November 8 - A true friend of scholars who had to give Catherine of Aragon bad news

On this day in Tudor history, 8th November 1534, courtier, scholar and literary patron, William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, died at Sutton on the Hill in Derbyshire. 

 

He'd had a wonderful court career, helping organise the young Henry VIII's education, serving as Master of the Mint and chamberlain to Queen Catherine of Aragon, and he'd been close friends with the renowned humanist scholar, Erasmus. He'd wanted to be relieved of his position as chamberlain to the queen, though, after she'd been put aside and he'd had to break bad news to her.

 

Find out all about Lord Mountjoy, his career and life, in today's talk from historian Claire Ridgway.

 

Also on this day in Tudor history, 8th November 1528, at Bridewell Palace, King Henry VIII made a rather strange public oration to explain his troubled conscience regarding the lawfulness of his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. In last year’s video, I shared an extract from the king's speech, in which he praises Catherine of Aragon to the hilt even though he'd proposed to another woman, Anne Boleyn. Find out all about this strange situation! https://youtu.be/QE78TDeh7VU