Category: Elizabethan

I’m delighted to welcome Rosemary Griggs and her book, Mistress of Dartington Hall, to the blog #HistoricalFiction #WomenInHistory #Elizabethan #SpanishArmada #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Rosemary Griggs and her book, Mistress of Dartington Hall, Book 3 in the Daughters of Devon series, to the blog with a guest post.

Guest Post – historical background

Mistress of Dartington Hall continues the story of a French Huguenot noblewoman, Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery. Roberda’s father, Gabriel de Lorges, was a prominent Huguenot general. He gained notoriety as the man who accidentally killed King Henry II of France in a jousting accident.

Roberda married into one of Devon’s most prominent families. Her husband, Gawen Champernowne’s was the son of Sir Arthur Champernowne, a staunch Protestant. Sir Arthur was Queen Elizabeth’s Vice-Admiral of the Fleet of the West, and he had connections at court.

We followed Roberda’s traumatic childhood in war-torn France and her catastrophic marriage to Gawen in The Dartington Bride. In Mistress of Dartington Hall we join her in the autumn of 1587. Roberda has been managing Dartington Hall while her estranged husband, Gawen, has been away on the Queen’s business.

Dartington Hall, Devon, England

England has been at war with Spain for over two years. The Spanish king is preparing a formidable fleet of warships to launch an invasion. In 1587, everyone expected them to land at Falmouth, Plymouth or Dartmouth to establish a foothold on English soil. Thousands of Spanish soldiers would then disembark and rampage through the countryside. It must have been a terrifying time for the people of Dartington, only sixteen miles upriver from the port of Dartmouth. Many panic-inducing false alarms disturbed the people of Devon before the Spanish Armada’s arrival in July 1588.

Relations between England and Spain had been tense for a long time. After his wife, Queen Mary, died childless in 1558, Philip of Spain proposed to her sister, the new Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth declined the offer, and Philip married elsewhere.

King Philip’s marriage to Elisabeth of Valois, the daughter of King Henry II of France, cemented the end of a long war between France and the Habsburgs. It was during the joust that accompanied the celebrations in Paris in the summer of 1559 that Roberda’s father’s lance shattered. His opponent, King Henry, had not put down his visor. A splinter of wood entered the king’s eye, and he died 11 days later. That accident changed the course of Gabriel’s life. It also set off the chain of events that brought Roberda to Dartington Hall.

After Queen Elizabeth I established a Protestant church in England, King Philip considered it his duty to return England to the Catholic faith. That, combined with political rivalry and economic competition, stoked his ambition to conquer England. He amassed a massive fleet of warships and gathered supplies.

In 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth. The Pope supported Philip’s plan by promising forgiveness to those who took part in the invasion. Audacious English privateering raids on Spanish ships led by people like Sir Francis Drake made King Philip even more determined. The frequent attacks on Spanish ships and colonies disrupted Spanish trade and wealth. After the Treaty of Nonsuch, signed in 1585, confirmed England’s support for the Protestant Dutch rebels against Spanish rule, Philip put his plans in motion.

Sir Francis Drake’s audacious raid on Cadiz, known as ‘singeing the King of Spain’s beard’, destroyed around 30 Spanish ships and supplies, delaying the Armada’s launch by over a year. But everyone knew they would come.

England prepared, hoping the new English ships, faster and more manoeuvrable than the cumbersome Spanish galleons, would give them an advantage. However, Queen Elizabeth was notoriously parsimonious, leaving the English fleet short of powder and shot. Her reluctance to spend money frustrated her advisors, including the commander of the English fleet, Charles Howard.

Drake gathered ships at Plymouth, ready to meet the Spanish. However, many of his sailors fell ill and died from lack of food and cramped, unsanitary conditions on board. More men had to be conscripted from the surrounding area to replace them.

Sir Walter Raleigh’s network of warning beacons would signal the approach of the Spanish fleet. The Lord Lieutenant and his deputies mustered a militia — a sort of ‘Dad’s Army’ of poorly equipped, untrained militia-men. Roberda’s husband, Gawen Champernowne, was to lead cavalrymen drawn from the local nobility. These last-minute preparations would likely have proved inadequate had the invaders stuck to their initial plan.

Luckily, the Spanish commander decided to rendezvous with the Duke of Parma rather than first landing in the southwest. The Armada sailed on up the English Channel, pursued by Drake’s ships. At Gravelines, Drake sent in fire-ships to disrupt their formation. But it was bad weather that finally defeated King Philip’s attempt on England. The ‘Protestant Wind’ scattered them, driving them around the coast of Scotland. Some foundered on rocks; a few limped home to Spain. On land, Gawen Champernowne, who was to have led a cavalry troop against the expected attack, went home having seen no action.

