Tudor History with Claire Ridgway

The Bizarre Death of Sir Marmaduke Constable   On this day in Tudor history, 20th November 1518, a seasoned soldier and loyal servant of four Tudor kings met one of the strangest deaths ever recorded: Sir Marmaduke Constable supposedly died after swallowing a frog or toad that had slipped into his drinking water. Yes… you read that correctly. I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and in today’s...

On this day in history, 19th November 1604, one of the most gifted churchmen of Elizabethan and early Jacobean England died - Richard Edes, Dean of Worcester, royal chaplain, poet, playwright, and one of the scholars appointed to help translate the King James Bible. Edes was only fifty years old when he died, and his death came just months after the great translation project began. He never lived...

The Ridolfi Plot Explained He wasn’t a soldier, a spy, or a nobleman, but a Florentine banker who nearly toppled a queen.    In 1571, Roberto di Ridolfi masterminded one of the boldest conspiracies of Elizabeth I’s reign, a plan backed by the Pope, Philip II of Spain, and Mary, Queen of Scots. His goal? To invade England, overthrow Elizabeth, and restore Catholic rule, all funded through secret ba...

How England Celebrated Accession Day Like a National Holiday   Every year on 17th November, England erupted in bells, bonfires, and jousting tournaments, all to celebrate Queen Elizabeth I’s Accession Day. It wasn’t just royal pageantry,  it was faith, theatre, and politics rolled into one. Knights broke lances before the Queen, the people burned effigies of the Pope, and Elizabeth became “England...

A thin, cautious man stepped onto a Welsh beach in August 1485 with fewer soldiers than his enemy, and more to lose than anyone in England. Three weeks later, he had killed a king, married his rival’s niece, and founded a dynasty that still shapes Britain. He was Henry VII - quiet, calculating, and absolutely not boring. In this beginner’s guide, I explore how the first Tudor monarch ended the War...

A jealous husband. A royal favourite. A queen held at gunpoint. On the night of 9 March 1566, David Rizzio, secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, was dragged from her side and stabbed over fifty times in Holyrood Palace, while the pregnant queen was forced to watch. But what really lay behind this shocking act? Was Rizzio Mary’s lover? Or was her husband, Lord Darnley, jealous for a different reason?...

The Martyrdom of Hugh Faringdon   On this day in Tudor history, 14 November 1539, a man of God was executed at the gate of his own abbey. His name was Hugh Faringdon, Abbot of Reading, a scholar, royal chaplain, and faithful servant of the Church, condemned as a traitor and hanged like a criminal.   Join me as I tell the powerful and tragic story of Abbot Hugh Faringdon, who tried to balance loyal...

On this day in Tudor history, 13 November 1537, England mourned its queen. Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife and the mother of Prince Edward, was laid to rest in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Her death twelve days after childbirth plunged court and kingdom into grief. Join me as I retrace Jane’s final journey from Hampton Court Palace, where she gave birth and died, to Windsor, where her...

On this day in Tudor history, 12 November 1555, Queen Mary I turned back the religious clock. Parliament passed the Second Statute of Repeal, restoring papal authority and reuniting England with the Catholic Church after more than twenty years of upheaval. I explore how Mary achieved what had once seemed impossible: Undoing her father Henry VIII’s break with Rome and her brother Edward VI’s Protes...

Today, 11 November, is Martinmas, the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours. In Tudor England, it was far more than a saint’s day. It marked the great “winter slaughter”, when families across the realm, from manor to cottage, salted and cured their meat to survive the long months ahead. In this video, I explore the man behind the feast, St Martin, the Roman soldier who became a saint after cutting his cl...

He was handsome, daring, and utterly reckless, the man who stole the heart of England’s greatest queen in her final years, and then broke it. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, was born on this day in 1565. He rose from ambitious courtier to Elizabeth I’s beloved favourite - charming, bold, and impossible to ignore. But his pride and defiance would destroy him. I’m historian and author Claire Rid...

Power. Passion. Intrigue. Revolution. The Tudors ruled England for just over a century, but they changed it forever. In this Beginner’s Guide to the Tudors, I explore how a Welsh courtier’s secret marriage to a queen created one of the most fascinating dynasties in history. From the scandalous rise of Henry VIII and his six wives, to the tragedy of Lady Jane Grey and the genius of Elizabeth I, thi...

