The New Murrey and Blue blog

Reblogged from A Medieval Potpourri sparkypus.com

THE ANCIENT OAK TREE KNOWN AS THE ‘ELIZABETH’ OAK.  With thanks to Spitalfieldlife for this photo.  

In the words of Sir John Howard,  Duke of Norfolk, Richard III’s loyal friend, I get  as ‘wode as a Wilde bullok‘  when I read yet another tedious reference to Henry VIII stayed here, Elizabeth I stayed there,  blah blah blah,  especially in places that predate  the Tudors and already had a history before their unfortunate arrival on the scene.    So what if Henry,  that hateful, monstrous cruel tyrant and medieval Pol Pot stayed there with his gammy leg?   I care not.  What about the Magnificent Plantagenets!?  Tell me they stayed anywhere and you have my attention.   This daft belief  of thinking the World and his Wife are only interested in somewhere as long as Henry danced there with the unfortunate Anne Boleyn,  you know,  the wife he had judicially murdered,  or kipped there for a couple of nights along with his gammy leg –  well la di dah di dah –  is tiresome and leaves me cold.  Even the ancient trees that were part of the hunting grounds of Greenwich Palace, favourite residence of  Lancastrian nobility and Yorkists queens, that have survived over the centuries and were there well before Fat Henry have been been hijacked.  Duh!  Whats wrong with mentioning  King Richard III may have danced with his Queen, Anne Neville,  below a tree that was ancient in his time or rested in its shade as he enjoyed a day’s hunting…hmmmm?  

One particular tree,  now known as the Elizabeth Oak, standing in a dell in the midst of the hunting park,  would definitely  have been there in 1483 as it is said to date from the 12th century.  Anyway rant over and back to the wonderful old oaks and sweet chestnuts of Greenwich Park.

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