Tudor History with Claire Ridgway

December 1 - A Catholic priest is tortured then executed

On this day in Tudor history, 1st December 1581, twenty-five year old Roman Catholic priest Alexander Briant was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, along with Ralph Sherwin and Edmund Campion. 
 
Briant had been imprisoned, starved, racked and tortured in other awful ways, but he claimed that he felt no pain due to God's help. He refused to give his interrogators the information he wanted, and he was tried for treason and suffered a full traitor's death.
 
In today's talk, Claire Ridgway, author of "On This Day in Tudor History", shares Alexander Briant's story, what led to his arrest,  his account of what happened when he was tortured and his fellow prisoner's account of what was done to him. 
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 1st December 1541, Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham were tried for high treason at Guildhall, London. Both men had been linked romantically with Queen Catherine Howard. They were both found guilty of treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. But what about Catherine Howard and her lady, Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, who had also been arrested. What was happening with them? Find out more about them, and the trial of Dereham and Culpeper in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/3vf3zSxkDf0 

November 30 - Elizabeth I's Golden Speech brings men to tears

On this day in Tudor history, 30th November 1601, sixty-eight-year-old Queen Elizabeth I delivered her famous Golden Speech to the House of Commons. 
 
In this final speech to Parliament, Elizabeth spoke of her position as Queen and her love and respect for her realm, her people, and for her members of Parliament. It was a speech that brought many of those listening to tears. It was obviously a very heartfelt speech by a queen who truly loved her people.
 
In today's talk, historian Claire Ridgway shares Elizabeth I's Golden Speech along with some beautiful portraits of the queen. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:
https://youtu.be/d-9YFGnWjG4
 
Harleian Miscellany version  - https://archive.org/stream/harleianmiscella01oldy#page/366/mode/2up
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 30th November 1529, the feast of St Andrew, Henry VIII was reproached by the two women in his life: his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and the woman he wanted to marry, Anne Boleyn. Catherine of Aragon was not impressed by the way her husband was treating her, and Anne Boleyn didn't like the fact that the king was letting Catherine get the upper hand. They both told the king exactly what they thought. Find out what happened in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/eJGHWFhX_Tg 

November 29 - A courtier who served in four monarchs' reign and died a natural death!

On this day in Tudor history, 29th November 1528, nobleman and courtier, Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, was born.
 
Montagu began his court career with the help of his father in Henry VIII's reign. served as a privy councillor in Mary I's reign, and died a natural death as a wealthy man in Elizabeth I's reign. He even survived being implicated in a rebellion!  
Who was Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, and just how did he manage to not only have an excellent court career, but leave a fortune to his grandson, when he was a Catholic in Elizabeth I's reign?
 
Find out all about him in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, author of several Tudor history books.
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 29th November 1530,  Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s former Lord Chancellor, died at Leicester Abbey. The cardinal cheated the executioner by dying a natural death while on his way to London to answer charges of treason. You can find out about Cardinal Wolsey's death, and who ended up being buried in the sarcophagus he'd had commissioned in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/KtVsZbo9RWs 

November 28 - A drowned agent carrying gold for Mary, Queen of Scots

On this day in Tudor history, 28th November 1565, member of Parliament and political agent Francis Yaxley set sail for Scotland from Antwerp. 
 
Sadly, Yaxley's ship was wrecked in a storm and he never reached Scotland, and neither did the gold he was carrying to Mary, Queen of Scots.
 
But why was he carrying gold and who was it from? What happened to the gold?
 
Find out all about Yaxley, how he came to be travelling from Antwerp to Scotland, and what happened to him and the gold, in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway.
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 28th November 1499, Edward Plantagenet, styled Earl of Warwick, was executed by beheading on Tower Hill. Warwick was a potential claimant to the throne being the son of George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III, but it was his involvement in a plot by pretender Perkin Warbeck that was his final undoing.Find out more about his short and sad life, much of it spent in prison, in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/nqbeu8R3XMw 

November 27 - Former monk burnt at stake for importing books

On this day in Tudor history, 27th November 1531, former Benedictine monk and reformist, Richard Bayfield, was burnt at the stake at Smithfield for heresy after Sir Thomas More had caught him importing heretical books into England.
 
