Claire | April 9, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 9th April, Catherine of Aragon, who’d been banished from the royal court after opposing her husband King Henry VIII’s plans to annul their marriage, received a visit from a delegation of the king’s councillors. They were there to inform her that she was no longer queen. Catherine was a […]
Claire | September 19, 2017
On the 19th September 1580, Katherine Bertie (née Willoughby and previous married name Brandon) died after a long illness. She was sixty-one years old. She was buried in Spilsby church, Lincolnshire. Katherine was born on 22nd March 1519 and was the daughter of William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, and his wife, Lady Maria […]
Claire | March 22, 2017
Today is the traditional date given for the birth of Katherine Willoughby (married names Brandon and Bertie), Duchess of Suffolk, and a woman who is known for her patronage of the reformed religion and reformists. She is a woman who appeals to me because of her reformed faith (the Reformation is my second favourite Tudor […]
Claire | September 19, 2016
On this day in history, 19th September 1580, Katherine Bertie (née Willoughby and previous married name Brandon), Dowager Duchess of Suffolk, died after a long illness. She was laid to rest at St James’s Church, Spilsby, Lincolnshire and visitors to the church can see the beautiful alabaster tomb of Katherine and her second husband, Richard […]
Claire | July 14, 2016
On 14th July 1551, fifteen year-old Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, and his fourteen year-old brother, Charles, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, died of sweating sickness at the home of the Bishop of Lincoln in Buckden, Huntingdonshire. They were the sons of the late Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his fourth wife Catherine […]
Claire | March 22, 2016
The 22nd March 1519 is the date traditonally given as the birth date of Katherine Brandon (née Willoughby), Duchess of Suffolk, daughter of William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, and Lady Maria de Salinas, maid-of-honour to Queen Katherine of Aragon. Katherine was born at Parham Old Hall, Suffolk, and baptised at Parham Church a […]
Claire | August 14, 2015
On 29th July I received news that my best friend of thirty-three years had died. I was devastated, particularly as I was actually on my way to spend a few days with her and her family. Su was the best friend a girl could have, and an amazing woman, and I miss her like crazy. […]
Claire | July 14, 2015
Sweating sickness, or the English Sweat, was a horrible disease which decimated towns and took thousands of lives in its five epidemics in England in 1485, 1508, 1517, 1528 and 1551. It was a disease which killed quickly. Chronicler Edward Hall wrote of how it could kill within 2-3 hours, commenting “some merry at dinner […]