The Armada failed in 1588, but the conflict continued for another sixteen years. In August 1595, the Spanish raided and burned villages in Cornwall. They attempted two more full-scale expeditions in 1596 and 1597. Roberda and the people of Devon continued to live with the threat of invasion. The war finally ended with the Treaty of London in 1604.

Meanwhile, in France, Roberda’s brothers sought to reclaim the estates they lost when their father died on the executioner’s block in Paris in 1574. The French Wars of Religion escalated into the War of the Three Henrys. Henry of Navarre became King Henry IV after both the Duke of Guise, leader of the Catholic League, and King Henry III, were assassinated.

During the 1590s Roberda’s brothers supported Henry IV in his campaigns to assert his authority. He faced opposition from the Catholic League, which Spain supported. Eventually, Henry IV publicly converted to Catholicism, and in 1594 he entered Paris, weakening the Catholic League. A year later. Henry IV formally declared war on Spain. The Edict of Nantes, issued in 1598, ended the religious wars in France. Catholicism became the state religion, but the Huguenots had substantial rights and religious freedoms. Roberda’s family reclaimed their lands. After her mother’s death, Roberda received her share, and her younger brother, Gabriel, eventually rebuilt the family home at Ducey.

Roberda’s life as Mistress of Dartington Hall, played out against an uncertain background. England was at war with Spain, and Devon was on the ‘front line’. Religion continued to divide her home country, France. Like many women of her time, she successfully managed a vast estate while Gawen was away. She overcame the hostility that met her in England as an incomer. Roberda gained the respect and trust of her estate workers, tenants and servants. Gawen’s return jeopardised her hard-won authority and put her in a difficult position. Should she trust him? Later, Roberda takes decisive action to secure her children’s inheritance. But can she eventually grasp the chance of happiness for herself?

Here’s the Blurb

1587. England is at war with Spain. The people of Devon wait in terror for King Philip of Spain’s mighty armada to unleash untold devastation on their land. 

Roberda, daughter of a French Huguenot leader, has been managing the Dartington estate in her estranged husband Gawen’s absence. She has gained the respect of the staff and tenants who now look to her to lead them through these dark times.

Gawen’s unexpected return from Ireland, where he has been serving Queen Elizabeth, throws her world into turmoil. He joins the men of the west country, including his cousin, Sir Walter Raleigh, and his friend Sir Francis Drake, as they prepare to repel a Spanish invasion. Amidst musters and alarms, determined and resourceful Roberda rallies the women of Dartington. But, after their earlier differences, can she trust Gawen? Or should she heed the advice of her faithful French maid, Clotilde?

Later Roberda will have to fight if she is to remain Mistress of Dartington Hall, and secure her children’s inheritance. Can she ever truly find fulfilment for herself?

Buy Link

Universal Link

Meet the Author

Author and speaker Rosemary Griggs has been researching Devon’s sixteenth-century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretched far beyond the West Country. She loves telling the stories of the forgotten women of history — the women beyond the royal court; wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who played their part during those tumultuous Tudor years: the Daughters of Devon.

Her novel, A Woman of Noble Wit, set in Tudor Devon, is the story of the life of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother. The Dartington Bride, follows Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery, a young Huguenot noblewoman, as she travels from war-torn France to Elizabethan England to marry into the prominent Champernowne family. Mistress of Dartington Hall, set in the time of the Spanish Armada, continues Roberda’s story. 

Rosemary is currently working on her first work of non-fiction — a biography of Kate Astley, childhood governess to Queen Elizabeth I, due for publication in 2026.

Rosemary creates and wears sixteenth-century clothing, and brings the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history and re-enactment at events all over the West Country. Out of costume, Rosemary leads heritage tours at Dartington Hall, a fourteenth-century manor house that was home of the Champernowne family for 366 years.

Connect with the Author

Follow the Mistress of Dartington Hall blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

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I’m delighted to welcome Wendy J Dunn to the blog with her new book Shades of Yellow, and a guest post about the history behind the novel #ShadesOfYellow #Forgiveness #AmyRobsard #WomensFiction #DualTimeline #Romance #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Wendy J Dunn to the blog with her new book Shades of Yellow ShadesOfYellow #Forgiveness #AmyRobsard #WomensFiction #DualTimeline #Romance #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

What is the history behind Shades of Yellow? 

