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

On 27th January 1606 the trial of Guy Fawkes and seven other men, for attempting to blow up the Parliament House, began. The Attorney General, Sir Edward Coke, prosecuted the case, and spectators paid up to 10s for admittance into Westminster Hall, where the trial took place. There was never any doubt as to the verdict – all eight were condemned and executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered. The background to the plot is explained in the masterly ‘God’s Traitors’ by Jessie Childs – read our review here.

Picture of the conspirators is by Crispijn van de Passe.

On 26th January 1568 Lady Katherine Grey, who claimed to be the wife of Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, died, aged only 27. Lady Katherine, who was the sister of Lady Jane Grey, and was, according to the will of Henry VIII, the heir to Elizabeth’s throne, had been under arrest for seven years. She had committed the crime of marrying without royal permission, and had been imprisoned first in the Tower of London, and later in a succession of country houses. The Queen had had the marriage declared void, and showed no sign of forgiving her cousin. Read more about Lady Katherine’s sad life here.

The picture is believed to be Lady Katherine with her second son, Thomas, by Levina Teerlinc.

The 25th January 1533 is the date most historians agree was the wedding day of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. Hall's Chronicle suggests that it had already taken place on St Erkenwald’s Day, 14th November 1532. In support of this latter theory might be the fact that Arthur married Katharine of Aragon on St Erkenwald’s Day, so Henry might have been making a point by choosing it… Henry and Anne had had a honeymoon before the wedding, when she accompanied him on a trip to France, where she danced with the French King, François I.

Picture shows the initials H & A in the Anne Boleyn Gateway at Hampton Court © Tudor Times Ltd 2016