Curated playlist
1490s births
- Elizabeth Howard, Duchess of NorfolkElizabeth Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, spent the last five years of her separation ruling herself, as she put it, in a house in Redbourn, Hertfordshire, on a meagre allowance of two hundred pounds a year. She had been locked in a chamber,…
- Lucas HorenboutLucas Horenbout arrived in England sometime in the mid-1520s carrying a tradition that had almost nowhere else to go. He had grown up in Ghent, trained by a father who was one of the last great practitioners of Netherlandish illuminated…
- Gregório LopesIn 1514, Gregório Lopes married the daughter of Jorge Afonso. This union marked a pivotal moment in his career as he transitioned from student to family member within the royal workshop. He had been educated under Jorge Afonso, who served…
- António GalvãoAntónio Galvão died in a hospital in Lisbon in 1557, buried without ceremony, having spent his final years in poverty and anonymity waiting for a pension that never came. It is a strange ending for a man who had governed a fortress at the…
- Mary BoleynMary Boleyn spent most of her life in the shadow of her famous sister, yet her own story cuts just as deep. Born around 1499, most likely at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, she grew up at Hever Castle in Kent, the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, a…
- Nicholas Carew (courtier)Nicholas Carew entered the household of the future King Henry VIII at six years old. He shared his education with the boy who would become England's most famous monarch. By 1515, Carew had earned a reputation for fearlessness in the lists.…
- James Butler, 9th Earl of OrmondJames Butler carried a nickname his whole life: the Lame, or Bacach in Irish, a mark of a wound that never fully left him. He was born into a family locked in a long-running fight over one of Ireland's grandest titles. That fight…
- Hans Holbein the YoungerHans Holbein the Younger died in London sometime between the 7th of October and the 29th of November 1543, at the age of 45. He made his will on the 7th of October, describing himself as "servant to the king's majesty", in his house in…
- William TyndaleWilliam Tyndale died with a prayer on his lips. Tied to a stake outside Brussels in the autumn of 1536, he called out in a loud voice: "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes." Then he was strangled. Then his body was burned. Within four…
- Juan Boscán AlmogáverJuan Boscán Almogáver arrived in Barcelona sometime around 1490, the son of a public official named Joan Valentí Boscà and a mother named Violant Almogàver. His father died in 1492, leaving Boscán one of three children navigating a world…