The Mystery of Arthur Dudley   A secret heir to the English throne… or one of the cleverest impostors in Tudor history? In 1587, a young Englishman was captured by Spanish sailors off the coast of San Sebastián. He called himself Arthur Dudley, and claimed to be the illegitimate son of Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Was he the Virgin Queen’s hidden child, smuggled away in...

On this day in Tudor history, 7th November 1565, Sir Edward Warner, soldier, courtier, Member of Parliament, and twice Lieutenant of the Tower of London, died at his Norfolk home. He was a man who lived at the heart of Tudor politics, serving four monarchs, guarding rebels and queens alike, and somehow surviving the shifting loyalties of an age where one wrong step could mean the scaffold. Warner...

On this day in Tudor history, 6th November 1514, the streets of Paris glittered with banners, music, and colour. Eighteen-year-old Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, had been crowned Queen of France the day before… and now she was the radiant heart of a lavish royal procession. Imagine it: a fountain flowing with a lily and a rose, pageants of goddesses and virtues, and Mary herself portrayed...

“Remember, remember the Fifth of November…” It’s one of the most famous rhymes in English history, but behind the fireworks and bonfires lies a night of terror, faith, and betrayal that almost changed the course of Britain forever. On 5th November 1605, guards discovered Guy Fawkes in the cellars beneath the Palace of Westminster, surrounded by 36 barrels of gunpowder. His mission? To blow up King...

On this day in Tudor history, 4th November 1551, theologian, royal chaplain, and scholar John Redman, the first Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, died of consumption. Redman was one of Tudor England’s most brilliant and balanced minds, a man who sought to reconcile faith, scholarship, and conscience in an age of division. Serving both Henry VIII and Edward VI, he defended traditional Catholic...

On this day in Tudor history, 3rd November 1568, a remarkable mind was lost to the world of learning. Nicholas Carr, physician, classical scholar, and Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge, died after a lifetime devoted to scholarship and teaching. Though his name is rarely remembered today, Carr stood among the generation of Tudor humanists who kept the flame of classical learning burning, follo...

What inspired me to dedicate my life to Anne Boleyn and the Tudors? Why did I move to Spain? And yes — what do my tattoos mean? In this special behind-the-scenes interview, my husband Tim takes the interviewer’s seat and asks me questions submitted by our amazing YouTube members. From my early fascination with Tudor history to the unexpected journey that led to The Anne Boleyn Files and The Tudor...

When Queen Jane Seymour gave birth to Prince Edward on 12th October 1537, and sadly died on 24th October. From celebrations to tragedy in just 12 days. For centuries, a dark rumour has followed this story: that Henry VIII ordered surgeons to cut Jane open to deliver their son, sacrificing his queen for an heir. It’s a tale that fits Henry’s reputation for ruthlessness perfectly… but did it ever ha...

Forget pumpkins and plastic skeletons, in Tudor England, Halloween was sacred.   On 31st October, All Hallows’ Eve marked the start of Hallowtide, a three-day festival blending pagan Samhain customs with Christian devotion: - All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) – ringing bells, lighting bonfires, wearing masks to ward off spirits, and “souling” for cakes to pray for the dead. - All Saints’ Day (1 Novembe...

On this day in Tudor history, 30th October 1566, Queen Elizabeth I’s former tutor, Roger Ascham, wrote her a long, heartfelt letter of praise and moral guidance. Centuries later, this same letter would be twisted into something sensational, supposed proof that Elizabeth secretly married Robert Dudley and bore a child… the future philosopher Francis Bacon. But what did Ascham actually write? And ho...

On this day in Tudor history, 29 October 1586, Parliament met to decide the fate of Mary, Queen of Scots, just days after she was found guilty of conspiring to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. Their verdict was clear: the queen’s own cousin and fellow sovereign must die. But more than four centuries later, the question still burns: was Mary a martyr, a tragic heroine, or a traitor? I’m historian and...

On this day in Tudor history, 28 October 1479, a man was born who would rise to the highest offices of state, and somehow survive the reigns of four Tudor monarchs. I’m historian and author Claire Ridgway, and today I’m talking about Sir John Gage: soldier, administrator, and courtier to Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I. Gage’s life was a masterclass in cautious loyalty. He held the ke...

Imagine trying to stop a book so hard… you end up funding its next edition. On this day, 27 October 1526, Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall ordered copies of William Tyndale’s English New Testament to be burned at St Paul’s Cathedral. The goal: to stop heresy and control what the people could read. But Tunstall’s crackdown had an unexpected twist. To destroy the books, he had to buy them first, money that...