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Tudor Rivals: The Scorned Rose and England’s Precious Jewel

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Guest article by Anthony Ruggiero  The Tudor Dynasty of England, spanning from the late fifteenth century into the early seventeenth century, was a fascinating drama, filled with intrigue, lust and murder. The dynasty’s monarchs were its main characters whose relationships impacted the country socially, economically and politically. Such relationships included Queen Mary I and King Edward VI. Mary Tudor, the daughter of King Henry VIII and his first wife, ruled over [More]

Can We Give Mary Tudor a Break? (Guest Post)

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Guest post by Juliana Cummings She is known as one of the most evil women in history and is responsible for burning more protestants at stake than any other English Monarch.  There are alcoholic drinks and children’s sleepover games named after her, but in all fairness was Mary Tudor, the first Queen regnant, evil? Born on February 18, 1516, Princess Mary would be the only surviving child of Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. By the time Mary was bor [More]

To Prevent Us From Over-Running With Strangers

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Sir Thomas Wyatt is usually best known as the son of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Elder and Poet. Today, we look at the event that caused his death - Wyatt's Rebellion. You see, Wyatt thought having the Protestant Lady Jane Grey on the throne was best for England, but when that didn't last more than a week, his next battle was stopping Queen Mary from wedding Philip of Spain. Wyatt, along with others, worried that having the Queen wed a foreign prince would in turn make that prince [More]

The Life of Lady Jane Grey (Part Three)

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We ended Part Two of the series with the death of Edward VI on the 6th of July 1553. In this, the final article in the series, we will observe the short reign (13 days, not 9) of Queen Jane and discuss her execution. If you'd prefer to listen to me discuss the topic you can do so here: Heir to the Throne On the 21st of June 1553, the Letters Patent was signed by 102 noblemen, London aldermen, bishops, archbishops and councillors - this was pretty much every [More]

Elizabeth, Queen of England (Part Three)

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Show your support by becoming a patron! Become a Patron! Miss Part Two? Click Here to Read: Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England (Part Two) Listen to Part Two Here: Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England (Part Three) The last article in this series on Elizabeth was two weeks ago because of Christmas, and since then my research and writing has been at a minimum. As I discussed on Facebook I’ve been having a difficult time with this part of her life. The purpose of thi [More]

The Life of Jane Seymour – Third Wife of Henry VIII

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Described by Polydore Vergil as “A woman of the utmost charm both in appearance and character” and Sir John Russell as, “the fairest of all his wives”. Eustace Chapuys described Jane as “of middle stature and no great beauty”. Jane was of a natural sweet-nature, unlike her predecessor Anne Boleyn and had also been considered virtuous. Before you continue reading, if you'd prefer, you can listen to the podcast of this article instead - just click the [More]

A Kingdom in Crisis (Guest Post)

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A Kingdom In Crisis Guest article by Alan Freer It was mid-morning on Palm Sunday in the year of Our Lord 1554. A young woman of 20 sat in a barge at the Watergate of the Tower of London. Under this dark, forbidding, stone portal so many had passed to end their lives on Tower Green at the executioner's block. Her own mother had made the self-same journey some 18 years before. At first she refused to alight on the landing-stage but was informed by the Marquess of [More]

The Ladies Who Served: Mary Tudor, Queen of England (Part 2)

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Mary Tudor had many women and girls who served her over her four decades of life. There were the ladies who served in her household when she was a princess and then those who served her as queen of England. All of them played very important roles to ensure everything ran smoothly within her household This is the second part of the two-part series of "The Ladies Who Served: Mary Tudor, Queen of England". If you missed part one you can find it *here*. As always, I must [More]

The Ladies Who Served: Mary Tudor, Queen of England (Part 1)

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Mary Tudor, first queen regnant of England was not known (in her later years) to be a beautiful women, and from what I've read, neither were the ladies she surrounded herself with. It was common practice during the reign of Henry VIII to ensure that his queen consorts had only the most beautiful women around them. Near the end of Mary's life she definitely a sight - distended belly from whatever ailed her, skeletal frame, thinning hair and bad breath. That is the consensus [More]

The Relationship Between Mary and Elizabeth Tudor

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Princess Mary Tudor was the apple of her father's eye for many years prior Anne Boleyn returning to England. Freshly back from her duties in France, Anne was unlike most women and Henry VIII noticed. We don't know the exact date that Henry noticed Anne but once he did it changed the course of English history. After Katherine of Aragon's last unsuccessful pregnancy Henry began to consider that he would never have a male heir. He believed the fact that he had  married hi [More]

Interesting Life of Elizabeth Brooke, Lady Northampton

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As the daughter of George Brooke, 9th Baron of Cobham and Anne Bray, Elizabeth grew up familiar with court politics. Being born on 25 June 1526, during the reign of Henry VIII, she would have been around ten years old at the time of Anne Boleyn's execution in 1536. Being at an impressionable age this should have been a great example to Elizabeth of what not to do as a woman at Tudor court, or one would think. Maybe she didn't understand what was going on at the time. It is [More]

For They Deserve Death: Katherine and Mary

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In 1535, the King of England was married to Anne Boleyn and they had a daughter, Princess Elizabeth who was now heir to her father's throne. Elizabeth's half-sister, Mary was now considered illegitimate and was to be referred to as "Lady" Mary. As you'll notice from these letters written by Eustace Chapuys he still referred to her as "Princess" since he was their Spanish ally and believed she was the rightful princess and Katherine the rightful queen. In the first letter [More]

Portraits of a Queen: Mary I of England

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Mary Tudor was the daughter of Henry VIII and his wife Katherine of Aragon. She was born in 1516 and was their only surviving child. After many years of trying for more Katherine recognized that she was unable to have more children. This was about the time when Henry grew restless and brought Anne Boleyn into the life of his daughter and devoted wife. Mary's life would never be the same. She went from being her father's "Pearl of the Realm" and his Princess Mary, to being [More]

Elizabeth: To Honor Thy Father

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Honor Thy Father: After being proposed to by Thomas Seymour and rejecting his request, Elizabeth must have felt torn. It appears she would have accepted the proposal had it not been so soon after her father, Henry VIII's death. There was, of course, a required mourning period and Elizabeth intended on honoring her father properly. On the other-hand, Elizabeth's step-mother, Katherine Parr didn't appear to worry about honoring her late husband the way any queen consort was [More]

Queen Mary: Her Last Sickness

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Queen Mary's Sickness: 17 November 1558: This is taken from "Annals of Queen Elizabeth" by Sir John Hayward (1564-27 June 1627), found via public domain through National Archives. The last sickness of Queen Mary was long and hard, her body was tired, "and almost wasted, with the violence of her disease; her mind anguished with thoughts, no less strange for variety, then strong for the great importance they drew, whereof some (doubtless) were secret and singular." While [More]