September 23 - William Averel and his Romeo and Juliet, AKA Charles and Julia

On this day in history, 23rd September 1605, in the reign of King James I, Tudor pamphleteer William Averell was buried at St Peter upon Cornhill. 

Averell's first work was about two Welsh star-crossed lovers, Charles and Julia, and he also wrote a Protestant work about it raining wheat in Suffolk and Essex, an event which he saw as presaging the end of the world.

Averell was an interesting character and you can find out more about him and his work in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, founder of the Tudor Society. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:

https://youtu.be/PMZJ2H0IgsA

Also on this day in Tudor history, 23rd September 1571, 49-year-old John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, died after being taken ill while preaching a sermon. Not many people have heard of John Jewel, but he had an interesting life which spanned the reigns of King Henry VIII, Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, Mary I and Elizabeth I – a time of religious change. He was a clergyman, a Protestant exile, a theologian and bishop, and someone who spoke up for what he believed. You can find out more about him in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/P5CBC_FLhP4

Averell's works:

An excellent historie bothe pithy and pleasant, discoursing on the life and death of Charles and Iulia - https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A23370.0001.001?view=toc
A meruailous combat of contrarieties - https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A23383.0001.001?view=toc