Today in 1554 Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger was beheaded for having led Wyatt’s Rebellion against Mary I.
Wyatt had already found himself on the wrong side of Mary when he supported Lady Jane Grey. He managed to avoid any kind of punishment then, but after Mary made it clear that she would marry Philip of Spain, Wyatt organized a series of rebellions again.
His plan was to depose Mary and replace her with Elizabeth. The plan failed miserably, and Mary had time to rally her troops, giving a moving speech at the Guildhall in London that would be echoed 30 years later when Elizabeth gave her own speech to the troops with the approach of the Spanish Armada.
The most unfortunate unintended result was for Lady Jane Grey, who was executed after Mary had wanted to be lenient with her after the first rebellion.
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:
Spring 2018 Tudor Summit: Tudor Rebellions
Episode 052: Rebellions Part Two
Episode 16: Lady Jane Grey
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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.