September 15 - Elizabeth I saves the day!

On this day in Tudor history, 15th September 1589, the Battle of Arques began. 

This battle was part of the final war of the French Wars of Religion, a series of conflicts in France from 1562-1598 between Catholics and Huguenots. It was fought between the new French king, Henry IV, and the Catholic League led by Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, and looked bad for Henry until troops sent by Elizabeth I arrived - phew!

 

You can find out more about what led to this battle, what happened at the battle, and what happened next, in this talk from historian Claire Ridgway. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:

https://youtu.be/Ytj-i6iEaHs

 

Also on this day in Tudor history, 15th September 1500, John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, cardinal and Henry VII’s Lord Chancellor, died at Knole in Kent. He was not a very popular man with the English people due to his role in Henry VII's financial policies, and one tax rationale he's associated with is Morton's Fork, but was it really down to him? Find out the answer and find out more about this Tudor taxman in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/A6s_7o5jMj4