The Tudor Minute

Today is the day in which Henry and Anne famously wore yellow to celebrate the death of Katherine of Aragon, which happened yesterday, the seventh. Sources vary on exactly what was worn, and by whom.

Today in 1531 Pope Clement VII wrote to Henry in England telling him that if he remarried he would be excommunicated.

On January 4, 1493 Christopher Columbus left the new islands he had stumbled upon in the Caribbean to return back to Spain. He had left Spain in August 1492 attempting to find an all water route to Asia. Instead, he landed in San Salvador.

Today in 1495 Jasper Tudor died. He was the uncle of Henry Tudor, Henry VII, and it was largely due to his work protecting his nephew that Henry survived and was able to become King.

Today in 1542 James V of Scotland died, after becoming ill when his army was defeated at the Battle of Solway Moss about three weeks before. He had already taken to his bed when his wife, Marie of Guise, gave birth to their daughter, Mary.

Today in 1541 London was reeling from the executions of Thomas Culpepper and Francis Dereham, that happened yesterday. Dereham had been arrested after Thomas Cranmer let Henry know that his fifth wife, Katherine Howard, was no virginal maid, and in fact had been with Dereham before she was married.

It’s been a week of Mary, Queen of Scots, and that’s set to continue today, as it’s her birthday. She was born in 1542, the daughter of James V of Scotland, and his wife Marie of Guise, from France. She became Queen when she was only 8 days old, when her father died, and was crowned Queen when she wasn’t even a year old.

Today is the birthday of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, who was the grandson of Margaret Tudor by her second husband, Archibald Douglas. While he had a claim to both the English and Scottish thrones, he is most remembered for being the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and then being murdered, thus setting into play the chaos that led to Mary’s fleeing Scotland.

Today in 1555 the Pope in Rome handed down a sentence on the Protestant Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, saying that he was stripped of his archbishopric, and all of his ecclesiastical dignities.

Today in 1536 Henry proclaimed that the rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace would be offered a pardon if they submitted to Henry’s officers in the region. In this proclamation, Henry also said that he would hold a Parliament at York, which was one of the major demands of the rebels.

Today in 1572 John Knox died. A Sottish clergyman, Knox is remembered as the founder of Presbyterianism, but he was also known for his outspoken stance against Mary I. He wrote a book called The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regimen of Women in which he attacked women rulers like Marie of Guise, and Mary I.

Today in 1558 Elizabeth I left Hatfield House, where she had been living as Princess, on her way to London, traveling as Queen. Her train of followers was nearly 1000 people, and she processed through Hertfordshire, being met in Barnet by the Sheriff of London who rode with her down the Great North Road, through Highgate, which was just a tiny village then, to the City.

Today in 1591 Sir Christopher Hatton died. He is remembered for being the Lord Chancellor of England, and he was a favorite of Elizabeth. He first caught Elizabeth’s attention in the early 1560’s - he was an excellent dancer, was personable, charming, and intelligent. He became a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber in 1564, and by 1572 he was appointed captain of the Yeoman of the Guard. He is said to have been a Roman Catholic in all but name, yet he treated religious questions in a moderate and tolerant way.

Today in 1600 James VI of Scotland and his wife Anne of Denmark, had a son, Charles. This second son of James - who would become James I of England upon Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1603 - was never meant to be the King. His brother Prince Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, died in 1612, and at that point Charles became the heir.

Today in 1558 Mary I died, aged 42 years old. She had made a will at Easter believing herself to be pregnant, but her husband Philip I left in July, and there are no records of preparations for the birth, so it was likely another phantom pregnancy. In August she got a fever, and seemed to recover, but then by the end of September was unwell again. She confirmed her father’s plan for succession, and though she didn’t name Elizabeth by name, she said the throne would go to the next lawful heir.

Today in 1572 Spanish troops under Don Frederik (the Spanish General Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo) occupied and plundered Zutphen in the Netherlands. This would eventually drag Elizabeth into the conflict to support the Protestant Netherlands, against the Spanish Catholics, and 12 years later the poet Sir Philip Sidney would die in Zutphen as the conflict went on and on. It was one front of the Spanish Anglo war that lasted through the end of the 16th century.

