Tudor Times is the online repository for all things Tudor and Stewart (1485–1625)

On 30th March 1558 Queen Mary I made her will. It opens with the long roll call of her titles 'Queen of England, Spain, France, both Sicilies, Jerusalem and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Burgundy, Milan and Brabant, Countess of Hapsburg, Flanders and Tyrol.' Mary believed herself to be pregnant, and in the document she names the 'frewte' of her body as heir to her Imperial Crown of England and Ireland, her title to France, and all the dependencies thereof together with all her other honours, castles, fortresses, manors, lands, tenements, prerogatives and hereditaments. She left large sums for charitable bequests, including the hospital at the Savoy founded by her grandfather, Henry VII, with the additional request that old or indigent soldiers be cared for there. She did not specify a preferred burial location, only asked that the body of her mother, Katharine of Aragon, be moved to join her. In the event, the Queen was not pregnant, and her heir was her half-sister Elizabeth. None of Mary’s bequests were carried out. Read our in-depth feature about Mary’s life here.

Picture of Mary I by Hans Eworth

29th March 1461 was the date of the Battle of Towton. It was Palm Sunday, yet, despite the custom of the time not to fight on a holy day, the battle was joined. It is reputed to be the bloodiest battle ever fought in England, taking place in driving wind and snow. The Lancastrian forces bore the brunt of the weather, the wind blowing straight into them, blinding them with sleet and carrying the Yorkist arrows further than the usual range. Edward of York won the battle and was crowned Edward IV the following June, whilst the Lancastrians fled into exile. More on the Wars of the Roses here

28th March 1624 was the date of death of Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset. He was young, only 35, but it is unlikely that he was much mourned by his widow, Lady Anne Clifford. Lady Anne, heiress of the Earl of Cumberland, fought a bitter battle to inherit her father’s barony, which was heritable by women and as much of his lands as were not entailed to the earldom. She and Dorset had been married in around 1611, and were based at his family home of Knole, Kent. Rather than supporting his wife, Dorset gambled, philandered and, in a final insult, compromised Lady Anne’s legal claims for cash to pay his gambling debts. He was survived only by daughters, so his earldom, which was entailed on heirs male, passed to his brother. Lady Anne went on to marry the Earl of Pembroke, and lived well into the reign of Charles II.