May 16 - The real "John Blackthorne" of Shōgun
On this day in history, 16th May 1620, navigator William Adams died in Hirado, Japan. Adams is thought to be the first Englishman to have reached Japan (arriving there in 1600) and was the inspiratio...
15 Touko 20207min
May 15 - Two noblemen tried for treason
On this day in Tudor history, 15th May 1537, Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Darcy, and his cousin, John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, were tried for treason at Westminster after being implic...
14 Touko 20204min
May 14 - Henry VIII's leg problems
On this day in Tudor history, 14th May 1538, the French ambassador, Louis de Perreau, Sieur de Castillon, wrote a dispatch regarding King Henry VIII having been dangerously ill due to a problem with o...
13 Touko 20207min
May 13 - A battle between Mary, Queen of Scots, and her half-brother
On this day in Tudor history, 13th May 1568, the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, met those of her brother, the Regent Moray, at the Battle of Langside in Scotland. Mary, Queen of Scots was defeated ...
12 Touko 20205min
May 12 - A very obstinate friar
On this day in Tudor history, 12th May 1538, a Franciscan friar obstinately refused to make a public recantation of his allegiance to Rome. Friar John Forest ahd been condemned for heresy and was m...
11 Touko 20205min
May 11 - The doctor who saved a queen
On this day in Tudor history, 11th May 1560, royal physician Dr Thomas Wendy, died at his home, the manor of Haslingfield, in Cambridgeshire. He attended three Tudor monarchs at their death and had...
10 Touko 20208min
May 10 - A search for the Northeast Passage finds Ivan the Terrible instead
On this day in Tudor history, 10th May 1553, near the end of King Edward VI’s reign, the first expedition of the Company of Merchant Adventurers, left London in search of a Northeast passage for Asia....
10 Touko 20207min
May 9 - Colonist William Bradford
On this day in history, in the Stuart period, 9th May 1657, William Bradford died. He is known as the founder of the Plymouth Colony in America and the writer of a chronicle of its early years: “Of Pl...
8 Touko 20208min
