Queen Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherina of Aragon, came to the end of her uncharmed life on 17 November 1558. The abdominal pain that had plagued her since menarche had revealed itself to be not the stirring of new life, but the growth of a deadly cancer.… Read more The Sad Reign of Mary I Comes to an End
Bridget of York, the 10th and youngest child and of King Edward IV of England and Queen Elizabeth Woodville, was born on 10 November 1480 at Eltham Palace. At the time of Bridget’s birth, she had seven of nine full siblings and two half brothers still living, the only exceptions being a sister, Margaret of… Read more Bridget of York, King Edward IV’s Last Child
Late in the evening of 9 November 1518, Katherina of Aragon delivered her last child, an unnamed daughter that was either stillborn or did not survive very long past her birth. The ambassador from Venice, Sebastian Giustinian, wrote a letter the next day, reporting that, “In the past night the Queen had been delivered of… Read more Katherina of Aragon’s Last Childbirth
Katheryn Howard, the very young fifth wife of King Henry VIII, spent the second week of November 1541 being interrogated by special investigators – led by no less a personage than Archbishop Thomas Cranmer – to determine the extent of her tawdry sinfulness and lewd shenanigans. Katheryn, though barely in her twenties at the time… Read more Wondrous Naughty?
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was King Henry VIII’s right hand man for years, and when he fell from the king’s favour, the prelate — along with everyone else — blamed Anne Boleyn for his disgrace. This is, however, poppycock. Wolsey was accused of committing treason because he committed treason. Motivated by his hatred of Henry’s intended… Read more The Arrest and Treason of Cardinal Wolsey
Harri Tudur, grandson of a Welshman and a French Princess, the great-great-great-grandson of King Edward III, was crowned King Henry VII, the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty, on 30 October 1485. It is important to note that he made sure he was crowned king by “right of conquest” before he married Edward IV’s eldest daughter… Read more Henry VII Crowned King
Renée of France, the youngest and second surviving daughter of King Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany, was born on 25 October 1510. Like the other women in her family, Renée of France would show her mettle from an early age … which included religious devotion, a stainless-steel spine, and the kind of… Read more Renée of France
I am not a big fan of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. He appears, based on the historical record, to have been a cruel, power-hungry tool. He coldly disowned his sons by his first wife, pimped his sister Jane out to King Henry VIII, pulled some serious shenanigans with the king’s will to make… Read more You Would Think Somerset Would Learn
Divorces weren’t that hard to get for Medieval and Early Modern monarchs and nobility. Just throw enough money at the Pope and … voila! You were never married in the first place. Plenty of high born married couples sought this route to get out of a miserable marriage, or to make a more advantageous match.… Read more Medieval Monarchial Divorce
Mary Tudor, who was most likely born sometime in March of 1496, was approximately 18 years old when she married the 52-year-old King Louis XII of France on 9 October 1514. She was not only young enough to be the groom’s granddaughter, she was acclaimed as one of the most beautiful women in Europe. King… Read more The Autonomy of Mary Tudor, Queen of France