- Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn, Queen Consort of England, 1st Marchioness of Pembroke (ca. 1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was the second wife of King Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, were part of the complex beginning of the considerable political and religious upheaval which was the English Reformation, with Anne herself actively promoting the cause of Church reform. - Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles famously engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England. As he was an advocate of the Divine Right of Kings, many in England feared that he was attempting to gain absolute power. There was widespread opposition to many of his actions, especially the levying of taxes without Parliament's consent. - Thomas More
Thomas More Thomas More Thomas More had an education suited to a son of a gentleman, and seemed destined for the legal career mapped out by his father. Although the future held much promise for him, More was unsure of the direction he wanted his life to take. He considered becoming a priest but decided not to enter the Church because of his burning desire to have a family. - Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard, also called Katherine Howard was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England (1540-1542), and sometimes known by his reference to her as "the rose without a thorn". Her birth date and place of birth is unknown, (occasionally cited as 1521, probably in London). She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard, a poor younger son of the 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Catherine married Henry VIII on 28 July 1540, at Oatlands Palace in Surrey, … - Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey, formally Jane of England, a grand-niece of Henry VIII of England, reigned as uncrowned Queen regnant of the Kingdom of England for nine days in July 1553. Though Jane's accession, pursuant to the Will of King Edward VI, may have breached the laws of England, many powers of the land proved willing to accept her as Queen of England, even if only as part of a power-struggle to stop Henry's elder daughter, Princess Mary, a Roman Catholic, … - William Laud
Archbishop William Laud (October 7 1573 - January 10 1645) was Archbishop of Canterbury and a fervent supporter of King Charles I of England, whom he encouraged to believe in divine right. His support for Charles, absolute monarchy, and his persecuting of opposing views led to his beheading in the midst of the English Civil War. The beheading of Charles occurred four years later. Laud was born in Reading, Berkshire, of comparatively low origins, … - Guilford Dudley
Lord Guilford Dudley (sometimes spelled "Guildford") (1536 - 12 February, 1554) was a son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, and Jane Guilford; and the younger brother of Robert Dudley, the future Earl of Leicester. The unusual first name derives from his mother's family name. His father became the leader of the Privy Council after the execution of Lord Protector Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, during the reign of King Edward VI of England. - Mary Queen of Scots
Mary I (popularly known as Mary, Queen of Scots:); (December 8 1542 - February 8 1587) was Queen of Scots (the monarch of the Kingdom of Scotland) from December 14 1542, to July 24 1567. She was also the Queen Consort of France ("Reine de France") from July 10 1559 to December 5 1560. Because of her tragic life, she is one of the best-known Scottish monarchs. - John Fisher
Saint John Fisher also John Cardinal Fisher (c. 1469-1535), was an English Catholic bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on June 22 on the Catholic calendar of saints and July 6 on the Anglican calendar of saints. - John Dudley 1st Duke of Northumberland
John Dudley (1501 - August 22/23, 1553) was a Tudor general, admiral and politician, who became de facto ruler of England, tried to make his daughter-in-law Queen of England and was executed for high treason by Queen Mary I of England. - Edward Seymour 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1506 - January 22, 1552) was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of King Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549. He was born in about 1506 to Sir John Seymour and Margaret Wentworth. Edward was the eldest brother of Jane Seymour, who would become King Henry VIII's third Queen consort. Their brother, Thomas, also gained power through their sister's advancement. - Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 or 1554 – 29 October, 1618), was a famed English writer, poet, courtier and explorer. He was responsible for establishing the first English colony in the New World, on June 4, 1584, at Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina. When the settlement failed, the ultimate fate of the colonists was never authoritatively ascertained, and it became known as "The Lost Colony". - William Brereton
William Brereton, (May 17,1536), who came from a Cheshire landowning family, was a groom of the privy chamber of Henry VIII. He was caught up in the accusations against Anne Boleyn, tried for treason and executed with the Queen and four others. Historians now think that along with the others he was almost certainly innocent. Willam Brereton was the sixth son of Sir Randle Brereton of Ipstones, Shocklach, & Malpas, Knight Chamberlain of Chester, … - James Douglas 4th Earl of Morton
