9 May 1509 - The body of Henry VII was taken in a black chariot from Richmond Palace to St Paul’s Cathedral

 9 May 1514- The Court of Aldermen gave permission for Thomas More to appoint a deputy in his office

9 May 1536 - The King has summoned Cromwell and the council 

9 May 1536- Henry VIII. to the Earl of Essex.

Commanding him to repair to the King to treat of matters relating to the surety of his person, his honor, and the tranquillity of the realm. Westm., 9 May.

9 May 1538 – Marriage of Marie de Guise and James V by proxy

More history:

9 May 1244-Pope Innocent IV Condemns Jews in Papal Bull

9 May 1439-Birth of Pope Pius III 

9 May 1446 - Death of Mary of Enghien, Queen of Naples 

9 May 1502-Christopher Columbus leaves Spain on his final trip to New World.

9 May 1573 - Polish Parliament selects Duke of Anjou as king

9 May 1588 - Duke Henri de Guise's troops occupy Paris

9 May 1590 - Death of Karel "Cardinal" van Bourbon, archbishop of Rouen

9 May 1753 - King Louis XV disbands French parliament

9 May 1613-Birth of Mattias de' Medici

8 May 1450- Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.

8 May 1473 - Death of John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire

He  was an English nobleman, the youngest son of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham. In 1461 he was made a Knight of the Bath.

8 May 1508 – Birth of Charles Wriothesley

Charles Wriothesley was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the last member of a dynasty of heralds that started with his grandfather—Garter Principal King of Arms John Writhe.

8 May 1536-Mayor and Jurates of Sandwich to Henry VIII:

On Sunday, 7 May, Sir Wm. Latymer, one of the Queen's chaplains, arrived at Sandwich, where he was told that the Queen and others were prisoners in the Tower. He said that he had come from Flanders on her business, and showed the contents of his budget and purse to the mayor and jurates, as Thos. Boys, one of the King's servants then present, can testify. Enclose a list written by him of the books he had with him, and of others in his mail, which had not yet arrived, but which were to be conveyed to London to one Mrs. Wilkinson. Boys will convey Latymer himself to the King. Sandwich, 8 May.

8 May 1538 - Death of Edward Fox, English bishop

8 May 1539 - Henry VIII mustered 15,000 men in response to the Peace of Toledo

8 May 1559 - An act of supremacy defines Queen Elizabeth I as the supreme governor of the church of England.

8 May 1560 - English forces under Lord Grey of Wilton repulsed at Leith

An unknown nobleman, thought to be Lord Grey de Wilton in 1547, by Gerlach Flicke, National Gallery of Scotland

More history:

8 May 1326 - Birth of Jeanne Ire d'Auvergne, queen of France

8 May 1460 - Birth of Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach 

8 May 1492 - Birth of Andreas Alciatus, Italian lawyer

8 May 1521 -Birth of  Peter Canisius, jesuit/saint

8 May 1527 - Birth of Johann Walter, composer

8 May 1587 - Birth of Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy 

8 May 1592 -Birth of  Francis Quarles, English poet 

Picture of the day:

SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1552-1618) BY JOHN MICHAEL RYSBRACK

7 May 1427 – Death of Thomas la Warr, 5th Baron De La Warr, English priest 

7 May 1523 – Death of Franz von Sickingen, German knight 

7 May 1525-The German peasants' revolt is crushed by the ruling class and church.

7 May 1530 – Birth of Louis, Prince of Condé, French general

7 May 1535- Sir Thomas More meets with Cromwell and four others in a room at the Tower.  He was told that Henry VIII demanded his opinion on the recently enacted Act of Supremacy.  More said that he refused to "meddle" in such affairs.  Although told that the king would be merciful if he consented to the Act, More says that his whole concern now is for his living the best possible Christian life.  

SIR THOMAS MORE IN PRISON, FROM 'THE NATIONAL AND DOMESTIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND' BY WILLIAM HICKMAN SMITH AUBREY BY ENGLISH SCHOOL

7 May 1535 – Thomas Cromwell and member of the council visited Bishop John Fisher. He refused to acknowledge the King as the supreme head of the Church

JOHN FISHER, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER BY HANS HOLBEIN

7 May 1536-William Latymer, Anne Boleyn’s chaplain  was arrested at Sandwich, bringing forbidden books of Protestant reformers into the country.He is best known for his biography of her, the Chronickille of Anne Bulleyne.

