Tudor History with Claire Ridgway

From Fotheringhay to Bosworth: Richard III Is Born

On this day in 1452, a boy was born at Fotheringhay Castle who would become England’s last Plantagenet king: Richard III.
I’m Claire Ridgway, and in today’s episode we trace Richard’s short, stormy road from noble son to fallen king, and the remarkable afterlife of his story, from Bosworth Field to a Leicester car park and DNA confirmation centuries later.
In this podcast:
Birth & family: the House of York and Cecily Neville, the “Rose of Raby”
1483: the pre-contract claim, Edward V’s disinheritance, and Richard’s coronation
Challenges to the crown: Buckingham’s rebellion & Henry Tudor’s invasion
Battle of Bosworth (22 Aug 1485): tactics, the Stanleys’ decisive move, Richard’s last charge
Burial at Grey Friars, the 2012 discovery & DNA, scoliosis, and reinterment (2015)
Legacy: usurper, reformer, courageous warrior, or a king made by brutal times?
What’s your take on Richard III—pragmatic protector, ruthless usurper, courageous warrior, or a product of his age? Tell me in the comments.
If you enjoyed this On This Day, please like, subscribe, and ring the bell for more daily Tudor and late-medieval history.
#OnThisDay #RichardIII #WarsOfTheRoses #Bosworth #Plantagenet #Fotheringhay #PrincesInTheTower #AnneNeville #Leicester #MedievalHistory #TudorHistory #History #Yorkist #DNA

The Plantagenet Who Became a Queen's Favourite Sleeping Companion

On 1 October 1526, Dorothy Stafford was born, a woman of Plantagenet blood who would spend forty years at the heart of Elizabeth I’s privy chamber.In this episode, I trace Dorothy’s remarkable path:
Family webs: Stafford–Pole lineage (Buckingham & Clarence), and marriage to Sir William Stafford, Mary Boleyn’s widower.
Exile & faith: Under Mary I she fled to Geneva; in 1556 John Calvin stood godfather to her son (then they famously fell out, and she moved to Basel).
Return & rise: With Elizabeth’s accession (1559), Dorothy joined the privy chamber and became one of the queen’s trusted sleeping companions. When she broke her leg in 1576, the court scrambled for a replacement so the queen could sleep peacefully.
Storms weathered: Even the Stafford Plot involving her son didn’t unseat her. Dorothy died in 1604, remembered at St Margaret’s, Westminster, as a “continual remembrancer of the suits of the poor.”
A royal confidante. Mediator. Quiet backbone of a court.
Had you heard of Dorothy Stafford before? Tell me in the comments!If you enjoy daily Tudor stories, please like, subscribe, and ring the bell.#DorothyStafford #ElizabethI #OnThisDay #TudorHistory #AnneBoleyn #PrivyChamber #Plantagenet #JohnCalvin #WomenInHistory #HistoryYouTube #ClaireRidgway

Margaret Tudor’s Flight: The 1515 Escape that Led to a United Crown

On 30 September 1515, Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s elder sister and widow of James IV, slipped across the Scottish border into England: heavily pregnant, newly remarried, and out of power. Her dash to Harbottle Castle set up a birth with huge consequences: Lady Margaret Douglas, whose line would help unite the Tudor and Stuart claims.In this episode I set the scene:
The glittering 1503 marriage to James IV and the Flodden aftermath
How Margaret lost the regency by marrying for love: Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus
Duke of Albany takes control, and the royal children
The 1515 flight to Harbottle and the birth (8 Oct) of Lady Margaret Douglas
Why Henry VIII offered hospitality, not armies
Margaret’s return in 1517, and how her daughter’s marriage to Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox produced Lord Darnley, and, in the next generation, James VI & I, uniting the crowns in 1603
Question: Was Margaret’s remarriage brave or reckless, or both? Tell me in the comments.If you enjoy these “On This Day” podcasts, please like, subscribe, and ring the bell for daily Tudor history.#MargaretTudor #OnThisDay #TudorHistory #LadyMargaretDouglas #JamesVIandI #HarbottleCastle #HenryVIII #Douglas #DukeOfAlbany #UnionOfTheCrowns #HistoryYouTube #ClaireRidgway

Dragon-Slayer & Dinner: How the Tudors Marked Michaelmas

I’m Claire Ridgway, historian and author. On 29 September, the Tudors celebrated Michaelmas, the feast of St Michael the Archangel, heaven’s champion and defender of the Church. Beyond the bells and processions, Michaelmas was one of the four quarter days, the moment the Tudor year turned.In this video:
What Michaelmas meant in scripture & worship (Michael vs. the dragon)
Quarter day basics: new agricultural year, rents & accounts due, hiring/statute fairs
The menu: why Tudors roasted “stubble-goose” (and the saying that it kept you in money)
Folklore: don’t pick blackberries after Michaelmas—the devil’s said to spoil them!
Echoes today: why Oxford, Cambridge and the law courts still call it Michaelmas term
What would be on your table: goose, apples, or a blackberry tart (picked before today, of course)? Tell me in the comments!If you enjoyed this slice of seasonal Tudor life, please like, subscribe, and ring the bell for more daily “On This Day” history.#Michaelmas #OnThisDay #TudorFeastDays #TudorHistory #StMichael #EarlyModernLife #TudorFood #SeasonalHistory #HistoryYouTube #QuarterDays #BritishFolklore

