
August 3 - A notorious Tudor rake!
On this day in Tudor history, 3rd August 1562, Essex magnate and notorious rake, John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford, died at his home, Hedingham Castle in Essex. Oxford served four Tudor monarchs and...
2 Aug 20206min

August 2 - Spaniards land in Cornwall and cause trouble
On 2nd August 1595, as part of the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604, four galleys containing somewhere between 200 and 400 Spanish soldiers landed at Mount's Bay on the coast of western Cornwall. The...
1 Aug 20205min

August 1 - A young blind woman is burnt for heresy
On this day in Tudor history, 1st August 1556, a blind woman named Joan Waste was burnt in Derby for heresy after she refused to recant her Protestant faith. Joan was just twenty-two when she died a...
31 Jul 20205min

July 31 - Henry Grey, father of Lady Jane Grey, is released from the Tower
On this day in Tudor history, 31st July 1553, Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, was “discharged out of the Tower by the Earle of Arundell and had the Quenes pardon.” Suffolk had, of course, been imprison...
30 Jul 20207min

July 30 - Elizabeth leaves Somerset House to meet Mary
On this day in Tudor history, 30th July 1553, Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, left her new home, Somerset House, to ride to Wanstead and greet her half-sister, Mary, who'd been...
29 Jul 20204min

July 29 - England's clever tactics against the Spanish Armada
On this day in Tudor history, 29th July 1588, the English naval fleet attacked the Spanish Armada in a battle known as the Battle of Gravelines. England defeated Spain and it was down to the new tac...
28 Jul 20203min

July 28 - A botched execution for Thomas Cromwell
On this day in Tudor history, 28th July 1540, the same day that Henry VIII married Catherine Howard, Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, the king’s former chief advisor, was beheaded on Tower Hill having ...
27 Jul 20205min

July 27 - A Welshman comes to a sticky end on Anglesey
On this day in Tudor history, 27th July 1593, Roman Catholic priest and martyr, Blessed William Davies, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Beaumaris Castle on the Island of Anglesey. You may not ha...
26 Jul 20207min





















