Joel Ridgway | December 2, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 2nd December 1586, following a joint petition from the Houses of Lords and Commons, Elizabeth I finally agreed to a public proclamation of sentence against Mary, Queen of Scots: death. Mary had been found guilty of high treason back in October 1586, but Elizabeth had not wanted to contemplate […]
Joel Ridgway | October 30, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 30th October 1600, Queen Elizabeth I refused to renew Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex’s monopoly on sweet wines, saying that “an unruly horse must be abated of his provender, that he may be the easier and better managed.” It may not sound like a major event, but it […]
Joel Ridgway | October 29, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 29th October 1532, King Henry VIII bid farewell to his “loving brother”, his French counterpart, King Francis I. The two kings had enjoyed each other’s company at Calais and Boulogne, and Henry VIII was pleased with their meetings. In fact, things had gone so well that Henry VIII decided […]
Joel Ridgway | October 28, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 28th October 1570, Ivan IV of Russia, known commonly as Ivan the Terrible, wrote a rather rude letter to Queen Elizabeth I. Ivan was upset with Elizabeth’s reaction to his idea of a political alliance, an agreement to help each other if their lives were in danger, and wrote […]
Claire | September 7, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 7th September 1533, Queen Anne Boleyn gave birth to a daughter at Greenwich Palace. Chronicler Edward Hall recorded the royal birth, writing, “The vii. day of September beyng Sondaie, betwene thre and foure of the Clocke at after noone, the Quene was delivered of a faire Lady […]”. He […]
Claire | March 24, 2020
On this day in Tudor history, 24th March 1603, sixty-nine-year-old Queen Elizabeth I, the only daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, “departed from this life, mildly like a lamb” at Richmond Palace. Elizabeth I had ruled England for over forty-four years, since 17th November 1558, and her reign has gone down in history as […]
Claire | November 17, 2019
On this day in Tudor history, 17th November 1558, Queen Mary I, daughter of King Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, died at the age of forty-two at St James’s Palace in London. She had been queen for just five years and four months. Mary passsed the throne on to her twenty-five-year-old […]
Claire | June 20, 2019
Historical novelist Loretta Goldberg has made this wonderful video for the Anne Boleyn Files and Tudor Society YouTube channel about her Elizabethn spy novel The Reversible Mask, which is a wonderful read. In her video, Loretta talks about her book, an Elizabethan spy novel, and then treats us to an excerpt. Here’s the book blurb […]
