Henry Tudor (portrait at National Portrait Gallery, London)

Birth of Henry Tudor

On 28 January 1457, Henry Tudor was born at Pembroke Castle in Wales, the son of Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, and Margaret Beaufort.  Edmund Tudor was the son of Owen Tudor and Henry V’s widow Catherine of Valois.  Margaret Beaufort, was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt (third son of Edward III) and his third wife and previous mistress Katherine Swynford.   The children of this relationship, the Beauforts, were disinherited by Letters Patent of King Henry IV from any claim to the throne. After defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485, he took the throne as Henry VII.

Read the History Today article on ‘The Birth of Henry Tudor”.

Tags: Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort

15th century picture of Charlemagne

Death of Charlemagne – the end of the first and most powerful Holy Roman Emperor

Charlemagne (Karolus Magnus, Karl der Große) died on 28 January 814 at Aachen.  He is buried in Aachen Cathedral.

Karl, from the Carolingian family,  was born on 2 April, either in 747 or 748.  Nor do we know where he was born.  Aachen and Liège are possible, but other towns have also been suggested.  His parents were Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon (history has given her the rather unflattering nickname ‘Bertrada Boadfoot’).

After Pepin’s death on 24 September 768, the realm was divided between his two sons, Karl and Karlmann (Carlman).  The relationship between the two kings did not go smoothly.  Then Karlmann suddenly died on 4 December 771 of natural causes.  Karl seized the whole realm, which he extended during a number of wars.

On 25 December 800, he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in Saint Peter’s Basilika in Rome. This was the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806.

Traditionally the story went that the Pope unexpectedly put the crown on Karl’s head, while he was praying.  However, modern research has shown that this romantic version is highly unlikely.  As the position of the Pope was fairly weak, it was probably Karl himself who sought the honour.

Under Karl, the Carolingian Empire was at its largest and most powerful position (the extent is shown on this map on Wikimedia Commons).

After his death, Karl was buried in Aachen Cathedral.  He was succeeded by his only surviving son Ludwig (Louis).

More information on Charlemagne from Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Other articles of interest:

Peter Munz, ‘The Imperial Coronation of Charlemagne’, History Today, Volume 9, Issue 7, 1959.  URL:  http://www.historytoday.com/peter-munz/imperial-coronation-charlemagne  [last accessed 2 Jan. 2020]

Kim Rendfeld, ‘Bertrada: Queen Mother and Diplomat’, Kim Rendfeld – Outtakes from a Historical Novelist (21 May 2013).  URL:  http://kimrendfeld.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/bertrada-queen-mother-and-diplomat/  [last accessed 2 Jan. 2020]

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Charlemagne, Germany

Ruins of Sopwell Nunnery, St Albans (© D Preis)

Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

On 25 January 1533, Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn in secret, possibly at Sopwell Nunnery in St Albans. This is suggested among others on the blog The Tangible Past.

Henry was very much attracted by Anne’s charm and wit.  To be able to marry her, Henry wanted to divorce his first wife Katherine of Aragon, to whom he had been married for 24 years.  This meant he also had to break with the Church of Rome, who did not accept his reasons for a divorce.  Their marriage was only annulled on 23 May 1533, when Thomas Cranmer declared it null and void.  On 28 May 1533 he declared the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn valid.

However, as Anne did not produce the looked-for male heir, after approx. 1000 days of marriage, Henry ordered Anne’s execution.

You might find Suzannah Lipscomb‘s article on this marriage of interest.

Tags: Henry VIII, St Albans

Effigies of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault

Marriage of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault

On 24 January 1328, Edward III married Philippa of Hainault at York Minster.  Their marriage lasted 40 years until Philippa died in 1369.  They had twelve children and through them were the ancestors of both the House of York and the House of Lancaster as well as the Tudor line.

Find out more about this marriage from Anne O’Brien’s blog ‘Royal newly-weds 14th century style‘.

Tags: Edward III

Westminster Hall in the early 19th century

Meeting of Richard’s only Parliament

The meeting of Richard III’s only parliament at Westminster in the presence of the King began on 23 January 1484.  It had been summoned on 9 December 1483 and would be dissolved on 20 February 1484.

Attending were 37 Lords and 10 Judges (including the Attorney General) as well as 296 members of the Commons. It was opened by a speech from Chancellor Russel.  This parliament ratified Richard’s title by Titulus Regius.  The rebels from the October 1483 rebellion were attainted.

Of interest are the 15 public statutes of this parliament, which included ending benevolences, protecting land purchase rights, reforming the justice system, preventing commercial dishonesty in the cloth trade, protecting English merchants, and preventing fraudulent collection practices.  However, while trying to limit the activities of foreign merchants in England, the statutes included a proviso, exempting all merchants and craftsmen concerned in the book trade from the scope of the Act.

