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

On 28th February 1518, Claude de Valois, Queen of France, gave birth to her first son, named François for his father. As the first born son, he had the title of Dauphin. He was betrothed whilst no more than a few months old to Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon, but the betrothal came to nothing. In 1524, Dauphin Francois became Duke of Brittany on the death of his mother. In 1526, he was sent, together with his brother, Henri, as a hostage to Spain, replacing his father, who had been captured at the Battle of Pavia. Dauphin François eventually returned to his homeland in 1529. He died, probably of tuberculosis, in 1536, although poison was rumoured. He was much mourned by his father, and his sister, Madeleine, Queen of Scots.

Dauphin Francois by Jean Clouet, in Koninklijk Museum, Antwerp.

On 14th February 1539, Sir Nicholas Carew, a former friend of Henry VIII, was tried and found guilty of treason. Carew, who had been in Henry’s household since he was about six, and Henry around 11 years old, had been a noted jouster in his youth. Although a cousin of Anne Boleyn, he and she were not on good terms, and, like many of Henry’s older friends, he supported Katharine of Aragon. When Henry appeared to be tiring of Anne, Carew promoted his other cousin, Jane Seymour’s, interests. In 1538, he was accused of involvement in the Exeter Conspiracy, resulting in the treason trial. He was executed on 3rd March 1539.

Picture shows him painted by Holbein

On 13th February 1542 Queen Katheryn Howard and Jane, Lady Rochford, were executed at the Tower of London. Katheryn, who was the youngest of Henry’s wives, probably only about twenty when he married her (although she may have been younger), was the niece of the Duke of Norfolk, and had been maid-of-honour to her predecessor, Anne of Cleves. For some reason that passes all understanding, Katheryn was indulging in a relationship, whether consummated or not, with a gentlemen of Henry’s Privy Chamber, Thomas Culpepper. During the progress the King and Queen made to York, Katheryn had had Culpepper smuggled into her room, aided and abetted by her Lady-in-Waiting, Jane, Lady Rochford. Lady Rochford was the widow of George Boleyn, brother of Queen Anne. One of the places Katheryn and Culpepper secretly met, was Gainsborough Hall

Gainsborough Old Hall © Tudor Times 2016