August 19th, 1588: On this day Queen Elizabeth I of England delivered her famous speech to her assembled land forces at Tilbury, Essex.

July 29th, 1588: On this day in 1588, the fearsome Spanish Armada is sighted off England’s southern coast.

February 12th, 1554: England's forgotten queen, Lady Jane Grey, is executed for treason. In most popular histories, and as taught in...

June 29th, 1613: The Globe Theatre burns to the ground. The first recorded performance of William Shakespeare’s ‘All is True’ took place...

May 22nd, 1455: The Wars of the Roses began. The Wars of the Roses began not on a battlefield but with a bloody clash fought on foot...

February 4th, 1555: John Rogers becomes the first Protestant martyr to be burnt at the stake in Queen Mary I’s persecutions. Formerly an...

The ‘Scold’s Bridle’, sometimes known as ‘The Gossip’s Bridle’, was a punishment used officially and unofficially in England to...

February 8th, 1587: After 19 years of imprisonment, Mary Queen of Scots is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle. Why? Fotheringhay Castle was...

January 7th, 1536: Catherine of Aragon, first of Henry VIII’s six wives, dies. It is said that Henry dressed all in yellow, with a white...

December 17th, 1538: Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Paul III. Henry brought religious upheaval to England. When he became king,...

December 16th, 1485: Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII, was born in Alcala de Henares, Spain. Like all kings at the time...

Somehow we got talking about ghosts a couple of days ago. We were both reminded of working at Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire and how it...

December 1st, 1581: Having been convicted of high treason, English Jesuit priest Edmund Campion was drawn through the streets of London,...

The motte-and-bailey castle in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, was built to control a key route between London and the Midlands as part of...

Like us you were probably as disappointed as we were when Bosworth Medieval Festival had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus...

Tastes Of History was delighted to be part of the Bosworth Medieval Festival in 2019 at the brilliant Bosworth Battlefield Heritage...

In an earlier post (Daily Meals in Tudor England) mention was made of 'Collop Monday', the day before Shrove Tuesday, in connection with...

In 1563, Elizabeth I (r.1558–1603) granted Kenilworth to her childhood friend and favourite, Robert Dudley, the soon to be Earl of...

Most people are familiar with the idea of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner (or breakfast, dinner and tea, if you prefer [1]). In Tudor...

Tastes of History ran a workshop for the volunteers at Plas Mawr, an Elizabethan townhouse in Conwy, North Wales to teach something of...