On this day in Tudor history, 30th April 1536, court musician Mark Smeaton was arrested and taken to the home of Henry VIII’s right-hand man, Thomas Cromwell.
What happened to him there over the next 24 hours is not known, but he ended up confessing to sleeping with Queen Anne Boleyn on three occasions.
On that same day, an argument between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn was witnessed…
On this day four years earlier, 30th April 1532, lawyer James Bainham was burned at the stake at Smithfield for his reformed faith.
Find out more about what led this man to the stake, as well as an account of his end…
And on this day in 1544, also in the reign of King Henry VIII, Thomas Audley, Baron Audley of Walden and Lord Chancellor, died at his home in London.
Audley was Thomas Cromwell’s right-hand man in 1536, during the fall of Anne Boleyn, and became even more important after Cromwell’s fall.
Find out more about Thomas Audley, an important Tudor statesman, and how he served King Henry VIII…
And on this day in 1596, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir John Puckering died of apoplexy.
Find out a bit about him, and the trials he was involved in…
