Betrayal, Murder and Execution - well it wouldn't be history without them would it?!
23rd March 2024 History Travel Newsletter
Hello Fellow History Lover!
This week:
Elizabeth I’s final days
The betrayal and murder of an Anglo Saxon boy king, Edward the Martyr
Archbishop Cranmer carried out his final, and gruesome, promise
Last chance to get tickets for The Stuarts 2024 Online History Festival
The Stuarts Online History Festival is underway…
…and you can still join and see all of the talks. Click below for a little preview.
Tickets - on sale until 5pm UK time Sunday 24th March
Get your tickets - Click Here for tickets. £21.50 (£18 for members of my Patreon, ‘British History’). All talks are available until the 31st May. Tickets are on sale until 5pm Sunday 24th March.
Anniversaries this week in history
Elizabeth I dies on 24th March 1603.
The final days of Elizabeth I, was the focus of this week’s Tea Time History Chat Live. The anniversary of her death, at Richmond Palace (the same place her grandfather died) is this weekend. At the time of her death she had still not written a Will or named a successor. Where as her father was obsessed with the succession, Elizabeth avoided the topic as far as possible, such was her fear of rebellion. Her fears were not without merit. As a Protestant queen in a Catholic Europe which tried to claim not to recognise her as the rightful queen, there were plots to overthrow her. When Mary, Queen of Scots entered English soil in 1567, the threat she posed as a catholic queen of legitimate Tudor blood became a constant cause for concern for Elizabeth and her council. I explore the repercussions of this for all catholics in England in my talk for The Stuarts Online History Festival on The Gunpowder Plot. For it was the threats, both perceived and real, which led to sanctions, further distrust and consequently more dissatisfaction amongst Elizabeth’s catholic subjects. This cycle continued with deadly consequences.
I published a blog on The Final Days of Elizabeth I, if you would like to read it please go over to Patreon by clicking here.
16 year old, King Edward the Martyr was killed at the gates of Corfe Castle on 18th March 978
On 18th March 978 Edward made a visit to his half brother who lived at Corfe Castle, Dorset. It is unknown why Edward decided to visit his half brother or what kind of relationship these boys had with one another. However, instead of a guarded welcome and accompaniment into the castle, whilst waiting at the gates and being offered a cup of mead on that dark evening, he was pulled from his horse and brutally stabbed.
You can hear more about this story, Elizabeth I’s final days and the following story on Archbishop Cranmer’s execution, by watching or listening to this week’s Tea Time History Chat Live.
21st March 1556 - England’s first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer was burned at the stake as a heretic, in Oxford.
Mary I of England was, famously, a fervent Catholic, who would gain the sobriquet “Bloody Mary” for the number of so-called heretics put to death during her reign. One of the most notable was Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. He had been personally involved in the destruction of her parent’s marriage and her mother’s banishment from court after which Mary was no longer permitted to see her. Katherine of Aragon, a devoted and hands on mother, had died in misery and Mary had the opportunity to make Cranmer pay for his actions!
Cranmer was arrested, ostensibly for supporting Jane Grey’s accession to the throne, which the Marian government interpreted as high treason. Everything was done break Cranmer’s spirit and body, and it worked. Cranmer signed five documents asserting that whatever was decreed by monarch and Parliament must be followed by all Englishmen. As this, of course, must include Mary and the Marian government so it was, by association, seen as a recantation of his Protestant faith. His sixth recantation, in broken spirit, was a direct and whole renouncement of his beliefs.
The authorities allowed Cranmer a final speech, thinking he would use it to publicly recant his Protestant beliefs. What he actually expressed was regret for not being true to his beliefs when in fear for his life. He promised that his right hand, that which had signed the documents, would be the first to be burned. Accounts of his execution confirm that he thrust his right hand into the fire, as he had said he would.
You can watch this episode on the British History Youtube channel
I hope you’ll catch me live this week as I’ll be talking about the badges and mottoes of Henry VIII’s six wives! Join me on Wednesday 27th at 3pm (UK time) on Facebook, Youtube and Instagram. Don’t worry if you can’t make it live because you can always catch up on those channels or on the podcast. If you’re subscribed to me here you will receive a notification when a new podcast is available.
Have a great week!
Philippa