#OTD 1571, the siege of Famagusta, Cyprus, ended when the city fell to the Ottoman Empire. Cyprus was one of the territories controlled by the Venetian Republic, and was an important part of their trading empire, but, surrounded as it was by Turkish lands, it was hard to protect.

#OTD 1489 d Anne Woodville, Countess of Kent. Anne was one of the daughters of Sir Richard Woodville and his wife, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford, whose clandestine marriage had caused scandal at the Lancastrian court bit.ly/1IsjDI4 Her son's KoG plate.

#OTD 1593 William Davies, a Catholic priest, was hanged, drawn & quartered at Beaumaris Castle. The authorities had failed to persuade him to attend the established church just once, to avoid the death penalty. Soldiers from Chester had to be brought in to carry out the sentence. © Bryn Bella

#OTD 1549 Katherine Willoughby, Dowager Duchess of Suffolk (pic) wrote to Lord Protector Somerset, saying she was unable to afford the upkeep of the ‘Queen's Child’ bit.ly/1L0u8Vi The child was Mary daughter of Katherine Parr by her 4th marriage to Sir Thomas Seymour.

#OTD 1478 b. Philip the Fair, Duke of Burgundy, In 1498 he was m. to Juana, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile. In 1504 she inherited Castile. Philip was determined to rule in her place and claimed she was mentally incompetent. Their marriage was extremely stormy. bit.ly/18urEhn

Read our latest review. @sophiebwaterman.bsky.social Elizabeth Boleyn: The Life of the Queen's Mother. bit.ly/4fnfw4C

#OTD 1505 Martin Luther, a budding lawyer at the University of Erfurt, took vows as an Augustinian canon He became disillusioned with the corruption of the Catholic Church & also questioned its theology. In line with academic practice, he published a list of 95 theses for argument.

#OTD 1557 d. Anne of Cleves bit.ly/32woqXc fourth wife of Henry VIII. Henry was disappointed when he did not find her as attractive in the flesh as her portrait by Holbein (pic). An amicable arrangement was made although Anne had little choice in the matter & she remained in England.

#OTD 1543 Henry VIII married his 6th wife, Katherine Parr. It was the bride’s 3rd marriage and after the King’s death she was to marry again, for love. Katherine Parr was an intellectual, a published author and, at one point, she was regent of England. bit.ly/1goWATn

#OTD 1540 the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves was annulled on the grounds of a precontract. Anne remained in England for the rest of her life, on good terms with the whole royal family, even attending Mary I’s coronation. She died in 1557 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. bit.ly/32woqXc

#OTD 1537 Madeleine, Queen of Scots, died at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, just 2 months after her arrival in Scotland. Her wedding had been celebrated at Notre Dame. James V bit.ly/1eGOFjT mourned his young bride & was later buried beside her. M is back right in pic with her mother, Queen Claude.

#OTD 1551 d. Gregory, 1st Baron Cromwell, the only son of Thomas Cromwell, bit.ly/1F6mRke Henry VIII’s chief minister. During Jane Seymour's tenure as queen Gregory was married to her sister, Elizabeth, a stunning match for the grandson of a small trader from Putney.

#OTD b. Margaret of Denmark who m. James III, King of Scots. Her father didn't have cash for her dowry so pledged the Orkney Islands. M. fulfilled the requirements of a medieval queen: she bore sons, had a reputation for piety & learned Closely involved in upbringing of James IV. bit.ly/1fpNdTx

#OTD 1535 John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was executed for refusing the oath to the Act of Succession 1534, which obliquely denied Papal supremacy over the English church. Fisher had worked with Lady Margaret Beaufort on the founding of Christ Church & St John’s Colleges, Cambridge bit.ly/1N3cPOK

#OTD 1566, Mary, the 24-year-old queen-regnant of Scotland gave birth to a son, named James for her father and grandfather. Before he was two, Mary had been deposed and James crowned as king of Scots. In 1603, James became king of England as well. bit.ly/1rtwOCT

#OTD 1538 the wedding of James V & Marie of Guise. This was the 2nd alliance that James V formed with France, largely to fend off his predatory uncle, Henry VIII, who was determined to prove his overlordship of Scotland. bit.ly/1brC5CW

#OTD 1487 last pitched battle of the Wars of the Roses fought at Stoke near Newark-on-Trent. The Yorkists were promoting the claims of a boy they claimed was Edward, Earl of Warwick, nephew of Edward IV. bit.ly/2puwYuM They lost & Henry VII's crown sat more firmly on his head.