Today in 1572 Spanish troops under Don Frederik (the Spanish General Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo) occupied and plundered Zutphen in the Netherlands. This would eventually drag Elizabeth into the conflict to support the Protestant Netherlands, against the Spanish Catholics, and 12 years later the poet Sir Philip Sidney would die in Zutphen as the conflict went on and on. It was one front of the Spanish Anglo war that lasted through the end of the 16th century.

Today in 1553 Lady Jane Grey’s trial started at London’s Guildhall, along with her husband Guilford Dudley. She was, of course, being tried for having claimed the throne during the short period after Edward VI’s death, before the Catholic Mary I was able to take back control of the throne.

Today we mark two events that are related. On November 12, 1555, Mary I’s Parliament reestablished the Catholic faith in England and was reunited with the Pope. It’s also the day of the death of Stephen Gardiner, who died on the very same day.

Today in 1556 Richard Chancellor died. He was a navigator and explorer who is remembered for piloting the boats that were sent to find a northeast passage. Yes, northeast, not northwest. The idea was that the Spanish and Portuguese largely had a lock on the trade routes to the west, so it worth it to try heading east, over Russia, and to try to come down from that direction. The first ships set out in 1553, and while they didn’t discover a faster route to Asia, they did discover a trade route to Moscow.

Today in 1518 Catherine of Aragon gave birth to a girl, to the great disappointment of everyone. The Venetian Ambassador wrote a letter on the tenth of November saying, “In the past night the queen had been delivered of a daughter, to the vexation of everybody. Never had the kingdom so anxiously desired anything as it did a prince.”

Today in 1501 Katherine of Aragon met Prince Arthur Tudor, her betrothed, for the first time. She had been traveling for nearly six months, through the hot summertime in Spain on horseback, a treacherous journey through the Bay of Biscay that had to be abandoned once, and then finally landing in Plymouth in early October. Then the overland trip through England in rainy autumn began.

Today in 1534 the English Parliament accepted the First Act of Supremacy and acknowledged  Henry VIII as the Head of the Church of England.

Today in 1541 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer left a letter for Henry VIII in the chapel at Hampton Court giving details about his wife Catherine Howard’s past.

Today in 1561 Mary Sidney Herbert was born. She is remembered for being a literary patron, writer, and translator in her own right, and as the sister of Sir Philip Sidney, who was one of the most famous poets of the Elizabethan age.

Today in 1538 Geoffrey Pole was interrogated in the Tower. Geoffrey Pole was the fourth son of Sir Richard Pole and Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury. She was the daughter of the Duke of Clarence, and Edward IV’s niece, and as such the family found themselves at the center of plots, and rallying in favor of the Catholic church when Henry was setting up the Church of England with himself as the head.

Today in 1581 Baron Mountjoy James Blount died. He experimented with alchemy, and was also made knight of the bath at Mary I’s coronation.

Today in 1469 Ferdinand and Isabella got married.  After her father, King John II of Castile died, Isabella was pressured by her brother King Henry IV to marry King Alfonso V of Portugal, but she refused, not wanting to take her brother’s advice too much since she knew her nobles didn’t trust him.

Today we mark the death of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridby in 1555 - they were two of the three famous Oxford Martyrs, along with Archbishop Cranmer, commemorated by John Foxe.

Today in 1537 Henry and Jane Seymour’s son Edward, the future Edward VI, was christened in Hampton court. Thomas Cranmer performed the rites in front of a crowd of several hundred.

Today in 1486 the trial of Mary Queen of Scots began. At first she had refused to take part in any trial saying that it didn’t apply to her because she was the Queen of Scotland and the laws of England weren’t applicable.

Today in 1514 Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister, married Louis XII of France. She was 18, and he was 52. Mary was born in 1496, and she was reported to have been the most beautiful princess in Christendom. Erasmus said of her that "Nature never formed anything more beautiful."

Today in 1571 the European allied powers defeated the Ottoman turks at the Battle of Lepanto. This was an interesting battle for England because it saw Elizabeth joining the Catholic powers to defeat the Ottomans, who were threatening Europe not only through the Mediterranean, but also through Vienna.

