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

On 2nd July 1515, the first free grammar school in England, Manchester Grammar, was endowed by Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter d. 1519. Oldham had spent time in the household of Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby, and his wife, Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. Lady Margaret was a strong promoter of education, founding two Cambridge colleges, and Oldham may well have been influenced by her and her Chaplain, Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester. Oldham was a reformer within the Church, and promoted the study of the classics and the ‘New Learning’ that sought to sweep away some of the superstitions and abuses of the late mediaeval church. He went on to found Corpus Christi College, Oxford, together with Bishop Fox. The cost of building of Manchester Grammar was £218 13s 5d.

On 1st July 1543, the Treaty of Greenwich between Scotland and England was signed. The signatories were Henry VIII, and the Earl of Arran as Regent for the baby Mary, Queen of Scots. The treaty was in two parts – the first was a peace treaty, following the continuing border warfare in which Mary’s father had been killed, and the second was a pledge that Mary would be married to Henry’s son, Edward, Prince of Wales. The English vision was for a Union of the Crowns, under Edward. However, Arran was not able to persuade the Estates of Scotland to ratify it, and the accord broke down, resulting in the Wars of the Rough Wooing. Read about the context of the treaty here

Image is of the Earl of Arran

On 30th June 1577 Frances de Vere, Countess of Surrey, died. She was the widow of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, the poet, who was the last person to be executed during the reign of Henry VIII. Frances, who was born around 1516, was the daughter of the Earl of Oxford. Frances and Surrey were married in 1532, but were considered too young to cohabit for a further three years. In due course, they had five children. Frances was one of the mourners at the funeral of Katharine of Aragon, at Peterborough Abbey. The couple appear to have been fond of each other, Surrey requesting the Council for permission for Frances to travel to France when he was there on military manoeuvres.