WHO WAS BORN
1516: Mary Tudor
Eldest daughter of King
Henry VIII and Catherine
of Aragon, Queen
Mary I of England was stubborn, courageous, and devoutly
Catholic. Upon inheriting the throne from her fiercely Protestant
brother Edward
VI, she sought to turn England back to the Catholic Church, and
in the process developed a reputation as a "bloody" fanatic. Her
marriage to the Catholic prince Philip
of Spain (whom she adored but who could not abide her) further
exacerbated matters in England. She desperately wanted a child, and
suffered several false pregnancies.
Distrusted, disliked, and miserable, Mary died in 1558 at the age of 42.
WHO DIED
1455: Fra Angelico
1478: George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence
A younger brother to King
Edward IV of England, Clarence plotted against the king
several times throughout Edward's rise and was given repeated chances
by his family to return to the fold. In January, 1478, Edward finally
had enough of his brother's faithlessness and threw him into prison,
bringing charges of slander and rebellion against him. Both houses of
Parliament passed a bill of attainder against the duke, and although
his brother Richard
protested, Clarence was executed in secret in the tower.
Shortly after his death, rumors that he'd been drowned in a butt of
malmsey wine began to circulate, but there is no proof of this rather
odd claim.
1546: Martin Luther
1564: Michelangelo Buonarrotti
