Tudor History with Claire Ridgway

Did you know the English Reformation didn’t just reshape churches and doctrine… it quietly transformed Christmas itself? In today’s Tudor Christmas Advent episode, I explore how Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I each left their mark on the festive season - sometimes dramatically, sometimes subtly, and sometimes in ways we might not expect. What happened to the old medieval traditions?...

What did winter really feel like in Tudor England? Spoiler: nothing like the winter we know today. Hello, I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and in today’s Tudor Christmas Advent episode we’re stepping into a world of bone-deep cold, frozen rivers, and incredible resilience, the world of Tudor winter during the Little Ice Age. Between the 14th and 19th centuries, Europe and North America end...

Step into the winter stillness of Hever Castle with me, the beloved home of the Boleyn family, and a place that witnessed far more than festive cheer. In today’s Tudor Christmas Advent episode, I’m sharing Hever as you may never have seen it: dressed in its glowing Christmas finery and wrapped in the quiet magic of midwinter. But Hever is more than beautiful… it is the backdrop to a moment Dr Owen...

Today we’re stepping into one of the most joyful parts of a Tudor Christmas - the music. Whether your festive soundtrack is Michael Bublé or Bing Crosby, Tudor England had its own musical traditions… and many of their carols are far older than you might expect. In this episode, we explore: - How music shaped Tudor Christmas celebrations - Which carols the Tudors actually knew - Why carols were ori...

Today we’re stepping into one of the most colourful, energetic, and wonderfully noisy traditions of the Tudor festive season, Morris dancing. You might picture modern dancers with bells and handkerchiefs on a village green… but in Tudor England, Morris dancing was bolder, brighter, and far more theatrical. In this video, we’ll explore: - What Morris dancing really looked like in the 15th and 16th...

Yule Logs, Twelfth Night Cakes & the Lord of Misrule. Step into a Tudor Christmas with me! I’m historian Claire Ridgway, and today’s Advent episode looks at the real Yuletide customs of Tudor England, from the dramatic arrival of the Yule log to the playful misrule of Twelfth Night. Why did Tudor households bring home an enormous log on Christmas Eve? What role did a humble bean play in choosi...

The Festive Drinks That Kept Henry VIII’s Court Merry   Step into a warm Tudor hall, sit beside the glowing Yule log, and discover the festive drinks that kept Henry VIII’s England merry throughout the cold, dark days of winter. I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and for today’s instalment of my Tudor Christmas Advent series, we’re exploring the wonderful world of Tudor winter warmers, from...

Dragons that spat fire. Masked dancers sweeping through palace halls. Henry VIII himself turning up in disguise… Welcome to Tudor Twelfth Night, the most spectacular, theatrical, and joyfully chaotic night of the entire Christmas season. I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and for Day 8 of my Tudor Christmas Advent series, we’re stepping into the dazzling world of masques, mumming, disguising...

Forget fairy lights and tinsel, Tudor Christmas decorations were deeply symbolic, richly traditional, and filled with myth and meaning. Hello, I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and welcome to Day 7 of my Tudor Christmas Advent series! Today, we’re stepping inside the Tudor home to discover how people really decorated for Christmas. In Tudor England, there were no Christmas trees, no early D...

Welcome to Day 6 of my Tudor Christmas Advent series! Today we’re diving into one of the most enchanting feast days of the Tudor calendar, St Nicholas’s Day, and uncovering how this 4th-century bishop eventually became the Santa Claus we know today. We’ll explore: The real St Nicholas of Myra, miracle worker and protector of children The extraordinary Boy Bishop tradition, where a child led church...

Did you know the Tudors didn’t end Christmas on 25th December… they started it? I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and in today’s episode of my Tudor Christmas Advent series, we’re walking through the true Twelve Days of Christmas,  a world of church services, feasts, fasting, wine, charity, misrule, and community traditions that modern Christmas barely resembles. In this video, you’ll learn...

What did Tudor families do at Christmas once the feasting slowed, the music quietened, and the Yule log glowed on the hearth? They played games, and some of them are still incredibly fun today. Welcome to Day 4 of my Tudor Christmas Advent series! I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and today we’re stepping into the warm, bustling world of Tudor fireside entertainment. From nobles in great ha...

Did you know the Tudors didn’t give gifts at Christmas? For them, New Year’s Day was the most political, strategic, and nerve-wracking day of the entire festive season; a glittering ritual where loyalty was displayed, and favour was won (or lost). Welcome to Day 3 of my Tudor Christmas Advent series. I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and today we’re stepping inside the astonishing world of...