There is a lot of history behind my novel — some of it expected and some of it more surprising. I always knew my character would be writing a novel about Amy Robsart. I love the Tudor period, so it made sense that my character would also share that love. It also made sense Lucy, as a breast cancer survivor, would also be drawn to the story of Amy Robsart. Some historians believe Amy Robsart had breast cancer, which led to the theory that her fall down a short flight of stairs resulted in a spontaneous spinal fracture because of bone metastasis. So, that meant I (and my character) had to research the life and times of Amy Robsart.

 Amy was the first wife of Robert Dudley, the man who came closest to marrying Elizabeth Tudor. Amy was born in 1532, and met Robert when he accompanied his father, John Dudley, then the Earl of Warwick to deal with the Kett rebellion in 1549. Amy came from a wealthy family with good bloodlines. More importantly, she was her father’s heir. She was also pretty, pretty enough to catch Robert Dudley’s eye. They were also almost the same age. Robert’s father probably wanted a better match for his son, but he also had other sons. Robert was also not his heir, so when Robert and Amy fell in love (and it appears they fell in love), their parents agreed to their marriage in 1550 when they were around eighteen. 

Amy married Robert while his father was solidifying his position as the actual power behind Edward VI’s throne. The first years of Robert and Amy’s marriage saw a fairly settled period for the Tudors. But then Edward VI died, and John Dudley failed to place Lady Jane Grey onto the throne. Mary Tudor claimed the crown, and Dudley soon lost his head at the Tower of London, and Mary imprisoned all his sons in the Tower. The following year, Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford were executed after another failed rebellion. For close to two years, Robert and his remaining brothers stayed in the Tower. His older brother died just days after their release. Another brother died while fighting in a war for Mary’s husband, Philip of Spain. By the time Elizabeth becomes Queen, Robert and Amy were living mostly separate lives. Robert and Elizabeth acted like lovers in the early years of Elizabeth’s reign – and caused a lot of scandal. The day after Elizabeth celebrated her twenty-seventh birthday, Amy was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs at Cumnor House, her neck broken. No one has ever solved the mystery of Amy Dudley’s death, and her husband Robert never escaped the suspicion that he organised her murder. 

 But most of my story takes place in 2010. While writing Shades of Yellow, I realised how long ago that now is. It was a different world in 2010. I ended up doing as much research about 2010 as I was doing about Amy’s life in Tudor times. I realised that Lucy’s life would have shaped her differently if she had been born around 1980 compared to 1996. She also would have had a few more life-changing options regarding her medical treatment if I had set the story in 2025.  

By the time I finished Shades of Yellow, I had realised, with surprise, that history informed the entirety of my novel.

Here’s the blurb

During her battle with illness, Lucy Ellis found solace in writing a novel about the mysterious death of Amy Robsart, the first wife of Robert Dudley, the man who came close to marrying Elizabeth I. As Lucy delves into Amy’s story, she also navigates the aftermath of her own experience that brought her close to death and the collapse of her marriage. 

After taking leave from her teaching job to complete her novel, Lucy falls ill again. Fearing she will die before she finishes her book, she flees to England to solve the mystery of Amy Robsart’s death. 

Can she find the strength to confront her past, forgive the man who broke her heart, and take control of her own destiny?

Who better to write about a betrayed woman than a woman betrayed?

Buy Link

https://books2read.com/u/mqPGgd

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Meet the author

WENDY J. DUNN is a multi-award-winning Australian writer fascinated by Tudor history – so much so she was not surprised to discover a family connection to the Tudors, not long after the publication of Dear Heart, How Like You This, her first Anne Boleyn novel, which narrated the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the elder. 

Her family tree reveals the intriguing fact that one of her ancestral families – possibly over three generations – had purchased land from both the Boleyn and Wyatt families to build up their holdings. It seems very likely Wendy’s ancestors knew the Wyatts and Boleyns personally.

Wendy gained her PhD in 2014 and tutors in writing at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. She loves walking in the footsteps of the historical people she gives voice to in her books. 

Author image for Wendy J Dunn

Connect with the Author

Follow the Shades of Yellow Blog Tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club

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I’m reviewing the fabulous Arden by GD Harper, an intriguing story of Shakespeare’s earliest years #blogtour #histfic #newrelease

Here’s the blurb

Alice Arden, idealistic and wealthy beauty, burnt at the stake for killing her husband, the former mayor of Faversham in Kent. But was she really the one responsible for the most scandalous murder of the sixteenth century?

William Shakespeare, England’s greatest playwright, born thirteen years after Alice’s execution. Why does his first-ever play, written about this murder, not bear his name?

