On this day in Tudor history, 26th November 1585, Catholic priest Hugh Taylor and his friend Marmaduke Bowes were hanged at York. 

They were the first men executed under Elizabeth I's 1585 statute which made it treason to be a Jesuit or seminary priest in England or to harbour such a priest. 

 

These two Catholics were beatified in 1987 by Pope John Paul II as two of the 85 Martyrs of England, Scotland and Wales.

Find out more about these men and what this 1585 legislation was all about in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:

https://youtu.be/93IK-VoDABY

 

Book recommendation: "God’s Traitors: Terror & Faith in Elizabethan England” by Jessie Childs.

 

Also on this day in Tudor history, 26th November 1533, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, married Mary Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, at Hampton Court Palace. They were both fourteen years old.

It appears that the marriage, which was a political match rather than a love match, was the idea of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. You can find out more about the marriage and its context in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/BiUZPBM3wDA