Free Republic

On this date in 1547, the Duke of Norfolk was to have been beheaded. But thanks to the previous day’s death of the corpulent 55-year-old King Henry VIII, the duke’s death warrant was never signed, and the condemned noble died in bed … seven years later. A force in the gore-soaked arena of English politics for two generations, Thomas Howard had steered two nieces into the monarch’s bed. Both girls had gone to the scaffold,* and the disgrace of the second, Catherine Howard, brought a collapse in the whole family’s fortunes. Thomas Howard’s son Henry was not as lucky as...

On this date in 1554, rebel leader Thomas Wyatt the Younger tied on his own blindfold and laid his head on the block, having declared that not “any other now in your durance [i.e., the Tower] was privy to my rising” That remark exculpated the Princess Elizabeth, who just days before had been ominously rowed to the Tower on suspicion of having known of or involved herself in Wyatt‘s abortive revolt. And Wyatt had had to do more than talk the talk to keep the future Queen Elizabeth I out of the executioner’s way. Sore afraid that Wyatt’s rebellion had...

...One of the most disputed stories of extreme age belongs to a 17th century man named Thomas Parr, who claimed to be 152 years old at the time of his death... Most of what historians know about the life of Tom Parr comes from John Taylor’s pamphlet, published the year of Parr’s death, “The old, old, very old man or the age and very long life of Thomas Parr.” Parr lived most of his life as a farm laborer in the county of Shropshire, and married his first wife when he was 80 years old... Parr, at some point, started...

Did Henry VIII suffer same brain injury as some NFL players? February 3, 2016 by Bill Hathaway Henry VIII may have suffered repeated traumatic brain injuries similar to those experienced by football players and others who receive repeated blows to the head, according to research by a Yale University expert in cognitive neurology. Traumatic brain injury explains the memory problems, explosive anger, inability to control impulses, headaches, insomnia—and maybe even impotence--that afflicted Henry during the decade before his death in 1547, according to a paper published online the week of Feb. 1."It is intriguing to think that modern European history...

Leicestershire's young Nine-Day Queen showed bravery and humilityShe was Leicestershire’s own monarch – and the very first reigning queen of England. But the tragic story of Lady Jane Grey is often overlooked by historians. Only now does a three-part TV series – the second part is tomorrow at 9pm on BBC4 – shed any new light on Jane. Born in Bradgate in October, 1537, Jane’s life was as short as it was tragic. Beautiful and intelligent, she was reluctantly proclaimed Queen of England in 1553, aged just 15. She reigned for just nine days, before being imprisoned in the Tower...

Edward VI (1537-1553), son of Henry VIII, was crowned king of England and Ireland in 1547 at the tender age of nine. Despite his youthfulness, and the brevity of his reign (he died prematurely in 1553 from an illness), Edward the VI was one of the most godly kings in history. He helped the cause of the Protestant Reformation, and enforced biblical civil law. Edward VI's coronation took place on February 28, 1547. During the coronation, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (who would become a martyr during the reign of Bloody Mary) delivered a powerful address—the kind that should be given to...