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (c. 1525 - June 2, 1581), was the last, and arguably the most successful, of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of King James VI. However he met an unfortunate end: during his time as regent he introduced the maiden, a primitive guillotine, to Scotland, and he was eventually executed by it himself. He was the second son of Sir George Douglas of Pittendriech. - Diego de Almagro
Diego de Almagro (Almagro, Spain, ca. 1475 - Cuzco, Peru, July 8, 1538), also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador and a companion and later rival of Francisco Pizarro. He participated in the Spanish conquest of Peru and is credited as the first European discoverer of Chile. Almagro lost his left eye battling with coastal natives in the New World. - Ankokuji Ekei
Ankokuji Ekei was a daimyo of Aki Province in Japan, as well as a Buddhist monk following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 16th century. He went with Toyotomi Hideyoshi on his invasion of Korea, was named abbot of Tofuku-ji in Kyoto Prefecture, and was given a fiefdom of 60,000 koku in Iyo Province. When he fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara, he was taken prisoner and later decapitated in Kyoto, along with Mitsunari Ishida and Konishi Yukinaga. - Francis Weston
Sir Francis Weston (1513? - 1536) was a wealthy gentleman-in-waiting to King Henry VIII of England. Francis was born into a very rich and well-connected family and he quickly found a position at the royal court. He was reportedly extremely attractive and he had a reputation as a playboy. He was married, but was frequently unfaithful. Rumours suggested that he was enjoying a secret affair with Margaret Shelton, the one-time mistress of Henry VIII in 1534/1535. - Sophie Scholl
Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 - 22 February 1943), along with her brother Hans Scholl, were members of the White Rose non-violent resistance movement in Nazi Germany. They were both convicted of treason and executed by guillotine. Since the 1970s she has been celebrated as one of those Germans who actively opposed the Third Reich during the Second World War. - Mark Smeaton
Mark Smeaton (ex. 17 May 1536) was one of four men executed for alleged adultery with Queen Anne Boleyn. Smeaton was a handsome musician and dancer in the queen's household, Smeaton was famed for his talents as a singer. He could play the lute, virginals and the organ. His date of birth is not known, but he was probably in his early twenties when he died. Possibly of Flemish origin, the name Smeaton could be derived from the surnames de Smet or de Smedt. - Sante Geronimo Caserio
Sante Geronimo Caserio was an Italian anarchist, assassin of Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of the French Third Republic. Caserio was born in Motta Visconti, Lombardy. On June 24, 1894, Caserio fatally stabbed President Carnot at a banquet to avenge Auguste Vaillant and Emile Henry. He was executed by guillotine in Lyon at 4:55 am, August 16, 1894. - Ishida Mitsunari
Ishida Mitsunari (1560 - November 6, 1600) was a samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 17th century. His childhood name was Sakichi. He was born in the south of Omi province (which is now Shiga prefecture), and was the second son of Ishida Masatsugu, who was a retainer for the Asai family. The Ishida withdrew from service after the Asai's defeat in 1573. - Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa was a Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. He travelled to the New World in 1500 and after some explorations settled on the island of Hispaniola. He founded the settlement of Santa María la Antigua del Darién in present-day Panama in 1510, the first permanent European settlement on the mainland of the Americas (a settlement by Alonso de Ojeda at San Sebastián de Urabá the previous year had already been abandoned). - James Scott 1st Duke of Monmouth
James Crofts, later James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and of Buccleuch (April 9, 1649 - July 15, 1685), was an English nobleman who was executed in 1685 after making an unsuccessful attempt to claim the British throne, the Monmouth Rebellion. He was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the illegitimate son of Charles II and his mistress, Lucy Walter, who had followed him into continental exile after the execution of Charles II's father, King Charles I. - Henry Grey 1st Duke of Suffolk
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk (c.1515 - February 23, 1554), known as the Marquess of Dorset between 1530 and 1551, was an English nobleman of the Tudor period and the father of Lady Jane Grey. - Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham
Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (February 3 1478 - May 17 1521) was an English nobleman. He was the son of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Catherine Woodville. Born at Brecknock Castle, Brecon, Wales, his father was attainted and executed for rebelling against King Richard III of England when Stafford was five. - Owen Tudor
Owain ap Maredudd (or Owain ap Meredith ap Tewdur or Owen Tudor was a Welsh soldier and courtier, directly descended from The Lord Rhys but remembered only because of his role in founding the Tudor dynasty and for his relationship with Catherine of Valois, widow of King Henry V of England. At some point Owain anglicised his name from the Welsh Owain ap Maredudd to Owen Tudor, … - Saint Alban
