Tudor History with Claire Ridgway

December 22 - Two Protestants betrayed by a spy

On this day in Tudor history, 22nd December 1557, Protestant martyrs John Rough and Margaret Mearing, were burnt at Smithfield for heresy.
 
John Rough was a Scot who'd encouraged John Knox to be a pastor, but ended in days in England. Interestingly, the woman he died with was a woman he'd excommunicated from his congregation, believing her to be a spy. Although she'd been angry with her treatment, she was not the spy who betrayed him, she visited Rough in prison and was arrested after she tried to confront the real spy.
 
Find out about John Rough's life and what brought him to England, how he'd come to be arrested, and what happened with Margaret Mearing, in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway.
 
John Foxe's account can be read at https://www.dhi.ac.uk/foxe/index.php?realm=text&gototype=modern&edition=1583&pageid=2052
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 22nd December 1534, John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who was a prisoner in the Tower of London, wrote to Thomas Cromwell.
In his letter to Cromwell, the poor bishop begged him for a shirt, sheet, food and books, as well as asking him to intercede with King Henry VIII on his behalf. It is so sad that a man who had served the king so loyally in the past had come to this, and, of course, the king's mercy would only stretch to commuting his method of execution to beheading.
Find out more in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/9EwSBKVB16E 

December 21 - St Thomas, pies, charity and India

21st December in Tudor times was the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle, or Didymus or Doubting Thomas. The apostle who wouldn't believe Christ had been resurrected until Christ appeared in front of him and he'd felt the nail wounds and the wound in his side.
 
Thomas was known for his generosity, and in Tudor times, those in need would go "a-Thomasing", collecting alms.
 
But there are also other traditions associated with the feast day, such as pie-making. And did you know that Thomas also has links to India?
 
Find out more about St Thomas, his story, his feast day and the traditions associated with him, in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway.
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 21st December 1495, Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford and 1st Earl of Pembroke, died at his manor at Thornbury at the age of around sixty-four.Jasper Tudor was the uncle of Henry Tudor, a man who would become King Henry VII, and served as a mentor and advisor to him.Find out more about this interesting Tudor man in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/33X0XHZSRKQ 

December 20 - Edward Arden, "victim of a grave iniquity" or conspirator?

On this day in Tudor history, 20th December 1583, the day after his son-in-law, John Somerville, had been found dead in his cell, Warwickshire gentleman Edward Arden was hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield. 
 
Arden, who was related to William Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, and married to a member of the Throckmorton family, had been found guilty of treason, after being implicated in Somerville's plot to kill the queen.
 
But was Arden actually guilty? Why didn't others involved end up being executed too?
 
Find out more about Edward Arden and what happened in 1583, in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, author of "On This Day in Tudor History". You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:
https://youtu.be/BxXtvHb_bmU
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 20th December 1541, a “very sickly” Agnes Tilney, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, begged King Henry VIII for forgiveness. The dowager duchess had been arrested and taken to the Tower accused of misprision of treason for hiding her stepgranddaughter Catherine Howard's past relationship with Francis Dereham. Find out what she wrote to the king, and what happened to her, in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/VG5mb4XFLwc 

December 19 - A conspirator found dead in his cell

On this day in Tudor history, 19th December 1583, twenty-three-year-old convicted conspirator, John Somerville, was found dead in his cell at Newgate Prison. His death was said to be suicide, due to his poor mental health, but some Catholics believed that he had been killed.
 
Somerville had been found guilty of conspiring to assassinate the queen, but did he really mean to? Was he mentally ill? Was he manipulated by others?
 
Find out more about John Somerville in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:
https://youtu.be/cgO8sBhK4b8
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 19th December 1576, Katherine Palmer, Abbess of Syon, died in Belgium. Her death came just over a month after she had confronted a mob that had broken into her monastery. Find out more about Abbess Katherine Palmer, how her order had ended up settling in Belgium, and how her order is the only surviving pre-Reformation religious community in England today, in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/ssM_mwz_ccw 

December 18 - Nicholas Harpsfield, the sorest and of least compassion

On this day in Tudor history, 18th December 1575, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I,  fifty-six-year-old historian, Catholic apologist, priest and former Archdeacon of Canterbury, Nicholas Harpsfield, died in London. 
 
