The New Murrey and Blue blog

The lost brass of Thomas of Woodstock’s tomb in Westminster Abbey….

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While searching for what could be accurate likenesses of a number of lords, I came upon the above illustration, which I had never seen before. It is not helpful for actual likenesses of the folk concerned, but is interesting for all that. It is an engraving of the brass that once marked the tomb of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester. He was the youngest uncle of Richard II, and came to a nasty end in Calais in 1397. Mostly likely at the behest of his royal nephew.

What a shame that such things as this brass are lost to our modern time. It seems that vandals and the like are not a product of just the 20th-21st centuries.

To read more, go here.

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  1. The Earliest Roots of the Wars of the Roses: Edward II and Thomas of Lancaster? | murreyandblue

    […] Thomas of Lancaster was not the only one to have a cult attached to him. The equally unsuitable (on the face of it) Edward II was also revered as a saint by many individuals. Once again there was a strong political element to it. Richard II supported this cult because he saw the fate of his great-grandfather as an insult and a threat to his kingship, and to kingship in general. It did not help that during the turmoil of 1386-1388 Richard was threatened with the fate of Edward II by his uncle, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester. […]

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  2. Was anyone Regent of England in 1360….? | murreyandblue

    […] I’m puzzled by the above. The link to Thomas, regent in England, takes you to the page of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, who was only five in 1360. Gloucester was never Regent, nor was there any Regent at all in 1360 […]

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  3. Let’s compare Anne Neville and Elizabeth Woodville, the two queens of York . . . . | murreyandblue

    […] mould as Warwick. Eleanor was married off to King Edward III’s youngest brother, the ambitious Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, who (like George of Clarence) set about doing all he could to shove Mary into […]

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  4. Philippa de Coucy | murreyandblue

    […] would no doubt have been equally angry had he been in the country instead of fighting in Spain. Gloucester was soon to take up arms against his nephew (or at least his nephew’s supporters) and it may be […]

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  5. The runaway nun who married four—or five?—times….! – murreyandblue

    […] Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Edward III, wasn’t such a fox, I hasten to point out, but he managed to have a house built at the Minories, with a connecting door into the church. He placed his youngest daughter, Isabel, in the Abbey and she eventually became the abbess. […]

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  6. Richard II’s visit to Edward II’s tomb, 1390. – murreyandblue

    […] deposition of Edward was an uncomfortable precedent for Richard, especially given that his uncle, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, had quite recently threatened him with a similar fate. It was important for Richard to prove his […]

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  7. Weir(d) babies (3): “Philippa of Gloucester” – murreyandblue

    […] mysterious child who appears in certain histories is a ‘Philippa’, daughter of Thomas of Woodstock  and Eleanor de Bohun. Unfortunately, it would seem she actually never existed, just like Joan of […]

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  8. Richard II went berserk in Salisbury….? – murreyandblue

    […] about anything concerning him. Richard was justifiably twitchy about another of his three uncles, Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, who seems to have set himself against the king and who was eventually disposed […]

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  9. ‘Great magician, damned Glendower'(Part 3.) – murreyandblue

    […] supporters around him. Arundel was arrested (along with the King’s youngest uncle, Gloucester and the Earl of Warwick.) Arundel, after a trial in Parliament, was beheaded in London. Gloucester […]

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  10. The Appellant Arundel died of unspecified causes….? – murreyandblue

    […] Um…unspecified causes? The earl was attainted and publicly beheaded by Richard II (who didn’t do it in person, of course). Arundel was probably the richest man in England after John of Gaunt, and a decidedly what-you-see-is-what-you-get man. He’d clambered up Richard’s royal nose once too often, including refusing the late Queen Anne’s pleas for the life of Sir Simon Burley, and then not only being late for Anne’s funeral but wanting leave early as well. For this latter he received a right royal left hook that decked him in Westminster Abbey. […]

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  11. John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury (c 1350-1400) – murreyandblue

    […] including Bisham. He was high in Richard II’s favour and was one of those who acted against Gloucester, Arundel and Warwick as ‘counter-Appellants.’ As an aside, although Richard II is often […]

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  12. The Great Tent of Bruges…. – murreyandblue

    […] headquarters at Boulogne and travelled several times a week to Leulinghem to meet Lancaster and Gloucester. The bleak flats around the village were transformed into a scene of unparalleled splendour. The […]

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  13. A review of Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors…. – murreyandblue

    […] have now watched all of the Channel 5 series Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors, which is so packed with information that I hardly know where to begin with […]

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  14. King Richard and the Duke of Gloucester…. – murreyandblue

    […] of Gloucester, who became Richard III. But there was another instance in the previous century, when Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, made the life of his nephew Richard II a […]

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  15. RICHARD WHITTINGTON c.1350-1423. MERCER, MAYOR AND A MOST BENEVOLENT CITIZEN OF LONDON – murreyandblue

    […]  became a favourite of Richard II.   These members of the  nobility included  John of Gaunt,  Thomas of Woodstock, Henry Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV),  the Staffords and ‘royal favourite Robert de Vere to […]

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  16. Today I learned about the Pyx Chamber at Westminster Abbey…. – murreyandblue

    […] had never heard of the Pyx Chamber at Westminster Abbey, and so I made a point of finding out about it online. I discovered it to be a fascinating corner […]

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  17. Thomas of Woodstock was an unpleasant, supposedly pious bully…. – murreyandblue

    […] on the rule of King Richard II (reign 1377-1399), but one of the main characters in the play is Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, despite the fact he is dead for its […]

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  18. From child marriages to a royal murder in Calais…. – murreyandblue

    […] descriptions of occasions of less concern to me, I eventually came (page xviii) to an account of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, and his  murder in Calais on 8/9 September 1397. The precise date isn’t known for certain, […]

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