It wasn't Bayfield's first brush with the authorities. He'd been in trouble for heresy previously so was now deemed a "relapsed heretic". This time, penance wasn't enough, he was condemned to death.
 
Find out more about Richard Bayfield, how he went from being a monk to a reformer, and how he ended up at the stake as a Protestant martyr. Claire also shares John Foxe's account of Bayfield's burning. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:
https://youtu.be/K2C1uDitPV0
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 27th November 1582, eighteen-year-old William Shakespeare, the famous playwright and a man known as the Bard, married twenty-six-year-old Anne (also known as Agnes) Hathaway, at Temple Grafton, near Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire. 
Anne Hathaway was pregnant at the time of their marriage and went on to give birth to a daughter, Susannah, the following May. You can find out more about William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, and their marriage, and also what happened to them, in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/d0_g9G8TXGA 
 

November 26 - The first men executed under Elizabeth I's new law

On this day in Tudor history, 26th November 1585, Catholic priest Hugh Taylor and his friend Marmaduke Bowes were hanged at York. 
They were the first men executed under Elizabeth I's 1585 statute which made it treason to be a Jesuit or seminary priest in England or to harbour such a priest. 
 
These two Catholics were beatified in 1987 by Pope John Paul II as two of the 85 Martyrs of England, Scotland and Wales.
Find out more about these men and what this 1585 legislation was all about in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:
https://youtu.be/93IK-VoDABY
 
Book recommendation: "God’s Traitors: Terror & Faith in Elizabethan England” by Jessie Childs.
 
Also on this day in Tudor history, 26th November 1533, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, married Mary Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, at Hampton Court Palace. They were both fourteen years old.It appears that the marriage, which was a political match rather than a love match, was the idea of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. You can find out more about the marriage and its context in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/BiUZPBM3wDA 

November 25 - A vicious man who saved an archbishop

On this day in Tudor history, 25th November 1545, lawyer, member of Parliament, diplomat and ecclesiastical administrator, Sir Thomas Legh, died. 
Legh was a faithful servant to King Henry VIII, but his work during the dissolution of the monasteries led to complaints against him and even rebellion.
 
He was a vicious man, known for his harsh treatment of monks, but he also played a key role in protecting Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1543 when his enemies tried to bring him down.
 
Let me give you a few facts about this Tudor man, Sir Thomas Legh...Also on this day in Tudor history, 25th November 1487,  Elizabeth of York, queen consort of Henry VII and mother of one-year-old Arthur Tudor, was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey. Find out more about her coronation, including what Elizabeth wore and who attended, plus a list of some of the interesting dishes served at her coronation banquet which included swan and seal, in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/FaW8MH35q90 

November 24 - John Knox, famous Scottish reformer and royal chaplain

On this day in Tudor history, 24th November 1572, John Knox, the Scottish clergyman, famous Reformer , royal chaplain, and founder of Presbyterianism, died at his home in Edinburgh as his second wife, Margaret, read aloud from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. 
 
John Knox is known for bringing the Protestant reformation to the church in Scotland and his controversial views about women rulers, but he was also chaplain to King Edward VI and had a very eventful life, being taken prisoner by the French and being forced into service on the galleys of their fleet at one point.
 
Find out more about John Knox's life and career 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/dRJTCsw8V5g
 
The Works of John Knox can be read online at Archive.org - https://archive.org/search.php?query=works%20of%20john%20knox 
July 20 - John Knox's attack on Mary I - https://youtu.be/K5BsnQ3WTwQ
 Also on this day in Tudor history, Saturday 24th November 1487, the coronation procession of Elizabeth of York, queen consort of King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch, took place in London.
Elizabeth of York's coronation was scheduled for the next day. She had become queen in January 1486, but her coronation had been postponed due to pregnancy and trouble with the Cornish rebels and Perkin Warbeck. Finally, Henry VII's wife and the mother of little Prince Arthur could be crowned queen. Find out all about her coronation procession, what Elizabeth wore, who was involved and what happened, in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/2NH0UdCYyB4