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

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

On 12th February 1554, Lady Jane Grey, aged about sixteen, was executed in the Tower of London. She had been tried for treason and condemned the previous year, following the coup which attempted to put her on the throne in July 1553. Jane was a brave and principled girl – modern scholarship suggests she was less of a passive victim than she has been portrayed in the past, but she was not responsible for the original coup. Originally, Queen Mary had had no intention of having the death sentence carried out on her young cousin, but a second rebellion, in which Jane’s father was prominent, suggested that whilst Jane lived she would be the focus of plots. Jane died firm in her Protestant faith.

There is no definite likeness of Jane. The picture, © Surrey History Centre, shows a rare document signed by Jane the Queen.

On 11th February 1503, Elizabeth of York, Queen of England, died in the Tower of London. It was her 37th birthday. The daughter she had born nine days earlier also died. Elizabeth was a pivotal figure in the resolution of the Wars of the Roses. As the daughter of Edward IV, she commanded the loyalty of those Yorkists who had been unhappy with the deposition of her brothers and her marriage to Henry VII brought York and Lancaster together. Elizabeth inherited the good looks of her famously attractive parents but also the Yorkist tendency to plumpness. She bore seven children in total, but only three lived beyond 15. Her husband and children mourned her death sincerely. She is buried in Westminster Abbey in the fabulous tomb carved by the Italian sculptor, Torregiano.