October 6 is the date generally given to the execution of William Tyndale, in 1536. He was an English scholar, reformer, and Bible translator. Early on Henry VIII read his works as they were passed to him by Anne Boleyn, particularly his “Obedience of a Christian Man.”

Today in 1555 Edward Wotten died. He was an English doctor who was born in Oxford, and he is remembered for starting the modern study of zoology.

Today in 1555 Edward Wotten died. He was an English doctor who was born in Oxford, and he is remembered for starting the modern study of zoology.

Today in 1528 Cardinal Campeggio, the Papal legate, arrived in Dover in preparation for the special legatine court which would determine the fate of Henry VIII’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon. Henry had put a great deal of hope in the legate, and this court. But this would, of course, be the court that was unable to decide on a divorce, and the king’s Great Matter would drag on for another five years.

Today in 1553 Mary I proceeded through London on the way to her coronation.

Today in 1525 the explorer Stephen Borough was born in Devon. Devon and Cornwall were were some of the communities of explorers and adventurers were gathering at this time, and he himself became an explorer. In 1553 he was part of the crew on the Edward Bonaventura to try to discover a NorthEast passage to India.

Today in 1586 Arthur Tudor was christened. Prince Arthur, Henry VIII’s older brother, was christened at Winchester Cathedral. Of course Henry VII had planned his birth to be there - he was, after all, named after King Arthur, whose legendary round table is still at Winchester even to this day.

Today in 1459 the first major battle of the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Blore Heath, took place. The First Battle of St Albans took place in 1455, after which an uneasy peace held in England. Attempts at reconciliation between the houses of Lancaster and York were unsuccessful and both sides became increasingly wary of each other and by 1459 were actively recruiting armed supporters.

Today in 1578 Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, married Lettice Knollys. Ever since the death of his wife, Amy Robsart, under suspicious circumstances a decade and a half earlier, Dudley had been trying to convince Queen Elizabeth to marry him. He even staged the two week long series of pageants and parties at Kenilworth in 1575 to try one last time to convince her. And though they were likely deeply in love with each other, she never did marry him.

Today in 1535 Charles Brandon and his wife, his ward Katherine Willoughby, had a son called Henry. Charles Brandon was famous for having married Henry VIII’s sister Mary without permission after she had extracted an agreement from her brother that she would marry the ancient French king in exchange for being able to marry anyone she wanted after he died.

Today we mark the death, in 1575, of Heinrich Bullinger, one of the leading Swiss Protestant Reformers. He was born in 1504, and interestingly, his story overlapped with that of the Tudors in that, when he was 12, he was sent to school in Cleves. In 1519 he went to university in Cologne, just as Martin Luther’s protests against the church were becoming popular.

Today in 1541 Henry VIII was on his famous Progress to the North, and entered the city of York where the most important people in the city begged forgiveness for the Pilgrimage of Grace, which had happened half a decade earlier. His wife, Katherine Howard, was there as well, receiving a gold cup full of coins from those same city officials.

Today in 1514 Thomas Wolsey was appointed Archbishop of York after he was elected in August. He was rising quickly and by 1515 he was a Cardinal, which made him the highest ranking church official in England, even higher than the archbishop of Canterbury.

Today in 1585 Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth for what would be called The Caribbean Raid. The pseudo-war between England and Spain had been heating up, and much of that had to do with piracy of Spanish ports and it would culminate in 1587 when Drake raided Spanish mainland in the Singeing of the King’s Beard in Cadiz.

Today in 1572 Pope Gregory XIII ordered a commemoration both for the defeat of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in October 1571, and the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in France over the summer of 1572.

Today in 1533 the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth, was christened at the church of observant friars in Greenwich. She was three days old.

Today in 1560 Amy Dudley, also known as Amy Robsart died in her home, found at the bottom of a flight of steps in her home in Oxfordshire. She was the wife of Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, who was also Elizabeth I’s … well, at the very least her closest companion. Perhaps (likely) more. The death of Amy is a mystery even now

Today in 1533 a little girl was born in Greenwich, less than two weeks after her mother had gone into confinement. The parents were so sure that she would be a boy that they already had the announcements made up, and had to change them, adding in an extra S to the word Prince, after she was born. Celebratory jousts were cancelled, because this little girl wasn’t the prince that her father had risked excommunication for.