Harpsfield and his brother, John, had been imprisoned since the early 1560s for refusing to swear the Oath of Supremacy but had been released in 1574 on the grounds of ill-health.
 
In Mary I's reign, he had been involved in the persecutions of Protestants, and martyrologist John Foxe described him as “the sorest and of leaste compassion” of all the archdeacons involved.
 
Find out more about his life, career and rise, his works, and his end, in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway. https://youtu.be/6psy0c8vve8
 
Note: Claire mistakenly says that he died four months after his release, she meant a year and four months! Sorry!
 
On this day in Tudor history, 18th December 1555, John Philpott, former Archdeacon of Winchester, was burned at the stake for heresy at Smithfield. Philpott had done a lot in his 40 years, including studying in Italy, upsetting Bishop Gardiner, and supporting fellow Protestants from his prison cell, and he died a courageous death at Smithfield in the reign of Queen Mary I. Find out more about him in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/cPM-lq1D8Po 

December 17 - A promise made to Anne Boleyn

On this day in Tudor history, 17th December 1559, fifty-five-year-old Matthew Parker was consecrated as Queen Elizabeth I's Archbishop of Canterbury. It was an office which Parker did not want and would not have accepted if “he had not been so much bound to the mother”.
 
What did he mean by that?
 
Well, when he was Anne Boleyn's chaplain in 1536, the queen had met with him just six days before her arrest and he made her a promise.
Find out more about Matthew Parker, his life and that meeting with Anne Boleyn, in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, author of "The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown". You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:
https://youtu.be/hWJbumLvMeg
 
Link to Robert Parry's article - https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/the-cambridge-connections/
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 17th December 1538, Pope Paul III announced the excommunication of King Henry VIII. Henry VIII had been threatened with excommunication several times, but his desecration of one of the holiest shrines in Europe was the final straw for the pope. Find out how Henry VIII, who had once been "Defender of the Faith", had upset the Pope in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/d_V87vMb9As 

December 16 - A Grey man with Woodville links

On this day in Tudor history, 16th (or possibly the 18th) December 1503, George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent, died at Ampthill, Bedfordshire. 
 
Grey served as a soldier under Henry VII, was on the king’s council, and served him as Constable of Northampton Castle and as a judge at the trial of Edward, Earl of Warwick in 1499.
He was also married to a sister of Elizabeth Woodville.
 
Grey also managed to retain royal favour on Henry VII's accession even though he'd been rewarded by Richard III.
 
Find out more about George Grey in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, author of "On This Day in Tudor History".
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 16th December 1485, Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII was born. Do make sure...Find out about her background, and early life, and how she ended up leaving her homeland of Spain and eventually becoming queen consort to Henry VIII in last year’s video. https://youtu.be/Y6VVbYbZfgY 
 

December 15 - Elizabeth I's loyal servant dies of "sheer grief"

On this day in Tudor history, 15th December, 1560, Comptroller of the Household to Elizabeth I and Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, Thomas Parry died. The Spanish ambassador claimed that Parry had died of “sheer grief”. He was buried at Westminster Abbey.
 
Parry had served Elizabeth since 1547 and was a loyal servant and friend. So why did he die of grief?
 
Find out more about Thomas Parry, his background, life, and why he was upset in 1560, in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, founder of the Tudor Society. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:
https://youtu.be/PwnPALIR_98
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 15th December 1558, Cardinal Reginald Pole, Mary I’s Archbishop of Canterbury and her chief advisor, was buried at Canterbury Cathedral. Coincidentally, Cardinal Pole had died the same day as his queen, on 17th November 1558.Find out a bit more about Cardinal Pole, his background, death and burial, in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/g2NwZSWd5T8