The history of wrestling stretches into ancient times. It was first described in the Greek literature, including in Homer’s legendary literary works such as the Iliad and the Odyssey. Greek wrestling was a popular form of martial art, and it was featured as a sport since the eighteenth Olympiad in...
“The Field of the Cloth of Gold”
On the 7th of June 1520, the sensational meeting of Kings of England and France occurred near Calais that was to become known to history as “The Field of the Cloth of Gold”. This luxurious meeting became the standards to which international peace treaties were measured in many years to...
Catherine Parr’s unwanted wedding to Henry VIII
On this day in history, the 12th of July 1543, Henry VIII married Catherine Parr, widow of Sir Edward Burgh and Sir John Neville, Baron Latimer of Snape. The wedding took place in the queen’s closet at Hampton Court Palace. Sometime in the spring of 1543, the aging ruler proposed...
Anne Boleyn: an official debut – the Château Vert pageant
On the 4th of March 1522, the English court enjoyed a masked ball and pageant in honour of the Imperial ambassadors. This event is traditionally considered the day of Anne Boleyn’s official debut at the court. Anne had grown up in the Low Countries and France for many years before she...
Death of Catherine of Aragon’s first son
On the 22nd of February, 1511, Prince Henry, the Duke of Cornwall, suddenly died only after only 52 days of life. He was born on the 1st of January 1511 at Richmond Palace, eighteen months after his parents’ wedding and their joint coronation. Little Henry was the first son and first...
The mystery of the poem “O Death, Rock Me Asleep”
Like many historians, researches, readers of historical fiction, and Anne Boleyn fans, I like thinking that Anne wrote the poem/song “O Death, Rock Me Asleep” on the eve of her execution on the 19th of May 1536. It is a great and beautiful poem that conveys a tremendous wealth of “dark” emotions – agonizing torment, mental...
Anne Boleyn’s marriage to Henry VIII: what is the true date?
In many biographies and historical books, we find that Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn on 25th January, 1533, after long years of fierce struggle against Catherine of Aragon, the pope, England, and the whole world. Anne’s romance with Henry truly became an outrageous scandal throughout Christendom! The traditional version of events...
The relationship of Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard
Henry VIII didn’t like Anne of Cleves from the very beginning, and an annulment of their marriage was inevitable; it was just a matter of time. At first, Anne was shocked by the news which the king’s delegation brought to her visiting her at Richmond Palace, where she had gone...
Elizabeth I’s coronation
On 15th January, 1559, Elizabeth I, the second queen regent in England and Henry VIII’s daughter by Anne Boleyn, was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey. She inherited the throne from her elder sister, Queen Mary I, who died on 17th November 1558. In those times, it was very...
Henry VIII’s last appearance before Parliament
On 24th December 1545, Henry VIII appeared before Parliament and made his final speech, where Henry mixes threats and flattery as he chastises the Lords and the Commons for the absence of religious unity in England and for some other things. Henry comes across as a belligerent and absolute monarch, who...
Something about Tudor costume
Tudor England is well known for its beautiful and ornate clothes, especially during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Nobles demonstrated their wealth and stressed their high social standing by their wearing rich and expensive clothes at the court, where they attended festivities in all pomp and splendour....