aka The John Dee Chronicles
J.A. Downes 
Introduction On 29th March 1544, King Henry VIII made one of the most consequential decisions of his tumultuous reign. With a stroke of the royal pen, he gave Royal Assent to the Third Succession Act, fundamentally altering the future of England. This landmark legislation would restore his daughters Mary and Elizabeth to the line of … Read more
Introduction In the annals of Tudor history, few sequences of events illustrate Henry VIII’s ruthless pragmatism quite like the eleven catastrophic days of May 1536. Within this brief span, the King of England orchestrated one of the most shocking reversals of fortune in royal history: he declared his marriage to Anne Boleyn invalid, ordered her … Read more
The Somerset Scandal: How James I’s Favourite Murdered for Love and Power In the shadowy corridors of Jacobean court politics, few scandals have captivated historians and storytellers quite like the downfall of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset. When King James I’s most beloved favourite was convicted of murder in 1616, it sent shockwaves through English … Read more
From Proclamation: Poetry will be the death of me: “The muffled clink of harness and the soft hoof fall of a hundred horses were the only sounds that emanated from the column of riders as it emerged from the enveloping mist onto a low ridge. Robert Dudley shivered as he gazed south along their planned … Read more
Introduction In the spring of 1536, the English court witnessed one of history’s most ruthlessly efficient character assassinations. Within the span of just three weeks, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, went from being Queen of England to a headless corpse on Tower Green. What makes this episode particularly chilling is not just … Read more
The Secret Life of Catherine Howard: How Hidden Affairs Doomed Henry VIII’s Fifth Queen At just nineteen years old, Catherine Howard walked to her execution at the Tower of London in February 1542, becoming the second wife Henry VIII had condemned to death. Yet unlike her predecessor Anne Boleyn, whose downfall was largely orchestrated by … Read more
Introduction Imagine commissioning Shakespeare to stage a play about overthrowing a monarch the night before you attempt to overthrow one yourself. This extraordinary intersection of theatre and treason occurred on 7th February 1601, when supporters of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, paid for a special performance of Richard II at the Globe Theatre. The … Read more
From Restitution: Fire and fury: “The cannon roared. Smoke billowed. A tongue of flame licking out from the muzzle as the ball shot forward, a dark blur against the pale winter sky. It struck the wooden wall with a sound like God’s hammer. And punched straight through – a fusillade of wooden splinters peppering the … Read more
Introduction Imagine being told you’re suddenly the Queen of England, only to faint from shock and later face execution for a crown you never wanted. This was the tragic reality for Lady Jane Grey, the brilliant 16-year-old scholar who became England’s shortest-reigning monarch in July 1553. Her story reads like a Tudor thriller: political manipulation, … Read more
Introduction In the treacherous world of Tudor politics, few scandals rocked the establishment quite like Thomas Seymour’s shocking behaviour towards the teenage Princess Elizabeth in 1547-1549. This wasn’t merely court gossip or political manoeuvring—it was a genuine crisis that threatened the reputation of Henry VIII’s daughter and could have derailed her path to the throne … Read more