July 19th – On this day in 1553, Henry Machyn wrote in his diary:
“The xix day of July was … Mare [Tudor] proclamyd qwene … , [as the] sister of the late kyng Edward the vi and daughter unto the nobull Henry the viii … , and … ther was … song, and … belles ryngyng thrugh London, and bone-fyres, and tabuls in evere strett, and wyne and beer and alle, … and ther was money cast a-way”.
Queen Mary – quite scary
Meantime, Lady Jane Grey, who had acceded to the throne nine days previously (see Lady Jane Grey posting on July 10th) was imprisoned in the Tower. She was later tried and convicted on a charge of treason in November, 1553, and eventually executed on February 12th, 1554.
A romanticised view of the execution of Lady Jane Grey, by Delaroche