Saint Alban was, along with saints Julius and Aaron, one of three Christian martyrs in Britain. Alban is listed in the Church of England calendar of England and Wales for 22 June and he continues to be venerated in the Anglican and Catholic Communions. St Alban is mentioned in "Acta Martyrum", and also by Constantius of Lyon in his "Life of St Germanus of Auxerre", written about 480. He also appears in Gildas's 6th century polemic "De Excidio Britanniae". - Henry Stafford 2nd Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (4 September 1454 - 2 November 1483) played a major role in Richard III of England's rise and fall. He is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance (and presumed murder) of the Princes in the Tower. Buckingham was related to the royal family of England so many different ways that he was his own cousin many times over, but his connections were all through daughters of younger sons. - Richard Woodville 1st Earl Rivers
Richard Woodville (or Wydeville), 1st Earl Rivers (1405 - August 12, 1469), was an English nobleman, best remembered as the father of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV. Born at Maidstone, Kent, he was the son of another Sir Richard Wydevill, chamberlain to the Duke of Bedford. After the duke died the younger Richard married the widowed duchess, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, 1416-1472. - Paul The Apostle
St. Paul the Apostle (שאול התרסי in Hebrew), the "Apostle to the Gentiles" was, together with Saint Peter, the most notable of Early Christian missionaries. Unlike the Twelve Apostles, Paul did not know Jesus in life; he came to faith through a vision of the risen Jesus and stressed that his apostolic authority was based on his vision. As he wrote, he "received it [the Gospel] by revelation from Jesus Christ" ; according to Acts, … - Gonzalo Pizarro
Gonzalo Pizarro (1502 - April 10, 1548) was a Spanish conquistador and younger half-brother of Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror of the Inca Empire. - Margaret Pole 8th Countess of Salisbury
Margaret Pole (14 August 1473 - 27 May 1541), Countess of Salisbury, was the daughter of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence and Isabella Neville. Her father was a brother of both Kings Edward IV and Richard III of England. She was the last member of the Plantagenet dynasty. - Thomas Culpeper
Thomas Culpeper (executed December 10 1541) was a young courtier in Henry VIII's time. He was distantly related to the Howard clan, who were immensely powerful at the time. They were particularly influential after the fall of Cardinal Wolsey in 1529, and for a brief time under the reign of Anne Boleyn, who was one of their cousins. - Peter Kürten
Peter Kürten May 26, 1883-July 2, 1931 was a German serial killer dubbed The Vampire of Düsseldorf by the contemporary media. He committed a series of sex crimes, assaults and murders against adults and children, most notoriously from February to November 1929 in Düsseldorf. - Klaus Störtebeker
Klaus Störtebeker was a leader and the best known representative of a companionship of privateers known as the Victual Brothers ("Vitalienbrüder" in German). The Victual Brothers were originally hired during a war between Denmark and Sweden to fight the Danish and supply the besieged Swedish capital Stockholm with provisions (Latin "victualia"). - Willi Graf
Willi Graf was a member of the White Rose (Weiße Rose) resistance group in Nazi Germany. Willi Graf's family moved to Saarbrücken in 1922, where his father ran a wine wholesaler's. He went to school at the "Ludwigsgymnasium". It was not long before he joined, at the age of eleven, the "Bund Neudeutschland", a Catholic youth movement for young men in schools of higher learning, which was banned after Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933. - Richard Neville 5th Earl of Salisbury
Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC (1400 - December 31, 1460) was a Yorkist leader during the early parts of the Wars of the Roses. - Thomas Seymour 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley
Thomas Seymour, Baron Seymour of Sudeley (c. 1508 - March 20, 1549), was a son of Sir John Seymour and Margaret Wentworth. Sir John and Margaret had eight surviving children; the eldest was Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, the second, Thomas. He was an older brother of Jane Seymour, the third Queen consort of King Henry VIII of England. Thomas spent his childhood in Wulfhall, outside Savernake Forest, in Wiltshire. Historian David Starkey said that Thomas was 'tall, … - Thomas Wyatt The Younger
Thomas Wyatt the younger was a rebel leader during the reign of Queen Mary I of England; his rising is traditionally called Wyatt's rebellion. He was born at Allington Castle, the only son of Sir Thomas Wyatt, a poet, by Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of Thomas Brooke, 3rd Lord Cobham. The Duke of Norfolk was his godfather. At the age of fifteen he became a squire at the court of King Henry VIII, and Joint Constable of Conisborough Castle. - Thomas Cromwell 1st Earl of Essex
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex ("C." 1485 - 28 July 1540) was an English statesman, King Henry VIII of England's chief minister 1532-1540.
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