Friday the 13th in Tudor England might sound like the setup for a historical horror story, but the truth is a lot more surprising. While the infamous date is now linked with bad luck and superstition, there’s no evidence that people in Tudor England feared it at all. In fact, the idea of Friday the 13th as an unlucky day didn’t emerge until the 19th century in France.
So what did the Tudors actually believe about luck, omens, and ominous dates? Let’s explore the real story behind Friday the 13th and why it meant nothing to a Tudor—but almost everything else did.
Transcript of Did the Tudors Fear Friday the 13th?
It’s always Friday and the number 13 that bring bad luck—or so the superstition goes. The idea was set in an article in a French publication in the 19th century, but where does our fear of Friday the 13th actually come from?
Today, we’re going to dig into Friday the 13th. Would anyone in Tudor England have glanced at today’s date and thought, Right then, I’ll stay home and avoid the beheadings today?
We’ve got two main ingredients behind Friday the 13th: the day Friday, and the number 13. Both have really bad reputations. But when did someone first think to throw them together into one big superstition casserole? Let’s talk about it.
Fridays have been considered unlucky for centuries in Christian Europe. Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Some people believe that Eve tempted Adam on a Friday, and also that Cain killed Abel on a Friday as well. Add that to the fact that Fridays were fasting days, and you’ve got a weekly reminder of penance and abstinence—and, let’s be honest, a really sad lunch.
As for 13, it has long been seen as the number that messes everything up. Twelve is cozy and complete: months of the year, zodiac signs, apostles. Then comes 13, barging in like an unwanted guest at the Last Supper. Because yes, some people say that Judas was the 13th person at the table—even though the Bible never actually says who sat where. Still, the image stuck.
There’s even a theory that Protestants started to see 13 as unlucky partly because 13—the number of Jesus and his disciples—was viewed as sacred by Catholics. So, in a post-Reformation world, “sacred to Catholics” could easily become “popish and suspect.”
Then there’s the tarot angle. In Italian decks by the mid-1500s, the Death card was number 13. Not subtle. And yes, tarot cards were around in the Tudor period, though more in continental Europe than in England. Still, it’s an eerie little historical coincidence.
So you’ve got Fridays = grim. You’ve got 13 = sketchy. But here’s the key thing: nobody in Tudor England was actually combining the two into one superstition—yet. The idea that Friday the 13th was a specific date of doom doesn’t appear until the 19th century, in France, no less. So how did Friday the 13th go from being two vaguely suspicious concepts to the date that makes people avoid booking flights or getting married?
Enter the French, naturally. In the 1830s, plays and novels started mentioning unlucky characters born on Friday the 13th. In one drama, a woman refuses to dance on that date—horror!—and is only relieved when she realizes it’s technically past midnight and now Saturday the 14th.
That’s when Friday the 13th, as a standalone cursed day, starts to really show up for people. It then hops over to the U.S. through translated plays, and by the 1880s, American newspapers are cracking jokes about it being a French superstition—which, let’s be honest, is very on brand for 19th-century American newspapers.
And then there’s the whole Templar theory—the idea that Philip IV of France arrested the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13th, 1307, and doomed that date forever. That connection didn’t show up until the 20th century, helped along by The Da Vinci Code. It’s a great story, but nobody in Tudor England was checking the date and muttering about Jacques de Molay. They had their own problems.
So now, while Friday the 13th wasn’t a thing in Tudor England, superstition absolutely was. The Tudors were deep in it. Henry VII wouldn’t make major decisions without consulting astrologers. People watched comets, sneezes, dreams, and the direction birds flew. Black cats could be witches in disguise of course, illnesses came from curses, and if you were born on the wrong saint’s day—well, good luck getting married without an exorcism first.
Even without ominous calendar dates, Tudor life was riddled with micro-superstitions. No one needed a universal doom day. Bad luck could literally come from anything—including your neighbor looking at you sideways.
So, did the Tudors believe in bad luck? Oh yes, most definitely. Did they believe in bad luck on Friday the 13th specifically? No, not yet. So there you go—a little bit on the Tudors and Friday the 13th.
Related links:
Exploring the Mystical: East Anglian Customs and Superstitions
The Witching Hour: Why Tudors Feared Waking Up at Midnight
Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, the original Tudor history podcast, started in 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. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
