Articles by Andrew Thrush
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The 1580 Dover Straits Earthquake
On 6 April 1580, as Queen Elizabeth I was taking the air in the fields around Whitehall, south-east England experienced its greatest seismic event for two hundred years. Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of our Elizabethan House of Lords project, explains……
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Richard Bancroft and the English mission to Emden, 1600
Richard Bancroft is well known to students of late Elizabethan and Jacobean England. A relentless enemy to nonconformist puritans, Bancroft served first as bishop of London (1597-1604) and then as archbishop of Canterbury (1604-1610). However, towards the end of Elizabeth’s…
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A prisoner in the Lords: the curious case of William Grey, 13th Lord Grey of Wilton
The first Elizabethan Parliament (1559) famously witnessed the restoration of the royal supremacy and paved the way for the reintroduction of Protestantism. It also saw the House of Lords briefly become the main focus of parliamentary opposition to royal policy,…
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Elizabeth I’s Swedish lady of the privy chamber: Helena Ulfsdotter née Snakenborg, marchioness of Northampton
As we mark Women’s History Month throughout March, here Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of our Lords 1558-1603 project, looks into the life of Helena Snakenborg. How did this Swedish native become key figure in the court of Elizabeth I? One…
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The man who would be king (-consort): Henry Fitzalan, earl of Arundel
Many of the leading figures at the Elizabethan court, like the queen’s chief minister, William Cecil, Lord Burghley and the royal favourite Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, need no introduction. However, there were many other prominent men at the Elizabethan…
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What if Elizabeth I had Died in 1562?
It is easy to take the long reign of Elizabeth I for granted. But less than four years after Elizabeth ascended the throne, her life was nearly cut short, threatening to bring down the curtain on the Tudor dynasty. What…
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The other Elizabethan succession crisis: the fight to succeed the 1st Lord Burghley, 1592-1598
The long-running problem of who would inherit the English throne was not the only succession crisis of Elizabeth I’s reign. In the first of our series of blogs on faction in English politics, Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of the House…
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The ‘Answer Answerless’ and Elizabeth I’s attitude towards the Parliament of 1586-7
In the latest blog from our First Elizabethan Age series Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of our Lords 1558-1603 section, discusses the words- or lack of- given by Elizabeth I on this day 1586, and some of the more unusual features…
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Execution or murder? Elizabeth I and the problem of how to kill Mary Queen of Scots
Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of our Lords 1558-1603 section, discusses the thorny issue that faced Elizabeth I in the wake of the discovery of Mary Queen of Scots’ role in the Babington Plot of 1586… On 1 February 1587 Sir…
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Elizabeth I, Parliament and the creation of new peers, 1558-1603
Ahead of next Tuesday’s Virtual IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Dr Andrew Thrush of the History of Parliament. On 7 June 2022, between 5.15 p.m. and 6.30 p.m., Andrew will be responding to your questions about his pre-circulated paper…
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The execution of Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk
As the 450th anniversary of the execution of the Elizabethan duke of Norfolk approaches, Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of our Lords 1558-1603 section, considers both the background to his trial for treason and the queen’s reluctance to carry out the…
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Disability at Court in Early Modern England
As the UK marks Disability History Month over the next few weeks, in today’s blog Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of our Lords 1558-1603 project, looks into the prominent early modern figures who had physical disabilities and their treatment at court……