Religion & Belief
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735: Bede dies at Jarrow
Bede died at the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in 735, with 26 May commonly used as the date. The date matters because Bede had already completed work that became central to the written record of early English Christianity. He lived and worked in a Northumbrian monastery, not at a royal court or on campaign. His authority…
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1170: Thomas Becket is killed at Canterbury
On 29 December 1170, Thomas Becket was killed inside Canterbury Cathedral. The murder was carried out by four knights, but it grew out of a longer conflict between Becket and Henry II. Becket was not a distant critic of the king. He had been Henry’s chancellor, a close royal servant and a man trusted with…
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1431: Joan of Arc is executed at Rouen
On 30 May 1431, Joan of Arc was executed at Rouen. Rouen was under English control at the time, and the execution took place during the later stages of the Hundred Years’ War. Joan had been captured the year before and put through a trial process that served English political interests as well as church…
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1500: John Alcock Dies at Wisbech Castle
John Alcock, Bishop of Ely and a former Lord Chancellor of England, died at Wisbech Castle on 1 October 1500. Born in Beverley, Yorkshire, around 1430, Alcock combined a career in the Church with service to the Crown. Under Edward IV, he joined the royal administration. He was appointed tutor to the king’s eldest son,…
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1533: Cranmer declares Henry VIII’s first marriage invalid
On 23 May 1533, Thomas Cranmer’s court at Dunstable declared Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon invalid. The judgment was brief, but it carried more weight than a private ruling about a failed royal marriage. Henry had already married Anne Boleyn. Catherine was still widely regarded as queen. Anne was pregnant. Henry’s marriage case…
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1533: Cranmer declares Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn valid
On 28 May 1533, Thomas Cranmer declared Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn good and valid. The ruling did not begin the marriage. Henry and Anne had already married. Cranmer’s judgement gave the marriage formal standing in England, at a moment when Henry needed more than private agreement, royal will or court loyalty. Five days…
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1533: Anne Boleyn is crowned queen at Westminster Abbey
Anne Boleyn was crowned queen of England at Westminster Abbey on 1 June 1533. The ceremony followed Henry VIII’s decision to set aside his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, had declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine invalid and had recognised Henry’s marriage to Anne. In England, those rulings gave Anne the…
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1535: Printing of the Coverdale Bible is completed
Printing of the Coverdale Bible was completed on 4 October 1535. Compiled and translated by Myles Coverdale, it was the first complete printed English Bible. English translations of the Bible already existed. Versions associated with John Wycliffe and his followers had circulated in manuscript from the late fourteenth century. William Tyndale also printed an English…
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1536: Lincolnshire Rebels Send Their Grievances to Henry VIII
On 9 October 1536, rebels in Lincolnshire sent a petition to Henry VIII opposing his government’s religious and political policies. Known as the Lincoln Articles, the document followed more than a week of unrest that had brought thousands of people into Lincoln. The rebellion began at Louth on 1 October. The closure of smaller monasteries…
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1589: William Spenser is executed at York
William Spenser, an English Roman Catholic priest, was executed at York on 24 September 1589. Robert Hardesty, a layman who had sheltered him, was executed with him. Spenser was born in Yorkshire and studied at Trinity College, Oxford, where he became a fellow and received his MA in 1580. He became increasingly committed to Catholicism…
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1689: Toleration Act receives royal assent
On 24 May 1689, the Toleration Act received royal assent. The Act gave many Protestant dissenters in England a legal right to worship outside the Church of England. It was a real change. People who had faced penalties for nonconformist worship could now meet more openly, provided they accepted the conditions set by law. Those…
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1890: Catherine Booth dies at Clacton-on-Sea
Catherine Booth, co-founder of the Salvation Army, died from cancer at Clacton-on-Sea on 4 October 1890. She was 60 and had spent much of her adult life working alongside her husband, William Booth, while developing a public religious role of her own. Catherine married William in 1855. Four years later she published Female Ministry, defending…
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1912: Salvation Army founder William Booth dies
William Booth, founder and first General of the Salvation Army, died at his home in Hadley Wood on 20 August 1912. He was 83. Booth had begun mission work in London’s East End in 1865. The organisation that developed from it became known as the Christian Mission before adopting the name Salvation Army in 1878.…
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1962: Coventry Cathedral is consecrated
The new Coventry Cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962, more than twenty years after the old cathedral had been destroyed in the bombing of November 1940. The old building was not simply cleared away. Its ruins were left beside the new cathedral, keeping the evidence of war in view. That choice gave Coventry a…
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1981: James Parkes dies
James Parkes died on 10 August 1981, aged 84. An Anglican clergyman, historian and campaigner, he had spent much of his working life investigating antisemitism and relations between Christianity and Judaism. Parkes had served in the British Army during the First World War and was ordained in the Church of England in 1926. His subsequent…