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

On 25th August 1540, Frances, Marchioness of Dorset, gave birth to her second daughter, naming her Katherine, perhaps for her step-mother, Katherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk, to whom she was close. The young Katherine was brought up partly in Leicestershire, at the family home of Bradgate, and partly in the Dorset’s London home. Her upbringing, like that of her older sister, Lady Jane Grey, was in the new, Protestant, faith.

Too young to go to court during the reigns of Henry VIII or Edward VI, Katherine first emerged into public view on her marriage in 1553 to Henry Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke. This marked the beginning of a life of tribulation for Katherine, whose proximity to the throne ruined her life. Read more on Lady Katherine Grey in our Person of the Month

On 24th August 1507, Cicely of York died in relative obscurity. Cicely, who, following convention was named after her grandmother, Cicely Neville, was the third daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, born in 1469. During her father’s lifetime she had been mooted as a wife for James IV of Scotland. When her brother, Edward V, was deposed, she lived in sanctuary at Westminster Abbey with her mother and sisters, until, eventually, they were persuaded to join Richard III’s court.

During early 1485 a marriage to Ralph Scrope of Upsall was solemnised, but probably not consummated as it was later annulled. When Henry VII became King and married her sister, Elizabeth of York, Cicely was married to his half-uncle, Lord Welles. As the Queen’s oldest surviving sister, she carried the infant Prince Arthur to the font for his christening. Widowed in 1498, her second marriage caused uproar.

On 23rd August 1553 Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, was appointed as Lord Chancellor. In his youth, Gardiner had served Cardinal Wolsey, but had transferred to the King’s service where he had roles as both Secretary, and in diplomatic matters. Initially, he was a supporter of Henry VIII’s annulment suit against Katharine of Aragon, and had no trouble casting off papal authority.

Later, however, as doctrine began to move away from traditional Catholic practice, he became a figurehead of the conservative faction at Henry’s court, and, according to Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, plotted the downfall of Katherine Parr. He was not named by Henry to the Council that was to govern during Edward’s minority, as ‘no man could rule him.’ Objecting to the Protestant reforms of Edward’s reign, Gardiner was sent to the Tower, whence he emerged at the succession of Mary. He remained as Lord Chancellor until his death in late 1555.