Claire | December 22, 2016
On this day in 1541, members of the Howard and Tilney family, plus their staff, were tried for misprision of treason for covering up the “unlawful, carnal, voluptuous, and licentious life” of Queen Catherine Howard while she lived with the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk at Lambeth. The people listed in the trial documents included Lord […]
Claire | December 10, 2015
On 10th December 1541, Thomas Culpeper, gentleman of the Privy Chamber, and Francis Dereham, a secretary to Queen Catherine Howard, were executed for treason at Tyburn. Dereham suffered a full traitor’s death, being “hanged, membered, bowelled, headed, and quartered” while Culpeper’s sentence was commuted to beheading. Their heads were then set on pikes and displayed […]
Claire | November 14, 2014
On 14th November 1541, an inventory was taken “of the goods and chattels, lands and fees of Thos. Culpeper, the younger”, the alleged lover of Queen Catherine Howard. The list included two caps of velvet given to him by Henry VIII, swords, daggers, clothing, furniture, revenues from his lands (including “the manors of Zanworth, Haselton, […]
Claire | November 7, 2014
On 7th November 1541, following their investigation into claims about Catherine Howard’s sexual history, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and Catherine’s uncle, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, visited Hampton Court Palace to interrogate Catherine and to arrange that she should be confined to her chambers there. Catherine would be able to move between chambers in her […]
Claire | December 4, 2013
On 4th December 1541, Thomas Wriothesley and William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton, wrote to Sir Ralph Sadler, Henry VIII’s principal secretary, regarding a visit they had made to Agnes Tilney, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk and step-grandmother of Queen Catherine Howard. They reported that “she was not so sick as she made out, but able enough […]
Claire | November 12, 2013
On 12th November 1541, Queen Catherine Howard was examined by members of the King’s Council following Francis Dereham’s claim that Thomas Culpeper had replaced him in the Queen’s affections after her marriage to Henry VIII. Here is the record of the examination. I have copied it as it is written in the records but if […]
