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

On 27th August 1513, Katharine of Aragon, Regent of England, issued warrants for the confiscation of all lands held by Scots in England. Her husband, Henry VIII, had left Katharine to govern the country as he invaded France, in the hope of emulating his great predecessor, Henry V. France, however, had an ally in Scotland, and, as relationships had broken down between England and Scotland since the death of Henry VII, it was likely that an invasion from the north could be expected.

Whilst the majority of England’s troops and commanders had crossed the channel, the 72- year old Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey (a veteran of Bosworth) had been left behind to defend the home front. As news came that the Scots, under James IV, planned to fulfil their treaty obligations to France, Queen Katharine and Surrey prepared to repel them. Read more on James IV and his campaign here.

On 26th August 1600, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, was released from the house arrest he had been subject to since the previous September, when he had returned from his post of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in complete disobedience to the Queen’s orders. Essex was the grandson of Elizabeth’s cousin, Katherine Carey, Lady Knollys, and was also the step-son of her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.

Essex had been highly favoured by the Queen since the death of Leicester, after the Armada, and had shown himself to be both brilliant and foolish, courageous, foolhardy and proud. Essex was also a quarrelsome man, and, as Elizabeth’s powers waned her court became riven by factions, largely led by Essex in opposition to the Queen’s new chief minister, Robert Cecil. Read more about the Essex Rebellion that finally led to disaster here.

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