A brief introduction to crime and punishment in Merry Ol' England.

A brief introduction to the nineteen men, in no particular order of seniority, who formed Henry VIII’s Privy Council in 1540.

August 19th, 1588: On this day Queen Elizabeth I of England delivered her famous speech to her assembled land forces at Tilbury, Essex.

July 29th, 1588: On this day in 1588, the fearsome Spanish Armada is sighted off England’s southern coast.

February 12th , 1554 : England's forgotten queen, Lady Jane Grey, is executed for treason. In most popular histories, and as taught in probably all UK schools, succession of British monarchs in the early modern period goes Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary 1 and Elizabeth I. There is, however, a notable absence in this list of Tudor kings and queens, namely Lady Jane Grey. Admittedly the title 'lady' does not make her regal connection immediately obvious, but neither wou

June 29th , 1613 : The Globe Theatre burns to the ground. The first recorded performance of William Shakespeare’s “ All is True ” took place at The Globe Theatre on the banks of the River Thames in June 1613. The play, now more commonly called “ Henry VIII ” , is not one of Shakespeare’s best known and may have disappeared into obscurity if it had not been for the disaster that befell the theatre. The production, which focuses on Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, was

May 22nd , 1455 : The Wars of the Roses began. The Wars of the Roses began not on a battlefield but with a bloody clash fought on foot through the streets of St Albans which, at the time, was a modest market town that lies 20 miles north-west of London. Unrest in England had been building since Henry VI inherited the throne in 1422 when aged about nine months. During his long minority, the country was ruled by a council of nobles between whom the bitterest rivalries arose. He

February 4th , 1555 : John Rogers becomes the first Protestant martyr to be burnt at the stake in Queen Mary I’s persecutions. Formerly an orthodox Catholic priest, Rogers had converted to Protestantism after an encounter in Antwerp with William Tyndale. Rogers was born c. AD 1500 in Aston, Staffordshire. Having graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1526, six year later (1532) he was made rector of Holy Trinity, Queenhithe, London. In 1534 Rogers became a chaplain to

The ‘Scold’s Bridle’, sometimes known as ‘The Gossip’s Bridle’, was a punishment used officially and unofficially in England to discipline people, almost invariably women, who gossiped or spoke too freely.

On This Day, February 8th, 1587, after 19 years of imprisonment, Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle.

On This day, January 7th, 1536: Catherine of Aragon, first of Henry VIII’s six wives, dies in Kimbolton Castle at the age of 50.

On This Day, December 17th, 1538, Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Paul III.

On This Day, December 16th, 1485, Catharine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII, was born in Alcala de Henares, Spain.

Somehow we got talking about ghosts a couple of days ago. We both were reminded of working at Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire and how it claimed to be one of the most haunted places in the UK. We both seemed to recall that Mary, Queen of Scots was one of those said to roam the grounds, but were we remembering correctly? Not only that, but wasn't Mary executed at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire? Why would she be haunting Tutbury some 75 miles distant? We had to check.

On This Day (December 1st, 1581), having been convicted of high treason, English Jesuit priest Edmund Campion was drawn through the streets of London, hanged and then quartered at Tyburn.

Tastes Of History introduced visitors to Berkhamsted Castle to the food of the "Merrie Ol' England" of the Tudors. Here are the recipes.

Recipes for a medieval feast.

Tastes Of History was delighted to be part of the Bosworth Medieval Festival in 2019 at the brilliant Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre. Here, then, are the recipes visitors could sample.

In an earlier post ("Daily Meals in Tudor England") mention was made of "Collop Monday", the day before Shrove Tuesday, in connection with the origins of breakfast.  More recently we produced "Scotch Collops" for English Heritage's "Elizabethan Pageant" at Kenilworth Castle, but what is a "collop"?

In 1563, Elizabeth I granted Kenilworth Castle to her childhood friend and favourite, Robert Dudley, the soon to be Earl of Leicester.  She visited four times during "progresses" through her realm. For English Heritage we recreated recipes fit for an Elizabethan pageant.