This is a story of two people – one reviled, one revered – whose fates become linked in a tale of corruption, collusion and conspiracy. Based on historical documents and recently published academic research, Arden unveils shocking new evidence about the murder of Thomas Arden and reveals, for the first time, a remarkable new theory about Shakespeare’s early years.

Book cover for Arden by GD Harper

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arden-astonishing-untold-story-Shakespeares-ebook/dp/B0DFBV9YSB

https://www.amazon.com/Arden-astonishing-untold-story-Shakespeares-ebook/dp/B0DFBV9YSB

My Review

Arden by GD Harper is a beautifully crafted tale of two individuals, separated by forty years, with the one entirely unaware of the other, that reimagines the hows, whats and ifs of Shakespeare’s earliest efforts to become a playwright and the story that ‘called’ to him to enable him to do so.

Offering us two points of view, that of Alice Arden, and Shakespeare himself, we travel through the years that lead to Alice’s crisis and see how Shakespeare was himself plagued by her story. To begin with, Alice is the most likeable character. Young, bright, and vivacious, she pulls the reader along through the years when Shakespeare is not at all the man we might expect him to be. His life is difficult (perhaps because he makes it so, to be honest), but soon his dreams of being an actor and writing plays becomes his driving force. At the same time, Alice’s life is blighted by her marriage to a man of ambition but no regard for the life of his wife, who is deeply unhappy. Shakespeare’s life improves as events rumble towards their awful conclusion for Alice. But he is still somewhat haunted by the tale of Alice Arden, and I adored how her final narrative is teased from those who have knowledge of it that isn’t known by all. It is horrific.

This was such an engaging narrative. I liked neither character at points, but they both had endearing qualities that made it a joy to read this fictionalised account of what might have been. 

It’s a fabulous story.

Check out my review for The Maids of Biddenden.

Meet the author

I have written four novels in the last eight years under the penname GD Harper. 

My last novel, The Maids of Biddenden, the imagined biography of real-life conjoined twins born in 12th-century Kent, was featured on BBC TV News and was the winner of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the historical fiction category, shortlisted for the 2022 Selfie Award at the London Book Fair, and shortlisted or longlisted for five other awards. 

It has over a thousand ratings on Amazon UK and Goodreads, with an average score of 4.3. Across the major Amazon markets, it reached number sixteen in overall paid-for e-book sales, number two in historical fiction and number one in medieval historical fiction. 

Author GD Harper
Blog banner for the Arden by GD Harper blog tour

I’m delighted to welcome KJ McGillick and her new book, Whispers Through The Canvas, to the blog #blogtour #newrelease #mystery

I always love to hear how authors research their historical characters and events. KJ McGillick shares how she researched for her new book, Whispers Through the Canvas.

Howard Dynasty 

To study the powerful Howard dynasty of Tudor England, I consulted a variety of digitized primary sources available online such as wills, letters, court records, and literary works from the era. Searching through these collections, I found references to key Howard figures like the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and his ill-fated relatives. Contemporary accounts provided glimpses into the scandals, romantic entanglements, and power dynamics playing out at the royal court and aristocratic estates. Family correspondence shed light on inheritance disputes among the duke’s children. Literary pieces like Surrey’s poems and writings by other Howards offered additional perspectives on their remarkable century – chronicling their ascent, arts patronage, and the perils their elite status invited.

Levina Teerlinc
To learn about Levina Teerlinc, one of the earliest professional female artists in Renaissance England, I turned to digitized primary sources and secondary analyses available online. High-resolution images of Teerlinc’s exquisite miniature portraits hosted by museums revealed her skill at capturing likenesses. I searched literature databases for any mentions of Teerlinc from writings of her era, finding scattered records confirming her lifelong court employment. While limited biographical details survive, historians have reconstructed some context about her Flemish origins and artistic training based on fragments of evidence. Scholarly articles also examined her pioneering role as an art tutor to noble pupils.

Witchcraft 16th Century

To investigate 16th century England’s witchcraft accusations and trials, I immersed myself in digitized primary sources and scholarly research available online. This allowed me to examine the social tensions, religious upheaval, and cultural forces behind the deadly persecution of alleged witches. I accessed sensationalized literature published during the witch-hunting frenzy, providing window into the paranoia around women supposedly consorting with the devil. Legal records and transcripts illuminated how flimsy the evidence used to condemn the accused often was – a person’s reputation, a death, or unexplained misfortune could prompt charges. Scholarly journal articles analyzed the complex sociopolitical tensions of the Reformation era that enabled witchcraft hysteria to take hold, from anxieties over female autonomy to ruling elite distrust of the peasantry.