7 May 1539 – Death of Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer

7 May 1567-Divorce of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell and Jean Gordon, Countess of Bothwell

7 May 1603 – James VI of Scotland/James I of England,son of Mary, Queen of Scots arrives in London

THE ENTRY OF JAMES I INTO LONDON BY ANONYMOUS

7 May 1617 –Death of David Fabricius, German astronomer and theologian 

More history:

7 May 1274-The Second Council of Lyon opens in France to regulate the election of the pope.

7 May 1328 – Birth of Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg

7 May 1342-Election of pope Clement VI

7 May 1429 – Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning, wounded, to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.

7 May 1487 – The Siege of Málaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista.

7 May 1664 – Louis XIV of France inaugurates the Palace of Versailles.

7 May 1667 –Death of  Johann Jakob Froberger, German organist and composer

7 May 1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.

7 May 1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic.

7 May 1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria.

Picture of the day:

QUEEN ELIZABETH I AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER AT KENILWORTH BY DIRCK HALS

source:wikipedia,the anne boleyn files,luminarium.org,http://law2.umkc.edu/

6 May 1471 –Execution of Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, 6th Earl of Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, 3rd Earl of Dorset 

He was an English nobleman, and a military commander during the Wars of the Roses, in which he supported the House of Lancaster.

6 May 1476 - Emperor Frederik III of Habsburg and duke Charles the bold arrange the marriage of their children

6 May 1501 – Birth of Pope Marcellus II 

6 May 1502 – Death of James Tyrrell, English knight and supposed murderer of the princes in the Tower, was the eldest son of William Tyrell of Gipping, Suffolk, by Margaret, daughter of Robert Darcy of Maiden. Sir John Tyrrell was his grandfather. James Tyrell was a strong Yorkist. He was knighted after the battle of Tewkesbury on 3 May 1471, was appointed to conduct the Countess of Warwick to the north of England in 1473, and served as member of parliament for Cornwall in December 1477. 

6 May 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. 147 Swiss Guards, including their commander, die fighting the forces of Charles V in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape into Castel Sant'Angelo.

6 May 1536-The last letter of Anne Boleyn

“To the King from the Lady in the Tower”

Sir, Your Grace's Displeasure and my Imprisonment are Things so strange unto me, as what to Write, or what to Excuse, I am altogether ignorant. Whereas you send unto me (willing me to confess a Truth, and to obtain your Favour) by such an one whom you know to be my ancient professed Enemy; I no sooner received this Message by him, than I rightly conceived your Meaning; and if, as you say, confessing a Truth indeed may procure my safety, I shall with all Willingness and Duty perform your Command.

But let not your Grace ever imagine that your poor Wife will ever be brought to acknowledge a Fault, where not so much as a Thought thereof proceeded. And to speak a truth, never Prince had Wife more Loyal in all Duty, and in all true Affection, than you have ever found in Anne Boleyn, with which Name and Place I could willingly have contented my self, if God, and your Grace's Pleasure had been so pleased. Neither did I at any time so far forget my self in my Exaltation, or received Queenship, but that I always looked for such an Alteration as now I find; for the ground of my Preferment being on no surer Foundation than your Grace's Fancy, the least Alteration, I knew, was fit and sufficient to draw that Fancy to some other Subject. You have chosen me, from a low Estate, to be your Queen and Companion, far beyond my Desert or Desire. If then you found me worthy of such Honour, Good your Grace let not any light Fancy, or bad Councel of mine Enemies, withdraw your Princely Favour from me; neither let that Stain, that unworthy Stain of a Disloyal Heart towards your good Grace, ever cast so foul a Blot on your most Dutiful Wife, and the Infant Princess your Daughter:

Try me good King, but let me have a Lawful Trial, and let not my sworn Enemies sit as my Accusers and Judges; yea, let me receive an open Trial, for my Truth shall fear no open shame; then shall you see, either mine Innocency cleared, your Suspicion and Conscience satisfied, the Ignominy and Slander of the World stopped, or my Guilt openly declared. So that whatsoever God or you may determine of me, your Grace may be freed from an open Censure; and mine Offence being so lawfully proved, your Grace is at liberty, both before God and Man, not only to execute worthy Punishment on me as an unlawful Wife, but to follow your Affection already settled on that Party, for whose sake I am now as I am, whose Name I could some good while since have pointed unto: Your Grace being not ignorant of my Suspicion therein.

