Coronation of King Richard III and Queen Anne. Their coronation was one of the best attended on record. It was celebrated at Westminster Hall, which was the traditional venue for coronation banquets from 1189 to 1821. The feast celebrating Richard and Anne’s coronation was attended by approx. 3,000 guests, no coronation banquet since has attracted as many guests.
Bibliography: “Westminster Hall: Coronation Banquets“, www.parliament.uk
Illustration: © Andrew Jamieson, http://www.jamiesongallery.com/ (used with permission)
Tags: Richard III
Comments Off on 6 JULY 1483
Marriage of Margaret of York (sister of Edward IV and Richard III) to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, she was his third wife. They had no children, but she acted as a protector of the Duchy after his death on 5 January 1477 for his daughter Mary, Duchess of Burgundy.
Bibliography: Christine Weightman, Margaret of York: The Diabolical Duchess. Amberley Publishing, Chalford, 2009. ISBN 978 1 84868 099 9 (paperback)
Tags: Family
Comments Off on 3 JULY 1468
William de la Pole and Alice Chaucer, later duke and duchess of Suffolk, were licenced to found an almshouse at Ewelme for thirteen poor men and two chaplains. The almshouse was called God’s House. The statutes of 1448 show that by then a grammar school was added. The almshouse as well as the school exist to this day.
Cloister of the almshouse at Ewelme (© Dorothea Preis)
Source: ODNB on Alice Chaucer, duchess of Suffolk
You can read more about God’s House on Dottie Tales.
Dorothea Preis
Tags: de la Pole, Oxfordshire
Comments Off on 3 JULY 1437
Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, his son Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and Edward Earl of March (son of the Duke of York, later Edward IV) return from Calais, where they had fled after the Battle of Ludford Bridge (12 October 1459) to invade England in June 1460. On 2 July they are in control of London, except for the Tower.
The illustration on the left shows Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, as depicted in the Rous Roll.
Tags: Edward IV, Nevilles
Comments Off on 2 JULY 1460
Death of Eleanor Talbot probably at East Hall, Kenninghall, Norfolk, buried in the Carmelite Priory Church, Norwich.
Bibliography: John Ashdown-Hill, Eleanor: The Secret Queen. The History Press, Stroud, 2009. ISBN 978 0 75244866 4,
Tags: Eleanor Talbot
Comments Off on 30 JUNE 1468
Death of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor (Henry VII), just two months after her son’s death on 21 April 1509. On 24 June 1509, she had still witnessed the coronation of her grandson, Henry VIII, and Katherine of Aragon.
Source: Michael K. Jones and Malcolm G. Underwood, ‘Beaufort, Margaret , countess of Richmond and Derby (1443–1509)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (online version)
Tags: Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort
Comments Off on 29 JUNE 1509
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is given Middleham, Sheriff Hutton and Penrith. All three had been key stronghold of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, before his rebellion against Edward IV and his death at the battle of Barnet.
Illustration: Middleham Castle (© D Preis)
Tags: Castles, Richard III
Comments Off on 29 JUNE 1471

Edward IV (stained glass at St Laurence, Ludlow)
Coronation of Edward IV
After winning the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross (2 February 1461), Edward, Earl of March, became King Edward IV on 4 March 1461. He defended his claim in the Battle of Towton (29 March 1461), which he won decisively. He then went on a progress of the northern counties and returned to London on 26 June 1461.
On 28 June 1461, Edward IV was crowned in a splendid ceremony in Westminster Abbey by Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. His younger brothers George and Richard were made Duke of Clarence and Duke of Gloucester respectively.
Edward IV’s coronation is described in detail in Michael D. Miller’s Wars of the Roses.
Tags: Edward IV, George of Clarence
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Birth of Henry (later Henry VIII) at Greenwich Palace, sixth child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York (daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville). He became heir to the throne after the death of his brother Arthur in 1502, and became king on his father’s death on 21 April 1509.
Illustration: Henry VIII, 1509, by an unknown artist. The Denver Art Museum.
Tags: Elizabeth of York, Henry Tudor, Henry VIII
Comments Off on 28 JUNE 1491
Richard declared rightful heir of the House of York by Parliament to become King Richard III. Edward V and all his siblings were declared illegitimate because their father Edward IV had been secretly married to Eleanor Talbot, when he married Elizabeth Woodville, also in secret.
Illustration: King Richard III (© Andrew Jamieson, http://jamiesongallery.com/)
Tags: Richard III
Comments Off on 26 JUNE 1483