On this day in Tudor history, 8th March 1516, Sir John Wiltshire wrote to King Henry VIII from the English territory of Calais warning him that a couple of gifts were on their way to the king from the Duke of Ferrara. The gifts were a course (a horse) and a "lebard" (a leopard or lion).

 

Exotic animal gifts were all the rage in the medieval and Tudor period and were the reason why there was a royal menagerie at the Tower of London.

 

Find out more about some of these animal gifts in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, author of "On This Day in Tudor History".

 

You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:

https://youtu.be/SdGY8OHBS6A

 

Also on this day in Tudor history, 8th March 1539, former royal favourite Sir Nicholas Carew was beheaded for treason at Tower Hill. Find out more about why he fell from grace in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/jRx9pKlmABQ

 

You can find Claire at:

https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com 

https://www.tudorsociety.com

https://www.facebook.com/theanneboleynfiles/

https://www.facebook.com/tudorsociety/

https://twitter.com/AnneBoleynFiles 

https://twitter.com/thetudorsociety 

https://www.instagram.com/tudor.society/ 

https://www.instagram.com/anneboleynfiles/