WSHC blog

Tags >> duke of Somerset

Wiltshire and Black History

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Apr 23, 2009

Tagged in: York , Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre , Wilts Rgt of Militia , Wilton House , Westminster , West Africa , trumpeter , The Wiltshire Black History Project , slave trade , Shakespeare , Septimus Severus , SEE ME , Sarum , Salisbury Journal , royal courts , Roxburgh , Roman Emperor , Roman , Robert Pearson , privateers , Pedro Negro , parish register , parish of St Paul , oral testimonies African-Caribbean , Numerus Maurorum Aurelianorum , Moors , mineral Ethiopia , marriages , Marlborough , Maria Mandula , Libya , Leonora Casey Carr , knighted , John Hawkins , John Blanke , inter-generational , Henry VIII , Hadrian’s Wall , Guinea coast , Great Tournament Roll , gravestone , George Sydown , Footman , engraving , Elizabeth I , East Tytherton Moravian Graveyard Restoration Proj , duke of Somerset , Drummer , community history project , Catherine of Aragon , Calne Parish Register , burials , British Black History , Black History , Antiguan ‘Mostee’ , Africa , aethiops , advertisement , adult baptisms

Hello, I am Terry, Archives and Local Studies Manager. In my last blog I wrote about a document from the English Civil War, a particular interest of mine. Recently, a researcher at the History Centre gave me a reference to an entry in a parish register that relates to another interest of mine, that is British Black History. It was from the Calne Parish Register of burials and dated 10th December 1586 and notes the burial of “Maria Mandula advena et aethiops (stranger and AEthiops).”  Is this the earliest reference to a Black person in Wiltshire?

Comment (0) Read More...

500th Anniversary of Henry VIII

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Apr 7, 2009

2009 marks the 500th anniversary of the accession to the throne of King Henry VIII. The future king was the second son of Henry VII, born at Greenwich on 28 June 1491. He acceded to the throne on 21 April 1509, following his father’s death. Henry’s reign saw the dissolution of the monasteries and the establishment of the Church of England, as well as wars against France and Scotland. However, he is perhaps most famous for his private life – school children down the ages have learnt the little rhyme “Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived” to try to remember the fate of Henry’s six wives.  
Deeds of properties given to Jane Seymour by Henry VIII 
Deeds of properties given to Jane Seymour by Henry VIII
    
Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre holds several documents relating to Henry’s third marriage to Jane Seymour. Henry became engaged to Jane, who was already his mistress, a mere one day after the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn on 19 May 1536. Jane Seymour was the daughter of Sir John Seymour of Wolfhall in Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire: the couple were married there on 30 May 1536. Henry gave his new queen a large number of estates and manors by way of a settlement. These three documents, (see above image), from the archives of the duke of Somerset in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, are the title deeds to the properties.
Close up of deeds of properties given to Jane Seymour by Henry VIII
Close up of deeds of properties given to Jane Seymour by Henry VIII
Although they lack their seals, which have been detached and lost, they each have a portrait of Henry and lavishly decorated initial lines. In 1537 Jane died in childbirth, giving birth to Henry’s only son, who later became King Edward VI. It is widely accepted that Jane was Henry’s favourite wife - after her death the court went into an extended period of mourning, and Henry was buried next to her after his own death in 1547. 


Comment (0)