March 5 - Tobacco comes to Europe

On this day in Tudor history, 5th March 1558, Spanish physician Francisco Fernandes brought back live tobacco plants and seeds from Mexico to Europe.

 

In today's "On This Day in Tudor History", Claire Ridgway, founder of the Tudor Society, talks about the introduction of tobacco in Europe and how it was viewed as a cure-all, and how tobacco smoking became fashionable at Elizabeth I's court.

 

You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:

https://youtu.be/D1mtHYLJtXc

 

Also on this day in Tudor history, 5th March 1549, a bill of attainder was passed against Thomas Seymour, Baron Sudeley, uncle of King Edward VI, finding him guilty of 33 counts of treason. Find out more in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/YNPqZ5fHNh8