Hey, this is Heather from the Renaissance English History Podcast, and this is your Tudor Minute for August 21.
Today in 1536 Robert Sherbourne, the Bishop of Chichester died. Chichester is a small city in west Sussex, and I spent a lovely weekend there staying at a hotel above a pub near to the Cathedral, which I highly recommend. Moving on, it’s an interesting study in reactions to the Reformation. Sherborne had resigned in June, just a few months before he died, so he never witnessed the full scale of the Reformation. Before he resigned, though, he had been a faithful servant of Henry VIII, and had traveled to Rome to get the dispensation Henry needed in order to marry his brother’s widow. He’d been bishop for almost 30 years when the Reformation began. He was a patron of the arts, and especially supported Lambert Barnard, and commissioned several paintings from him.
Chichester, though outwardly conforming, largely stayed Catholic through the end of the 16th century. There are stories of paintings and walls that were whitewashed under Edward during the day being repainted in secret at nighttime. The Cathedral and its grounds are wonderful to visit, and I highly recommend it if you’re nearby.
Bishop Sherborne died today. That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Links
Reformation Month
Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
