Tudor Times is the online repository for all things Tudor and Stewart (1485–1625)

On 18th September 1535 the very young Duchess of Suffolk, Katherine, gave birth to her first son, Henry. Katherine, who was Baroness Willoughby d’Eresby in her own right, had been the ward of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, husband of Mary, the French Queen. Originally, it was assumed that Katherine would marry Mary and Charles’ son, Henry, Earl of Lincoln. But Mary died in June 1533, and Charles snapped up the fourteen year old heiress for himself. The Earl of Lincoln, like so many Tudor young men, died young, and so it was Katherine’s son, Henry, who inherited the Dukedom on his father’s death. But Henry, too, died young. He and his younger brother Charles died on the same day in 1551, of the sweating sickness. Katherine went on to marry again in a match that caused a few raised eyebrows – more on that here.

On 17th September 1595, Henri of Navarre was ‘absolved’ of heresy and recognised as King of France by Pope Clement VIII. Henri had, in fact, been King since 1589, when, as the senior male line descendant of Louis IX (d. 1270) he inherited on the death of his brother-in-law, Henri III. Henri had been King of Navarre since the death of his mother, Queen Jeanne III. Jeanne had been a committed Calvinist, and leader, with her brother-in-law, the Prince de Conde, of the Huguenot party.

On ascending the throne, he battled against the ultra-conservative Catholic League, who refused to accept a non-Catholic as King. Eventually, more pragmatic than many of the fanatics surrounding him, Henri accepted the Catholic faith to end the wars. Notwithstanding his conversion, he issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, granting a measure of religious tolerance. Henri was blamed by fanatics on both sides for his actions, and, after avoiding a dozen assassination attempts, was finally stabbed by one François Ravaillac in 1610.

Henri’s daughter was Henrietta-Maria, Queen of England.

The 16th September 1541 was the birthday of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex. He was extremely well connected, descended from no fewer than four of Edward III’s five sons, as well as from Edward I and Henry III via other lines of descent. He inherited the title of Viscount Hereford on the death of his grandfather in 1558. He served Elizabeth faithfully all his life. A staunch Protestant, he was entrusted with the guardianship of Mary, Queen of Scots and took part in the repression of the Rising of the Northern Earls in 1569.

He served on two campaigns in Ireland, first as Lord Lieutenant, then briefly, before his death, as Earl Marshal. He was no more successful than most of the Lords Lieutenant, but was notable for his plans to colonise Ulster with suitable English Protestants. Elizabeth recreated the Earldom of Essex for him previously held by his Bourchier ancestors. In around 1561 Walter married Lettice Knollys, daughter of the Queen’s first cousin. By her he had four children who lived to adulthood, including Lady Penelope Devereux and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Elizabeth’s last favourite.