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Claire | July 26, 2020
Today, 26th July, is the feast day of St Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ. Happy St Anne’s Day to any Annes or Annas out there! Have a wonderful day! St Anne was very important to Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth […]
Claire | June 1, 2017
On 1st June 1533, Whitsun, Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey by her good friend Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Anne Boleyn was about six months pregnant and had been married to the king since their official, but secret, ceremony on 25th January 1533. Their marriage had been proclaimed valid just […]
Claire | September 13, 2016
Today is the anniversary of the birth of John Leland, poet and antiquary, in London on 13th September c. 1503. Leland is known for his Latin poems and his antiquarian writings which included Assertio inclytissimi Arturii regis Britanniae (which he presented to Henry VIII), his “New Year’s Gift” to Henry VIII: Antiquitates Britanniae, De uiris illustribus, his […]
Claire | June 1, 2016
On 1st June 1533, Whit Sunday, Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. The following text is a contemporary account from The noble tryumphaunt coronacyon of Quene Anne, wyfe unto the most noble kynge Henry VIII, a pamphlet printed by Wynkyn de Worde […]
Claire | May 29, 2016
On Thursday 29 May 1533, two days after the marriage of King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn had been proclaimed valid by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the celebrations for Anne’s coronation began in earnest. The four days of celebrations kicked off with a river procession, or pageant, down the River Thames from Billingsgate to Greenwich […]
Claire | June 1, 2015
On Whit Sunday 1533, 1st June, a pregnant Anne Boleyn was crowned queen by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer at Westminster Abbey. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn had waited six years for this day and they must have felt real triumph and joy. Anne was queen and she was pregnant, all was good with the world. The […]
Claire | May 31, 2015
On 31st May 1533, a pregnant Queen Anne Boleyn processed through the streets of London from the Tower of London to Westminster Hall in readiness for her coronation the following day. You can see maps showing the procession route and stops, and a detailed run-down of the procession, pageants and entertainment in an article I […]
Claire | December 8, 2014
Here in Spain, and in many other Catholic countries, today is a public holiday because it is the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, a feast which dates back to the 7th century when Eastern churches began celebrating the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That is the origin of the feast, but the feast […]
