Elizabeth I, a job he just didn’t want.
What happened? What did Parker say about this meeting?
And on this day in 1540, Catherine Carey, daughter of Mary Boleyn and niece of the late Queen Anne Boleyn, married Francis Knollys.
It is not known whether the marriage was a love match, but it appears to have been a very happy and successful marriage, and resulted in at least 14 children.
And on this day in 1564, the Bard, William Shakespeare, was baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. This was just three months before the plague hit the town, wiping out a fifth of its population. Fortunately for him, and us, Shakespeare didn’t catch it – phew!
Find out more about the plague and its outbreak in Stratford-upon-Avon…
