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16th-century English knights

  • Richard Page (courtier)In 1522, Richard Page took his seat as a Justice of the Peace for Surrey. This local appointment marked his transition from private service to public…
  • Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of NorthumberlandThomas Percy stood eight years old when the executioner's blade fell at Tyburn on the 2nd of June 1537. His father, Sir Thomas Percy, had led a rebellion…
  • George Boleyn, Viscount RochfordGeorge Boleyn entered the world around 1504, born into the powerful Boleyn and Howard families. His father Thomas held titles that would eventually make him…
  • John Dudley, 1st Duke of NorthumberlandJohn Dudley was seven years old when his father, Edmund Dudley, was executed for high treason in 1510. The new king, Henry VIII, needed scapegoats for the…
  • Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of SomersetEdward Seymour was born around the year 1500. He entered the household of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, in 1514 at about fourteen years old.
  • Francis WestonSir Francis Weston entered the world in 1511 as the only son of Sir Richard Weston. His father held estates at Ufton Court in Berkshire and Sutton Place in…
  • William Cecil, 1st Baron BurghleyWilliam Cecil arrived in the world on the 13th of September 1520 within the quiet village of Bourne, Lincolnshire. His father Sir Richard Cecil owned the…
  • Ralph Warren (Lord Mayor)Ralph Warren entered the world around 1486 as the son of Sir Thomas Warren. His family roots lay in Feering, Essex, where his grandfather William Warren had…
  • Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of LeicesterOn the 6th of July 1553, King Edward VI died and Robert Dudley led a force of three hundred men into Norfolk. He sought to stop Mary I from taking the…
  • Francis DrakeFrancis Drake was born at Crowndale Farm in Tavistock, Devon, England. His birth date remains uncertain, though estimates place it around 1540 or 1541 based…
  • Henry Carey, 1st Baron HunsdonHenry Carey entered the world on the 4th of March 1526 as the second child of William Carey and Mary Boleyn. His mother was the sister of Anne Boleyn, who…
  • Walter RaleighSir Walter Raleigh was born on the 22nd of January 1552 in East Budleigh, Devon. His father held Fardel Manor while his mother Katherine Champernowne owned…
  • Henry Percy, 5th Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Algernon Percy entered the world on the 13th of January 1477. He was the son of Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, and Maud Herbert.
  • Philip SidneyPenshurst Place in Kent served as the birthplace of Sir Philip Sidney on the 30th of November 1554. He emerged from a family deeply embedded in English…
  • Richard EmpsonRichard Empson was born about 1450 in Northamptonshire. His father Peter Empson held property at Towcester and Easton Neston.
  • William Carey (courtier)William Carey entered the world around 1495 as the second son of Sir Thomas Carey and Margaret Spencer. His mother was the daughter of Sir Robert Spencer and…
  • Henry Percy, 6th Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy entered the household of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey as a young page, learning the ways of aristocratic society in the early 1500s.
  • Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of WiltshireHe was born in about 1477 at Hever Castle in Kent. His father Sir William Boleyn had purchased Blickling Hall in Norfolk from his own father Sir Geoffrey…
  • Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and SomersetHenry FitzRoy entered the world in June 1519, born to Henry VIII and his mistress Elizabeth Blount. The timing of this birth was calculated with precision to…
  • Thomas LucyThomas Lucy arrived in the world on the 24th of April 1532. He was the eldest son and heir of William Lucy who died in 1551.