From Exile to Baron: Robert Willoughby, Henry VII's Loyal Supporter

Imagine standing shoulder to shoulder with Henry Tudor in exile, then riding back to win a crown at Bosworth. Today we meet Robert Willoughby, 1st Baron Willoughby de Broke: sheriff, soldier, royal fixer and one of Henry VII’s most loyal supporters, who died on 28 September 1502 at Callington, Cornwall.In this episode of On This Day in Tudor History, I, Claire Ridgway (historian & author), trace Willoughby’s journey from West Country administrator to exile in Brittany, his role at Bosworth (22 Aug 1485), and the rewards that followed: Knight of the Body, Lord Steward of the Household, Order of the Garter, and more. It’s a story of risk, resilience, and how loyalty shaped the early Tudor court.What you’ll learn:
Willoughby’s early service in Cornwall & Devon
Backing Buckingham’s 1483 rebellion and fleeing to Brittany
Fighting with Henry Tudor at Bosworth
High offices and lands granted by Henry VII
Why Willoughby mattered to the new Tudor regime
If you enjoy daily Tudor deep-dives, like, subscribe, and tap the bell.Want bonus content, my digital magazine The Privy Chronicle, and members-only Q&As? Join my channel membership!#TudorHistory #OnThisDay #HenryVII #Bosworth #WarsOfTheRoses #RobertWilloughby #ClaireRidgway #TudorDynasty #HistoryYouTube #MedievalHistory

Helene Harrison on The Many Faces of Anne Boleyn

Who’s the “real” Anne Boleyn—the medal, the portraits, or the version we’ve imagined? In this interview, Helene Harrison joins me to discuss her book The Many Faces of Anne Boleyn: Interpreting Image and Perception—not a biography, but a study of how Anne has been seen across centuries.We explore:
What readers should unlearn about Anne’s image
Beyond the 1534 medal: which likeness may come closest—and which is most misleading
Foreign observers (ambassadors, visitors): who reads Anne well, and who writes with an agenda?
Evidence vs. imagination: where the record ends and interpretation begins
Stage/film/TV: what one portrayal gets right—and what most get wrong
I’m Claire Ridgway, historian, author, and host of the Anne Boleyn Files & Tudor Society. If you enjoy deep dives into Tudor history, please like, subscribe, and share your thoughts below.Get Helene’s book & follow her work:Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Many-Faces-Anne-Boleyn-Interpreting/dp/1036105024/Amazon.com - https://www.amazon.com/Many-Faces-Anne-Boleyn-Interpreting/dp/1036105024/Website - https://tudorblogger.com/

Spies, Sonnets & a Sword

The Short, Daring Life of Thomas WatsonOn this day in Tudor history, 26 September 1592, poet and translator Thomas Watson was buried at St Bartholomew-the-Less.You may not know his name, but in Elizabethan circles he was the rule-bender who wrote 18-line “sonnets”, carried letters for Sir Francis Walsingham, supplied lyrics for William Byrd, and once landed in prison after stepping between Christopher Marlowe and a blade.I’m Claire Ridgway, historian and author. In this episode you’ll discover:
Hekatompathia (1582): the 100-poem love sequence with 18-line “sonnets”
Watson the Latinist: Petrarch, Sophocles’ Antigone, Amyntas & Amintae gaudia
Music & verse: his words for Byrd and Englishings of Italian madrigals
The 1589 brawl with Marlowe & William Bradley: wound, death, and a self-defence pardon
Final years, plague-time death, and The Tears of Fancie (1593)
Where to start reading: dip into Hekatompathia for the form-breaking love poems, then try The Tears of Fancie to hear his later English voice.Question for you: Had you heard of Watson before? Which Elizabethan poet deserves more attention?If you enjoyed this “On This Day,” please like, subscribe, and ring the bell for daily Tudor & Elizabethan deep dives.
 
  #OnThisDay #TudorHistory #Elizabethan #ThomasWatson #ChristopherMarlowe #Walsingham #WilliamByrd #RenaissancePoetry #Sonnets #LondonHistory #EarlyModern #EnglishLiterature  

Fotheringhay Bound: Mary, Queen of Scots

The Day Mary, Queen of Scots’ Fate Was SealedOn this day in Tudor history, 25 September 1586,  Mary, Queen of Scots was escorted to Fotheringhay Castle. She would never leave.That same week, Elizabeth I agreed to appoint 36 commissioners to try her cousin. The road from captive to condemned began here.I’m Claire Ridgway, historian and author. In this episode, I set the scene and trace the chain:
From captivity (1568) and Pius V’s excommunication (1570) to a climate ripe for plots
Ridolfi, Throckmorton, and the fatal Babington Plot (Mary’s “set the six gentlemen to work”)
Walsingham’s cipher trap and the arrests
Transfer to Fotheringhay; the commissioners named
Trial (14 Oct) to guilty (25 Oct) to Parliament’s petition to warrant signed (1 Feb 1587) to execution (8 Feb)
Question for you: Was Elizabeth defending her realm, or crossing a line no monarch should? Tell me in the comments.If this “On This Day” was useful, please like, subscribe, and ring the bell for daily Tudor history.  #OnThisDay #TudorHistory #MaryQueenOfScots #ElizabethI #Fotheringhay #BabingtonPlot #Walsingham #EnglishHistory #EarlyModern #16thCentury