Claire | July 28, 2018
On this day in history, 28th July 1540, forty-nine-year-old King Henry VIII married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, who was about seventeen years old, at Oatlands Palace. The groom’s fourth marriage, to Anne of Cleves, had only been annulled on 9th July, so Henry’s fifth wedding was a low-key, private affair and news of the […]
Claire | July 28, 2016
On 28th July 1540, the same day that Henry VIII married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, the man who had negotiated the King’s fourth marriage, to Anne of Cleves, was executed on Tower Hill having been found guilty by a bill of attainder of the crimes of corruption, heresy and treason. Chronicler Edward Hall recounts […]
Claire | July 28, 2014
On this day in history, 28th July 1540, Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex and Henry VIII’s former right-hand man, was beheaded on Tower Hill. He had been arrested on 10th June 1540 at a council meeting, and a bill of attainder passed against him on 29th June 1540 for the crimes of corruption, heresy and […]
Claire | July 28, 2013
While Henry VIII was busy marrying wife number 5, his former chief minister Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, was being beheaded on Tower Hill. Cromwell had been arrested on 10th June 1540 at a council meeting, and a bill of attainder was passed against him on 29th June 1540 for the crimes of corruption, heresy […]
Claire | July 28, 2012
On this day in history, 28th July 1540, while his former master, Henry VIII, was busy marrying wife number 5 – see Henry VIII marries Catherine Howard – Thomas Cromwell was executed on Tower Hill. It was an horrific end, with it taking a few blows to kill him. Before he knelt at the block, […]