#OTD 1572, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Elizabeth I’s most trusted minister became Lord Treasurer He had been at her side since the first day of her reign, and, although she did not always accept his advice, she never ceased to value it. bit.ly/1hV3m4i

#OTD 1584 d. François, Duke of Anjou, Elizabeth I’s bit.ly/3rTPFMV last serious suitor. Although himself a Catholic, F was a supporter of the Huguenot party in France & the Protestant rebels against Spain in the Netherlands. Elizabeth seems to have seriously considered marrying him.

#OTD 1549 the first Book of Common Prayer was introduced to the Church of England. Closely based on the traditional Catholic Sarum Use, it was to be the order of service in every church. The chief architect of the work was probably Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.

#OTD 1520, one of the most famous diplomatic meetings of Henry VIII’s reign took place between Calais and Ardres in Northern France when Henry & his arch-rival, François I of France met at the event known to history as the Field of Cloth of Gold. bit.ly/1EHdiHY

#OTD 1522 the Emperor Charles V entered London on a state visit to Henry VIII & Katharine of Aragon, Charles’ aunt. Charles had left Calais for Dover on 26th May & was met by Cardinal Wolsey, before riding to Greenwich where he was met by Katharine bit.ly/1Wj6HMS

#OTD 1535 Thomas Cromwell and the Lord Chancellor, Thomas Audley interrogated Sir Thomas More in the Tower of London, hoping to either persuade him to accept the Act of Succession, or articulate a refusal that could be used as evidence of treason. bit.ly/1cBh0axPic

On 2nd June 1537, Sir Francis Bigod, leader of the Cumberland Rising, died. The rising was an off-shoot of the wider Pilgrimage of Grace which had been brutally suppressed in 1536. bit.ly/1EIrZtO

#OTD Whitsunday, 1533, Anne Boleyn crowned as queen of England at Westminster Abbey. It was the culmination of 7 years of frustration & Henry VIII was determined to make sure it was celebrated with all traditional ceremony to underline the legality of his new marriage. bit.ly/1yJvN77

#OTD 1559 Lord James Stewart, illegitimate son of James V, joined the Lords of the Congregation. Previously, although leaning towards Protestantism, Lord James had continued to support his step-mother, Marie of Guise as regent for Mary, Queen of Scots. bit.ly/20keRDE

#OTD 1552 b. Alexander 4th Lord Elphinstone, was born. He was Lord Treasurer of Scotland 1599-1601 & an Extraordinary Lord of Session – that is, a direct nominee of the king within the Court of Session, Scotland’s highest court, instituted by James V bit.ly/1eGOFjT

#OTD 1541, Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, sometimes called ‘the last Plantagenet’ was executed on Tower Green. Margaret, aged 69, had been in the Tower for two years, without trial, but was condemned to death for treason by an Act of Attainder. bit.ly/1vgc7GC

#OTD 1553 a double marriage took place at Durham House in London. Lady Jane Grey, and her sister, Lady Katherine bit.ly/1gzYe4V, were married respectively to Lord Guildford Dudley, son of the Duke of Northumberland and Henry Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke. Pic probably Katherine by Teerlinc.

#OTD 1539 b. Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, nephew of Queen Jane Seymour. He contracted a secret marriage to Lady Katherine Grey bit.ly/1gzYe4V to the fury of Elizabeth I, who loathed the Grey sisters, and had no desire to see heirs born to contenders for her throne.