Richard’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Catesby was chosen to be the speaker of the Commons; and the receiver of petitions was Thomas Barowe, who had been in Richard’s service since at least 1471, who was also Master of the Rolls.

References:

Christopher Puplick, ‘He Contents the People Wherever He Goes:  Richard III, his parliament and government’, The Chronicles of the White Rose:  Journal of the New South Wales Branch of the Richard III Society, Vol.2 (2008/09), pp.14-32 (last accessed online 2 Jan. 2020)

Anne Sutton, ‘Richards III’s Parliament’, Richard III Society.  URL:  http://www.richardiii.net/2_3_0_riii_leadership.php#parliament (last accessed 2 Jan. 2020)

Susan L. Troxell, ‘The Tenth Coin: Richard III’s Parliament and Public Statutes’, Ricardian Register, Vol.44, No.4 (December 2013), pp.8-16 (last accessed online 2 Jan. 2020)

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Parliament, Richard III

Marriage of Richard of Shrewsbury and Anne Mowbray, by James Northcote

Marriage of Richard of Shrewsbury and Anne Mowbray

On 15 January 1478, Edward IV’s younger son Richard of Shrewsbury was married to Anne Mowbray, the only child of John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk (died 17 January 1476) and Elizabeth Talbot (sister of Eleanor Talbot).  The wedding took place in St. Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster.  The bride was 5 years old, the groom 4.  She died on 19 November 1481. Her heirs would normally have been her cousins William, Viscount Berkeley, and John, Lord Howard, but by an act of Parliament in January 1483 the rights were given to her husband Richard, with reversion to his descendants, and, failing that, to the descendants of his father Edward IV.

Tags: Edward IV, John Howard, Princes

Anne of York and Thomas St Leger (Brass at St George’s Chapel, Windsor)

Death of Anne of York

On 14 January 1476, Anne of York, duchess of Exeter, died soon after childbirth .  She was born on 10 August 1439, the second child and eldest surviving daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville, and a sister of Edward IV and Richard III.

She was first married to Henry Holland, 2nd duke of Exeter, in January 1446, they were divorced on 12 November 1472.

She later married Thomas St Leger and they had a daughter, also Anne. Michael Ibsen, whose DNA was used to determine whether the remains found in Leicester in 2012 were those of Richard III, is descended in an all-female-line from this daughter Anne.

Reference:  Michael Hicks, ‘Holland, Henry, second duke of Exeter (1430–1475)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.  (accessed online:  27 December 2014)

Tags: Richard III

Anne of Cleves by Hans Holbein the Younger

Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves

On 6 January 1540, Henry VIII married Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg.

Certainly not one of the happiest marriages in history and it was over in six months time.  Henry – of course – blamed Anne entirely as being too unattractive.  Though I doubt that by that stage she found him very attractive either.  However, she managed to come out of the divorce fairly well provided and with the title of the “King’s Sister”.

My interest in Anne was re-kindled after reading Mavis Cheek’s Amenable Women (this review was also published in the Ricardian Bulletin, June 2010, pp. 28-29).

More information:

Antonia Fraser, The Six Wives of Henry VIII.  Phoenix Paperback, UK, 2003.  ISBN 978-1-8421-2633-2 (pbk)

Elizabeth Norton, Anne of Cleves:  Henry VIII’s Discarded Bride.   Amberley Publishing, UK, 2009.  ISBN 978-1-84868-329-7

Mary Saaler, Anne of Cleves:  Fourth Wife of Henry VIII.  The Rubicon Press, UK, 1995.  ISBN 0-948695-41-2

Retha M. Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves:  Royal protocol in early modern England.  Cambridge University Press, UK,  2000.  ISBN 0-521-77037-8

Online:

Retha M. Warnicke, ‘Anne [Anne of Cleves] (1515–1557)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [last accessed online 2 Jan. 2020]

Various articles on The Anne Boleyn Files, URL:  http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/

Fiction:

Margaret Campbell Barnes, My Lady of Cleves.  (Originally published in 1946, but there are various later editions)

Mavis Cheek, Amenable Women.  Faber and Faber, UK, 2008.  ISBN 978-0-571-23953-5

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII

Charles the Bold, by Rogier van der Weyden

Death of Charles the Bold

On 5 January 1477, Charles the Bold of Burgundy died at a battle while laying siege to Nancy in Lorraine.  His heiress was his daughter Mary from his second marriage to Isabella of Bourbon.  After her death in 1465, he married on 3 July 1468  Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV and Richard III. Margaret would after his death become Mary’s most constant advisor.

More on Charles the Bold on Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Tags: Battles, Margaret of Burgundy