Claire | April 20, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 20th April 1534, Elizabeth Barton, a Benedictine nun who became known as “the Nun of Kent” or “the Holy Maid of Kent”, was hanged for treason at Tyburn along with a few of her supporters. This young woman had experienced religious visions and people had even flocked to her […]
Claire | April 20, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, on 20th April 1534, in the reign of King Henry VIII, prominent Londoners were called to swear a special oath. Just what was the Oath of the Act of Succession? What were people swearing to? Find out the highlights in this edition of my #TudorHistoryShorts video series, and read […]
Claire | March 23, 2015
On the very same day that the Pope pronounced sentence on Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, ruling in Catherine’s favour and pronouncing it valid, Parliament in England passed the First Act of Succession declaring the validity of Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn and recognising the rights of their issue to inherit the […]
Claire | July 1, 2014
On 1st July 1536, Parliament gave the Second Act of Succession its first reading. This superseded the 1534 Act of Succession, which had made Mary illegitimate and had appointed Elizabeth as heir to the throne. The new act declared the illegitimacy of both of Henry’s daughters. Both girls were now barred from the line of […]
Claire | March 23, 2014
On this day in 1534, the First Act of Succession was passed by Parliament. It vested the succession in the heirs of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and it required subjects to swear an oath, the Oath of Succession, renouncing any foreign authority and recognising Anne Boleyn as Henry VIII’s wife and […]
Claire | June 22, 2013
On 22nd June 1536,1 following a threatening visit from members of her father’s council and the arrest of one of her household, Henry VIII’s eldest daughter, Mary, finally submitted to her father, Henry VIII, accepting him as Supreme Head of the Church in England and accepting the invalidity of her parents’ marriage: “Moste humbly prostrete […]
Claire | March 23, 2013
On this day in 1534, Parliament passed the First Act of Succession and declared that the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn was valid and that the succession would pass through the heirs of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. You can read all about the Act in my article The First Act of Succession […]
Claire | February 7, 2010
On this day in history, on the 7th February 1478, Sir Thomas More was born in Milk Street, London. He is famous as St Thomas More, after being beatified in 1886 and canonised in 1935, and his feast day is celebrated on the 22nd June in the Roman Catholic Church and the 6th July in […]
