Claire | May 23, 2014
On 23rd May 1533, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer announced the sentence of the special court that had met at Dunstable Priory, Bedfordshire, to examine Henry VIII’s case for an annulment of his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. The trial had opened on 10th May 1533, following Convocation’s decision that the Pope did not […]
Claire | March 7, 2014
On 7th March 1530 Pope Clement VII issued a bull threatening Henry VIII with excommunication if he proceeded to marry again. The Pope had been informed by Queen Catherine of Aragon that her husband had “boasted” that he would take a second wife “notwithstanding the inhibition and mandate against him”, so the Pope was acting […]
Claire | May 23, 2013
We’ve spent the last few weeks in 1536, counting down to Anne Boleyn’s execution, but now we swing from 1536 to counting down to Anne’s coronation in 1533. On 23rd May 1533, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer announced the sentence of the special court that had met had Dunstable Priory, Bedfordshire, to examine Henry VIII’s case for […]
Claire | March 7, 2013
On this day in history, 7th March 1530, Pope Clement VII issued the following bull: “Bull, notifying that on the appeal of queen Katharine from the judgment of the Legates, who had declared her contumacious for refusing their jurisdiction as being not impartial, the Pope had committed the cause, at her request, to Master Paul […]
Claire | July 12, 2012
Thank you so much to Catherine Fletcher, historian and author of “The Divorce of Henry VIII: The Untold Story from Inside the Vatican”, for this guest article. You can read my review of Catherine’s book over on our review site – click here. Over to Catherine… In the six years it took Henry to end […]
Claire | May 23, 2011
On the morning of the 23rd May 1533, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared that Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon had been annulled:- “My lord of Canterbury gave sentence this day at 11 o’clock* in the great cause of matrimony; has declared it to be against the law of God, and has divorced the King […]
Claire | April 9, 2011
On this day in history, Wednesday 9th April 1533, a “high ranking delegation of Councillors”, headed by the Duke of Norfolk, informed Catherine of Aragon that Henry VIII was married to Anne Boleyn now. Catherine’s Chamberlain, Sir William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, was then left to break the other news to Catherine, that she was […]
Claire | September 29, 2010
On this day in history, 29th September 1528, the papal legate, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, landed at Dover on the Kent coast. In early 1528 Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s right hand man, had written to Pope Clement VII outlining Henry VIII’s demand that the case for an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon […]
