Deaths

  • 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…

  • 946: Edmund I is killed at Pucklechurch

    Edmund I was killed at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire on 26 May 946. His death was sudden. The usual account says he was killed during a confrontation at a feast or court gathering, after trying to intervene against a man with a violent reputation. That makes it different from the more familiar royal deaths in battle,…

  • 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…

  • 1400: Richard II dies in captivity

    Richard II is usually said to have died at Pontefract Castle on or about 14 February 1400. The year before, his cousin Henry Bolingbroke had deposed him and taken the throne as Henry IV. Richard was now a former king. He was still dangerous. Henry IV’s rule began with force, ceremony and argument. Richard had…

  • 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…

  • 1502: Arthur, Prince of Wales, dies at Ludlow

    Arthur, Prince of Wales, died on 2 April 1502. Was the wrong brother left in charge? Arthur was fifteen, newly married, and meant to be the Tudor future. Instead, he died at Ludlow Castle, less than five months after his wedding to Catherine of Aragon, and Henry VII’s plan for his dynasty changed at once.…

  • 1593: Christopher Marlowe is killed at Deptford

    On 30 May 1593, Christopher Marlowe was killed at Deptford. The inquest recorded a quarrel at the house of Eleanor Bull. Marlowe had spent the day there with Ingram Frizer, Robert Poley and Nicholas Skeres. The dispute was said to have been over payment. Frizer stabbed Marlowe above the eye, and Marlowe died from the…

  • 1649: Charles I is executed at Whitehall

    Charles I was executed outside the Banqueting House at Whitehall on 30 January 1649. He had lost the Civil War, lost effective power and then lost the claim that those beneath him could not judge a king. His death was public. That was part of the point. Charles had not been killed quietly after defeat.…

  • 1849: Anne Brontë dies at Scarborough

    Anne Brontë died at Scarborough on 28 May 1849, aged 29. She had travelled there from Haworth while seriously ill. The illness was tuberculosis, often called consumption at the time. Scarborough was not a passing detail in the story. It was where she spent her final days, away from the parsonage and the family setting…