Claire | November 15, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 15th November 1532, an exasperated Pope Clement VII threatened King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Marquess of Pembroke, with excommunication. Why would the pope do that when Pope Leo X had granted the king the title of Defender of the Faith in 1521? Well, because Henry VIII had defied […]
Claire | September 25, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 25th September 1534, in the reign of Henry VIII, Pope Clement VII died in Rome. It was rumoured that the pope, born Giulio di Giuliano de’ Medici, died from eating death cap mushrooms or from fumes from poisoned candles placed in his room, but it is more likely that […]
Claire | July 11, 2022
By this day in Tudor history, 11th July 1533, Pope Clement VII had go to the end of his tether with King Henry VIII. But how had Henry VIII gone from being lauded as Defender of the Faith in 1521 to being threatened with excommunication under 12 years later? What on earth had he done […]
Joel Ridgway | March 7, 2022
This day in Tudor history, 7th March 1556, was one of the days on which the Great Comet, or the Comet of Charles V, was seen and recorded by Paul Fabricius, mathematician and physician at the court of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Find out all about the Great Comet of 1556, what it looked […]
Joel Ridgway | January 5, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 5th January 1546, in the reign of King Henry VIII, geographer and poet, Richard Willes, was born in Pulham, Dorset. Richard Willes has been described as “One of the quirkier figures in the literary history not only of the college but of the Elizabethan period as a whole”, and […]
Joel Ridgway | November 15, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 15th November 1527, a woman who called herself “the excellent Princess Katherine, Countess of Devon, daughter, sister and aunt of kings”, died at Tiverton Castle in Devon. Katherine of York, Countess of Devon, daughter of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, was just forty-nine when she died and had […]
Claire | January 5, 2018
OK, so it wasn’t Gandalf that said this, it was actually the pope – sorry! Yes, on this day in history, 5th January 1531, Pope Clement VII wrote to Henry VIII telling him that he could not remarry while the case for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon was still on-going. If […]
Claire | July 11, 2017
By 11th July 1533, Pope Clement VII had really had enough of King Henry VIII’s behaviour. The king who had been awarded the title “Fidei Defensor” (Defender of the Faith) by Pope Leo X in 1521, for defending the Catholic Church against the works of Martin Luther, had not only abandoned his first wife without […]
