The Feast of Martin mass – let the winter begin
Let’s go back to November in the 1550s. You will be beginning to plan for winter as the days shorten and the cold sets in. But there is one big festival to look forward to before you say a final farewell to autumn – The Festival of Martin mass on November 11th.
Bringing home the medieval harvest
September in Medieval Englande was either joyful or worrisome -and it all depended on the harvest. If the weather had been kind over the summer months then you would be celebrating a bountiful harvest. If it had been wet and cold – you would be worrying about the Winter months and already thinking of the coming hunger.
A Tudor Easter
So, you wake up in April 1555 and Easter is approaching. This is not a time of fluffy chicks, cute bunnies and Easter eggs with gawdy wrapping. It is not an excuse for going to the pub on Sunday, eating a leg of lamb and lying on a sofa surrounded by crème eggs. In 1555 it was a time of strict religious celebration – more important than Christmas. And under the reign of Mary Tudor and her radical Catholic bishops, you would be preparing for a weekend of prayer and religious ceremony.
It is Lady Day and Spring is here
It is March 25th. 1555 and you wake to a bright dawn. It is Lady Day and the first day of Spring. In these times your year is guided by the seasons and, likely, you are relieved that the dark, cold days of Winter are behind you. Things are hard these days.
Burnings, rumour, and stink - Life in London – February 1555
Let me take you back to London in February, 1555. Let’s assume you have only been in the city a few years. You were born a country person, toiling the land and making your living through farming. But the wool trade has changed your life.
Heirs, spares, and suspicion – echoes of Tudor sibling enmity in the House of Windsor
Heirs, spares, and suspicion – echoes of Tudor sibling enmity in the House of Windsor
Mildred Cecil - a woman far beyond the race of womankind
They say that behind every great man is a greater woman – and never was a saying more true than that of Mildred Cecil.
A Tudor Christmas
As we get ready for Christmas with tinsel, plastic decorations, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, elves, and flying reindeer, it is easy to imagine that this ancient celebration has always been similar. But the winter festival of Tudor Britain was a very different event.
Halloween in Tudor Times
Today it is all about dreadful costumes, kids demanding sweets, little horrors at the door threatening to ‘give us a sweet or we’ll trick you.’ When I last asked what they meant I was told it meant my windows being smashed…
John Dee – the early years and the making of a lifelong pursuit for recognition
John Dee, scholar, mathematician, alchemist, priest, conjurer, physic and speaker with angels was born in 1534. He was the only son of Roland and Jane Dee…
William Cecil – A man with an eye for the winning horse
William Cecil, later Lord Burghley is remembered as the spymaster of Englande and the only minister to stay close to Elizabeth all his life. Though this fate was nearly wiped out when he signed the petition to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne…
Mary Tudor - tyrannical or tragic?
Today she is called Bloody Mary. The persecutor and killer of 287 protestant martyrs. But the woman behind the reputation was very different to what might be expected. Born into great privilege and wealth, Mary soon found herself living through years of fear and humiliation…
Margaretta’s London – stench, pyre-sootened skies and social unrest
The London in which Margaretta Morgan, the assistant to John Dee in The Conjuror’s Apprentice, would have walked was not a comfortable place. By 1555, the reign of Queen Mary was causing such political and social havoc that rebellions had already been raised…