Back to the Sixteenth Century Trivia Quiz

Answer: Birth of Mary (later to be Mary I)

Henry VII died on 21st April and Margaret Beaufort on 29 June. The Tudor claim to the throne came from Margaret's ancestry, as she was descended from John of Gaunt, son of King Edward III. The marriage between Henry VIII, aged seventeen, and Catherine of Aragon took place on 11 June, and their official coronation was on 24 June.

Catherine gave birth for the first time in January 1510 but the baby, a girl, was stillborn. Mary was born in February 1516, the only child of Henry and Catherine to survive. England's history would have been very different if Catherine had been able to produce healthy children.

Answer: Utopia

The book was originally written in Latin and published in the country now called the Netherlands. It was translated into English, and published in that language, in 1551. By then, More had been long dead, having been executed for his refusal to recognise Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England. He was beheaded in 1535, and canonised (declared a saint) in 1935 by Pope Pius XI.

Answer: British Empire

Dee was known as an astronomer, astrologist, mathematician and philosophy, and had a strong interest in magic and the occult. The mixture of science and what would now be called non-scientific interests gave Dee a wide knowledge base. When Elizabeth I became queen in 1558, Dee became her adviser on matters of science, which included the previously mentioned astrology. By 1570, he was advocating expansion into the New World to establish a British Empire, and is one of the first to use the expression.

Answer: Archbishop of Canterbury

As Archbishop of Canterbury, Cranmer was the men tasked by Henry VIII to extricate him from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. As Catherine had previously been married to Arthur, brother of Henry, the argument was made that this contravened ecclesiastical law, making the marriage null and void. Unfortunately for Cranmer, Henry's death led to the accession of Mary I, a staunch Catholic, who considered Cranmer to be a heretic.

He was executed in 1556.

Answer: Mary Rose

The Battle of the Solent involved a fleet despatched by King Francis I of France, which attacked the English fleet in the Solent, the channel between the Isle of Wight and the English mainland, near Southampton. The battle itself has little historical significance, apart from the sinking of the warship Mary Rose. Even then, few of us would have heard of the ship until the wreck was discovered and raised from its grave in October 1982.

The ship, and artefacts from her, are now in a museum in Portsmouth, long time home of the Royal Navy.

Answer: Calais

Calais and its environs had been an English possession since 1347, when it had been captured during the Hundred Years War. In 1558, it came under siege by French forces and the governor, Lord Wentworth, surrendered on 7 January. The loss of England's final French possession hit the monarch, Mary I, hard and she is reported to have declared that Calais would be found engraved on her heart after her death.

Answer: Francis Bacon

Bacon was close to the English monarchy, and was a legal adviser to Elizabeth I late in her reign. His influence continued when James I became king in 1603, and received a knighthood from the new king in that year. Bacon is remembered particularly for his scientific work and pioneering the experimental approach. Science was not his only interest, though, and he is also classed as a philosopher. Bacon also served as Lord Chancellor from 1617 until 1621, when he was forced from office following charges of corruption.

Answer: Canada

Frobisher was just one of many explorers of the time who were searching for the Northwest Passage - a sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific around the top of North America. Other famous names, of later times, including Henry Hudson, James Cook, Vitus Bering and George Vancouver, also undertook the same task.

These explorers may not have discovered the route, but they did leave their mark on the region by giving their names to various features. Frobisher Bay is part of Baffin Island, itself named after an English explorer, in the territory of Nunavut.

Answer: Babington Plot

The plot was uncovered by Sir Francis Walsingham, who was renowned for his skills at espionage, and is still remembered as a 'spymaster'. England had reverted to the Protestant religion under the rule of Elizabeth I, but the Roman Catholic church was still hoping to reclaim the country. Mary was the prime candidate to place on the English throne, being a Catholic and with a claim via her descent from the sister of Henry VIII. Mary's implication in the plot led to her execution, by beheading, in 1587.

Answer: Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564, the same year as William Shakespeare, and has many supporters who believe he was the author of the works attributed to his contemporary playwright. Marlowe wrote several plays, including 'The Jew of Malta' (around 1589) and 'Doctor Faustus' (around 1589 - 1593). He is recorded as having been stabbed to death in May 1593.

Shakespeare is probably the best known playwright of the era, and John Fletcher is recognised as having collaborated with Shakespeare on a couple of the later plays, as well as producing may works in his own right. Ben Jonson was also a well known author, but none of these three died young.