August 15 - The Oaten Hill Martyrs

On his day in Tudor history, 15th August 1588, Catholics Robert Wilcox, Edward Campion, Christopher Buxton and Robert Widmerpool were examined while imprisoned in the Marshalsea prison in Southwark, London. 

 

These men ended up being executed, three of them for being Catholic priests and one for giving aid to priests, at Oaten Hill, Canterbury. All four died with courage and in 1929 were beatified.

 

Find out more about these men and how they came to be executed in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, author of "On This Day in Tudor History". You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:

https://youtu.be/-7UPcJ5VRaQ

 

Also on this day in Tudor history, 15th August 1603, Lady Mary Scudamore (née Shelton), a member of Elizabeth I's Privy Chamber and one of her favourite sleeping companions, was buried at Holme Lacy in Herefordshire. Mary was very close to the queen but suffered the queen's wrath at one point. I explain all in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/SFbnuab0u0k