16th century Occult Symbols 

To explore the fascinating world of occult symbols and their place in 16th century English society, I delved into a range of digitized primary source materials and secondary scholarship available online.

One key resource was literature databases containing published works from the era. I examined texts on astrology, alchemy, magic, and esoteric philosophies for insight into the symbolic languages and imagery employed by occult practitioners and their beliefs. Engravings and woodcuts accompanying these works provided a visual catalogue of seals, sigils, and emblems.

I also searched through digitized diaries, letters, and accounts of the time for references to the use of occult symbols and coded markings in both elite and folk traditions. Correspondence between royals, nobles, and scholars sometimes mentioned encrypted communications or arcane symbolic meanings.

Court records, witness depositions, and transcripts from witchcraft trials offered a window into societal suspicion surrounding the perceived nefarious use and misuse of symbols and markings associated with magic and the supernatural. The language and suspicions revealed in these documents shed light on prevailing attitudes.

Additionally, I consulted digitized archaeological reports, inventories of home goods, and material culture studies to trace actual artifacts and objects bearing occult symbols that survived from 16th century England – whether tools, talismans or architecture.

By synthesizing evidence from these various sources, I could begin mapping the complex cosmological, mystical, and coded symbolic vernacular of the Renaissance era and how it manifested in art, writings, personal practice, and dangerous accusations.

Intrigued? Here’s the blurb.

Here’s the blurb

Murder… Across The Fractured Corridors of Time.

Plunged into a centuries-old conspiracy, unconventional art historian Rowan Southeil must race against time to stop an ancient evil from rewriting history. When a young artist is murdered in a chilling echo of medieval violence, Rowan finds herself drawn to a seemingly unrelated clue – a 16th-century painting drenched in arcane symbols. Aided by the victim’s haunting presence, Rowan delves into the painting’s mysterious past, uncovering a dark conspiracy that stretches back generations.

Teaming up with the pragmatic Detective Lancaster, the intuitive Rowan follows a daring journey through time, from the storied halls of 16th-century Tudor London to the secretive 17th-century Vatican. As she awakens powerful elemental forces within herself, Rowan must decipher the painting’s secrets – and the connection to the medieval-style murder – before Lev Rubilov, a dark centuries-old occultist, can harness its magic to rewrite history and restore a twisted vision of the past.

For fans of genre-blending thrillers like A Discovery of Witches and Outlander, this captivating novel weaves together mystery, the supernatural, and high-stakes time travel in a race against the clock to stop an ancient evil. Whispers Through The Canvas is a crime story, filled with action and adventure, within a historical fantasy milieu. If you love kick-ass heroines who have a bit of life experience and walk on the wild side of magic, this book is for you.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTHSC2H5/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CTHSC2H5/

Meet the author

From the bustling courtrooms of Atlanta to the vibrant tapestry of 16th-century England, Kathleen McGillick’s life and career have been a captivating blend of legal expertise, artistic passion, and a thirst for adventure.

Fueled by an undergraduate and graduate degree in nursing, Kathleen built a foundation of compassion and care. This dedication to service later led her to pursue a Juris Doctorate, allowing her to navigate the intricacies of the legal system for nearly three decades. Her courtroom experience now breathes life into the intricate details of her legal thrillers, ensuring every courtroom scene crackles with authenticity.

But Kathleen’s story doesn’t end there. A deep fascination with art history led her to delve into the world of renowned artists and captivating eras. Her particular passion for 16th-century British history allows her to transport readers to richly detailed historical settings, immersing them in the culture, politics, and societal nuances of the time.

Driven by an unwavering dedication to her craft, Kathleen has independently published eleven legal thrillers since 2018. Her commitment extends beyond solo creation, as she actively engages with the writing community, honing her skills through workshops and courses led by renowned authors.

And when she’s not crafting captivating narratives, Kathleen embarks on international journeys, soaking in diverse cultures and experiences that further enrich her writing. This global perspective adds another layer of depth and realism to her stories, allowing readers to connect with characters and settings that transcend geographical boundaries.

To delve deeper into Kathleen’s world and explore her captivating legal thrillers, visit her website at kjmcgillick.com.

Connect with the author

kjmcgillick.com 

https://www.goodreads.com/kmcgillick

https://www.facebook.com/KJMcGillickauthor/

I’m delighted to welcome Rosemary Griggs and her new book, The Dartington Bride, to the blog #HistoricalFiction #Devon #Elizabethan #FrenchWarsOfReligion #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

I’m delighted to welcome Rosemary Griggs and her new book, The Dartington Bride, Daughters of Devon series, to the blog with Refugees in Elizabethan England.

Refugees in Elizabethan England

Current media coverage sometimes gives the impression that refugees and asylum seekers are a recent concern. Yet, throughout history, people have sought refuge in safer, more welcoming nations to escape persecution and conflict.

While researching for The Dartington Bride, I came across fascinating similarities between the difficulties encountered by refugees in Elizabethan England and those faced by asylum seekers today. Empathy for their predicament often became overshadowed by skepticism and doubt. This was particularly evident in difficult times, like the 1590s, when consecutive poor harvests led to higher prices and a scarcity of food.

The inspiration for my latest novel was a young Huguenot woman named Roberda, who married Gawen Champernowne in 1571. Her father, Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery, a Huguenot military leader, gained fame in 1559 for accidentally killing King Henri II of France in a jousting accident. Gawen’s father, Sir Arthur Champernowne, was the brother of Queen Elizabeth’s childhood governess and Chief Lady of the Privy Chamber, widely known as ‘Kat’ Astley. 

After the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris in 1572, Gawen’s father,  the Vice Admiral of the Fleet of the West, opened his doors to Roberda’s family at Dartington Hall in Devon.

An Elizabethan Lady at the door of Dartington Hall

Sixteenth century French Huguenots, like Roberda’s family, were not the first people to seek a haven in England.

Over two hundred years earlier, in 1336/37, King Edward III welcomed a substantial number of weavers from Flanders, where they were being mistreated by the aristocracy. However, compassion for their situation wasn’t the King’s only motive. He wanted them to bring their expertise in wool spinning, carding, and weaving to Kent. Instead of exporting wool as a raw material to be fashioned into cloth overseas, he wanted Kentish wool to be woven in England. As well as encouraging the settlers, King Edward banned the export of wool to the Netherlands and stopped the import of foreign cloth. As a protectionist measure, this scheme had limited success. However, the local population remained unsettled for a century because of the sudden arrival of so many newcomers.

The Black Death ravaged the whole of Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. As communities recovered, industries flourished again and trade became buoyant. By the time the Tudors came to power in England in the late fifteenth century, people were choosing to move around more, seeking opportunities or escaping hardship.

For example, Breton carpenters arrived in the west of England during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. We can still see examples of their work can in churches in Devon and also in Cornwall, where a common language and culture may have smoothed over potentially difficult situations.

Throughout this time, the incomers came as a trickle, not a flood. But during the reign of another Edward, Edward VI, a larger wave of refugees made their way to England. They were Protestants seeking to escape persecution in the Low Countries and France. King Edward permitted them to settle in England and granted them the right to establish their own ‘Strangers Churches.’ (The term refugee was unknown in Tudor England — people called the new arrivals ‘strangers’ or ‘aliens’.) In 1550, the King gave the predominantly Dutch-speaking incomers the church at Austin Friars, while another church, in Threadneedle Street, served French-speaking immigrants. The Strangers Church in Soho, where a slightly higher class of refugees settled, soon followed.

After Edward’s death in 1553, Mary became queen. She ordered the Protestant immigrants to leave the country. But in 1558, she too died. Elizabeth I was more welcoming. She offered asylum and protection to all seeking to escape persecution, but was particularly keen to welcome Protestants from the Spanish Netherlands. In 1568, King Philip of Spain sent the Duke of Alba to the Spanish colony to impose his Catholic authority there, causing many Protestants to seek refuge elsewhere. Later that same year, the Duchess of Parma, who was acting as regent, told her brother, King Phillip, that around 100,000 people had fled to England, taking their goods and money with them. She expressed concern that this would enrich England at the expense of the Spanish Netherlands.

But when they arrived in England, the newcomers had to settle in designated towns and worship in their own churches. These churches were required to provide for the poor sick in their own congregations. The churches also had to enforce stringent regulations to govern the conduct of their community. The immigrant communities thus became somewhat isolated from their neighbours.

By 1572, the French Wars of Religion had been going on for ten years, periods of fierce fighting interspersed with intervals of uneasy peace. The treaty of St Germain-en-Laye, signed in 1570, brought the third war of religion to an end. It secured some concessions for the Protestants, but some catholics felt it went too far. Tensions were again rising.

Many Huguenots were in Paris on August 24, St Bartholomew’s Day, to celebrate the wedding of their leader, Henry of Navarre, to the catholic king Charles’ sister, Marguerite. The hope was that the marriage would cement the peace between the two religious factions. It’s thought that the French King, Charles IX, sanctioned murdering several Huguenot leaders accused of planning rebellion.

The targeted assassinations ignited an unprecedented  massacre, when mobs roamed the streets hunting down Huguenots. They killed everyone who did not show their catholic allegiance by wearing a white armband or a white cross in their hats. Some sources suggest that as many 3,000 Protestants perished in Paris alone. The mobs did not spare even the women and children.

The Queen Mother of France, Catherine de Medici, has historically blamed for the atrocity, although recent scholars, including Estelle Paranque, argue that she is unlikely to have plotted a massacre of the people with whom she has been trying for decades to negotiate peace.

The St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre by Francois Dubois ( c 1572 – 84 ) sourced via Wikimedia Commons

Violence soon spread beyond the city. Throughout October, mass killings persisted in various French cities, including Rouen, Lyon, Bourges, Bordeaux, and Orleans, leading to around 70,000 additional deaths across France.

After these tragic events in France, refugees flooded into England. They arrived in Dover, Canterbury, London, and Norwich. Others may have entered through Devon ports such as Dartmouth and Plymouth, which had, for generations, traded with Normandy and Brittany.

Initially, the tragic events in France led to a massive surge of solidarity with the Huguenots. Queen Elizabeth and all the court wore mourning clothes.

The English Protestant community, people like Sir Arthur Champernowne, were sympathetic to fellow believers fleeing France. They saw the tragic events in Paris as a signal that they must be vigilant against a perceived Catholic threat. Elizabeth and her chief adviser, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, continued to extend a welcome to skilled refugees. The authorities protected them from local opposition, regulated their activities and taxed them to the full. By the 1580s, new arrivals had to navigate tough social, legal, work, and tax conditions.

The refugees received a warm welcome in Norwich and other eastern towns. They brought special skills and new techniques in weaving, helping to revive the cloth trade, which was in serious decline. Large numbers of weavers settling in Kent received a similar welcome as they could create lighter fabrics made from a mix of fibres (not only wool), for export. The queen gave the growing immigrant population in Canterbury permission to use the undercroft of the Cathedral for their worship. Later they were allowed to use the Black Prince Chantry, still in use to this day.

The Eglise Protestant Francaise

Against all the odds, Roberda’s father made a dramatic escape from the Paris massacre and Sir Arthur welcomed the Montgomery family to his home. However, not everyone showed the same level of acceptance. The queen’s government gladly received the incomers, dispersed them into various parts of England, and encouraged to resume their occupations. But for many English working people, sympathy and welcome would quickly turn into suspicion and distrust.

‘Foreigners’ were not popular in Tudor England. At the start of King Henry VIII’s rule, the number of immigrants was small, possibly two per cent of London’s population. However, the court and aristocracy favoured foreign merchants who provided luxury goods like silk, wool, and exotic spices. The exemption of Flemish cobblers from Guild design provisions gave them a competitive edge over English workers. Resentment grew amongst English merchants and the working population. In 1517, an inflammatory xenophobic speech by a preacher known as Dr Bell brought already simmering discontent to a boiling point. On 30 April a mob of 2,000 looted buildings, and caused chaos on the streets of the City. Hundreds of rioters were arrested for disturbing the peace and for treason. Fourteen men were executed before the King heeded Queen Catherine of Aragon’s pleas for mercy and granted pardons. This event became known as the “Evil May Day riot” — see also below.

After Queen Mary married Philip of Spain in 1554, Simon Renard, the Ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire and an employee of Emperor Charles V, observed,

‘It will be very difficult to foster good relations between Spaniards and Englishmen. There is the barrier of language, and… the English hate strangers.’

People harboured a  particularly deep dislike for the French, whom they referred to as ‘the old enemy,’ after enduring centuries of wars. When Roberda’s family came to England in 1572, there were many Devon families who still had memories of fathers and grandfathers who never returned from King Henry VIII’s last campaign in France. That campaign and the loss of the Mary Rose were within living memory.

While some believed immigrants would take jobs from locals, others argued they sought better lives and higher-paying jobs, not just to escape persecution. But England needed the important skills they brought with them. Elizabeth’s reign saw many skilled craftsmen arrive — weavers and cloth workers, silversmith, watchmakers — as well as clergymen, doctors, merchants, soldiers, and teachers. It has been tentatively suggested that French Protestant refugees may have played a role in establishing the bobbin lace industry in Honiton, Devon.

It was probably the newcomers’ ability to use their skills for monetary gain that caused a resurgence of resentment, distrust, and fear. In 1576 the cordwainers (shoemakers), concerned about long-term competition from the newcomers, complained to the queen asking whether she would allow the ‘strangers’ to remain in the country with full rights of citizenship.

The population of England rose by around one million during the Elizabethan period. According to historian W. G. Hoskins, Devon, the most sparsely populated county in England in the fourteenth century, had become one of the most densely populated by the end of the sixteenth. A string of poor harvests in the 1590s caused flour prices in London to nearly triple between 1593 and 1597. Hostility towards immigrants rose as the number of unemployed individuals, or ‘vagabonds’, increased.

English working families struggled with rampant inflation while businesses resented what they saw as unfair competition. In 1592, London shopkeepers complained the strangers could sell their goods in areas forbidden to others. Unrest spilled onto the streets in riots amongst the London apprentices. Curfews were imposed and several royal proclamations sought to prevent riots. In December 1593, the Mayor prohibited football playing or other unlawful assemblies, and in June 1595, another directive required ‘apprentices and servants to be kept within their masters houses on Sabath dayes and holy dayes,’ and ‘idle persons’ to be committed to Bridewell’. London citizens even accused immigrants of causing a plague outbreak in 1593 and attacked their homes. Soon the French and Dutch were being blamed for all the problems in England.

It is thought that William Shakespeare may have collaborated with others on a late Elizabethan play, ‘The Book of Thomas Moore.’ The authors composed and revised the manuscript from 1593 to 1600. A scene in the play is significant as it portrays Londoners calling for the expulsion of the ‘wretched strangers’ in their community. This refers to the 1517 ‘Evil May Day riots’, mentioned above. Including this scene implies that intolerance towards immigrants persisted in late Elizabethan England.

In The Dartington Bride, scarred by her own childhood experiences in France, Roberda is determined to help others whose lives have been blighted by conflict. After considering the evidence that the ‘strangers’ were not universally accepted, I realised she might face an uphill struggle. It seems those seeking refuge in Elizabethan England met with obstacles, attitudes and sentiments very similar to those facing the asylum seekers of our time.

Rosemary Griggs

            21 March 2024

I have drawn this article together from a wide range of sources including:

W.G. Hoskins: Devon

Estelle Paranque — Blood , Fire and Gold

Jane Marchese Robinson: Seeking Sanctuary -—A History of Refugees in Britain

H. J. Yallop: The History of the Honiton Lace industry

British Library Medieval manuscripts Blog. 13 November 2021: ’Strangers’ in Tudor England and Stewart Scotland

Two articles form ‘The Conversation’: ‘Refugees and riots in Shakespeare’s England’ published March 17, 2016,  and ‘The asylum seekers who frightened Elizabethan England’ published January 21.

Here’s the blurb

1571, and the beautiful, headstrong daughter of a French Count marries the son of the Vice Admiral of the Fleet of the West in Queen Elizabeth’s chapel at Greenwich. It sounds like a marriage made in heaven…

Roberda’s father, the Count of Montgomery, is a prominent Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion. When her formidable mother follows him into battle, she takes all her children with her.

After a traumatic childhood in war-torn France, Roberda arrives in England full of hope for her wedding. But her ambitious bridegroom, Gawen, has little interest in taking a wife.

Received with suspicion by the servants at her new home, Dartington Hall in Devon, Roberda works hard to prove herself as mistress of the household and to be a good wife. But there are some who will never accept her as a true daughter of Devon.

After the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Gawen’s father welcomes Roberda’s family to Dartington as refugees. Compassionate Roberda is determined to help other French women left destitute by the wars. But her husband does not approve. Their differences will set them on an extraordinary path…

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Meet the author

Author and speaker Rosemary Griggs has been researching Devon’s sixteenth-century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretched far beyond the West Country and loves telling the stories of the forgotten women of history – the women beyond the royal court; wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who played their part during those tumultuous Tudor years: the Daughters of Devon.

Her novel A Woman of Noble Wit tells the story of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother, and features many of the county’s well-loved places.

Rosemary creates and wears sixteenth-century clothing, a passion which complements her love for bringing the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history and re-enactment. Her appearances and talks for museums and community groups all over the West Country draw on her extensive research into sixteenth-century Devon, Tudor life and Tudor dress, particularly Elizabethan.

Out of costume, Rosemary leads heritage tours of the gardens at Dartington Hall, a fourteenth-century manor house and now a visitor destination and charity supporting learning in arts, ecology and social justice.

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