But if you have already determined of me, and that not only my Death, but an Infamous Slander must bring you the enjoying of your desired Happiness; then I desire of God, that he will pardon your great Sin therein, and likewise mine Enemies, the Instruments thereof; and that he will not call you to a strict Account for your unprincely and cruel usage of me, at his General Judgment-Seat, where both you and my self must shortly appear, and in whose Judgment, I doubt not, (whatsover the World may think of me) mine Innocence shall be openly known, and sufficiently cleared.

My last and only Request shall be, That my self may only bear the Burthen of your Grace's Displeasure, and that it may not touch the Innocent Souls of those poor Gentlemen, who (as I understand) are likewise in strait Imprisonment for my sake. If ever I have found favour in your Sight; if ever the Name of Anne Boleyn hath been pleasing in your Ears, then let me obtain this Request; and I will so leave to trouble your Grace any further, with mine earnest Prayers to the Trinity to have your Grace in his good keeping, and to direct you in all your Actions. From my doleful Prison the Tower, this 6th of May.

Your most Loyal and ever Faithful Wife,

Anne Boleyn

From my doleful prison in the Tower, 6 May

Henry Ellis says of this letter:

"Anne Boleyn's last memorable Letter to King Henry the Eighth, "from her doleful prison in the Tower"... is universally known as one of the finest compositions in the English Language, and is... mentioned here, to obviate a notion which has gone abroad against it as a forgery.

The Original, it is believed, is not remaining now: but the Copy of it preserved among Lord Cromwell's papers together with Sir William Kyngston's Letters, is certainly in a hand-writing of the time of Henry the Eighth: and Sir William Kyngston's evidence will show that Anne was too closely guarded to allow of any one concerting such a Letter with her. That it rises in style above Anne Boleyn's other compositions cannot be disputed, but her situation was one which was likely to rouse a cultivated mind; and there is a character of nature in the Letter, a simplicity of expression, and a unity of feeling, which it may be doubted whether Genius itself could have feigned.

  6 May 1536 Henry VIII ordered English-language bibles placed in churches 

The first English translation of the Bible presented to Henry VIII, 1824

6 May 1574 – Birth of Pope Innocent X 

More history:

6 May 1191-Richard I the Lionheart's Crusader Fleet Arrives in Lemesos

6 May 1312 - Pope Clement V closes Council of Vienna

6 May 1527 - Death of Karel van Bourbon, military governor 

6 may 1540 - Death of Jean Luis Vives, Spanish theory/humanist/reformer

6 May 1581 - Birth of Frans Francken, the Younger, painter

6 May 1596 – Death of Giaches de Wert, Flemish-Italian composer

6 May 1631 – Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington, English politician, founded the Cotton library

6 May 1638 –Death of Cornelius Jansen, French bishop 

6 May 1638 - Birth of Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the British Admiralty 

Picture of the day:

Edward VI and his uncle the earl of Somerset by Clive Uptton

source:wikipedia,http://www.british-history.ac.uk/,Ellis, Henry. Original Letters, Illustrative of English History. Vol II,luminarium.org

5 May 1535 – Death of Charles Booth, Bishop of Hereford

5 May 1536-Thomas Wyatt was imprisoned in the Tower accused of adulterous liaisons with Queen Anne Boleyn

Sir Richard Page, an English courtier,gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Vice-Chamberlain in the household of Henry VIII's illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy was also arrested for treason and adultery with the Queen

5 May 1536-Sir Francis Bryan,Chief Gentleman of the Privy chamber  was ordered to London for questioning 

He was working with Thomas Cromwell to bring about his cousin's downfall as queen. It was at this time that Cromwell coined Sir Francis' unfortunate sobriquet "the Vicar of Hell" in a letter to the Bishop of Winchester, referring to his abandonment of Anne Boleyn

5 May 1543 – Execution of George Bucker 

5 May 1546 – Birth of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English soldier and politician,son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

5 May 1586 – Death of Sir Henry Sidney, courtier and Lord Deputy of Ireland

More History:

5 May 1192-Isabella, Queen of Jerusalem, Marries Henry II of Champagne

5 May 1210 – Birth of Afonso III of Portugal 

5 May 1211-Simon de Montfort Captures Lavaur Cathar Heretics

5 May 1309 –Death of  Charles II of Naples

5 May 1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain.

5 May 1582 - Death of Charlotte de Bourbon, Princess of Orange

5 May 1586 - Death of Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland 

5 May 1684 –Birth of  Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné,niece of Françoise d'Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon

Picture of the day:

Henry VIII and Catherine Parr, in the play Henry VIII  by William Shakespeare by Robert Smirke

source:wikipedia,The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir