Claire | December 20, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 20th December 1541, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Agnes Tilney, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, begged the king for forgiveness. The dowager duchess, who was described as “very sickly” at this time, was imprisoned in the Tower of London. She’d been arrested and accused of misprision of treason […]
Claire | December 22, 2015
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 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 […]
