Norfolk is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and east, Cambridgeshire to the west, and Suffolk to the south. The largest settlement is the city of Norwich.
Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in the English county of Norfolk during the reign of Edward VI, largely in response to the enclosure of land. It began at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 with a group of rebels destroying fences that had been put up by wealthy landowners. One of their targets was yeoman Robert Kett who, instead of resisting the rebels, agreed to their demands and offered to lead them. Kett and his forces, joined by recruits from Norwich and the surrounding countryside and numbering some 16,000, set up camp on Mousehold Heath to the north-east of the city on 12 July.
Wymondham is a market town and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England. It lies on the River Tiffey, 12 miles (19 km) south-west of Norwich and just off the A11 road to London. The parish, one of Norfolk's largest, includes rural areas to the north and south, with hamlets of Suton, Silfield, Spooner Row and Wattlefield. It had a population of 14,405 in 2011, of whom 13,587 lived in the town itself.
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, was a prominent English politician and nobleman of the Tudor era. He was an uncle of two of the wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom were beheaded, and played a major role in the machinations affecting these royal marriages. After falling from favour in 1546, he was stripped of his dukedom and imprisoned in the Tower of London, avoiding execution when Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547.
Sprowston is a town and civil parish in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England. It is bounded by Heartsease to the east, Mousehold Heath and the suburb of New Sprowston to the south, Old Catton to the west, and by the open farmland of Beeston St Andrew to the north. It is close to Norwich. The 2021 census recorded a population of 17,126, making Sprowston the most populous civil parish in the Broadland district.
Christopher John Sansom was a British writer of historical crime novels, best known for his Matthew Shardlake series. He also wrote the spy novel Winter in Madrid and the alternate history novel Dominion. He won numerous book awards, including the 2005 Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2013 and the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2022. Shardlake, a television series based on Sansom's novel Dissolution, started streaming on Disney+ less than a week after his death.
Sir Henry Bedingfeld (1505–1583), also spelled Bedingfield, of Oxburgh Hall, King's Lynn, Norfolk, was a Privy Councillor to King Edward VI and Queen Mary I, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, and Vice-Chamberlain of the Household and Captain of the guards. With Sir Henry Jerningham he was among the principals who rallied to Mary's cause following the death of Edward VI in 1553 and helped to set her upon the throne. He was a senior figure in the kinship group of Catholic recusant landowning knights of Suffolk. Given responsibility for the custody of Mary I's half-sister Elizabeth when in the Tower of London and at Woodstock, his reputation has suffered from the repetition of claims of his severity towards her: however Queen Elizabeth was respectful towards him and continued to find service for him. Among the foremost Englishmen of his time, he occupied prominent and honourable positions and was of unquestioned loyalty.
Dark Fire is a historical mystery novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is Sansom's second novel, released in 2004, and also the second in the Matthew Shardlake Series. Set in the 16th century during the reign of Tudor King Henry VIII, it follows hunchbacked lawyer Shardlake's search to recover the long-lost formula for Greek fire.
Sovereign, published in 2006, is a historical mystery novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is Sansom's fourth novel and the third in the Matthew Shardlake Series. Set in the 16th century during the reign of King Henry VIII, it follows hunchbacked lawyer Matthew Shardlake and his assistant, Jack Barak as they investigate a series of murders and a plot to question the legitimacy of the line of succession to the English throne.
Revelation is a historical mystery novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is Sansom's fifth novel, and the fourth in the Matthew Shardlake Series. Set in 1543 during the reign of King Henry VIII, it follows hunchbacked lawyer Shardlake and his assistant, Jack Barak as they hunt the killer of a fellow lawyer - who turns out to be a religiously fanatic serial killer, insane but highly intelligent and capable.
Sir Nicholas le Strange of Hunstanton, Norfolk, was an English Member of Parliament (MP) who held significant lands and offices in Norfolk.
Heartstone is a historical mystery novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is Sansom's sixth novel, and the fifth in the Matthew Shardlake Series. Set in the 16th century during the reign of King Henry VIII, the events of the novel take place in the summer of 1545. Shardlake and his assistant Barak travel to Portsmouth on a legal case given to them by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. The book also concerns preparations for the Battle of the Solent and the King's warship, the Mary Rose.
Augustine Steward, of Norwich, Norfolk, was an English politician.
Thomas Sotherton, of Norwich, Norfolk, was an English politician.
Christopher Layer, of Norwich, Norfolk, was an English merchant, burgess of Norwich, and briefly a Member of Parliament.
The Shardlake series is a series of historical mystery novels by C. J. Sansom, set in 16th century Tudor England. The series features barrister Matthew Shardlake, who, while navigating the religious reforms of Henry VIII, solves crime and tries to avoid getting caught up in political intrigue.
Lamentation is a historical mystery novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is his eighth novel and the sixth entry in the Matthew Shardlake Series, following 2010's Heartstone. Set in the summer of 1546, King Henry VIII is dying while the Catholic and Protestant factions of his court are battling for power over his successor, Prince Edward. Matthew Shardlake is deep in work and still feeling the shock of the events of the previous year when Queen Catherine Parr, caught in the throes of the power struggle, again seeks his aid when a potentially controversial manuscript, Lamentation of a Sinner, is stolen from her chambers.
Nicholas Sotherton, of Norwich, Norfolk, was an English merchant and politician.
Sir Robert Wood of Norwich, Norfolk, was an English politician.
Shardlake is a four-part television series on Disney+ based on the Shardlake series of historical mystery novels by C. J. Sansom set in the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century. The series is adapted by Stephen Butchard and directed by Justin Chadwick and produced by The Forge. Arthur Hughes stars as the eponymous Matthew Shardlake, alongside Sean Bean as Thomas Cromwell. C. J. Sansom died on 27 April 2024, just four days before the series premiere.
