-
The Sidney Family
As mentioned in the “Victoria Cross Recipients – Keeping it in the Family” article previously, the Sidney family was one of the premier courtiers in the Tudor dynasty. The Victoria Cross recipients in the family came by their bravery honestly as they were descended from a long line of courageous men and women. William Sidney was the eldest son of Nicholas Sidney and Anne Brandon. Anne’s father, Sir William Brandon, was Henry VII’s standard bearer at the Battle of Bosworth. On Richard III’s final charge, he attacked Brandon mercilessly while he defended the Tudor standard and was killed. The ballad The Battle of Bosworth describes it as thus: amongst all…
-
Anne Askew
There are many protestant martyrs mentioned in John Foxe’s Actes and Monuments, but none quite like Anne Askew. Born in Lincolnshire in around 1521, to Sir William Askew, and his wife Elizabeth Wrottesley, Anne was one of five children, two brothers, and two sisters. After her mother died her father married Elizabeth Hutton Hansard, a widow from South Kelsey, and she produced two half-brothers for the Askew children. Sir William had been knighted by King Henry VIII in 1513 in Touraine, and had attended the King at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. He was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire and a Member of Parliament in 1521. Anne’s…
-
Birth of Henry Fitzroy
In 1513 King Henry VIII, four years into his reign as King of England, went to France to fight against Louis XII, leaving his young Queen, Katherine to reign as regent in his absence. Whilst he was away, a Scottish invasion led by King James IV, met with the King’s army, led in battle by Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, and the combined forces of England’s nobles at Flodden Field, on September 9th. The Queen, hearing of the invasion, mustered the Southern army and rode out to meet any Scottish forces, who may have broken through the first wave against Surrey. Howard and his supporters were successful. James was slain…
-
Metal detectors and the Tudors
When I think of metal detectors, I think of the ubiquitous old man on the beach searching for lost change. I had never thought of them being gateways to larger treasures until I started getting interested in British History. Even so, I am always amazed at what can be found by a lone person and their trusty metal detector. Recently in Sinnington village, near Pickering in the North of England, Steve Whitehead made a discovery. He was poking about on a dig with his metal detector and found something tucked between two pieces of iron. He stuck it in his pocket and didn’t realize until later that he had a…
-
How to avoid the heartbreak of halitosis and other dental disasters in the time of the Tudors
Taking care of our teeth has always been a priority even in Tudor times. However, for many people it was not an easy task and did not always work. There were not toothbrushes and certainly no fluoride enhanced toothpaste at the time, but cleaning your teeth was considered part of good daily grooming. A “tooth rag”, twigs or sponges were used to scrub teeth with ashes of burnt rosemary. At least one expert at the time, recommended ground pumice stone. Then the teeth must be rubbed by a mixture of Aqua Vitae, aqueous solution of ethanol, and Aqua Fortis, nitric acid, to strengthen them. After dinner, the mouth must be…
