Harri Tudur, heir to the (7th) Earldom of Richmond, was born to the frighteningly young Margaret Beaufort on 28 January 1457. Through his paternal grandfather, Owain Tudur, the baby was a descendant of of Llywelyn the Great, and through his paternal grandmother, Catherine of Valois, a great-grandson of King Charles VI of France. Those lineages,… Read more Henry VII: Better King Than Kingly
On 24 January 1536 Henry VIII had a jousting accident. Not only was he hit hard, his horse, wearing hundreds of pounds of armor, fell on top of him. The king was unconscious for more than two hours, and it was feared he wouldn’t live. Was this severe concussion the reason Henry began his reign… Read more Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall
On January 21, 1542 a Bill of Attainder was introduced in English Parliament against Katheryn Howard. Henry VIII’s fifth queen had already been stripped of her title by the king’s Privy Council on November 22, 1441 because she had led “an abominable, base, carnal, voluptuous, and vicious life” before marriage and acting “like a common… Read more The Bill of Attainder of Katheryn Howard
The marriage treaty between Queen Mary I and King Phillip of Spain was ratified on 15 January 1554. Mary was thrilled, Philip was resigned, and half the population of England was livid. In fairness, public reaction to Mary’s betrothal on the part of the Protestant English was unjustified by anything Mary had done. She had… Read more Mazeltov to Phillip and Mary
The bastardized daughter of King Henry VIII and one of the wives he murdered, Anne Boleyn, was crowned Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland on 15 January 1559. The crowning of the queen was merely one part of the grand pageant of putting her on the throne. The occasion took several weeks of elaborate… Read more The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I
Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk, was born in December of 1476 and was only a toddler when her father, John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, died on 14 January 1476, leaving her an immensely wealthy heiress. Her mother, Lady Elizabeth Talbot, would be able to have very little say in how her… Read more The Rise of the Howards After the Death of Anne de Mowbray, Duchess of York
Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu. was a living, breathing threat to the Tudor throne. He was the grandson of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence and thus the nephew of the York kings Edward IV and Richard III. In his veins flowed the blood of King Edward III’s second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp, Duke… Read more Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu
Did King Henry VIII marry Anne Boleyn on 14 November 1532? The argument that Henry VIII wed Anne Boleyn in a clandestine ceremony on St. Erkenwalds/Earconwalds/Erconwalds Day of 1532, when they landed in Dover after the political summit in Calais between Henry and King Francis I of France, is not a new one. Edward Hall’s chronicle, which was… Read more Happy Anniversary to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn?
On 26 October 1520 the eldest son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Charles was born 24 February 1500, and by the time he became the emperor he had already been King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, and Lord of the Netherlands since he was… Read more Charles V Becomes Holy Roman Emperor
John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England, supporter of King Henry VI, eventual ambassador for Edward IV, ardent foe of King Richard III, and crucial ally of King Henry VII, passed away on 15 September 1500. Although Bishop Morton was a devout Lancastrian, when all hope was gone – after the deaths… Read more Archbishop John Morton