Claire | September 18, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 18th September 1544, following the French surrender of Boulogne to the English, King Henry VIII rode triumphantly through its streets. This First Siege of Boulogne had seen the town “sore assaulted and so besieged with such abundance of great ordinance that never was there a more valianter assault made”, […]
Claire | September 16, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 16th September 1541, as part of their progress to the North, King Henry VIII and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, entered the city of York. This progress had been planned to show the king’s authority to the North, and to give the people an opportunity to show their loyalty […]
Claire | September 14, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 14th September 1538, the Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham, a religious shrine which had stood since the early 12th century, was destroyed on the orders of King Henry VIII. The shrine was destroyed as part of the king’s dissolution of the monasteries. Let me share some contemporary accounts […]
Claire | September 1, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 1st September 1532, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn was elevated to the peerage in a special ceremony at Windsor Castle. The king made Anne Marquess of Pembroke. This was a hugely significant act because he made Anne a marquess in her own right, granted the […]
Claire | August 23, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 23rd August 1535, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Sir Nicholas Poyntz welcomed the king and his second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn, to his home Acton Court in Iron Acton, South Gloucestershire. Poyntz was a royal favourite and keen reformer, and the royal couple were visiting reformers on […]
Claire | August 21, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 21st August 1536, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Robert Sherborne (Sherborn), former Bishop of Chichester, died at Chichester. He was buried at Chichester Cathedral. Sherborne died just two months after he was forced to resign his bishopric, but he had had a long life, dying at around […]
Claire | August 17, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 17th August 1510, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Sir Edmund Dudley and Sir Richard Empson were beheaded on Tower Hill as traitors. Empson and Dudley had served the king’s father, King Henry VII, as his chief administrators. They’d been loyal servants, so how had they come to […]
Claire | August 16, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 16th August 1513, in the reign of King Henry VIII, the Battle of Spurs took place at Guinegate, or Enguinegatte, in France. The battle wasn’t actually a battle, in that it wasn’t a pitched battle. There was supposed to be a battle, but the French knights fled the scene. […]
