Claire | May 2, 2019
This day in 1536 was the day of the annual May Day joust. All seemed normal and happy, and nobody watching could have known that the leaders of the challengers and defenders would soon be imprisoned. Find out what happened at the joust, and what happened when the king left abruptly with his good friend […]
Claire | May 2, 2017
On this day in history, on the morning of 2nd May 1536, Henry VIII’s friend and groom of the stool, Sir Henry Norris, was escorted to the Tower of London following his interrogation the previous day. He wasn’t the only person taken to the Tower on 2nd May 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn was arrested at […]
Claire | May 2, 2016
On the morning of Tuesday 2nd May 1536, Sir Henry Norris was escorted to the Tower of London. He had been interrogated the previous day by the King himself and George Constantine, one of Norris’s servants, wrote of how the King “promised him his pardon in case he would utter the truth” but that “Mr. […]
Claire | May 2, 2015
It appears that Anne Boleyn was watching a game of real tennis on 2nd May when a messenger arrived telling her that the King had ordered her to present herself to his privy council. Anne Boleyn left the tennis match and presented herself in the council chamber in front of a royal commission consisting of […]
Claire | May 2, 2014
It appears that Anne Boleyn was watching a game of real tennis on 2nd May when a messenger arrived telling her that the King had ordered her to present herself to his privy council. Anne Boleyn left the tennis match and presented herself in the council chamber in front of a royal commission. She was […]
Claire | May 2, 2013
At dawn on 2nd May 1536, Sir Henry Norris, Henry VIII’s Groom of the Stool and great friend, was taken to the Tower of London. He had been held at York Place overnight after being interrogated by the King, but “would confess nothing to the King.”1 Mark Smeaton had also been taken to the Tower, […]
