Today in Tudor History...

23 August 1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield in London.

1521 – Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent.

1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.

1572 – French Wars of Religion Mob violence against Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre.

24 August 1358 – Birth of John I of Castile

1393 – Birth of Arthur III, Duke of Brittany

1456 – The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.

1482 – The town and castle of Berwick upon Tweed is captured from Scotland by an English army

1507 – Death of Cecily, Viscountess Welles, she was an English Princess and the third, but eventual second surviving, daughter of Edward IV,  and his queen consort, née Lady Elizabeth Woodville, daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg.

1561 – Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxony.

25 August 1482 – Death of  Margaret of Anjou.She was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. She also claimed to be Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453. Born in the Duchy of Lorraine, into the House of Valois-Anjou, Margaret was the second eldest daughter of René I of Naples and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.She was one of the principal figures in the series of dynastic civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses and at times personally led the Lancastrian faction. Due to her husband's frequent bouts of insanity, Margaret ruled the kingdom in his place. It was she who called for a Great Council in May 1455 that excluded the Yorkist faction headed by Richard, Duke of York, and thus provided the spark that ignited a civil conflict that lasted for over thirty years, decimated the old nobility of England, and caused the deaths of thousands of men, including her only son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.Margaret was taken prisoner by the victorious Yorkists after the Lancastrian defeat at Tewkesbury. In 1475, she was ransomed by her cousin, King Louis XI of France. She went to live in France as a poor relation of the French king, and she died there at the age of 52.

1537 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.

1540-Birth of Catherine Seymour, Countess of Hertford , born Lady Catherine Grey, was the younger sister of Lady Jane Grey. A granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary, she was a potential successor to her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, but incurred Elizabeth's wrath by her secret marriage to Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford. Following her arrest when the queen was informed of her clandestine marriage, she lived in captivity until her death, having borne two sons in the Tower of London.

1554 – Death of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk.He was a prominent Tudor politician. He was an uncle of two of the wives of Henry VIII: Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages. After falling from favour in 1546, he was stripped of the dukedom and imprisoned in the Tower, avoiding execution when the King died. He was released on the accession of Queen Mary I. He aided Mary in securing her throne, setting the stage for alienation between his Catholic family and the Protestant royal line that would be continued by Queen Elizabeth I.

1580 – Battle of Alcântara. Spain defeats Portugal.

1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.

source:wikipedia