In medieval London, there were multiple public places of execution, places where death sentences which had been given to prisoners convicted of serious crimes against the monarch or the state, including treason and heresy, were carried out. These locations included Tyburn (the location of the city's primary public gallows), Smithfield marketplace and the churchyard of St-Giles-in-the-Field. In 1464, another site was established on a raised plot of land, overlooking the Tower

At the end of November 1558, or early December 1558, shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I, recently-widowed Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, remarried; his new bride was eighteen-year-old Margaret Audley, herself having been widowed the previous year.

In October 1562, less than three years after her accession to the throne, Elizabeth I contracted the highly-infectious smallpox virus; this led to her becoming critically ill, and subsequently raised questions in regards to the governing of a country with an incapacitated queen, and speculation relating to the future of the English monarchy.

On 30 April 1544, Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord High Chancellor of England, and father of Margaret Audley, died at his City of London home, 'Christchurch Place', Aldgate, after a year of deteriorating health.

On This Day (18 April) in 1587, clergyman, historian, theologian and martyrologist John Foxe died at his London home on Grub Street, in the parish of St Giles-without-Cripplegate.

On This Day (10 March) in 1538, a son and heir was born to Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, soldier, politician and poet, and his wife Frances

On This Day (19 Jan) in 1601, Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, Elizabethan courtier, soldier, politician and patron of the arts, died.

On 17 November 1558, Elizabeth I ascended the throne of England, following the death of her half-sister Mary I.

On 10 January 1564, Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk, died in Norwich, aged around 23 years old, three weeks after giving birth to her fourth child.

Introducing Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk, wife of Lord Henry Dudley, (known throughout his short life as 'Harry Dudley').