Elizabeth I’s Forgotten Festival
How England Celebrated Accession Day Like a National Holiday Every year on 17th November, England erupted in bells, bonfires, and jousting tournaments, all to celebrate Queen Elizabeth I’s Accession...
16 Nov 20255min
A Beginner's Guide to Henry VII
A thin, cautious man stepped onto a Welsh beach in August 1485 with fewer soldiers than his enemy, and more to lose than anyone in England. Three weeks later, he had killed a king, married his rival’s...
15 Nov 202510min
Did Mary, Queen of Scots’ Husband Kill Her Lover, or His Own?
A jealous husband. A royal favourite. A queen held at gunpoint. On the night of 9 March 1566, David Rizzio, secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, was dragged from her side and stabbed over fifty times i...
14 Nov 20258min
The Abbot Who Defied Henry VIII
The Martyrdom of Hugh Faringdon On this day in Tudor history, 14 November 1539, a man of God was executed at the gate of his own abbey. His name was Hugh Faringdon, Abbot of Reading, a scholar, roy...
13 Nov 20256min
Jane Seymour’s Final Journey
On this day in Tudor history, 13 November 1537, England mourned its queen. Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife and the mother of Prince Edward, was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castl...
12 Nov 20254min
When Mary I Turned Back the Clock
On this day in Tudor history, 12 November 1555, Queen Mary I turned back the religious clock. Parliament passed the Second Statute of Repeal, restoring papal authority and reuniting England with the ...
11 Nov 20255min
The Tudor Day of Feasting, Faith… and the Winter Kill
Today, 11 November, is Martinmas, the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours. In Tudor England, it was far more than a saint’s day. It marked the great “winter slaughter”, when families across the realm, from...
10 Nov 20256min
He Dared to Betray the Queen
He was handsome, daring, and utterly reckless, the man who stole the heart of England’s greatest queen in her final years, and then broke it. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, was born on this day ...
9 Nov 20256min