Welcome to Day 2 of my Tudor Christmas Advent series! Today, we’re stepping into the smoky, bustling, gloriously extravagant royal kitchens of Henry VIII to uncover the unforgettable dishes served at a Tudor Christmas feast. While Advent was a month of fasting and restraint, everything changed the moment Midnight Mass ended on Christmas Day. And nobody feasted with more splendour — or spent more m...

Most of us think Advent means calendars, chocolate, and switching on the Christmas playlist… But for our medieval and Tudor ancestors, Advent meant something completely different. Welcome to Day 1 of my Tudor Christmas Advent series! Today we’re stepping into the medieval and Tudor world to explore what Advent really meant, and how it prepared people for the true Christmas feast that didn’t begin...

On this day in Tudor history, 30 November 1554, England did something astonishing: Parliament itself asked to be forgiven for the kingdom’s break from Rome. This was the crucial first step toward the full reconciliation I covered in my 12 November 1555 video… but today was where it truly began. In this episode, I explore: ✦ Why England couldn’t simply “return” to Rome — it had to be done legally a...

Who was Edward VI? To many, he’s the pale, serious boy in a fur-trimmed coat, a footnote between Henry VIII and Mary I. But in reality, Edward’s short reign reshaped England dramatically. In A Beginner’s Guide to Edward VI, I explore: - His sheltered childhood and intense education - The power struggle between Edward Seymour and John Dudley - The sweeping Protestant reforms that changed England’s...

On this day in Tudor history, 28 November 1489, a princess was born at Westminster Palace whose life would be shaped by diplomacy, danger, and dynastic destiny. Her name was Margaret Tudor: daughter of Henry VII, sister of Henry VIII, Queen of Scots… and the woman whose descendants would one day unite the crowns of England and Scotland. Sent to Scotland at just thirteen, Margaret became queen cons...

On this day in Tudor history, 27 November 1556, Henry Parker, 10th Baron Morley, died quietly at his estate in Essex. He was a nobleman, diplomat, scholar… and the father of the famous (and infamous) Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford. Morley’s life spanned the rise of the Tudor dynasty, and he moved through it with skill: from a childhood in Lady Margaret Beaufort’s household, to service under Henry VIII...

Not every Tudor courtier met a grisly end... Some outlived the danger, and shaped history doing so. On this day in 1542, Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex, died quietly after a life of high-stakes politics, military glory, and fierce loyalty to Henry VIII. From disgraced heir to trusted royal insider, Radcliffe navigated the Reformation, royal marriages, rebellions, and thrived. Join me for a f...

On this day in history, 25 November 1467, Thomas Dacre was born; a man who rose from the turbulent Anglo-Scottish border to become one of Tudor England’s most influential northern magnates. Soldier, strategist, landowner, and power-broker… his story is far richer than the brief mentions he usually gets in the history books. From a dramatic marriage to a pivotal role in one of Henry VIII’s greatest...

On this day in Tudor history, 24 November 1542, England and Scotland met in one of the most chaotic and consequential clashes of the 16th century, the Battle of Solway Moss. I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and today I’m taking you to the Anglo-Scottish border to explore how a feud between Henry VIII and his nephew James V of Scotland erupted into disaster… and helped shape the future of b...

We all think we know Henry VIII. A huge man in cloth of gold, hands on hips, staring down from a Holbein portrait. Six wives. Two beheaded. Monasteries destroyed. Rome defied. But the real Henry is far more complex — and far more frightening. In this Beginner’s Guide to Henry VIII, I take you from his birth in 1491 to his death in 1547, exploring the rise of a charming Renaissance prince… and the...

In 1921, builders in the quiet Essex village of St Osyth unearthed a chilling sight: Two female skeletons. Buried deliberately. With iron rivets hammered into their knees and elbows - a brutal, centuries-old method used to stop a witch from rising from the grave. For a hundred years, villagers have whispered the same names: Ursula Kemp. Elizabeth Bennet. Two women hanged for witchcraft in 1582. Bu...

On this day in Tudor history, 21st November 1558, a devoted servant of both Queen Mary I and her husband, Philip of Spain, died tragically young. His name was James Bassett. I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and in today’s video, I uncover the remarkable story of this scholar, exile, courtier, diplomat, and loyal servant of a queen and a king. Born around 1526, Bassett was connected to the...