Claire | January 30, 2023
I’ve just finished my Discovering Mary I event, which was fabulous. We all had such fun with the chats and zoom calls and feel that we’ve come away with a new understanding of Mary. A big thank you to all the historians and participants who made it such a wonderful event. I’ve been promising a […]
Claire | January 25, 2023
On this day in Tudor history, 25th January 1533, about six years after Anne Boleyn had accepted King Henry VIII’s proposal of marriage, the couple got married in a secret ceremony at Whitehall. Anne Boleyn, Marquess of Pembroke, was about thirty-one when she married forty-one-year-old Henry VIII in a ceremony officiated by Rowland Lee. Read […]
Claire | December 26, 2022
Today is the Feast of St Stephen, which is also known as Boxing Day in the UK. How did the Tudors celebrate St Stephen’s Day? Let me tell you, before moving on to talking about this day in 1546, when an ill Henry VIII made some changes to his will in preparation for his nine-year-old […]
Claire | December 24, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 24th December 1545, Christmas Eve, King Henry VIII made his final speech to Parliament. He was concerned about the religious divisions in his kingdom and in his speech, he chastised the Lords and Commons for their disagreements. He also criticised the clergy for provoking this discord. Let me share […]
Claire | December 18, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 18th December 1575, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Nicholas Harpsfield died in London at the age of fifty-six. Harpsfield was a Catholic apologist, priest and former Archdeacon of Canterbury, and author of “Treatise on the Pretended Divorce”, in which he opposed Henry VIII’s great matter, the annulment […]
Claire | December 9, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 9th December 1538, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Sir Edward Neville was beheaded on Tower Hill. The courtier, gentleman of the privy chamber and son of George Neville, 2nd Baron Bergavenny, had been condemned to death for treason. He had been found guilty of conspiring against the […]
Claire | December 4, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 4th December 1514, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Richard Hunne was discovered dead in his cell in the Lollard’s Tower at St Paul’s. The merchant tailor and leading member of the Lollard community in London had been arrested for heresy in October 1514. Hunne was found hanging […]
Claire | December 3, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 3rd December 1536, King Henry VIII issued a proclamation to the rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace offering them “free pardons”. Although these free pardons were proclaimed, prominent rebels ended up being executed. Let me explain what the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion was about and how the rebels ended […]
