Claire | July 6, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, Tuesday 6th July 1535, in the reign of King Henry VIII, the king’s former Lord Chancellor and advisor, Sir Thomas More, was beheaded on Tower Hill for high treason. In the video (or transcript) below, I share contemporary accounts of his execution, one of which gives us real insight […]
Claire | July 5, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 5th July 1535, in the reign of King Henry VIII, the king’s former Lord Chancellor and good friend, Sir Thomas More, wrote his final letter. He wrote it to his beloved daughter Meg (Margaret Roper) and he used coal as his writing implement. It is a touching letter and […]
Claire | July 1, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 1st July 1535, in the reign of King Henry VIII, the king’s former Lord Chancellor and friend, Sir Thomas More, was tried for high treason. More was tried by a special commission of oyer and terminer, who found him guilty. He was sentenced to death and executed on 6th […]
Claire | June 26, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 26th June 1535, in the reign of King Henry VIII, a new commission of oyer and terminer was appointed in the case against Sir Thomas More. He would be indicted for high treason. More had served King Henry VIII loyally as Lord Chancellor and had been a good friend […]
Claire | April 13, 2022
On this day in Tudor history, 13th April 1534, Sir Thomas More got into a spot of bother, or rather a lot of bother, when he refused to swear his allegiance to the Act of Succession. This act of defiance, or rather of his conscience, would, of course, lead to More’s execution in 1535. You […]
Joel Ridgway | October 26, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 26th October 1536, the rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace halted at Scawsby Leys near Doncaster, where they met crown troops. The rebels were said to number around 30,000 and the crown’s army was only a fifth of the size, but the rebel leader, lawyer Robert Aske, chose to […]
Claire | July 6, 2017
On this day in history, Tuesday 6th July 1535, Henry VIII’s former friend and Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, was beheaded on Tower Hill as a traitor. More had been found guilty of high treason under the Treason Act of 1534 for denying the king’s supremacy and refusing to take the Oath of Succession. Trivia: […]
Claire | July 1, 2017
Sir Thomas More once said of King Henry VIII that “if my head would win him a castle in France, it should not fail to go” and I often wonder how serious he was. Was it said in jest or did More know exactly what Henry VIII was capable of? It’s impossible to know, but […]
