Mary, Queen of Scots wed François, the Dauphin of France, at Notre Dame de Paris in a lavish ceremony (did they have any other kind for a royal wedding??) on 24 April 1558. The young couple, who had been raised together since Mary was 5 years old and the Dauphin only 4, seem to be… Read more Mary Marries Merrily
Elizabeth Barton, known as the “Holy Maid of Kent” or the “ Nun of Kent”, was executed on 20 April 1534 along with a handful of her followers, for the ‘crime’ that she predicted a bad end for King Henry VIII if he continued to flout the will of Rome and separate his kingdom from… Read more The Nun of Kent
Anne Stanhope Seymour Newdigate, Dowager Duchess of Somerset, former wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and once the most powerful woman in Britain, died in Hanworth, Middlesex, on 16 April 1587, the comparatively lowly widow of her first husband’s steward. She was born Anne Stanhope, the daughter Sir Edward Stanhope, sometime in 1510.… Read more Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset
Lady Elizabeth Howard Boleyn, the Countess of Wiltshire, died on 3 April 1538 … having lived long enough to see two of her three adult children murders by King Henry VIII. The Anne Boleyn Files did an excellent post on the potential cause of her death, and I cannot help but think she was grateful… Read more RIP Elizabeth Boleyn
On 2 April 1536, Passion Sunday, Anne Boleyn’s almoner, John Skip (Skyppe), fired a broadside at Thomas Cromwell from the pulpit of the king’s chapel. His sermon “on the text Quis ex vobis arguet me de peccato?” was a strong defense of the clergy from the attacks of “their defamers and from the immoderate zeal… Read more A Warning for Haman
Queen Elizabeth I was a charismatic leader who inspired a cult around her unmarried status and continues to fascinate historians and history buffs to the the present day. She was often associated with the virginal Roman goddess of the moon and hunting, Diana, and was often called by one of Diana’s more celestial alternate titles, Cynthia,… Read more Moonset: The Death of Cynthia
Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire and 1st Viscount Rochford, passed away on 12 March 1539 at his family home of family home, Hever Castle, Kent, where he had been born some 61 years before. The only members of his family to survive him were his eldest daughter, Mary Boleyn, and his three grandchildren, Catherine… Read more Thomas Boleyn, Villain or Victim?
David Rizzo, or to use his birth name — David Riccio di Pancalieri in Piemonte – was a personal musician for Mary, Queen of Scots. The queen favoured the witty violinist, and often chose him to sit with her and her ladies-in-waiting. Mary was very musically inclined and had been raised in the refinement of the… Read more The Murder of David Rizzo
Henry Carey, the only son of William Carey and his wife, Mary Boleyn Carey, was born on 4 March 1526. Although he has been rumored to have been the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, the baby was most likely William Carey’s biological son. Several excellent historians, such as Eric Ives, note that Mary was… Read more Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon
Margaret of Austria was one of the most famous and most respected female rules of the late Medieval period, and for good reason. She was not only well-connected to the principle ruling families in Europe, she was politically astute and had a knack for arranging international trade agreements that benefited all parties. Such was her… Read more Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Cultural and Political Queen