Today is the anniversary of Henry VIII’s most famous jousting accident, in 1536. It was actually his second jousting accident – the first one, 20 years earlier, had just left a glancing blow and wasn’t serious. This one, however, was, and some have argued that it left him with permanent brain damage that contributed to the change of his personality. He was unconscious for nearly two hours, and everyone thought it was a miracle that he hadn’t been killed. He fell off his horse, and quite possibly his horse fell on him.
This is also the event that Anne Boleyn said, worried her enough that she miscarried her son several days later.
Also on this day, in 1502 Henry VII signed the treaty with Scotland that married his daughter Margaret to that kingdom. It would be Margaret’s line that inherited after the death of Elizabeth I with the accession of James I in 1603.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Episode 53: Tudor Times on Margaret Tudor
Episode 49: Tudor Times talks about James I of England
From the shop:
Henry VIII Collection
Featuring: Henry VIII Pillowcase
Note: All products are made on-demand and can take a few weeks to ship.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.