This Month in History
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| 2 January | |
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  | 1698 Whitehall burnt: nothing but walls and ruins left This is how John Evelyn described the devastating fire that tore through the royal palace of Whitehall on this day in 1698. Apparently a laundress left some clothes drying before a fire and when they caught alight, the whole palace went up in flames. Only the Banqueting Hall survived. Would we have a better idea what some of England's earlier kings looked like had Whitehall palace survived? Most likely. Return to the top of this month in history. | 5 January |
 | 1066 Edward the Confessor dies He had spent 15 years and vast resources building Westminster Abbey. He survived just long enough to see it finished. His funeral service was almost the first service to be held in the new abbey church. And his remains lie there to this day. The passing bell that tolled for Edward the Confessor heralded a change in the fortunes of Anglo-Saxon England. Years previously - it is said - the king promised the crown of England to his kinsman William, Duke of Normandy. And William was not a man to let so great a prize slip through his fingers. Return to the top of this month in history. | 6 January |
 | 1066 King Edward the Confessor is buried and King Harold II is crowned This was a busy day for Westminster Abbey. First, it saw the funeral of King Edward the Confessor. Then, only a few hours later, Anglo-Saxon priests and nobles filed into the abbey to see Ealdred, Archbishop of York, crown Harold Godwineson as King Harold II of England. Years before Harold had sworn an oath to uphold William's claim to England's crown. But William was a long way away in Normandy while Harold was in Westminster. Being in the right place at the right time must have seemed a good omen to him. And while Harold was undoubtedly a capable, courageous man, his coronation was the beginning of the end for Anglo-Saxon England. Return to the top of this month in history. | 9 January |
 | 1806 Admiral Nelson's funeral After his death at the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson's body arrived back in England aboard his old flagship, HMS Victory. He lay in state for three days in the Painted Hall of the seamen's hospital in Greenwich, before being rowed up the Thames by his own crew. From here, Nelson's body was transferred onto a funeral car shaped like a warship, for the final journey to St Paul's Cathedral. The streets were crowded with people wanting to pay their last respects to England's greatest naval hero, and hundreds were inside the cathedral to hear the service. Nelson was entombed in the crypt of St Paul's. Return to the top of this month in history. | 15 January |
 | 1559 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I After the death of her sister, who was named Bloody Mary for a reason, the people of England had high hopes when Elizabeth came to the throne. She consulted her astrologist, Dr Dee, about the most auspicious day for the coronation and he suggested Sunday, January 15th. The Londoners put on a right royal spectacle to welcome their new queen. Blue carpet had been laid from Elizabeth's palace at Westminster all the way to the abbey. Elizabeth's robes were truly sumptuous and the coronation banquet at Westminster Hall lasted until after midnight. Return to the top of this month in history. | 18 January |
 | 1486 King Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York This wedding was the final chapter in the long and bloody Wars of the Roses. The Lancastrian Henry Tudor, who had defeated England's last Plantagenet king, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth married the Lady Elizabeth of York, daughter of the Yorkist King Edward IV, thereby bringing the two warring factions together. To celebrate the union, a new badge was created that we know today as the Tudor Rose. It combines the White Rose of York with the Red Rose of Lancaster in a sign of unity. Return to the top of this month in history. | 25 January |
 | 1533 Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn had captivated a king's heart. But she was not ready to just become his lover. She held out for marriage and the king - desperate to bed her and desperate for a legitimate male heir - finally agreed. Henry's attempts to secure a divorce from his first wife changed England as comprehensively as nothing else had done since the Conquest. And on this day, Henry and Anne were wed in secret in the Palace of Whitehall. Anne was already pregnant. Return to the top of this month in history. | 30 January |
 | 1649 King Charles I is executed This was the first time in English history that a reigning monarch was formally executed. In years gone by, kings had died from sickness or accident, had died in battle or had been murdered. But never before had a King of England stepped onto a scaffold to have his head struck from his body. Eyewitnesses tell us that Charles I died with great courage. And if you've ever read Alexandre Dumas' Twenty Years After  - as I did numerous times while growing up - you'll have been assured of that.Return to the top of this month in history. |
Return to This Month in History for other events in England's long history.
